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Mixing It Up This Thanksgiving!

We’re getting ready to head up to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving this week. We all pitch in and help with the meal, but my mom is a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen! Her pies are legendary and I can’t wait to over-indulge on Thursday (shhh – don’t tell my doctor).  My…

We’re getting ready to head up to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving this week. We all pitch in and help with the meal, but my mom is a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen! Her pies are legendary and I can’t wait to over-indulge on Thursday (shhh – don’t tell my doctor).  My favorite part of Thanksgiving though, even more than the eating, is actually the cooking and preparing part. Especially when there are a million people crammed in the kitchen and we’re all joking and telling stories about Thanksgivings past. The best. :)

You can always count on the good ol’ carbelicious, high-calorie standbys to be on our menu – turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole and homemade rolls – but we like to try different foods for the side dishes and veggies each year.

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NatureBox, my favorite monthly snack subscription service, invited me to use some of their healthy and delicious snacks to make a few of our sides dishes. I made a kale salad with their Baked Sweet Potato fries and a roasted asparagus side dish with their Cheddar and Onion Sunflower Kernels. Both were super delicious and passed the Thanksgiving menu test! :)

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I tweaked this recipe for the salad and this recipe for the asparagus. The NatureBox snacks added a little extra crunch to both! Those sweet potato fries were already on my NatureBox favorites list though, so I knew they’d be great in the salad. I seriously could have eaten this whole giant bowl-full myself. YUM.

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Something that I really love about NatureBox is they have more than 100 snacks, so every month I can pick a few tried-and-true favorites and a couple new ones too. Having healthy snacks in new flavors at the ready has practically saved my life this pregnancy. For six months, just the idea of a hot meal made me queasy. I’ve been keeping a few bags in my car’s center console, which has been a game-changer for both me and my kids. No more hangry Komendas!

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Something new and exciting: If you are a US-based first time subscriber, NatureBox will send you a FREE trial box of their most popular snacks by signing up here!
ALSO, NatureBox is giving away TWO six-month subscriptions today! You can enter to win by clicking here, browsing the NatureBox snack list, and then commenting on this post with the snacks you’d love to try. 
Open to US readers only. Contest ends Monday, Dec 1. Good luck! And thank you to NatureBox for sponsoring this post and LGN!  :)
Join the Conversation

120 thoughts on “Mixing It Up This Thanksgiving!

  1. Hi Guys!

    Just wanted to chime in and say thanks for your feedback on the sponsored posts. Sponsorships are the way I can justify spending time away from my family and design business to post here. I would have had to stop writing LGN long ago if I didn't have the opportunity to work with these wonderful companies.

    Sponsorships are always a little more frequent around the holidays, so thanks for hanging in there with me (if you choose to do so!) :) I promise to do my best to keep these sponsorships honest, interesting and informative. I hope at the very least you can enjoy the pretty photos! :)

    Thank you for your continued support!

  2. I love that the snacks are in categories. I would want to try all the Nutritionist Picks but my children would insist on nom noms!

  3. I love the figgy bars and dried apples, oh and the lentil loops. All delicious and my picky 2 year old will actually eat them.

  4. Those roasted garlic pumpkin seeds sound amazing, and I know my kids would love the french toast granola. I love that all their snacks are surprising – everything has an unexpected touch (or two or three!) that keeps them exciting and interesting.

  5. I have been wanting to get a subscription for my step daughter who doesn't get the healthiest snack choices when she's not at our house and I think she would love the garden tomato crunchies and the sriracha roasted cashews. Also, that kale salad looks AMAZING! Thanks Jenny!

  6. NatureBox snacks look great! The dark cocoa nom-noms look delicious, so do the nut mixes and granola. Yum!! Its great not have to constantly search for healthy snacks and have them delivered to your door instead!

  7. Hi Jenny,

    I've been a fan of your blog for a LONG time, and I have to say, it feels like more and more of your content is coming from sponsorship posts like this one. I might be wrong, but I'd guess that over 40% of all posts now are sponsored in some way. This saddens me and others who come to LittleGreenNotebook for your design work and DIY projects, not commercials!

    1. Seems to me Jenny shared a couple recipes with readers in this post….so the content of her post is certainly not just sponsored content.
      Also, I am sure so many of us readers fail to remember……her blog is part of her job. Sponsorships generate income. It makes perfect sense to me why this would be beneficial…….after all………most of us don't work for free. :) I actually think it is rather selfish of readers to shame a Blogger for their sponsored posts. Not to mention, Jenny often does relate her sponsored posts to some awesome diy project.

  8. So many wonderful options! The lemon pucker pistachios, dark cocoa non noms, dark cocoa almonds, and sourdough cheddar pretzels would be a great start!

  9. So hard to choose! For sweet, the dried pears, and the orange apple fruit chews. For savory, peppery pistachios and the garden tomato crunchies. Everything looks so tasty!

  10. Praline Pumkin Seeds would be a must, but i'd love to try the Sweet Potaoe Fries, the lemon tea cookies, and quite a few more two! Thank you!

  11. Hi Jenny,

    I'd like to echo G's comments. I'm a long time fan who is disappointed by the number of sponsored posts – Nature Box, Blue Apron, Sonoma etc. have flooded the DIY blogs of late and I think it's a real shame and turn-off. I for one will be tuning into those blogs that are making the choice to stay true to their identity as design blogs, and will be regretfully leaving the sponsored-post-heavy blogs behind. I'll miss you!

  12. Those blueberry almonds would make our drive to Thanksgiving way more enjoyable! And guacamole bites! You had me at guacamole!

  13. I understand that you're a busy bee, but please make a decision on the blog – it feels like a weird violation of my readership loyalty that all of the recent postings have been blatantly sponsored one – if you're just an advertising force in my blogroll, I'll be super sad to unsubscribe, but it feels manipulative to only make the time to post really sponsored posts.

  14. Hi Guys!

    Just wanted to chime in and say thanks for your feedback on the sponsored posts. Sponsorships are the way I can justify spending time away from my family and design business to post here. I would have had to stop writing LGN long ago if I didn't have the opportunity to work with these wonderful companies.

    Sponsorships are always a little more frequent around the holidays, so thanks for hanging in there with me (if you choose to do so!) :) I promise to do my best to keep these sponsorships honest, interesting and informative. I hope at the very least you can enjoy the pretty photos! :)

    Thank you for your continued support!

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