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Congratulations on your loss this week. I know other people have suggested it, but weight watchers can be really helpful, especially in regards to guidelines. (I did it last spring and lost 30 pounds then fell off the wagon.) Its nice because it helps you to get in the habit of how much you should be eating vs. how much you want to eat.

If you like thai food here is a lightened version of green curry http://thekitchenscale.typepad.com/the_kitchen_scale/2007/06/my_kind_of_fast.html
I have a large portion of it with brown rice (about two bowl fulls) and it is so filling, especially if you use more vegetables and you can even stretch the curry with a little more broth. Anyways, I suggest it just because it freezes well and fills me up.

Good luck and keep up the good work!

I use my hands for everything! Yesterday I made chocolates filled with home made marshmallow and i doled out the marshmallow using my hands, it was so much fun! (just keep your hands wet!)

You could also do a braise (i'm thinking short ribs or something along those lines) and then reheat it the next day, I've done this for some dinner parties and it has worked really well from me. Also, soups are fantastic. My mom also makes lasagna (or rather assembles it) the day before and bakes it the day of. That way all the flavors have time to absorb and meld. Good luck and have a fun new years!

My brother and I do something different every year for Thanksgiving. This year we had a three day feast of tamales, roasted poblano tomato soup, masa rafts, chiles rellenos, etc. It was fantastic. Heres a link to my blog and some pictures if you're interested. http://thekitchenscale.typepad.com/the_kitchen_scale/

Also, we just grabbed a rick bayless cookbook and planned our entire menu our of that, it was great.

My aunt and uncle used to send us a ham from heavenly ham every year, http://www.heavenlyham.com/Corporate/index.asp
I've always liked it.

I've made a fair amount of gingerbread houses, but my favorite house i made freshman year with one of my friends in the dorms. It was out of graham crackers, but we made Buckingham Palace with little gummy bear guards. It was fantastic!

O, if you want to see pictures- http://thekitchenscale.typepad.com/the_kitchen_scale/

My brother and I celebrate Thanksgiving separate from our family since we are both in the Pacific North West. We had a Mexican three day Thanksgiving. Which included- red chile rice, chile rellenos, roasted tomato poblano soup, masa rafts with queso and poblanos, mushroom tamales, chile citrus glazed sweet potatoes, lots of tortilla chips, ice cream and fresh ginger cake.

I don't think I should repeat the words that most often come up...

However, I live by myself so generally its me singing badly or talking to myself.

When I have company over its always "Can I do anything to help?" (keep in mind this is before dinner... after dinner only one of my friends offers to help do dishes)

honey and fig gelato from San Crispino in Rome.

I have Thanksgiving with my brother (a vegetarian) and we do something different every year, generally carb centric though. Last year was roasted bell pepper soup with pasta, brushetta, onion rings (I don't know why, my brother really wanted them though), and possibly mashed potatoes... We also made Christmas cookies.

This year we're having a Mexican Thanksgiving- tamales, beans and rice, masa boats, roasted tomato soup and sweet potatoes with chile and orange.

The only traditional thing we keep is pumpkin pie.

There are traditional things my mom cooks (like cookies, this jello mold thing, stuff like that). And I have tried so hard to preserve traditions, but as my siblings and I have gotten older its been more and more difficult... as a result I have started my own traditions over the past few years, I go to my brother's for Thanksgiving (we cook something different every year, this year we're having a mexican fiesta) and I make Stollen every Christmas. And we try to have coffee cake Christmas morning.