Bring on the Pumpkin and Touchdowns: Saturdays in the Fall
I don’t know about everyone else, but having it be the end of
October already, I would like to know where the time has gone and how it is
possible that this semester is flying by so quickly. Whenever I look at the
date and realize October is almost over, I enter panic mode with everything I
have to do and think:
A
few minutes later, I realize I need to also take time for myself, and my
thoughts transform to:
Amidst
all the uncertainty about the future, here are three things I currently do
know:
- I LOVE
fall.
- I enjoy
eating seasonal foods that are healthy and nutritious.
- I am a huge
fan of Michigan Football (I may or may not have shed a few tears leaving
the Big House, soaking wet after losing to MSU.)
It may be because I’m from California, but there is nothing I love
more than “sweater weather,” and leaves turning into the colors of a vibrant
sunset. My love affair with the Fall season has led me to develop habits and
routines over the years that revolve around Fall themes. Recently, I have
noticed how these fall routines have helped make me feel balanced and in touch
with myself.
It may be cliché, but with the substantial hedonic value I place
upon healthy cooking, I instinctively try to incorporate pumpkin flavorings and
spices into my meals this time of year. And I’m not the only one. Microcultures
of foodie/lifestyle bloggers and instagrammers seem to bombard their followers
with pumpkin this and pumpkin that the second temperatures drop. Popular
culture seems to have created the cultural norm of turning food products
pumpkin flavored. Being the most tech-oriented generation, millennials play a
large role in driving this trend. Just look at a recent article published by
Spoon University about Five Healthy Ways to Incorporate Pumpkin into Your Fall Routine. (Babin, 2016).
With my full embrace of the season, I shamelessly support this
trend and even hold the food/lifestyle influencers that I follow to specific
role expectations (Babin, 2016) in anticipation of innovative and aesthetically
pleasing recipe posts full of pumpkin flavoring. What drives this anticipation
is my realization that eating pumpkin flavored foods helps me to live more in the
moment and consequently be more in tune with myself, something I am constantly
trying to work on. With every sign that I see advertising food products as
“limited edition,” or “seasonal,” I am reminded that I should enjoy all of the
pumpkin flavored treats now and enjoy all that the fall season has to offer
before it’s all gone, rather than constantly worrying about the future.
As expressed in my previous post, I am a big advocate of trying to
achieve a balanced lifestyle in college while also remaining true to myself and
my personal lifestyle. A big part of maintaining this balance for me is through
nutrition and health. However, a defining aspect of my collegiate experience is
also being an avid Michigan football fan. For me, after long days of tailgating
and staying at football games for the entire duration, come Saturday night I am
completely exhausted and don’t often feel as “balanced” as I do on other days.
So, if you are someone like me who strives to fully enjoy their football
Saturdays and support Michigan Football just as much as they strive to maintain
a healthy lifestyle, please enjoy the following guide of the best, highly nutritious pre and post
tailgate meals and snacks that can be prepared ahead of time for convenience.
Pumpkin edition.
Pre-tailgate:
Simple Mills Pumpkin Muffin Mix. Start the day off indulging in a mouthwatering pumpkin muffin that you can eat for breakfast with zero guilt. These babies are gluten & dairy free, paleo-friendly and refined-sugar free. The mix is found at most major grocery stores at a price of $7, and all that you have to add is eggs, water and oil. There's no reason it doesn't deserve a spot on the grocery list!
Post-tailgate:
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Tuscan Soup. Pop all the
ingredients in a slow-cooker, and let it sit all day, with the assurance that
as you dance on elevated surfaces and chant the Fight Song, your
dinner is being prepared. This hearty, creamy soup (made with coconut milk instead
of cream) will give you all the comfort and nutrition your body needs after
your day.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles.
Feeling like celebrating our game win? Shamelessly indulge in these balls of
joy that are vegan and naturally sweetened with dates. Loaded with fiber,
protein and healthy fats, they have many added nutritional benefits!
Enjoy
the fall and don’t forget to spice up your next Gameday! Check out my next blog
post for more creative ways to feel ~balanced~ in college.
Sources
Babin. B.J, & Harris, E.G (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
Five Healthy Ways to Incorporate Pumpkin into Your Fall Routine. (2017, September 21). Retrieved October 25, 2017, from https://spoonuniversity.com/how-to/five-healthy-ways-to-add-pumpkin-flavored-items-into-your-life
Pumpkin Almond Flour Muffin Mix. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2017, from https://www.simplemills.com/products/pumpkin-muffin-mix
M. (2017, September 05). Pumpking Choclate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles {Paleo & Vegan}. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://www.paleorunningmomma.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-truffles-paleo-vegan/
Slow Cooker Tuscan Pumpkin Soup. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.realfoodwholelife.com/blog/slow-cooker-tuscan-pumpkin-soup
Annabelle,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog and learning about how you balance living in the moment with all of your day-to-day obligations. Specifically, your habit of eating with the seasons really resonates with me because I too associate the fall with pumpkin and spices. Similarly, I can’t wait for holiday season because to me that is a time filled with peppermint and chocolate.
I particularly liked how you framed your blog as a “guide” for living a balanced game day. I can’t tell you how many times I have ordered in No Thai or Zingermans after game day and woke up the next Sunday with a stomach ache and regrets. I admire the emotional involvement you have in preparing healthy and seasonally relevant meals (Babin, 2016, p. 95). It seems like meal prepping is an integral part of your routine that provides you with a lot of happiness and satisfaction.
I am curious, what groceries stores do you visit the most to purchase all of these unique ingredients? Additionally, would you categorize yourself as an innovator or a thinker in the kitchen? I feel like you have aspects of both because you are “motivated by achievement” of a balanced life and also “value order and knowledge” of how to successfully prepare for your busy week (Babin, 2016, p. 123). Overall, it seems like leading a balanced life helps fit into your overall self-concept because helps you stay prepared and organized while also living in the moment (Babin, 2016, p. 124). To give you some inspiration for healthy winter recipes, I found an article from EatingWell with some really tasty looking ideas! http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/22319/seasonal/winter/top-10/slideshow/our-top-10-most-popular-winter-recipes/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.
Babin. B.J, & Harris, E.G (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
I loved reading this post Annabelle! I, too, love the fall and try my best to live a healthy lifestyle. However, I never gave much thought about how to combine the two until I gave this blogpost a good read. I've seen so many pumpkin spice ingredients while grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, but never decided to go through with a purchase as I never knew exactly what to do with some of the ingredients. Now, I can't wait to reference some of the recipes you included. I'll let you know how it goes!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I heard anything about "pumpkin spice" and other similar fall flavors, my mind immediately wanders to the esteemed pumpkin spice lattes that Starbuck's offers, and therefore I always perceived pumpkin spice flavoring to have both high caloric and sugar contents and therefore be not so healthy. However, after looking at the ways in which you incorporated these spices in a healthy way, my perception quickly changed (Babin & Harris, page 51).
I don't know if you ever shop at Trader Joe's but check out this article that I found online to get a better idea of all of the different kinds of seasonal foods they offer. You can also reference their website as well to keep up with what's new in stock there. http://www.delish.com/food-news/news/g4495/trader-joes-new-pumpkin-products/
Babin, B. J., & Harris, E. G. (2016). CB7. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning
I loved reading this post Annabelle! I too am a fall enthusiast and also try to balance all the various pressures of college. I loved your idea of using fall flavors to live in the moment. I find that I am always looking ahead to the future and often fail to enjoy the things that are happening right here and now.
ReplyDeleteI think social media has completely transformed the value of pumpkin, especially in cooking (Babin/Harris 2016). I remember when I was younger I would associate pumpkin as a thing you carve, not something to eat! However, there is now a micro culture of fall product enthusiasts that have developed due to Instagrammers and bloggers and has caused pumpkin to explode as a cooking trend in the past few years. I was curious about the actual health benefits of pumpkin and found this interesting article: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/health-benefits-pumpkin. It says that pumpkin helps boost the immune system, which is especially important after a long day of tailgating!
Hey Annabelle,
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow Fall-lover, I really enjoyed your post! It was great to see some uses for pumpkin outside of roasting seeds after a pumpkin-carving session, or the “pumpkin” syrup added to every café’s lattes in the autumn months. I love the idea of pumpkin-centric pre-tailgate meals, especially since my family household was always stocked with pumpkin and squash-based meals or baked goods during the season (Babin & Harris, 2016, p. 172). This was mainly because my mom always served as the primary purchaser in our household, and she loves all things pumpkin (Babin & Harris, 2016, p. 175).
One of my favorite things my mom makes is pumpkin pancakes. While pancakes aren’t always the healthiest breakfast option, since my sister had to adopt a low-carb diet/pseudo-Ketogenic diet, my mom found a great pumpkin pancake recipe: https://www.runningtothekitchen.com/pumpkin-paleo-pancakes-that-actually-taste-good/ These pancakes are also gluten and dairy-free, and paleo as well. I’d definitely encourage you to try it out for your next pre-tailgate meal! Looking forward to your next post, and thanks again for sharing!
Babin, B.J., & Harris, E. G. (2016). CB 7. Australia: South-Western.
Pumpkin Paleo Pancakes. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.runningtothekitchen.com/pumpkin-paleo-pancakes-that-actually-taste-good/
I loved reading this post Annabelle! Just like you, I too love fall for its seasonal foods that are healthy and nutritious as well. However, if it weren’t for these exciting fall treats, fall would not be an exciting time for me because it marks the time of year where the weather is going to drop. Seasonality has many effects on what consumers purchase. For example, many food items vary in demand with the season therefore pumpkin items around October and November (Babin & Harris, p. 230).
ReplyDeleteMy all time favorite place to shop for these season only foods is Trader Joes. You name the pumpkin based food you want, they have it! Check out this article I found online that rates all of the Pumpkin products that Trader Joes has. http://www.refinery29.com/2017/10/175148/trader-joes-pumpkin-food-products#slide-4
Trader Joes always has an exclusive pumpkin section that is really exciting and fun to look at. As a result of the warm and homey feeling I get when eating seasonal foods, I tend to make a lot of purchases in this area. Instead of doing any research on the food, I purchase the food because of the feeling I get when baking or preparing any fall themed food items (Babin & Harris, p. 252). This is referred to as the experiential decision making perspective. I cannot wait to try the recipes that you suggested.
Hey Annabelle!
ReplyDeleteCame back to your blog because I enjoyed it so much last time! Guess you could say a habit loop is forming (A. Angell, Lecture, September 25, 2017)! I am from california as well so I am also a big fan of the fall- I guess it is because we don’t really get it on the West Coast. I think your point about buying pumpkin products because it allows you to live in the moment was so interesting and I had never thought about that before. I think you could even consider this a situational influence(Babin, 2016,p.27). After you mentioned it I feel like I do that during a lot of holiday seasons.
I think a lot of this has to do with our environment and social influence as we keep seeing pumpkin spice products and fall-associated images that prompt us to purchase (Babin, 2016,p.26). I think these products give us the experiential value of living in the moment and reminiscing on family and holiday spirit (A. Angell, Lecture, September 13, 2017).
I loved your suggestions for healthier gameday meals as that is definitely something I have struggled with on Saturdays, especially when you have to wake up on Sunday to a load of homework and studying! I also think your perspective on keeping things balanced offers students a way to keep both their hedonic values in having their gameday, while making them more functional as well in maintaining health(A. Angell, Lecture, September 13, 2017). A possible idea for your next blog post could be balancing healthy eating and social life. Maybe consider how to eat healthy when going out to restaurants to restaurants with friends. Looking forward to what you write on next!
Great blog post! As I was reading, I was reminded of a recent article that came up on my Twitter feed the other day.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2017/are-americans-still-falling-for-pumpkin.html
The article mentioned that Nielsen data found sales of products that included pumpkin totaled $1.14 billion over the past year. This figure is very interesting to think about in comparison to how much its grown in the past few years. I too enjoy pumpkin flavored anything, but am curious as to what has driven this increase in pumpkin purchases. Could it be the pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks that got people hooked on the idea that having this flavoring is a necessity come October? Maybe group and/or social influences are involved in making you think pumpkin is the new norm?
Either way, I am not complaining about the pumpkin trend -- it's so good! I was at Trader Joe's last weekend and purchased pumpkin rolls with icing, pumpkin cream cheese, and spiced apple cider. Definitely would recommend to try the pumpkin rolls.