September and October have flown by, as they always do! We’ve just cruised out of our busiest stretch of the year: back-to-school, extracurriculars starting up, our three kids’ birthdays & parties (technically, Levi’s “friends” party isn’t until next week, but close enough!), Canadian Thanksgiving, and Halloween. To top it off, my Oh She Glows Salads Bonus Recipe and Meal Plan Bundle draft was due last month, so it’s been a busy one. Whew!

While we Canadians are already recovering from our Thanksgiving food comas, our friends in the U.S. are gearing up for yours soon. So, I thought this would be the perfect time to round up a few of my favourite Thanksgiving-friendly vegan recipes. Whether you’re deep in menu planning, haven’t started yet (I see you), or just need that one show-stopping dish to bring along, I hope something here sparks your inspiration—and maybe a little glowing nutrition, too. I know my skin could use a little extra glow this time of year!

If you’re in need of some menu inspo, be sure to check out my 3-course vegan and gluten-free holiday meal plan! My goal when I created this blog post was to create some dishes that could be made the day before. I also wanted the prep on the day of Thanksgiving to be minimal. My prep time the day before was under 2 hours, and my prep time the day of was about 1 hour. Not too shabby.

Before we dive in, I want to take a minute to thank you for all of the warm, encouraging, and heartfelt responses that I received after relaunching my newsletter back in September! Your excitement for my big news (Oh She Glows Salads!) and continued love and support mean the world to me!

Be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of this newsletter, as I’m sharing a new feature this week and would love to know what you think. :)

If you have my cookbooks on your shelf, this is the week to crack open those dog-eared pages. I’ve pulled some Thanksgiving-ready favourites from each of my three books—cozy mains, make-ahead sides, and a sweet finish—so you can mix and match a menu that feels just right for your crew. Ready to flip through? Dive in below.

I’m in the mood for a little throwback today! Does anyone remember way back in 2008 and 2009, in the early days of my blog, when my tagline used to be “Food. Fitness. Fashion. Fun.”? At the time, I created that tagline because I wanted to talk about all of those things. (Not sure I’ve ever had any street cred in the fashion department, but a girl can dream, right!? 😂) Lately, I’ve been wanting to bring back some of those topics, and I think it would be fun to include them in this newsletter from time to time. Whatcha say?

Today, I’m going to kick it off with fitness and share a hard-but-satisfying (and often expletive-worthy...) core work challenge that Eric and I have been doing. Last month, I challenged Eric to do a daily plank with me where we increase our plank time by 5 seconds each day. We started with a 1-minute plank…the next day, we held the plank for 1 minute and 5 seconds, the next day we did 1 minute and 10 seconds, and so on. Today, weeks later, we are holding 4-minute, 30-second planks without stopping! Dear God, it hurts so bad. We never thought that we’d be able to hold a plank for this long, but we keep going and surprising ourselves each time. And because we're doing it together, we have accountability and feel like we can’t quit. When will we hit a wall? Time will tell! And, more importantly, would you like to join us!?

I’ve loved the daily plank challenge so much that I created some other challenges for myself, like a daily push-up and wall-sit challenge. For push-ups, I started with 10 full push-ups per set (making sure I focus on good form), and I do that for about 4-5 days in a row—or until I feel strong enough to increase. When ready, I increase to 11 push-ups per set and do that daily for 4 to 5 days. Next, comes 12 push-ups, etc. I can do as many sets throughout the day as I want to, but I commit to at least 1 set per day (allowing for a rest day, if needed). For wall sits, I simply try to hold it as long as I can and do a couple of sets per day. Right now, I’m hovering around 3-minute, 15-second wall-sit holds. I’m doing these challenges alongside a handful of physio exercises that focus on back strengthening (among other things), thanks to a wonderful exercise physiologist who’s helping me work through some chronic pain since my three pregnancies. I’m already feeling stronger than I have in years, and I love that none of it eats up much time—there’s no way I could fit long workouts into my days right now. If you’re anything like me and struggle to carve out time for exercise, I highly recommend trying some mini challenges!

Anyway, I thought I’d share what is inspiring me right now. As always, please chat with your healthcare provider before starting any new fitness regimen!

Well, that’s a wrap for today. To our American friends, I’m wishing you a delicious, cozy, and joy-filled Thanksgiving!

If you know someone who'd enjoy my In the Glow newsletter, please feel free to forward it along. Newsletter signup can be found here. Thank you for your support!