I would like to cook a healthy & yummy thanksgiving dinner, any ideas?!
Answers: I was planning on cooking turkey (obviously) but I was wondering if there were ways to make the foods we all love for Thanksgiving in a healthy way, maybe cook them differently or replace some ingredients to make them healthier. I would love to have stuffing, mashed popatoes, yams, vegetables and the like but would be open to substituting them for different foods. Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Happy holidays and happy halloween :-)
Here are some ideas for ways to reduce the fat and calories for your dinner.
1. Make your turkey unstuffed. Fill the cavity with onioin, garlic, an herb bundle with thyme, rosemary and lemon zest. Rub olive oil on the skin and top with kosher salt, rubbed sage, and fresh ground pepper.
2. Green bean casserole update: Saute diced yellow onion with minced garlic in 2 T olive oil. Toss steamed fresh green beans with onion and add salt and pepper. Add sliced portabello mushrooms and 1/2 cup white wine to the mix. Saute until wine is reduced and mushrooms are tender. Add 1/2 cup low fat or fat free sour cream and 3 oz of fat free cream cheese. Blend until melted. Place in baking dish and top with parmesan bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
3. Instead of sweet potato casserole, try baked sweet potatos with a streusal topping. For streusal, mix 1/2 cup light butter or margarine with 3 T brown sugar and 1/2 cup candied walnuts. When sweet potatoes are cooked thru, split them, and top with some of the streusal. Return to oven and bake until streusal is melted, bubbling and yummy.
4. Cook yukon gold potatos in chicken broth for added flavor. Drain and mash with fat free sour cream, garlic, and a little light butter. Season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
5. Stuffing: Take your favorite cornbread stuffing mix and make according to package directions, reducing fat by half and substituting light margarine instead. To stuffing, add sauteed onion and celery along with crumbled lean turkey sausage for added flavor. Bake in baking dish for 45 minutes.
I'm a die-hard for traditional turkey dinners, so I don't stray far from recipes that I love very much. Since its one day a year, I indulge in family favorite recipes, but try to lighten them up a bit and get in some exercise while I'm at it.
I am sorry but because its a holiday keep the meal a full body flavored meal and cut fat, sugar, salt the rest of the year its just one day.
Hmmm...
Well you could roast the yams and white potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper (healthier than butter and cream). They always taste good.
Stick to meatless stuffing and use fat free broth to moisten it.
Sauteed green beans with shallots and tomatoes. YUM!
There's a few ideas.
Happy cooking!
peas
I gotta agree with Chris, for the holidays keep it lush. Worry about fat and calories after the first of the year.
Here are a couple of recipe ideas though:
Instead of Marshmallow topped sweet potatoes, tyr this
Baked Sweet Potatoes with Apple Pecan Butter
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon stone-ground mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon orange peel, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
3 medium sweet potatoes, sliced
3 small tart cooking apples, sliced, seeds removed
Heat oven to 375?. In 13x9-inch baking pan melt butter in oven (4 to 6 minutes). Stir in all remaining ingredients except sweet potatoes and apples. Place sweet potatoes in butter mixture, toss to coat.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until fork tender. Add apples, spoon butter mixture over apples. Continue baking for 15 to 20 minutes or until apples are tender.
or this recipe
Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes
2 pounds sweet potatoes, cut 1 1/2" cubes
3 large clove garlic, peeled, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper
In a roasting pan, combine sweet potatoes, garlic, rosemary and oil. Toss to blend well. Roast at 375oF for 40 minutes, turning sweet potatoes occasionally. Just before serving, season with pine nuts, parsley, salt and pepper.
And have you ever had corn pudding? Its awesome
Nantucket Corn Pudding
2 large eggs
1 C half-and-half (fat free is fine)
3/4 t. salt
1/8 t. ground white pepper
Pinch of nutmeg
4-1/2-5 C. frozen corn kernels, divided
3/4 C. crushed oyster crackers
3 T. unsalted butter, melted, divided
2 - 3 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, grated (1/4 - 1/3 C.)
Paprika
Preheat oven to 350°F. and grease a medium baking dish.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, salt, white pepper and nutmeg. Mix in corn, 1/2 cup of crackers and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Spoon pudding into prepared baking dish and scatter cheese over it. Mix together remaining crackers and butter and sprinkle over the cheese. Dust with paprika.
Bake the pudding for 45 to 50 minutes, until puffed and golden brown, with crusty edges, but a soft center. Serve hot.
Yield: 6 servings
Happy Holidays!
Foodnetwork.com is a great place to find healthy and yummy thanksgiving goodys. I my self have printed out several recpeies recently. They have grilled ,smoked, and tradtional turkey recpeies along with great sides that are tradtional but done in a healthy way.
I know it is not easy to have a Thanksgiving diner with out all of the good stuff. But if you are trying to make a healthy one, well Baste your turkey with olive oil instead of other oils. and make the rest of it (diner) with low fat, low salt, and low sugar products.
The meats for Thanksgiving Dinner should all be marinated overnight in the refrigerator. I would make a gravy from the juices of the turkey and of the ham. I would love to experience baked turkey, ham with pineapple slices and cloves in the middle of the slices, homemade mashed potatoes, asparagus, broccoli, baked sweet potatoes, red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, butter slices and hot dinner rolls, sugar, tea - (with sliced lemon), hot or iced, coffee with "real cream," bottled spring water, and canned, cold carbonated drinks. The dessert would be homemade bread pudding with "real, whipped cream." Ice cream (real cherry vanilla) or (chocolate) and coconut cream pie. This is a feast that I can hardly wait to enjoy. I wish you well. Peace, Love and God Bless.
Make your stuffing with chicken broth instead of butter. Serve roasted root vegetables instead of potatoes/yams with cream or butter. Pumpkin pie isn't too unhealthy-but you could make it into a pudding. Serve some fresh fruit or vegetable salads as alternate sides. Make your gravy low or nonfat.