[Cheryl14]

Hi All!

How'd you all do with the Thanksgiving Day temptations?

I feel pretty good about the menu that we did at our house! I have some special challenges feeding our family because we have some vegans, a diabetic, those of us who are trying to eat low fat and low cal, and my future daughter-in-law who has a wheat gluten allergy. Whew! There are also some who love EVERYTHING, so I had to plan around a lot of special situations. I made a buffet with A LOT of different foods.

We had turkey and ham for the meats to satisfy the meat lovers. I made mashed sweet potatoes instead of the sweet potato casserole I WAS going to make so that we could provide less sugary options. My pumpkin pie was made with Splenda, too. Rather than make the green bean casserole, I made plain green beans and also plain corn. I used spray butter on each for flavor instead of butter. We had whole wheat rolls so that my husband could enjoy them instead of the white homemade bread I usually have. I made a huge salad for our vegan family members and used no egg in the stuffing. I made stuffing to put IN the turkey, and some that was cooked OUTSIDE of the turkey.

Everyone said that it was a wonderful Thanksgiving. Whew! I am EXHAUSTED after trying to please all of our family members!

I got up early yesterday morning and did an hour of step aerobics with Gilad (GREAT DVD!!) That gave me energy to deal with the day! I also remembered to wear slacks WITHOUT elastic, so that when I ate a reasonable amount I needed to STOP to keep comfortable! That was a HUGE help!

What I have discovered is that I have to let my head guide me instead of just my emotions and my tastebuds! This is new for me!

I hope you all had a good holiday! On to prep for Christmas!
Cheryl

[Tara D]

May I ask...Do you use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock for your stuffing when making the vegetarian one? I know the Stove Top brand has powdered chicken stock. I was trying to get a way from using the boxed stuffing mix, and everyone suggested chicken stock...but I never considered making it without it -- does vegetable stock work well, or do you use something else? I know some vegetarians -- so I thought I'd ask in case this comes up.

Thanks!

[boaterswife]

Cheryl, WOW! Good for you! You made healthy options for yourself, as well as items that would work for many others....you rock!

I feel my Thanksgiving went well! It was NOT a balanced meal (IMO), but I did survive it and was even 1 point under my daily target when I went to bed. Dinner was at my MIL's and she tends to sabotage rather than be helpful, so I feel like I was the winner! I ate my normal breakfast yesterday of Oatmeal with Sweet'n low and milk. Dinner was at MIL's, and I was in charge of the salad for this year. I made a huge green salad with lots of extra veggies in it -- red and orange peppers, green onions, cucumbers, etc. MIL always prefers to have the dressing dumped on and mixed up rather than applying your own dressing, so I used the Kraft Light Done Right House Italian...delicious, and 1 POINT! I ate a large salad before I made my dinner plate, so that worked out well also. I had only turkey, a small serving of stuffing and a drizzle of gravy on my dinner plate. All the veggies she made were loaded with sauces and cheese, and I don't care for them enough to make it worthwhile spending points on. She also had mashed potatoes (I can have them anytime, so I passed) and candied sweet potatoes. Again, I prefer them plain or with a little spray butter so I didn't feel as though I was missing out on anything. Dinner rolls were also available, but they really don't do anything for me! We were still there at supper time, so all the leftovers were brought back out for sandwiches and such. I had another small serving of the turkey and dressing with a bit of gravy....no salad as it was gone the first time around! Desserts didn't look appealing to me so I skipped them all together. DH, who loves his dessert, said pretty much the same thing! Instead I finished my day with a Special K bar (2 pts.) when we got home.

Long winded, but I think the day went well! Hope all of yours did also!

[hoodj0080]

Wow, you chickies did AWESOME!!!!! I blew it, and I blew it big, lol! I've calmed down some and realized that a day or two of mindless eating won't gain me back 30 pounds. I had yesterday to splurge, and today (Leftovers...yum!) I think I may have eaten my own weight in pie...
I know I'll be sad at myself at my next weigh in, but my self esteem is better now. I know that it is possible fo rme top lose the 5 pounds I'm sure i gained this week, ha ha!

[Cheryl14]

Hi Tara!

Yes, I use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock for the stuffing. I've tried it with just hot water, but I think the taste is better with the vegetable stock. Olive oil works great to saute the vegetables, too, since you can't use butter (animal product). Adding some basil and oregano as well as fresh chopped garlic makes for an interesting stuffing. I like to add onion, celery, parsley, and carrot for the veggies.

Have a great week!

Cheryl

[MollyB54]

My husband and i looked on the internet for "healthy recipes". We found a stuffed pumpkin recipe that was low-fat, relatively low calorie and festive. We had that with green beans (another low calorie dish) and turkey. This was in place of stuffing, green bean casserole (loaded with calories) and pumpkin pie.
We still felt we had a festive dinner, but it was not loaded with fat and calories.