Lightening up! Having been a vegetarian for 26 years, people never expect me to serve a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner. My menu is set except dessert (which is being brought by our guests) Every recipe has been modified to be light, healthy and whole grain (where applicable)
• Roasted pepper & corn soup
• Butternut Squash with Sage Stuffing
• Spinach & Carrot Lasagna Rolls
• Ginger & cinnamon yams
• Sweet potato biscuits
• Green bean casserole
Last edited by CountingDown; 11-11-2007 at 06:08 PM.
That's funny Glory. I've always made a pecan pie, even last year while I was losing. But then it was easy - I just said no to everything. Now that I'm maintaining, well it's another story. I think this may be the first year that I don't make it. I think I will make an apple crisp instead and a pumpkin pie, not exactly sure yet.
We go to my Mom for the holiday and just today we discussed who's making what. So, well yeah, I've got the dessert covered, although an uncle of mine will also be bringing something from the bakery along. Mom is making the turkey, no problem there, I'll stick to the white meat. She's making sweet potatoes (I'll probably pass since she makes it with brown sugar and maple syrup), string bean casserole - the stuff from the can with the mushroom soup and the fried onion rings (doesn't interest me), stuffing (I'll have a few forkfuls). I will be bringing 2 salads, not sure which ones just yet, and probably I will make roasted aspargus and brussel sprouts.
I know I will go over my "usual" calorie allotment for the day, but it shouldn't be too terrible. I'll try to keep it low all week prior to it.
Countingdown, those foods sound great....... Wouldn't mind a recipe or 2, especially for the soup and the squash with stuffing.
Been chatting this over with my mother as well....it will be the usual turkey, mashed potatoes (but will lighten it), marshmellows on yams (I know, but I'm gonna do portions with that), green beans, deviled eggs, and clover leaf rolls. As for pies, I recently tried out an apple/pear pie that was absolutely delish, so will make that again instead of buying an apple pie. My family tends to buy pumpkin, apple, pecan, and blueberry pies for the holidays.
I have been watching the Food Network Channel for some ideas on what I can serve for Thanksgiving....so far I've seen an apple gravy and a sweet potato pie that I may do.
Soup is - ummm, from a box - from Trader Joe's
The squash recipe is delightful. From fabulousfoods.com
Butternut Squash with Sage Stuffing - Serves 8
4 med. butternut squashes (about 1 pound each)
3/4 C wild rice, rinsed
1 T olive oil
1 C diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 C firmly packed torn whole wheat bread
1 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 C orange juice
Preheat the oven to 375° degrees.
Cut the squashes in half and scoop out seeds and fibers. Place them, cut side up, in shallow baking dishes and cover tightly with foil. Bake until easily pierced with a knife but still firm, about 45 minutes.
While squash is baking, prepare rice. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the wild rice then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook until the water is absorbed, about 40 minutes.
While rice is cooking, heat the oil in a skillet. Add onion and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 10 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, combine the cooked wild rice with the sautéed onion and the remaining ingredients. When the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the pulp, leaving firm shells about 1/2 inch thick. Chop the flesh and stir it into the rice mixture. Stuff the squashes, place on foil-lined baking dishes, and cover. You can prepare the dish up to this point, a day ahead of time. Cover with foil and store in refrigerator.
Before serving, place the foil covered squashes in a preheated 350° degree oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or just until heated through.
Last edited by CountingDown; 11-11-2007 at 09:47 PM.
I'm just doing extremely small portions of my absolute favorites. If it's not a favorite of mine then I won't eat it. So for me that means a little turkey, a little stuffing, some mashed potatoes, one homemade roll, and then a small slice of chocolate pie with some vanilla ice cream and then a small piece of cream cheese sophillas. I only make these rich and fattening desserts twice a year both for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I'll second the reasonable portions of traditional dishes. Now, while I cut back on stuff like butter and other fats in traditional dishes, some meals just weren't meant to be messed with and severely altered and Thanksgiving is one of them. And believe you me, if I fool around and try and make everything "diet-friendly", my family is going to notice and I'll be shot twice at sunrise. They're like, hey, you wanna lighten your meals up? Go right ahead. But leave Thanksgiving dinner alone.
And I agree with them.
So, again, reasonable portions of the usuals. On Thanksgiving I go ahead and eat and enjoy myself without worrying about the stupid calories.
[quote=LLV;1926855]I'll second the reasonable portions of traditional dishes. Now, while I cut back on stuff like butter and other fats in traditional dishes, some meals just weren't meant to be messed with and severely altered and Thanksgiving is one of them. And believe you me, if I fool around and try and make everything "diet-friendly", my family is going to notice and I'll be shot twice at sunrise. They're like, hey, you wanna lighten your meals up? Go right ahead. But leave Thanksgiving dinner alone. quote]
Ya got that right! My mother is a little open minded on some things, but not much. Indeed, her first response when I mentioned lightening up some things was "you're gonna ruin Thanksgiving!" Seriously though, we just gotta do more exercising, and do moderations.
Last edited by NemesisClaws; 11-12-2007 at 11:12 AM.
I am going to lighten up dishes that no one will really notice (skim milk in the mashed potatoes, lemon drizzle on the veggies instead of butter, fat free dip for the veggie platter, etc.) but a couple of things (like the gravy and the stuffing) just don't do all that well when altered! So for me it will mostly come down to portion sizes. I'm not really worried.
As far as desserts go I'm not really in control of that because we have 8 people coming and their job is to furnish the desserts! I will have 1 small piece of pumpkin pie because it's my favorite but I am also going to make my own "light" dessert of lemon sorbet with a Grand Marnier blackberry glaze to drizzle on top.
Ya got that right! My mother is a little open minded on some things, but not much. Indeed, her first response when I mentioned lightening up some things was "you're gonna ruin Thanksgiving!" Seriously though, we just gotta do more exercising, and do moderations.
Agreed, I think everyone should do it in the way that they're comfortable. One meal isn't going to ruin everything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wisher
I am going to lighten up dishes that no one will really notice (skim milk in the mashed potatoes, lemon drizzle on the veggies instead of butter, fat free dip for the veggie platter, etc.) but a couple of things (like the gravy and the stuffing) just don't do all that well when altered! So for me it will mostly come down to portion sizes. I'm not really worried.
As far as desserts go I'm not really in control of that because we have 8 people coming and their job is to furnish the desserts! I will have 1 small piece of pumpkin pie because it's my favorite but I am also going to make my own "light" dessert of lemon sorbet with a Grand Marnier blackberry glaze to drizzle on top.
I agree with this as well, lighten up where it won't be noticed. For example, I buy the reduced-fat crescent rolls rather than the regular. Nobody notices that. I'm making the stuffing this year, which is a delicious recipe, only without a bunch of added fat, like butter and turkey drippings. Got that recipe from a Light & Tasty book.
I also agree with skim milk in the mashed potatoes. However, I'm not doing the mashed potatoes this year, so lord only knows what's going to be in them. No doubt full-fat milk and tons of butter. The sweet potatoes, not in charge of those, either. So those too will be loaded with butter. That's just the way this family cooks (my bf's family, I don't have any of my own). Like one day I was at my bf's mom's for dinner and asked if I could help her with the mashed potatoes. So I'm like standing at the counter, beating up the potatoes, and she comes over and drops a WHOLE STICK of butter down into the pot. I said, "You're gonna put ALL of that in there?"
She said, "Yes, I always do."
When she wasn't looking, I cut the stick in half and threw the other half away. I mean, there's just no sense in that. I wasn't even comfortable with the half stick of butter, but I let it go and didn't eat any of the mashed potatoes.
But on Thanksgiving, I'm not going to worry about it.
I'll be off-plan for Thanksgiving dinner--and there will be wine involved. It's just one meal, it's hardly going to make much of a difference in my weight in the long run. We're joining a friend's family for dinner, so I have almost no control over the food, except for the one dish that I bring. But the good news is that I won't have to worry about leftovers. I'm going to relax and enjoy the meal.
Thanksgiving is a pot luck at my Mom's house. There will probably be 30+ people there and my extended family is notorious for the extremely fattening foods. My mom makes an oyster stuffing to DIE for. So my plan is to bring a few deceivingly lightened up items (spinach dip, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese). I know I can comfortably eat a decent sized serving of those things and I will eat tiny amounts of the other stuff I can't pass on. I am saving points for that oyster stuffing though. I can close my eyes and almost taste it!
What have you planned for Thanksgiving dinner this year?
Ya got that right! My mother is a little open minded on some things, but not much. Indeed, her first response when I mentioned lightening up some things was "you're gonna ruin Thanksgiving!" Seriously though, we just gotta do more exercising, and do moderations. 
It's just one meal, it's hardly going to make much of a difference in my weight in the long run. We're joining a friend's family for dinner, so I have almost no control over the food, except for the one dish that I bring. But the good news is that I won't have to worry about leftovers. I'm going to relax and enjoy the meal. 
