I hope you're all having a great day! I was just thinking about our Thanksgiving challenge and just because it ends on Thanksgiving, I don't want to binge with all that food around. So I was just wondering what you all are doing as far as the big meal and if y'all had any healthy, low cal subtitutes for the traditional Thanksgiving feast??
I have a recipe I make every Thanksgiving that I personally think is healthy. It's a wild/brown rice dish so it can be used as a substitute for stuffing and mashed potatoes.
I actually LOST weight one thanksgiving living on leftovers - this rice, plain baked sweet potatoes and tofurky. I don't eat meat, so I generally make a giant vegetable pot pie or tofurky to go with my family's turkey.
I use this Lundberg's rice mix. http://www.lundberg.com/products/ric...ild%C2%AE.aspx Since real rice takes so long to cook, I make the whole package and then adjust the recipe for more rice. Usually I use walnuts instead of pecans, or you can leave it out entirely. It's good cold or room temperature.
If you make a lot of veggies (roasted carrots are awesome), rice, turkey, cranberries, maybe roasted potatoes (white or sweet) it shouldn't be that unhealthy of a meal.
let me know if you do try it, i've served that rice to probably 50 people over the years and everyone fights over the leftovers.
We have traditional must-haves, and I can't force my lifestyle on everyone else. BUT, since Thanksgiving is all about having tons of food, and since I host, I can certainly ADD stuff I can eat.
So, along with all the usual fair, I will be making steamed broccoli, baked squash and cranberry sauce with pomegranates. That plus turkey and a tablespoon of sweet potato casserole will be a FEAST for me! Yum! And, I should have room for pie.
I was going to go all out and make light versions of everything, but I changed my mind. My binging and gorging on TG and Christmas are exclusively on the junk we nibble on all.day.long. So, I'm not serving that junk. Instead of homemade, bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers, hash brown casserole, mozz sticks, buffalo chicken dip, blah blah blah, we'll have a veggie tray out, a fruit tray out, and maybe some cheese and crackers. And a lovely, traditional TG dinner.
I am making my usual traditional thanksgiving dinner. I can control myself on the portioning, with maybe a small bit over my usual allotment. I am, however, making one adjustment. I am not making a pumpkin pie this thanksgiving. :-( I know this is something I simply will not be able to resist if its in the house. I might make it through thanksgiving, but the next day..when I see it in the refrigerator, it will be all over. I could eat an entire pumpkin pie one tiny sliver at a time. So I am not going to even tempt myself with it. I will be making my husbands favorite pecan pie, and an apple pie, both of which I like, but which do not turn me into a raving "gimme gimme gimme!" maniac. Deviled eggs, which are something else I am unable to resist, will be on the menu, but I plan on making 3 deviled eggs. that will give my daughter 3, and me 3. We are the only two who like them. It will allow me one for thanksgiving, and 1 each for the next two days. Cant make just a few servings of pumpkin pie sadly!
But honestly..what is it about pumpkin pie that I find impossible to say no to? I have said no to virtually everything else over the last 9 months.....
I am planning a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but the veggie side dishes are super healthy with no added fat. The only items I plan to only have a tiny taste of are the family tradition mashed potatoes and the stuffing (but I have not liked stuffing my whole life, so staying away from it is no problem for me. I just have to build up my willpower to stay away from the potatoes!)
I am planning in my calorie count a glass of white wine. Is it sad I would rather have a glass of Chardonnay than a cookie or piece of cake or pie? lol.
My veggie sides are all low-fat recipes from Cooking Light and Vegetarian Times.
We are not having any "snack" foods because the meal is the focus.
It would not be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie though, so I make mine with Splenda and the Splenda brown sugar and leave most of the crust when I eat it.
To feel like I am still getting a scrumptious treat I treat myself to my favorite flavored coffee bean and sip on a nice delicious cup of coffee, usually some kind of toffee or caramel flavor. I drink it back, so it is not any added calories.
I am planning on enjoying the day and making up for it during the week before and after. I so rarely splurge on anything, with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I didn't even have ANY Halloween candy!
Those are great ideas. We just found out that I won't be cooking dinner. My MIL is, so I have no control over what food is going to be there or how it is to be prepared. I hate to say this but I don't really care for my in laws' cooking so I know I won't over do it on the actual dinner. It's the desserts that's the problem now. I have no problem resisting temptation... as long as it's not right in front of me. For example, I don't have sweets at my house. I do crave them but am basically too lazy to go get them. However, if there is a lovely spread of cakes and pies.... it doesn't look good....
I have a recipe I make every Thanksgiving that I personally think is healthy. It's a wild/brown rice dish so it can be used as a substitute for stuffing and mashed potatoes.
I actually LOST weight one thanksgiving living on leftovers - this rice, plain baked sweet potatoes and tofurky. I don't eat meat, so I generally make a giant vegetable pot pie or tofurky to go with my family's turkey.
I use this Lundberg's rice mix. http://www.lundberg.com/products/ric...ild%C2%AE.aspx Since real rice takes so long to cook, I make the whole package and then adjust the recipe for more rice. Usually I use walnuts instead of pecans, or you can leave it out entirely. It's good cold or room temperature.
That recipe looks awesome, I'll definitely be trying it this Thanksgiving. All I have to do is substitute the butter for Earth Balance to make it vegan.
Anyway, my intentions this year are to either make a veggie pot pie or a big pot of vegetable soup. I had a tofurky last year- it was good, but I'm ready and willing to escape from the "thanksgiving must = turkey" trap.
I'll also be making either a pumpkin pie(last year I had to make three- before Thanksgiving, on Thanksgiving, and a few days after- because my family gobbled them up so fast) out of fresh pumpkin puree or a pecan pie. Probably both. I'm not going to pretend at all that they're healthy but I'll have small slices of each and enjoy every bite.
That recipe looks awesome, I'll definitely be trying it this Thanksgiving. All I have to do is substitute the butter for Earth Balance to make it vegan.
Anyway, my intentions this year are to either make a veggie pot pie or a big pot of vegetable soup. I had a tofurky last year- it was good, but I'm ready and willing to escape from the "thanksgiving must = turkey" trap.
I'll also be making either a pumpkin pie(last year I had to make three- before Thanksgiving, on Thanksgiving, and a few days after- because my family gobbled them up so fast) out of fresh pumpkin puree or a pecan pie. Probably both. I'm not going to pretend at all that they're healthy but I'll have small slices of each and enjoy every bite.
Earth Balance should work just fine, that's the "butter" I use. I think I probably just leave that out though, as I don't usually add margarine when I make rice as it generally says it is optional.
If you want a good pot pie recipe, the one I make is sort of a variation on 3 different recipes. I cook frozen peas, carrots and corn with diced white potato, add that in with tofu I have seasoned with garlic granuales (got the tofu recipe from Bryann Clark Gorgen's blog) and baked in the oven, and dump it all into a casserole lined with whole wheat pastry crust (I got my recipe from Professional Vegetarian cooking) and use this gravy recipe: http://www.ivu.org/recipes/holiday/vegan-j.html I substitute white pepper for the black pepper it calls for. I think it goes much better with the sage.
That vegan gravy is not exactly healthy but it tastes amazing. I could eat that stuff every single day, I swear. It is soooo good. It's all garlicky and sagey and has nutritional yeast in it. Yummmm.
Last edited by Wildflower; 11-08-2010 at 09:57 AM.
It's hard to tear everyone away from the traditional thanksgiving favorites, so instead I make sure that there are a lot of veggies (not slathered in butter, sugar, or cheese) that I can fill up on. Last year I made roasted brussels sprouts and roasted sweet potatoes and both were a big hit. I just cut up the veggies, tossed with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe another spice or two and baked. Delicious!
Lately, I've discovered that I love roasting delicata squash with the sweet potatoes. The skin is so thin on that type of squash that you can actually eat it, so I just cube the squash after removing the seeds and toss with the sweet potatoes and a little olive oil and bake. I've been eating this at least once a week
I'm going home to TN for Thanksgiving and will be staying at my sister's house for a week. I'm planning on taking some things with me and buying my own fruits and veggies while I'm there. The whole family will be there for Thanksgiving dinner and I know there will be a LOT of food. I'm planning on enjoying my meal, and just being in control of my portions. I've had, and will have even more practice at doing it so hopefully I don't go overboard. =)
Healthy Thanksgiving
