The Holidays
 

....are just around the corner.... <blah>

This is something I am looking forward to, but also am dreading.

Food. Everthing is planned around food.

Thanksgiving of course... visits are planned around when we are going to eat. When the turkey is going to be ready. Pies. Homemade rolls, potatoes & gravy.... <gah>

Christmas - same as above. When the Ham is going to be done.. etc.

New Years....

Superbowl....

Yikes!

I am already working on my menus. Trying to plan alternative ways to prepare favorite foods, substitue ingreadients, and making sure portions are under control.

Thanksgiving
Pies... I have located those cute little pie tins that are individual servings.
Turkey I am not too worried about - I eat only the white meat.
It is the homemade rolls and real butter that is going to do me in though!
I am going to make gravy out of canned broth and wondra... low sodium and no fat.
I am going to whip up some butternut squash and use splenda brown sugar & cinnamon along with some of that olive oil spread....
Green bean cassarole - I am using the healthy kind of 'cream of celery' and using roasted onions and peppers on top instead of those fatty french onions.
Waldorf Salad - this is a mixture of coolwhip and instant pudding (kinda like a mock mouse). I am using the LF coolwhip & sugar free pistacio pudding, crushed pineapple and a small amount of sunflower seeds and marshmallows.
Sweet Potatoes - splenda brown sugar and the olive oil spread
Homemade cranberry sauce..

There are 4 of us watching our weight this year, so what I make will be ok for them, but the rest of them (10) are all skinny minnies and can eat what ever they want without any problems. So I am making the regular stuff too... <sigh> I am already tired just thinking about it.

And, of course, watching portions is the really big thing. I have my WW measuring serving ladles/spoons.

What plans does everyone else have? Any other ideas?

I have never made a Thanksgiving meal in my life...I have no suggestions, but just want to say :bravo: for the pre-planning!! It's so easy to just throw up your hands during the holidays, but you're right, there are ways to stay healthy even with all the foodiness around.
Good luck!!
S

Thanks Shrink! I realize I have to do this now, so I don't get caught up in the cooking & eating. We usually have all of the kids, in-laws/out-laws, and now grandkids over.. there usually are about 18 of us and there is going to be at least that many depending on one of our daughters (which would add 3) and our son (if his GF comes) which would be another one. That will be 23 people to cook for! They all bring stuff, but there are some 'special' dishes that I make they request. One is a very rich, very high calorie, 'sinful' cake below. :)

I figured out a way to make my "better than sex" cake WW friendly! :) :)

I can use the diet soda / chocolate cake recipe, that ff caramel syrup, FF chocolate syrup, LF cool whip, almond slivers and a small amount of toffee bits! YAY! Works out to be 3 points per serving! Awesome!

WOW, I can't believe your planning. That all sounds great, because you will be able to really eat and not feel guilty about it. That would be great!

Here I was thinking I'd be good if I just keep the eating to the actual day of the holiday and not spread it out to weeks at a time. I'm really going to have to give this some more thought! Thanks for the ideas! I'm nervous! :fr:

Just remember, it's a hoiday. No more than a day. You are allowed to treat yourself :) I remember I would feast for days during breaks.. that's going to change. One day and I'll be fine.

Chey,
Can you post the diet soda cake recipe? I have been looking for it and can't find it. Also here is my 2 point mashed potato recipe. Boil 4 medium red potatoes. Mash them with 1/4 cup fat free half and half, 1/4 cup chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste. This serves 3 people so it is a decent amount. Sometimes I boil a couple of cloves of garlic with the potatoes to make garlic mashed...so yummy!

Homemade rolls might do me in too. For me personally, I wouldn't skip them, but I would make sure I had mine after I was partly full. I could eat 5 of them, fast, when hungry, and not enjoy them any more than 1 or 2 when I was already getting full.

I don't see Thanksgiving as a problem for me. I looked up the points for several different things and it doesn't seem too bad. I can skip pie with no problem, grab some mashed potatoes before my dh throws in 3 sticks of butter in it (yes, he does that), I found some fat free gravy that I'll use for those, make stuffing with low point bread (they now have ww Stovetop if you don't make your own), veggies and maybe a small ww roll. Now in the past we started the Christmas celebration early with all kinds of goodies, but my boys have moved out now and so I think I'll do ok.

Stuffing is usually my downfall, I love that stuff!

philadelphiab - I use a can of diet cherry coke/pepsi/rootbeer (any of those) and the Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker (one is 170 calories per serving the other 180)... I use the 170 cake mix. That is it. Some people put in one or two egg whites to help it rise, but I don't. The chocolate is kinda like a brownie texture... it is pretty good. You follow all of the directions on the box. It won't rise as much as a normal cake, has a denser consistency, but is really good.

.... I forgot about the stuffing!!!! (back to the drawing board.. wonder how it would be if I dried out village hearth bread to make the bread portions of stuffing?) hmmmm

Great Idea !!

:dizzy: Now I need to make a menu :dizzy:

Wow I had not thought that far in advance and I am the one doing Thanksgiving and Christmas eve. I can skip the deserts that part is easy, even skip the mashed potatoes and gravy but the stuffing --oh dear--not sure what I will do there
My menu now that I think about it will have steamed green beans, maybe carrots too, mashed potato's made with chicken stock & ff milk-not butter, green salad with some homemade ff dressing, turkey, stuffing (not sure how to reduce that one yet but I have time), I need to find a substitute for those rolls, maybe some hard bread sticks? Desserts to be brought by others ( can resist that stuff) <sigh> guess I will have to make sweet potato's for DH

we arent doing a traditional turkey dinner. None of the men enjoy turkey. So its more of a symbol than anything else. Then Im stuck with turkey for weeks, because it doesnt get eaten!! We'll be doing a smoked dinner. Smoked ribs and chicken (I'll have the chicken) marinated veggies and oven roasted. Garlic mashed potatoes, but Im ok with missing those. My big issue will be the home made biscuits and wayyyyy too much butter. So maybe I'll just go buy some pilsbury stuff instead. I dont have any issues leaving those behind. Desserts are easy enough, I will pumpkin pie, which I dont like. So that problem is solved. Its easy when you are doing the cooking.

Christmas is a whole other issue, because I not cooking it this year.

Holy Crap. I never even thought about it this early in the game. However I am glad I ran across this thread. It is an AWESOME idea and I am going to start planning my Holiday dinners when I log off. It will much more enjoyable knowing that I am still Watching my Weight...lol. If I run across any good recipes and what not I will post.

Yeah for planning ahead, if that isn't my saving grace, nothing is.

I do plan to enjoy myself, so that means saving my 35, and earning some AP's.

Not so much the dinner, just much smaller portions of everything, but the dessert's are my specialty/weakness, so.....I know that whatever I make, 99% of what's left has to leave with my kids. I can't have it tempting me, I still have this love/hate thing with food, love to bake, but hate for others to watch me eat it, I do much better if I surround myself with people when there is alot of tempting foods around, I won't go overboard, until, I'm all alone then....I unleash this wild beast. Weird!! I do make some WW friendly desserts, but even too much of a great thing is not good!!

As far as the stuffing, I make it with the low cal ww bread, and instead of butter, use low sodium ckn broth. By using onions and baking it in the bird it stays very moist, and 1/2c, is well worth the 3pts for me.