I have been fearing the holiday season since May.
Thanksgiving means stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, chicken and noodles, pie. Excuse me, pies — plural. I am not afraid to have a slice of pecan pie and slice of pumpkin pie on the same plate. Big ones.
Christmas is about cookies and homemade candies. Did you know you can make pralines in the microwave? If you didn’t, you can, and they are melt-in-your-mouth good.
Yeah, I really like holiday foods. And that is why I’m dreading it.
Granted, the last month and half hasn’t been great as far as making good choices consistently.
I want to do better with what I eat this holiday, whether it is what I serve as a holiday meal or how I keep the sweet treats under control.
This year, I recruited a little help and talked to Julie Herbst at Bay Area Hospital and Stephanie Polizzi with OSU Extension. They gave me good pointers.
The tip that stuck the most is to prepare healthy items that look very appealing and remind us of the holiday.
We are having a couple of friends over for dinner and Mr. X and I plan to serve a turducken. It is a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Each poultry layer is separated by cornbread stuffing. …
I’ll be the first to admit, it doesn’t sound like I am following the expert advice of the experts. But I think the way I can make this meal a little better is what I serve with it. I was toying with the idea of making a green bean casserole, but have settled on buying some green beans to cook in the skillet with a little bit of butter substitute and green onions.
And I’m not going to make mashed potatoes. Right now I am leaning toward a sweet potato casserole or a stuffed acorn squash (maybe both). Both of the recipes will allow me to substitute fat-free ingredients.
Food Junkie Discovery
Julie gave me a couple of recipes for Thanksgiving. One of them is for fat-free pumpkin cheesecake. I think this year, instead of making the traditional pumpkin pie, I will try this out. Don’t worry, I still plan on making pecan pie. That would be blasphemy if I didn’t.
