Chef Marie
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ARTICLES A Healthier Thanksgiving Meal
Here are a few ideas to help you make your Thanksgiving feast healthier! Remove Fat from the bottom of your cooked turkey pan. Add turkey/chicken stock, bring to a boil and thicken with cornstarch. Add a little demi-glace or brown sauce to finish your sauce. This way has a lot less fat and calories than the usual turkey gravy (butter plus flour). You can also omit the sauce process and just serve with cranberry sauce. No fat there. Make your own cranberry sauce.Cranberry sauce can be made with 25% less sugar than suggested from most packages of fresh cranberries without noticing much difference. Maple syrup or honey can also be substituted for white sugar. For 1 cup of sugar, substitute ¾ cup of honey or maple syrup. Use low-fat milk/stock for mashed potatoes and olive oil/grapeseed oil, garlic, to emphasize flavors rather than tons of butter. Grapeseed oil has a buttery flavor. There is also a new non-hydrogenated product on the market called “Earth Balance” natural buttery spread that will work too. It is fairly salty, so do not add salt to your mash potatoes. If necessary, adjust at the end. Roast sweet potatoes or yams instead of the ton of calories in most candied recipes. We all know that sweet potatoes or yams are a good source of fiber, vitamins, and beta-carotene, but most of the remaining ingredients in the traditional recipes are not so healthy. To roast just add a little oil and the usual spices to season before baking. Drizzle a little maple syrup on the potatoes just before serving, if you really have to have some sweetness. You may decide to offer either mashed potato or sweet potatoes (yams) to avoid too many calories. Then again, I understand tradition, so adjust the amount you offer so everyone has to limit how much they can take. A little bit less of both worlds can play wonders. Remember to offer white meat for those who really have to watch their diet. White meat is a lot leaner than dark meat. Make the stuffing separate from the bird. Less fat penetrates the stuffing while cooking. Again use olive oil/grapeseed and stock rather than butter to make the stuffing. Build up flavors with plenty of fresh herbs, dry fruits, nuts, and minced onion/garlic. Avoid rice stuffing or, too much carbohydrate in the overall Thanksgiving meals. Steam or par-boil vegetables to limit fats and calories. Mixing them with other ingredients on your plate such as a little turkey sauce or cranberry sauce will do just fine. Casserole should be avoided due to high fats and calories. Have greens (ex. romaine and spinach) with a few tomatoes slices and a light vinaigrette dressing. Offer smaller pieces of apple pie or pumpkin pie and stay away from pecan pie which is loaded with sugar and corn syrup, and, therefore has too many calories. Substitute frozen yogurt or sherbet for ice cream. Two tablespoons melting over a piece of pie can go a long way. Eat only one cookie or two chocolates but not three or four of each. After Thanksgiving is over and you have turkey leftover, your first thought might be to make sandwiches, but that might not be your best choice. If you must, use whole wheat bread, mustard instead of mayonnaise and add lots of lettuce and vegetables on it rather than lots of meat. Here are my suggestions to use turkey leftover: make a soup, a salad, a turkey salad (half yogurt/half mayonnaise or vinaigrette), a pasta dish with lots of vegetables, or chili. Just be creative and have fun. In conclusion I will say this. Enjoying life’s pleasures with controlis one of the key to well-being and happiness. So remember: moderation, moderation, moderation.If you do, your first year resolution won’t be to lose that extra weight you gained over the holiday season. I will finish with a quotation from one of my favorite writer Mark Twain:“ A human being has a natural desireto have more of a good thing than he needs” HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU, YOUR FAMILY, AND FRIENDS! |
