Revitalize Your Holiday Meal!
From Registered Dietician Michelle Gorman
If you aren’t careful, the holidays can leave you looking like a butterball! One solution is to nip and tuck your favorite dishes to increase the health value, decrease the guilt factor and still maintain taste. How? Reduce, replace, substitute and experiment. Here are some quick tips to get you started.
The turkey
Avoid self-basting turkeys. Instead, baste a plain turkey with broth or fruit or vegetable juices for a moist and flavorful bird. When the platter is passed around the holiday table, choose skinless white meat for the least amount of calories and fat.
The dressing
Cook the stuffing outside of the turkey, since stuffing absorbs fat that drips from the bird during cooking. Simply use whole grain bread, chopped vegetables, low-sodium broth and spices to flavor your stuffing without adding fat!
The side dishes
Put a new twist on your traditional recipes. Cook sweet potatoes in apple cider and add a touch of maple syrup. Create an elegant baked vegetable dish by preparing green beans with low-fat, low-sodium mushroom soup and top with a sprinkling of crunchy onions. Season mashed potatoes with roasted garlic and herbs instead of butter. Add edamame (sweet soybeans) to soups, salads and side dishes for a healthful holiday treat.
Dips and gravies
Whenever possible, replace butter with unsaturated oils such as olive oil or canola oil. Try dressings and dips made with plain non-fat yogurt or silken tofu. Add color, flavor and nutrients to dips by chopping sautéed spinach, kale or other dark leafy greens and adding to them to the mixture. If you have time, refrigerate turkey juices and skim off the hardened fat before making gravy. Consider using a packaged mix to make low-fat gravy that is guaranteed to be lump-free and easy to make.
Appetizers and hors d’ oeuvres
Replace meat appetizers with vegetable appetizers. Stuff mushrooms with a combination of brown rice and spinach, roll dark green kale leaves around seafood filling or top slices of cucumber with slivers of prosciutto. Offer a variety of whole-grain crackers tipped with small amounts of low-fat cheese or dip prepared with fat-free sour cream or non-fat yogurt. Small bowls of dried fruit and nut mixes also make for healthy nibbles.
Desserts
Don’t pass them up….lighten them up instead! Use skim milk, egg whites and applesauce in your pies and baked goods. Cut back on sugar by one-half or more. Top desserts with fat-free frozen yogurt or whipped evaporated skim milk. To sneak nutrition onto the table, use soymilk and soy flour in your dessert recipes.
Other tips
Toast nuts and spices to enhance flavor. Season your recipes with herbs, spices, lemon juice or minced tangy vegetables instead of salt and butter. Onion, garlic, parsnip, cinnamon, nutmeg and parsley are essentials for the holiday season.
~ Michelle
Learn more about Michelle
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