Thanksgiving recipes and suggestions

raindancer

It is time to get ideas for Thanksgiving. I try to cut as much fat and calories as possible. I wanted to see if I could get some fresh ideas.

ljc1057

Bump!!

sculley

I know hungry girl does the cauliflower mashed potatos etc...


http://www.hungry-girl.com/hgsearch.php?keyword=thanksgiving

hope this helps

sculley

http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1921


http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1264


Im including these two more specifically

MissKaylaDawn

I just had "Thanksgiving" with my family because my grandmother leaves for Arizon Tomorrow. My mom made all the regular foods, and I did surprisingly well. I ate regular turkey stuffing (in serving size of course) and about 4-6 oz. of Turkey. My mom also made me a couple personal sized things so i could still have my favorites . And then i was full, but I did some research for you, and found a couple of sites with some yummy sounding recipes for 1/2 the calories!!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=1408

http://www.fatburn.com/article_show.asp?article_id=30 <-- ( I do not see much of a calorie difference on this one, but you can always look and substitute!)

http://www.ehow.com/how_4423774_choose-low-calorie-thanksgiving-dishes.html <-- This one tells you how to substitute things

http://www.livestrong.com/article/246400-low-calorie-thanksgiving-diets/

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/421217/low_calorie_thanksgiving_cooking_tips.html?cat=22


I think that should give you enough ideas I hope this helps!

Kayla

P.S. Did you know the average thanksgiving dinner is between 3000-4000 calories!!

Alysgrma

Bump for later :happy: Thanks for all the great information!!

Yarnpiggie

There has to be a better way of getting these to be in "my topics" without having to do a random reply on the thread, but that is what I am doing here right now. :-)

velvetechos

A lot of Thanksgiving dishes aren't that bad - the portions tend to be more of the problem. If you want a bit of everything go for 1/2 portions or less. Stock up on the veggies - and make sure not to drown them in butter. Add flavor with spices, like a bit of garlic on the green beans, or some taco seasoning on the corn. Eat only 1/4 slice of corn bread, and half a serving of stuffing. Or, bulk the stuffing up with apple slices, celery, whole cranberries and onion in large chunks - it tastes great and adds texture so you're not eating so much of the bread in it. Don't drown everything in gravy, just put a small amount on your potatoes and turkey - less is more, just make sure you have a nice blend of herbs on the turkey and mixed into the potatoes.

Dessert - half a slice of pie is more than enough. Try taking the crust off the bottom side of it also, and just eat half the crust and all the insides.

DeeDeeLHF

It is impossible for me to not provide for my family all of the favorites, but here are a couple of things I have done.

Instead of adding two sticks of butter into the old fashioned bread stuffing that my family loves, I added 1/4 cup of olive oil. I was afraid the taste would be drastically different but no one noticed. I do use lots of poultry seasoning.

Although, I cannot omit the marshmallows and brown sugar from the sweet potato casserole, by making it out of real sweet potatoes I can save out 1 small baked sweet potato for myself. Same with squash, cut them in half and bake with butter and brown sugar for the fam but just a thin spread of olive oil on mine and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

D

tlp8rb

Made his pumpkin pie as an experiment and it was excellent. The first part is a breakdown of calories.

Calories in a traditional pumpkin pie: 1/8th of a 9" pie - 320
Calories in MY low-cal pumpkin pie: 1/8th of a 9" pie - 137.5
Calories in MY low-cal pumpkin pie: 1/6th of a 9" pie - 187.3

I cut my pie in 8ths, and added a dollop of fat free whipped topping

1 9" prepared pie crust (total 880 calories)
2 Cups fresh pumpkin, cooked and mashed (total 60 calories)
1/2 Cup liquid egg substitute (total 60 calories)
1/2 Cup fat-free evaporated milk (total 100 calories)
1/4 Cup Splenda (zero calories)
1 tsp salt (zero calories)
1 tsp Cinnamon (zero calories)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (zero calories)
1/4 tsp ground all spice (zero calories)
1/4 tsp ground ginger (zero calories)

Mix ingredients with a whisk. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The filling could be poured into lightly oiled (pam) custard cups and baked in a pan with water. The resulting "mouse" would be darn near calorie free.

LaSirena29

I made a Sautéed Green Beans with Tomatoes recipe from Giada de Laurentis several years ago, instead of the traditional bean casserole. It was a huge hit and has been requested every year since. I'll be making a triple batch this year. The recipe is here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/sauteed-green-beans-with-tomatoes-and-basil-served-with-parmesan-crisps-recipe/index.html

I completely leave the 2T of butter out and do 2 tbsp olive oil instead of 1. I don't make the Parmesan Crisps (because I would be tempted to eat the entire tray myself :blushing: ). It comes out to about 130 calories a serving.

I made this Shredded Brussels Sprouts & Apples recipe for friends a few months ago (just left out the tofu). It was a huge hit, even with the people who swore they didn't like Brussels Sprouts. I'll be making a big batch of it for Thanksgiving this year (but with the tofu, because 2/3 of us are vegetarians). Without the tofu, it works out to about 155 calories a serving.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/shredded-brussels-sprouts-apples-recipe.html

Along with the Pumpkin Ribbon Bread from the other post, that will be my contributions to Thanksgiving dinner.

kdiamond

The sauteed green beans sound great! I'll have to check those out.

For mashed potatoes, use Yukon gold potatoes. They are SO creamy and you only need to add fat free milk (3/4 cup) and light butter or yogurt butter (1/4 cup melted should do for an entire pot). Skip the heavy cream and full fat butter, the potatoes are so delicious it is unnecessary! And they whip up beautifully.

Also, instead of the typical yams covered in butter and sugar, try a lightened up version like this:

http://www.grouprecipes.com/23854/healthy-sweet-potato-casserole.html

Also, instead of hte sugar loaded jellied cranberry sauce, make your own with fresh cranberries, which are terrific for you, and it tastes a whole lot better. I've made this recipe and it is tasty!

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/pear_cranberry_sauce.html

Dencrossgirl

Cranberry sauce is my favorite, we had Thanksgiving already, but I wish I would have made some from scratch here is a good link: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipes.asp?food=Cranberry+Sauce&a=

tlp8rb

Grandma used to make a dessert with cottage cheese and jello, blended and poured in a graham cracker crust. Has anyone tried to adapt this old favorite to a low-fat, low-cal version??

I think I'd try fat free cottage cheese, and sugar free jello but not sure what I'd use to cut calories in the crust (graham crackers are so high in calories).

tlp8rb

double post - no way to delete???