Thanksgiving Recipes

kroger7

Help! I know it's a long way til turkey day for you yanks, but up here in Canada our Thanksgiving Day is next weekend. Anyone have any diet-concious recipes (with nutrition info) for either a side or dessert. Mom is on MFP too so I know she'll be diligent but I don't know if it's possible for her to make her famous pecan pie "light" hehe would be nice to have another option to distract me :laugh:

Thanks guys! :flowerforyou:

GreenEyedMonster

Don't deep fry your turkey. About the only advice I can give on the subject since my turkey day is usually the same stuff. I usually do substitutions to make it slightly better.

Turkey Breast (brined then put in my rotisserie)
Stuffing (usually use low sodium broth)
Green Bean Casserole (lower fat cream o' shroom)
Mash Taters (low fat milk and whatever version of better butter is in the fridge)

Just like to go on the record to say my turkey is freakin awesome. I started brining about 5 years ago and haven't changed since.

NykkieC

Bump! Need some healthy recipes to take with me to family Thanksgiving.

casamelsmom

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/thanksgiving/a/thanksgivingdin.htm

I went to this site last year for Thanksgiving. There are some really great ideas. I do south beach diet so I googled low carb thanksgiving. You could look at foodnetwork.com or tasteofhome.com for "light" or low carb recipes.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

blessedtobefit

Greeneyedmonster...what is a brine and how do you do it?

GreenEyedMonster

Greeneyedmonster...what is a brine and how do you do it?

Basically it's a salt water solution you soak the turkey in overnight. Essentially what happens is it sucks all the juice out of the turkey at first then reinfuses it with the flavored broth. There's all sorts of scientific stuff going on (osmosis and equilibrium and all that).

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html

The link is what I base my brine off of. I don't mess with the aromatics since I only do whole breasts in the rotisserie. Before I got my rotisserie though this was pretty much what I used.

nancymilo

A friend tested this recipe last week, and said it's wonderful:

WEIGHT WATCHER PUMPKIN MOUSSE

　

3 CUPS SKIM MILK

2 BOXES OF FAT FREE VANILLA OR FRENCH VANILLA PUDDING MIX

1 TSP OF PUMPKIN PIE SPICE (OR ½ TSP OF NUTMEG AND ½ TSP OF CINNAMON)

1 15 OZ CAN OF PUMPKIN

1 8 OZ CONTAINER OF FAT FREE COOLWHIP OR GENERIC EQUIVALENT
　
　
Mix milk, pudding mix, spices and pumpkin together. Fold in container of cool whip. Refrigerate.

This can be eaten as a mousse or it can be added to a precooked pie crust or graham cracker crust to make a pie.

:bigsmile:

Cindysunshine

I loved fried turkey and I am thinking that frying it would be ok since I don't eat the skin anyway. Do you think fried white meat turkey is that bad compared to roast white meat turkey? Cindy

GreenEyedMonster

I loved fried turkey and I am thinking that frying it would be ok since I don't eat the skin anyway. Do you think fried white meat turkey is that bad compared to roast white meat turkey? Cindy

It's been a long time since I've deep fried anything but from my understanding deep frying is going to add fat to whatever you're dunking into the oil. I don't really have any viable proof though and honestly how often are you going to be eating deep fried turkey?

blakgarnet

cook yourself thin has a great recipe for mashed potatos with cauliflower - cuts the calories and is realyl good. I actually made it with purple cauliflower that I got at the farmer's market, and I bet you could also use purple potatoes (my favorite growing up) and it would be super fun for the kids. I also found a mashed turnip recipe online (on cookinglight.com) that sounds great and is also lower calorie.

kroger7

Don't deep fry your turkey.

I thought you were joking til I read the other posts! I've never even heard of deep frying a turkey, we've always just done ours in the oven. Sounds sinful :devil: glad I haven't tried, or I'm sure I'd love it lol :laugh:

weaklink109

cook yourself thin has a great recipe for mashed potatos with cauliflower - cuts the calories and is realyl good. I actually made it with purple cauliflower that I got at the farmer's market, and I bet you could also use purple potatoes (my favorite growing up) and it would be super fun for the kids. I also found a mashed turnip recipe online (on cookinglight.com) that sounds great and is also lower calorie.

The cauliflower idea is good one. I use frozen cauliflower. You cook it, put it thru the blender or food processor to break it down to a fairly smooth consistency. Then combine it with cooked potatoes, and whatever else you want to put in your mashed "potatoes" A 50/50 mix of the two, along with a little bit of garlic and you SWEAR you are eating regular garlic mashed potatoes.

You can make this up the day before, don't put your milk or butter or whatever in it yet, refrigerate, and when you are ready to have dinner, microwave it and add the other goodies and stir up a bit. Tastes just fine warmed up.

I have a friend whose husband threw a fit when we talked about "ruining" the mashed potatoes with cauliflower. When Thanksgiving day came, I said nothing about them, served them and after he went back for his third serving, commented. "Wow, for someone who says they hate cauliflower, you sure are doing a number on those "potatoes." The look on his face was priceless!!:laugh: :laugh:

GreenEyedMonster

Don't deep fry your turkey.

I thought you were joking til I read the other posts! I've never even heard of deep frying a turkey, we've always just done ours in the oven. Sounds sinful :devil: glad I haven't tried, or I'm sure I'd love it lol :laugh:

Oh it's very very very good and a lot easier than doing it my way. Problem is it's more hazardous too and not just for your health.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,104224,00.html

blessedtobefit

Thanks for the tip on brining your turkey...I am going to try it. :flowerforyou:

GreenEyedMonster

Not a problem. I love to cook,love to talk about cooking, and love cooking gadgets. If you don't have a potato ricer for your mash taters yet I highly recommend getting one, unless of course you prefer lumpy taters.