Turkey day survival menu?
ndvoice
Posts: 161 Member
I'm cooking for my immediate family only this year. (Woo hoo!) Sticking with lower-carb basics: turkey, sweet potato, mashed cauliflower, asparagus. I'm skipping white potatoes, rolls & stuffing - I'm just not making them! I am planning a very small pumpkin cheesecake for dessert and it will not be Keto or LC. That is my planned "splurge" - but there will only be enough for each of us to have 1 slice with no leftovers. This way, all my leftovers will be plan friendly & there won't be any rolls talking to me in the days that follow.
What's your survival plan?
What's your survival plan?
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Thanksgiving at my son's house, I'm bringing low carb curried turkey and not taking anything back with me.0
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I think this year should be pretty easy. There was an unexpected death in my DH's family and we were all just together 2 weeks ago. Since so many came from out of state for the memorial, we decided to just keep it simple and small this year since all of the original plans were scrapped. No one really wanted to cook, so we opted to go to a restaurant that serves a family style menu. I have studied the menu and my goal is to just work on meat and vegetables with very very very small servings of potatoes and stuffing. No bread (well besides the stuffing). I have also communicated these plans to DH and told him to kick me under the table if I go too crazy.
One nice thing about the restaurant plan is no work and no leftovers.0 -
My job is to make the rolls, the Cheese hash-browns casserole, and deviled eggs. I am also going to make a pumpkin dessert & acorn squash & mashed cauliflower for me. I will enjoy the turkey, squash (limited) mashed cauliflower, deviled eggs and top the night with my pumpkin dessert with a squirt of Reddi-whip. My family is very supportive and won't pressure me. Although I may have one spoonful of my daughters pecan pie..Little spoon LOL. Because I am not having the affair at my house, no left overs to deal with and they will send home some turkey with me! This is a WHOLE LOT DIFFERENT Than last year!0
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It's just me and the hubs this year and he isn't low carb. I think we've worked out a pretty decent compromise. We're making a turkey, no issues there. Instead of mashed potatoes, I'm doing spaghetti squash. No gravy. I can my own cranberry sauce and I'll serve that, but just for him. I did buy a box of stove top stuffing, but I always add stuff to it, like mushrooms, onion, apple and raisin. I'm just going to saute the "extras" separate and not add it to the stove top mix. If I want to splurge, I'll have the apple/onion/mushroom/raisin mix. That's so much food that there won't be room for dessert. He isn't a sweets person anyway, so no loss there. I think we'll be okay, but I still need to pre-log in MFP to make sure it will fit my macros. This is my first attempt at getting a holiday right. I'm hoping it will be easier because it's just him and I (no temptations from dishes brought by friends), BUT, I couldn't find a turkey less than 12 pounds, so there is going to be a ton of food for just two people. I'll definitely have to make a soup or something later on.0
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MaggieLoo79 wrote: »It's just me and the hubs this year and he isn't low carb. I think we've worked out a pretty decent compromise. We're making a turkey, no issues there. Instead of mashed potatoes, I'm doing spaghetti squash. No gravy. I can my own cranberry sauce and I'll serve that, but just for him. I did buy a box of stove top stuffing, but I always add stuff to it, like mushrooms, onion, apple and raisin. I'm just going to saute the "extras" separate and not add it to the stove top mix. If I want to splurge, I'll have the apple/onion/mushroom/raisin mix. That's so much food that there won't be room for dessert. He isn't a sweets person anyway, so no loss there. I think we'll be okay, but I still need to pre-log in MFP to make sure it will fit my macros. This is my first attempt at getting a holiday right. I'm hoping it will be easier because it's just him and I (no temptations from dishes brought by friends), BUT, I couldn't find a turkey less than 12 pounds, so there is going to be a ton of food for just two people. I'll definitely have to make a soup or something later on.
Same here with the turkey! I got a 15 pounder for 2 adults and 1 child. It was the smallest the store had. I think I'll incorporate turkey into a couple meals this week & freeze the rest for soup at a later date so we don't get too sick of turkey0 -
Turkey, green salad and more turkey. That's my plan. Also cooking for 10, but I'm not really concerned with what I make for them. It would be much harder if I felt hungry, but I rarely do.0
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Turkey. Salad. Meat h'ordeovres. That's it. I had my unplanned binge earlier in the week, so just the basics for me. Putting my food blinders on now...0
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I'm the baker in the family so everyone is expecting me to bring all the sugary carby desserts lol I'm making chocolate chip cookies, flan, cheesecake, pecan pie and pumpkin pie.
I'm making a dessert feast because my husband wanted to bring cheesecake to work, I wanted to bring some to work, and the rest is for the family.
His immediate family knows I'm avoiding carbs but the rest are not very supportive. (Think big traditional Mexican family) His aunts always try to make me eat a little of everything and if I don't, it feels disrespectful
Tamales, beans, tortillas, rice and macaroni salad are all on the menu. If they make pozole, I'll eat the meat but avoid the corn.
But as far as temptation goes, avoiding sweets is easy for me now. I don't crave it at all
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I'm glad I don't have Thanksgiving to worry about, just Christmas (I'm in South Africa) and it seems that my family want to go for a laid back BBQ style Christmas this year so a boiled Ham finished on the bbq and lots of ribs and chicken wings and some veggies on the side. We have an amazing lowcarb store near to my office so going to try and get a LCHF cheesecake or Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert and then just icecream for the kids. Makes it easier that it's summer here as I don't look to comfort food to warm me up. Feeling positive this year as my family are mega supportive and I am convinced that they chose the laid back Christmas BBQ on purpose to fit with my WOE. Also means the men do most of the cooking and I am not slaving in a hot kitchen on a hot day cooking food I can't eat.0
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I'm glad I don't have Thanksgiving to worry about, just Christmas (I'm in South Africa) and it seems that my family want to go for a laid back BBQ style Christmas this year so a boiled Ham finished on the bbq and lots of ribs and chicken wings and some veggies on the side. We have an amazing lowcarb store near to my office so going to try and get a LCHF cheesecake or Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert and then just icecream for the kids. Makes it easier that it's summer here as I don't look to comfort food to warm me up. Feeling positive this year as my family are mega supportive and I am convinced that they chose the laid back Christmas BBQ on purpose to fit with my WOE. Also means the men do most of the cooking and I am not slaving in a hot kitchen on a hot day cooking food I can't eat.
WOW!! A LOW CARB STORE??!!! I'M SO JEALOUS!!!0 -
We are just having prime rib with a cauliflowwer/brussel sprout casserole and a low carb pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. Not big turkey eaters here. Give me the beef!!0
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It's a little family run store. The owners are both doing the Tim Noakes "Banting" diet and source low carb high fat products from around the country. All the meals and desserts are homemade and delicious. They also have breads and cupcakes and brownies made with coconut or Almond Flour. It's not cheap though. The "banting" diet has really kicked off over here so many restaurant are also adapting their menus. Going out tomorrow night to see a local band to a place that only serves Pizza but they have just started selling Cauli base pizzas (a bit more expensive though) so at least I know I'll get something to eat.WOW!! A LOW CARB STORE??!!! I'M SO JEALOUS!!!
It really makes this WOE easier when you can eat out with less worry.
It's funny though, in the past when I was doing LFHC I was so jealous of the guys in the US as they seemed to be able to get Fat free everything and other "diet" products that I was never going to see here.
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LolaDeeDaisy23 wrote: »I'm the baker in the family so everyone is expecting me to bring all the sugary carby desserts lol I'm making chocolate chip cookies, flan, cheesecake, pecan pie and pumpkin pie.
I'm making a dessert feast because my husband wanted to bring cheesecake to work, I wanted to bring some to work, and the rest is for the family.
His immediate family knows I'm avoiding carbs but the rest are not very supportive. (Think big traditional Mexican family) His aunts always try to make me eat a little of everything and if I don't, it feels disrespectful
Tamales, beans, tortillas, rice and macaroni salad are all on the menu. If they make pozole, I'll eat the meat but avoid the corn.
But as far as temptation goes, avoiding sweets is easy for me now. I don't crave it at all
Oh yes, I have family like that! Food pushers! And yes, they seem hurt that you don't "like" their food. I'm glad that it was just my immediate family this year, so I didn't have to deal with it lol. But I do miss holidays at my grandparents (Portuguese) where the menu was not American. Sounds like you'll have a great variety of choices!0 -
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Pumpkin has 7g carb per 100g and includes 2.8g sugar per 100g. Do folk just use good portion control to ensure they dont get above 20g of carb in the day?
I would love to add some more variety to my meals and that sounds like 1/4 of my daily sugar total right there in 100 grams. So would be a treat like a occasional blackberry. Minimising sugar to fight gut bacteria imbalance so that includes natural sugars too.0 -
Post mortem: My sister-in-law hosted a family get together for 18-20 people. During the pre-meal "snacking" phase I had to make a couple adaptions. My older daughter had just returned from working at a mission in Guatemala with a couple of exotic jellies. One was cocoa beans and spices, the other with non-roasted coffee berries and spicy flavorings. She laughed when I licked them off the crackers she provided but over the past 40 years she has gotten used to having a weird father. After that I decided to use slices of cheddar as a base for the other dip offerings. My younger daughter had made one with sour cream, cheese and onion baked until it was melted. There was a bit of carbs from the onion but acceptable. My son had also made a baked cheese offering. Not sure of all the flavorings but it went down easily. My sister-in-law had made two dishes. One was chunks of sausage wrapped in bacon, baked in the oven and sitting in sauce. I avoided most of the sauce and found room on my plate for two. Her other dish was tofu wrapped in fake bacon, baked and in the same sauce for the vegetarians in the group. That did not make it to my plate. At the main meal by the time I had light turkey, dark turkey, venison and a veggie on my plate there really wasn't room for mashed potatoes, dressing or bread. At dessert time, I decided my infant grandson needed attention so he & I and a glass of wine made our way to the TV area where one of many sporting contests were being viewed.0
