# Healthy Ideas for Thanksgiving



## DeepFryaTurkey (Oct 17, 2012)

Any good ideas to go along with Thanksgiving dinner?

I plan on deep-frying my turkey (which a lot of people don't know only has a few more calories than roasting) and I was thinking of trying to have some healthy alternatives (not everything, have to have my pumpkin pie and other sweets!)

But what do you all think?


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## bakechef (Oct 17, 2012)

Unless it is a health concern like diabetes, I don't mess with or try to make that one special meal "healthy" in any way.  It's a time to celebrate and eat comfort food!

If a guest is dieting and they can't get off the diet for one meal, they can bring their own food!  Hope that doesn't sound too harsh.

This is from someone who has lost a serious amount of weight and is very conscious of his daily food intake.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Oct 17, 2012)

Steam the vegetables.


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## merstar (Oct 17, 2012)

Have some healthier side dishes along with the decadent ones! 
Here are some of my favorite healthy and delicious vegetable side dishes and salads. Will post the link(s) if available or PM the ones you're interested in, if any.

Carrot Confit
Parmesan Green Beans
Roasted Asparagus with Crisp Shallots
Citrus Green Bean Salad
Carrot Rapee
Carrot, Orange, and Radish Salad


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## bakechef (Oct 17, 2012)

OK, maybe I'll actually contribute to this thread....

Go for things that are naturally healthy, and not try to adapt things that people love.

Roasted carrots-Toss chunks of carrot in olive oil, kosher salt and fresh pepper

Heck most vegetables are better roasted!

For dessert you could lighten up pumpkin pie, by just putting the filling in ramekins and baking that, the crust is where a lot of calories are.  Maybe you could even bake some pie crust cut out as leaves or pumpkins and place one on each custard for looks and a little bit of crust.


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## CraigC (Oct 18, 2012)

Only eat 1/2 of the turkey sandwich during 1/2 time, saving the other 1/2 for the end of the game. This spreads the caloric load over a longer period making it a much healthier way to eat. Its Thanksgiving, are you crazy!


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## Whiskadoodle (Oct 18, 2012)

Do eat breakfast on T'sgiving so Dinner isn't your only meal of the day.

It's ok to splurge and enjoy a holiday guilt free.  However,,,

Don't eat any buttered rolls, even if they are home-made.   There will be more for the growing teenagers with the hollow legs that need filling up.  

Drink water instead of calorie soft drinks with your meal.  

Don't go back for 2nd servings.   Take only what your plate will hold and don't heap or  put things on top of each other.  

We have a large family.    Everyone brings something.  There are usually several salads.   It's ok to go back and have salad after the main course, this isn't a 2nd helping.   And it keeps the salads separate from the hot stuff.  

As an outlaw, I am usually requested to bring a vegetable. I alternate between green beans, broccoli or asparagus. Always cooked similar. Steam, a dollop of butter, maybe some herbs, and a squirt lemon juice. I guess that's pretty healthy, tho I never looked at it this way. 

We have dessert after the dishes are done and everything is put away.  Several hours later.   I only have a small piece of pie,  and skip the ice cream on  T'sgiving day for another day.  

The kids, those who are old enough,   take their out of town cousins and  meet their friends at a local pub in the evening.  Don't know how they have room to keep partying.  More power to them.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 18, 2012)

Baked sweet potatoes with a touch of honey are much healthier than sweet potato casserole, topped with marshmallows, and taste better too. Mahed rutabaggas with salt and pepper are yummy, and healthy.  Salads such as grated carrot with pineapple chunks are healthy and deliscious.  There just isn't much you can do to a potato to make it healthy, so just eat reasonable portions.

Fro a healthy dressing/stuffing, make a brown & wild rice stuffing with giblets, livers, (giblets and livers are optional), celery, onion, sage, and turkey stock.  Season with S&P, and garlic to go along with the sage.

Roast the turkey at 425 degrees F. until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees with its tip inserted through the breast, next to the thigh joint.  Cooking hot will give you a crispier skin, and melt off more of the turkey fat.  There is no need to baste, or fuss with the bird once it's in the oven.  Let it rest, after removing from the oven, for 15 minutes.  Then remove the breasts, and slice against the grain into thin slices.  It's more tender that way, and everyone gets a bit of the crispy skin.  Carve the dark meat from the bird in large chunks, so as to be able to slice them.  

People won't be as apt to over-eat the turkey meat when it's portioned into thin slices.  And remind all guests that they need to take a reasonable amount of food, so that everyone gets a some.  There always seems to be someone that wants to hog a particular dish, be it the cranberry sauce, or the turkey, or the dressing, or whatever.  Sometimes, they need a gentle reminder to share.

Freshly steamed green beans, dressed with a little olive oil, and dill weed, are better tasting, and healthier than your Aunt Lilly's green bean casserole with canned mushroom soup added.

Carrots are wonderful, steamed, and served with a bit of honey butter.

You don't have to do without to have a healthy, and delicious Thanksgiving dinner.  Simply think about what you're making.  If you are unsure of heathly foods, as described, try making them between now, and crunch time.  That way, you can decide what will meet your standards, and allow you to be the culinary hero.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind fo the North


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## jennyema (Oct 18, 2012)

TGiving is our healthy eating family's excuse to overeat and eat "bad" things.

I do serve stir fried Asian green beans and roasted Brussels sprouts but I also make literally a gallon of gravy (the meager leftovers of which are distributed via seniority) and buttery mashed potatoes.  Two kinds of stuffing and canned sweet potatoes with a bag of mini-marshmallows on top <---  I do not make that or eat it, rather I make maple/Dijon roasted sweet potatoes which only I eat.

I guess my point is that we don't see the need to make TGiving overtly healthy.  We enjoy indulging in the opposite.


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## Cerise (Oct 18, 2012)

I only eat the white meat & don't like the skin, so I buy a turkey breast for me  Re gravy - I can take it or leave it.

If you really want to lighten the meal/dishes up, use low-fat low-sodium chicken broth in place of butter - where you can.  That's all I got.


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## DeepFryaTurkey (Oct 18, 2012)

*Thanksgiving - healthy eating*

Yes yes I do agree that Thanksgiving you should indulge.  Haha I am not arguing with anyone on that.

I feel as though a lot of you had some really good ideas and thanks for sharing!

Also since I am deep frying a turkey, just curious, have any of you tried deep fried turkey before?


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## bakechef (Oct 18, 2012)

My sister brought a fryer to my house a couple years ago.  The turkey was good.  I didn't want to miss the smell of turkey cooking and homemade gravy, so I cooked a breast in the house to have for leftovers.  

Lots of people like this method, but for me it's too messy and expensive, but my sis and her husband feel that it's worth it.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Oct 18, 2012)

I live in an apartment, there is no place for me to deep fry a turkey.


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## mollyanne (Oct 19, 2012)

DeepFryaTurkey said:


> Healthy Ideas For Thanksgiving - Any good ideas to go along with Thanksgiving dinner?


Roasted Butternut Squash Halves with Cranberry Apple Stuffing or Spinach-Gruyere-Walnut stuffing. Makes a great vegetarian entree substitute for turkey.


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## Snip 13 (Oct 19, 2012)

Serve some healthy nibbles before the main meal. People tend to eat less when they're not starving when dinner arrives.
Something like veggies or rye crackers with hummus, guacamole, salsa etc or healthy light soup as a starter. Maybe even a light salad.


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## jennyema (Oct 19, 2012)

No interest at all in frying a turkey


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## pengyou (Oct 29, 2012)

Pay attention to the salad dressings as well.  I am guessing that the salad dressing that I use on my salads has more calories than the salad itself.  Also read into some recipes used in asian cooking to see what spices they use.  I find that a lost of North Americans only have two kinds of tastes - sweet and salty.  How about a beet salad with a mostly vinegar dressing?  The people from India and Thailand use cinamon to season some veggies... but curry powder/sauce is much too overwhelming to use on a tday.  Also vary the texture of the meal.  Add nuts to salads - yes, they are rather calorie dense but they, for the most part, are reasonably good calories.

Jello parfait for dessert?  or even as a side dish?  Provide an assortment of breads...this will keep people from eating a lot of the "unhealthy" foods because they will want to sample a little of everything.

If you provide people with a variety of new tastes or textures they will usually eat more slowly to evaluate the new tastes and textures, and as a result will eat less food.

Maybe also you can try making pumpkin pie with yougurt?


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## Steve Kroll (Oct 29, 2012)

It seems odd to me that so many people equate "tasty" with "not healthy". We eat a lot of healthy meals at our house that are both tasty and that would be right at home on the table for a holiday meal.

Thanksgiving centers around many foods that are considered healthy by nature: turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes, green beans. Nothing wrong with these foods. It's usually things like gravy and dressing that sabotage a diet. I cooked T-Day dinner last year, so what I did is keep some of the healthier foods simple and less heavy by leaving out or reducing the fat and sugar (I really don't like heavy foods anyway) and focusing on the seasonings. But I still made the gravy and dressing, for those who like that sort of thing. I thought it was pretty well balanced and didn't hear a single complaint about the meal. One tip: if you make a healthy meal, don't announce to people that it's healthy; that only seems to set an expectation that it will somehow be disappointing.

Also, eating healthy doesn't necessarily mean that you must completely avoid desserts. I love desserts, though I tend to take a smaller slice of pie and don't plop a big gob of whipped cream on top.

For me, there's nothing worse than eating an enormous meal and then feeling bloated and crappy for the rest of the day. That's more like punishment than pleasure. I'd rather savor smaller amounts of a few delicious things and save a little room for dessert.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 29, 2012)

I naturally steer toward the healthier foods, as I love them anyways, not just for thanksgiving.  I love sweet potatoes, rutabaga, cranberry sauce (home made is preferred), celery, black olives, etc.  I limit my mashed potatoes and gravy.  If I have a weakness, it's for bread dressing.  I love the stuff, but eat small amounts over several days.  I do love pies, and usually we have both apple and pumpkin.  Again, I take very small slices.  I used to stuff myself, but gave that up as being counter-productive to enjoyment.  Steve, you are right on the money with that one.  

My egg-nog is home made, with egg and milk, stevia, nutmeg, and vanilla.  I don't use heavy cream to thicken it.  Egg yolks do the trick.  You just have to add the hot milk to the yolk to temper it, then add it back into the already flavored milk, both to thicken, and add flavor.  And yes, I know about the cholesterol and fat in the egg yolk.  But I only have this drink twice a year, and only make enough for the meal, not to last three days.  I can indulge in a little egg nog.

But Steve is right.  Healthy need not be boring.  Herbs, spices, and properly prepared foods will make everything sumptuous.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Cerise (Oct 29, 2012)

Steve Kroll said:


> It seems odd to me that so many people equate "tasty" with "not healthy". We eat a lot of healthy meals at our house that are both tasty and that would be right at home on the table for a holiday meal.
> 
> Thanksgiving centers around many foods that are considered healthy by nature: turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes, green beans. Nothing wrong with these foods. It's usually things like gravy and dressing that sabotage a diet. I cooked T-Day dinner last year, so what I did is keep some of the healthier foods simple and less heavy by leaving out or reducing the fat and sugar (I really don't like heavy foods anyway) and focusing on the seasonings. But I still made the gravy and dressing, for those who like that sort of thing. I thought it was pretty well balanced and didn't hear a single complaint about the meal. One tip: if you make a healthy meal, don't announce to people that it's healthy; that only seems to set an expectation that it will somehow be disappointing.
> 
> ...


 
I'll take Steve's extra whipped cream - as long as it's not Cool Whip (ick). 

When everyone leaves, I go in the kitchen and squeeze the aerosol nozzle in my mouth. Ssshhh.


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