healthy thanksgiving recipes, please share1

wendygurl

Cathlete
Anyone care to share their favorite thanksgiving side dish? I am getting my menu prepared, and I REFUSE to cook anything that resembles a green been casserole. I only have corn as a side dish, and would love to hear your favorite. I have quite a picky (many overweight) guests and am trying to healthy things up a little.
thanks in advance!
 
they have these great easy peel clemintines in the stores now. i LOVE those. my kids love them too.

cranberries. basic sauce or relish with less sugar. you could use stevia or other replacement i guess. dried cranberries are awesome in muffins/bread. with sugar free orange marmalade or orange zest. or the zest from clemintines :)

baked sweat potatoes/yams are the easiest ever. they really don't even need extra sugar, but you could have little toppings available. make a little potato bar? that would be yummy. and healthier than yams covered in marshmellows.
or similar idea for baked winter squash.
you can often use less or no oil with a little experimentation, than you might think. or replace it with chicken stock. which tastes waay better than canned broth.

butternut squash or pumpkin soup made with chicken stock would be healthy and yummy.

wild rice and mushrooms stuffing.

i often replace cheese, mayo ect with basil, pesto, mustard.

try to find low carb options. i'm not very good at thinking of those, but anyone that is on a low-carb diet, eating out is always difficult. sometimes lowfat is very high carb.
 
I posted this on the recipe forums last year. It was a huge hit with the fam...

Maple-Pecan Sweet Potatoes

2¾ lbs. sweet potatoes
¼ cup half and half
3 TBS butter, melted
3 TBS maple syrup
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1 large egg, lightly beaten
cooking spray
½ cup mini marshmallows
2 TBS chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Pierce potatoes several times with a fork; place on a foil-lined baking pan sheet. Bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool slightly; peel and mash in a large bowl.
3. Reduce oven temp to 350.
4. Stir half and half and the next 8 ingredients (through egg) into sweet potatoes. Spoon mixture into 2-quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the top w/ marshmallows and pecans; bake 12 minutes or until the mini marshmallows are slightly melted.

Yields 8 servings (½ cup)

Calories: 185
Fat: 7.3 g
Protein: 3.2
Carb: 28
Fiber: 3.4
Sodium: 315
Calc: 57
 
Fall-fruit salad

I made this for a pre-Thanksgiving potluck, and it was a hit (measurements are approximate, as I just made it up as I went along, and I'm reducing the recipe from potluck size to a more reasonable size, so be sure to tweek for flavor!)

Peel and cut into chunks 4 fuyu persimmons (the ones shaped like tomatoes. Do NOT use the pointy Hachiki (sp?) persimmons!).

Add approx 1/2 cup pomegranate arils (seeds).

Mix together juice of two oranges and approx. 1 Tbsp agave (I added chia seeds to thicken a bit, as it was too runny for my tastes).

Add sauce to fruit and stir. Let marinate approximately 1 hour.

It is very pretty and refreshing. And aside from one cranberry relish dish, was the only raw thing on the menu.
 
i'll be on the lookout for persimmons now. they sound so awesome. for similar color, we could try tangerines or clemintines. sounds like that would be a good taste combo with your recipe.

as another Thanks Giving idea, pumpkin mousse was a hit with my kids. they ate it at school, and already want me to make some. like pumpkin pudding :)
 

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