Is it Possible to Eat Healthy During the Holidays?

We think so!  Here are some helpful tips to set your family up for success, which may also start a few healthy holiday eating traditions!

• Set yourself up for a positive outcome by setting the achievable goal of maintaining your current weight through the end of the year. 
• Start each day with a substantial high-protein, low-fat breakfast that will keep you satisfied and resilient to morning and noon-time temptations. Try egg whites, low fat cheese with whole grain bread, non-fat yogurt with whole grain cereal, etc.
• Whether you're a cook or a guest at Thanksgiving, re-mix a traditional side dish by making a much healthier version of the original. Instead of a green bean casserole with gloppy canned goo and canned fried whatchamacallits, blanch fresh green beans for just 2 or 3 minutes until they are tender-crisp, drain, toss with a touch of olive oil and a little bit of salt and top with toasted sliced almonds. For a new take on sweet potatoes, make our recipea for kid-friendly Moroccan-Style Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon, Raisins and Walnuts. 
• For dessert, make a low-calorie pumpkin pie so that, no matter what anyone else brings, you have a healthy option.
• On Turkey day, have a little something before dinner time with your kids like a piece of fruit or yogurt to curb everyone's holiday appetite. Stick with white meat and then select one or two sides and forego the rest.
• Try to stay active, even when it's dreary outside. Take the family ice skating or try walking briskly from store to store in the mall while you do your holiday shopping.

Sources: 

* northjersey.com

Make it a Green Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving around the corner, here are a few easy tips for a great green holiday that are also useful all year round.

Repurpose Stale Bread & Bread Heels
Collect these in an airtight container in the freezer for making holiday stuffing, croutons for a salad, or bread crumbs to top a vegetable gratin. (Crispy breadcrumbs and a little cheese might be just the trick to turn your kids on to more kinds of veggies.)

photo from slashfood.com

Reuse Cooking Water
Use the same pot of boiling water to blanch veggies, cook pasta, then use the water to soak beans or grains, incorporate it into soups, or (if unsalted) to water the garden.

Fill Up the Oven
Utilize the oven when its hot. While roasting a bird or baking a lasagna, co-roast on another rack for meals later in the week (like sweet peppers and onions for a sandwich, or cubes of butternut squash bound for a quinoa salad).

Invest in Glass/Ceramic Containers
Airtight glass containers are freezable and microwavable. Note that most brands state they are not oven-safe when you read the fine print. (Although we don't recommend it, some daring folks have baked, frozen and microwaved mini mac 'n cheese, lasagna, and fruit crisps at 350 F successfully.)

We do recommend ceramic containers from Good Cook that are dishwasher, freezer, microwave and oven safe (and come with a lid for storage only). What a great way to package leftovers for your guests to take home!

Make Stock 
Should no one at your Thanksgiving meal already have plans for what's left of the turkey, make stock. Put the carcass in a pot with a carrot, a halved onion and a rib of celery and a few springs of thyme, cover with cool water and bring to a simmer. After 2 hours, you'll have several quarts of stock to freeze and use in soups or risotto for many meals to come.


References: Whole Living Magazine, July/August 2010