Clean Up For Thanksgiving

I know you don't want to hear this so you might as well stop reading right now. No, I mean it. You don't even want to THINK about not eating your traditional Thanksgiving meal, let alone eating a completely different menu!! Hear me out, you're going to eat a GIANT plate of food. You won't go away hungry, just try to think of ways to nourish your body instead of using this holiday as an excuse to dump HEAVY and HUGE amounts of garbage into your body. How would you feel if you were your body? Well, you are. So listen up! So if you're still with me, let's get to it-


Let's think this through...the STAR of the Thanksgiving table, the Turkey:


You can still have your turkey and eat it too! I won't even suggest taking off the skin. So let's look at this method of preparing your turkey. You're leaving out all of the unhealthy fat from the pound of butter you'd typically slather your bird with...but you're not sacrificing the flavor. In fact, it will probably be more flavorful with the herbs not getting lost in the heaviness of the butter...Not so bad-right? Yay! We're still having Turkey:)


What would be the next, most important part of your meal...I know the tutorial I linked to had a recipe for the stuffing they chose to use. What is your recipe for stuffing? In my family it's not called stuffing, it's called Dressin'. And we are SERIOUS about our dressin' baby! My Mammaw makes the WORLD'S GREATEST. You can't even argue this one, so don't even try. (Pretty sure we'll all fight each other over whose Mammaw makes the best anything:) Her recipe starts with cornbread. The veggies are sautee'd in butter, a few heaps of salt are thrown in...


Here's where we need to consider what we'll do to make sure we get the flavor of Mammaw's dressing in our cleaned-up version. We'll need to use the SAME veggies, the SAME herbs and also the cornbread...the things we can change are the way we use our fats and sodium here. Could we possibly use a healthier option? Say, coconut oil? Maybe we shy away from sauteeing our veggie mix in oil and use chicken broth to soften them? Maybe we could do half oil, half broth? I KNOW I can use A LOT less salt than Mammaw. Overall, I can use a CLEANER approach to the  recipe of tradition and come out with a dish that is just as delicious that I can feel BETTER about eating (even an extra helping possibly).


Alright, if you're still with me, good for you. I know this is tough, but we can do it! So what's next? I guess from here, depending on your family's traditions and tastes, we would start thinking about side dishes...gravy, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls or biscuits, salads and sauces, teas and desserts and coffee. Desserts are going to be the REAL kicker I have a feeling-we'll get to that at the proper time. 


I briefly want to address something I've observed: My family-the 4 of us living in this home-would have NO problem completely cleaning up our TG Day meal. Even TWEAKING tradition to match our healthy way of life for generations to come. We'd gladly throw some Kale chips into the mix, have a simple clean baked sweet potato with cinnamon and coconut butter, mix up a homemade pumpkin coconut espresso milkshake for dessert. Can you follow where I'm going? Your family should place a healthy spin on the same traditions. Because of course, there are some traditions that we'll have to keep intact, otherwise-we have no tradition at all! Just be thinking of ways to implement your family's unique, healthful take on a very important family holiday. Place more emphasis on the meaning of the tradition rather than all on the details of the feast itself. Fuss over each other and how thankful you are to have each other...OK- I said brief, so I'll stop.


Basically, devote some thought to cleaning up all your side dishes. Contemplate the dishes that are MOST important to you. Cut out the extra ones that you are likely to have pretty often anyway. For example: if your family eats corn 3 days a week, chances are you're not going to miss it if it's not on your TG Day table. Fuss and makeover the dishes that you don't have as often, that you're really looking forward to enjoying on TG Day. Spend some time planning how you'll prepare your mashed potatoes this year. Think of ways to make them just as delicious without all the unhealthy add-ins. Think about replacing the Mashed potatoes all together. Maybe you'll roast some red potatoes with olive oil and herbs...maybe you'll eat baked potatoes instead? You can do it, just leave out that butter and sour cream. Switch it up with plain Greek yogurt and chives...use some delicious alternatives.


Green beans don't have to be boiled beyond recognition. You can really enjoy some lightly steamed green beans...have you tried that? They're good! A little crispy..I love them just very simply dressed with lemon juice and olive oil and fresh cracked pepper with sea salt. I'm thinking of switching out our green beans this year for Roasted Asparagus spears. Mmmm. 


At this point, I think our menu is planned. I don't want to feel overwhelmed with cooking on our special day. Oh, and about the gravy...I'm fortunate that no one in my family (besides me) likes gravy. I can easily get away with using the pan drippings for myself if I so choose. I'll probably slice up the breast and pour the juice over it on the serving platter to keep it moist.


Bored to tears yet? Got any suggestions? What can you tweak to ensure your family isn't eating loads of garbage this year and in the years to come? Give me some time to think up some healthy desserts and I'll be back. Happy Thanksgiving Day Planning!