<p>Obviously everyone’s taste buds are different. I can’t imagine eating mashed potatoes that aren’t made the way I always do - with butter, cream cheese and sour cream. There will be pie. We’ll have a spiral ham at Christmas too. We won’t be eating tofurkey with a yogurt dipping sauce or chia seeds. </p>
<p>My diet is not substandard nor is it restricted. It is simply different than the way I used to eat. It includes things like butter on a regular basis. As I am the one preparing the holiday meals, I think there should be some foods that I would want to eat as well. If I prepared a buffet for the 6 people that will be eating at my house for the holidays, I would still be eating my Thanksgiving buffet at Christmas. I don’t want to lighten traditional foods, I’d just like some suggestions for healthier options that have been well received at your meals! </p>
<p>So, if you have ideas for healthy holiday foods that you can offer, that would be great!</p>
<p>I eat tons of cauliflower these days, since it is a low carb vegetable, and I do the roasting and mashing and so on. Roasted cauliflower with aggressive spicing is wonderful.</p>
<p>I have never in my life eaten sweet potatoes with marshmallows: it always sounds disgusting to me. I have 2 different mashed sweet potato recipes, but one of them is really healthy without any feeling of deprivation</p>
<p>5 large sweet potatoes, baked and peeled
1/2 cup orange juice
2 TBS grated orange rind
grated rind of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp grated fresh ginger (do not use dried!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated fresh nutmeg
salt to taste</p>
<p>Combine all ingredients in food processor, puree. Add a little additional OJ if necessary.
Scrape into baking dish. (Can be prepared in advance to this point an refrigerated, covered.) Bake at 350F for 25 minutes, or a little longer if cold from the fridge.</p>
<p>My other way of doing sweet potatoes is to bake and puree them with a stick of melted butter, S&P, fresh nutmeg, and 1/2 cup of sherry or bourbon, then bake as above. Delicious, but not as healthy. :)</p>
<p>Consolation, those are the sweet potatoes I made last year with a toasted pecan topping for crunch. I made a second dish with the marshmallow that Mom and S ate. Wasn’t sweet enough per S. Blech.</p>
<p>I have a head of cauliflower I’m going to roast tomorrow to try. I love Indian food and spices…any recommendations for cauliflower spices?</p>
<p>I wonder if using potatoes like yukon gold or Ozette would preclude the need for so much butter & dairy to be added?
I find that buying organic local potatoes makes a huge difference flavor wise.</p>
<p>Oh, there was a restaurant here that made the BEST yukon gold mashed potatoes! They had a very small amount of horseradish in them, not sure what else but wow! </p>
<p>sabaray-someone else mentioned substandard mashed potatoes being made with chicken stock. Sounds like you’ve got traditional well covered though. We just offer a variety of fresh fruits and veggies for people who want lighter fare. They can skip the gravy and ALL the potatoes (people bring dishes at our dinners, so no one makes it all) of they want. We’re not much for fancy-traditional along with fresh-that’s us.</p>
<p>I make my mashed potatoes with two sticks of melted butter, a dribble of milk and a little bit of sour cream. I make them very often, so I usually give them a break from October 1 so they will feel special in turkey day.</p>
<p>Sorry, but I’m with this person: "It’s one day of the year; if you don’t want to eat them, don’t. "!!!</p>
<p>I make SIL’s mashed potato recipe (it’s S1’s absolute favorite and he’s normally our family’s healthiest eater!). Cream cheese, butter, sour cream + cheese & crumbled bacon! IF there are leftovers S1 happily take them.</p>
<p>I just lost 9 pounds and I don’t love the mashed potatoes so I won’t eat them. But I won’t deprive the family of their favorites either! I WILL have the sweet potatoes with the praline topping AND some dessert!</p>
<p>Then I’ll be back on my strict life of tilapia and turkey until Christmas ;-).</p>
<p>We had a family dinner tonight - many of the same group that will be together for Thanksgiving. The topic of T-giving dinner came up - in a matter of a minute the menu was “discussed” and it’s a replica of just bout every other T-giving dinner we have had. I personally like tradition AND change! But no. In addition to the turkey there will be mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes with all the sweet topping, creamed corn casserole, green bean casserole, pineapple-
chese casserole, etc. - I love food but that is WAY more heavy on the carb filled starchy food then my stomach really needs to handle - even for one day! </p>
<p>I’m in Sabaray’s camp (and I think the purpose of this thread) - lets have the mashed potatoes with all the buttery gooey richness but could we maybe have a nice green something without creamy toppings??? Cause I want some pumpkin or pecan pie later but if I eat all those other dishes my stomach will protest and want to walk away from the pie!!! </p>
<p>Is ok if you want all the goodies. But if you have interest in some other “cleaner” side dishes please share what has worked for your table!!! </p>
<p>My niece made a delicious fennel rice sausage side dish (fine crumbles and not too much) a couple years that was fabulous - I should look up that recipe again.</p>
<p>We always use Yukon gold potatoes but since my D2 developed lactose intolerance, we have to simplify things. Now everything that calls for milk gets Lactaid milk and since we never used much butter anyway, we use Earth Balance sticks (piecrust) or olive oil (on veggies). It’s all good. I also have the kids make their favorite dish but they have to make it so that all can eat it (we have nut allergies in the family too). I have figured out how to make my own evaporated milk so we can all share the same pumpkin pie. </p>
<p>I’m not a big fan of sweet potatoes but I like them when they’re spicy. My favorite way to make them is to cut them into large “steak fry” shape, rub them with olive oil and then dredge them liberally in spices. Then they’re broiled until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. We serve them with a cooling cucumber dip. This never flies on Thanksgiving though when everyone wants the sweet potato marshmallow casserole!</p>
<p>My sister likes to make plain steamed carrots with just a little salt as a side dish. It might seem too plain but it’s very refreshing surrounded by all those heavy dishes. We always serve it now.</p>
<p>Greenwitch, try chicken broth in mashed potatoes sometime instead of butter. Seriously. My mom makes them for me either with chicken broth or earth balance, and the chicken broth tastes more authentic. I was actually just reading an article on Sparkpeople earlier today on healthier thanksgiving recipes and it recommended subbing chicken broth for butter in all sorts of recipes. You would think it would make things taste like chicken but it doesn’t.</p>
<p>I agree with the “one day” comments. It’s far more important to keep a healthy diet the rest of the time. Eating reasonable portion size does make sense, especially if pie is part of the tradition. </p>
<p>I always make mashed potatoes (with butter an milk), usually eaten with gravy. But I also bake sweet potatoes during the last hour the turkey cooks. I cut them in half before putting them on the serving plate. We each choose whether to have mashed potatoes, sweet potato (with or without butter), or a bit of each.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t think adding chicken stock would make things taste like chicken. But I wouldn’t think adding chicken stock would make things taste like butter, either, and that’s the trouble. Butter is yummy.</p>
<p>We have been having roasted veggies for a few years. We include sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, parsnips, winter squash…very easy to make and delicious.</p>
<p>Fruit salad is a good idea. It can take the place of a jello thing. </p>
<p>I like plain veggies, not casseroles…so we don’t have casseroles. </p>
<p>We do have mashed potatoes, and gravy.</p>
<p>Our stuffing has celery, apples, pears and raisins mixed into the stuffing mix. It’s pretty tasty!</p>