Recipes for a Healthy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays of the year. It’s a day when family comes together to enjoy each other’s company and eat food—a lot of food. When you are trying to be healthy, this single day is pretty much blacked out on your calendar because each year is the same story. Somewhere between your second and third helpings of buttery turkey and gravy-doused mashed potatoes, you realize that you overdid it, again.

Why not make this year different? We’ve picked out some recipes that put some healthy spins on classic Thanksgiving favorites. Try some of these tasty substitutes, and all you’ll have to worry about is eating normal-sized portions.

The Turkey and Gravy: Lemon-Garlic Roast Turkey & White-Wine Gravy (EatingWell)
Instead of using standard supermarket turkeys, which are often “enhanced” with added sodium solution, this recipe tells you how to brine a natural or organic turkey instead.

The Mashed Potatoes:Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Shallots (AllRecipes)
Mashed potatoes usually call for lots of butter and heavy cream. This recipe replaces that for low fat, low sodium chicken broth, evaporated skim milk, shallots and herbs.

The Cranberry Sauce:Cranberry-Pear Sauce (WholeLiving)
This recipe calls for pears and dried cherries as a substitute for adding a lot of sugar.

The Green Bean Casserole:Green Bean Casserole – Slimmed (Food Network)
Skip the canned mushroom sauce and use fresh ingredients for a better flavor.

The Pie:Tasty Apple Pie (Mayo Clinic)
This recipe cuts down on calories and fat by using a crust of whole-wheat pastry flour. It also uses dry rolled oats and ground almonds for added flavor and a great texture.

The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.