Now how do I cook the same traditional foods but in a healthier manner? Very carefully. Here is our traditional Thanksgiving meal, as handed down through the generations. We always eat the same foods. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet candied potatoes, green bean casserole, jello salad, breads, gravy, pumpkin pie & pecan pie. But, of course, in the spirit of our societal need to overeat at holiday times, there is always a few more dishes on the table as the whim dictates.
I have tried to vary from this "prescribed feast" in the years past, only to get complaints about taking away tradition. That was back when I cooked in the traditional manner with processed foods but just tried to substitute something like pumpkin cheesecake for pumpkin pie. Now I do want you to know that overall my family is polite about it.. my adult children complain out loud but the rest of them just show their dislike by picking at non-traditional foods. I can tell though.
After much much thought about the menu this Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure what I will be doing to maintain tradition for my family while keeping with my values for healthier food choices. Here are the plans.
Turkey - EASY - put a quality turkey in the roaster oven... that won't change, except maybe the quality of the turkey. I always baste mine with butter and I will still do that, except we have moved to butter without added hormone or organic butter.
Stuffing - This will be a bit trickier because I only use wheat bread now and they may taste that unless I use lots of fresh herbs and good chicken broth. They will get stuffing made from all my "reject" loaves of wheat bread from the last 8 weeks. Every loaf that did not turn out right was placed in the deep freeze so that I could cube it and make it into stuffing. I think that will work. The herbs will be fresh and dried, depending on what is available from the windowsill garden, and the celery and onion will be organic. The chicken broth will be homemade. I bought a whole chicken and put it in the crockpot overnight last night in a bath of whey. Once it was done this morning, I strained all solids from it, cooled it, removed the top layer of fat and put the rest of the resultant broth in the freezer. I used a big gallon sized ziplock freezer bag because I know I will need a lot next week for the gravy, potatoes, and stuffing! It looks pretty good and will be of much higher quality and tastier than store bought processed broth in a can. I am kind of proud of it!
Rolls and bread? I am hoping to be inspired with a really good quick bread recipe, maybe banana bread or re-trying the pumpkin banana bread recipe that went bad on me a couple of weeks ago. Plus I will try to create some wheat rolls with my trusty wheat bread recipe. Those should be good enough.
Green bean casserole... usually it is several cans of green beans mixed with cream of mushroom soup, cheddar cheese and those little cans of french onions. I have some fresh frozen green beans.. I can substitute a cup of sour cream for the mushroom soup with a little extra seasoning, and I can buy a good quality cheese to put in it.... but WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT THOSE LITTLE FRIED ONIONS? I have not begun to think about that yet so maybe I should do a quick google search and try to make my own. (what a nightmare... I will let you know how that turns out ... I am sure it will be akin to producing my own Cheetos). Nevertheless, I am sure I will "ruin" the green bean casserole for all of them. One year I used fresh green beans and they hated it.... they would rather have had the canned mushy ones. (shaking my head)
Sweet potatoes? Our family makes them with corn syrup, butter, and brown sugar. I think I can recreate this a bit with brown rice syrup, organic raw sugar, and of course the butter. They have to get gooey, soft and sweet for my family.
Pies? I shared a source for a pie recipe a few days ago. I will be trying the Pecan Pie recipe that I found without corn syrup and I purchased the pecans today so I have enough time to sprout and dehydrate them before next week. The crust will be made with fresh ground sprouted Spelt and Palm Shortening. This should produce a light colored crust for them that is tasty and flaky. The pumpkin pie will be made with pumpkin that I baked and froze a few weeks ago.. you remember, the one that exploded in my kitchen? I will have to remember to drain the extra liquid from that pumpkin puree once it is thawed or I will have pumpkin soup in a crust. And the whipped cream? Fresh... whipped with my new KitchenAid from heavy cream and vanilla right before serving the pie!!
I think we will have a bit of fresh fruit salad instead of jello and may still have my sis bring some jello salad with her so that others can enjoy it.
Needless to say, I am a little anxious about this meal. I have not perfected cooking yet with all these new techniques and ingredients so I will have to say a prayer and be thoroughly prepared as the time comes closer and closer. I will keep you posted on the outcome and in the planning process. If you have any pointers for me, feel free to pass them on. I will need all the help I can get.
What changes are you making this holiday season in order to eat healthier?? And is your family embracing them or fighting you tooth and nail?
No comments:
Post a Comment