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Healthy Holiday Swaps

It’s time to start thinking about your holiday meals. This year may be different for many of us as our family holiday will most likely include a lot less people at the dinner table. Maybe this is the year to experiment a bit with your traditional menu ideas. Read on for some tasty suggestions to help decrease the calories, sodium and fat while actually increasing the taste. The idea is to start small with changes, just adjusting one ingredient at a time so the overall taste of your recipe isn’t affected. Small changes can make a big difference in the nutrient profile of your dish.

Entrees

• Substitute low fat or non-fat dairy for at least half of the full fat version. Replacing just a portion of the full fat version with a lower fat option can save fat and calories while keeping the original texture intact.
• Use lean protein when you can, like turkey bacon, poultry and pork. Or, go in a completely different route, and serve seafood this year! Why not? 2020 is the year of anything goes, right?
• Stock typically has less sodium than broth and both have less fat than cream soups. Instead of the cream soup for your casseroles, try thickening stock with cornstarch or flour. You may need to bump up the seasoning a bit. You can get more flavor without adding more sodium by using fresh or dried herbs.
• Another fun tip is to sauté your vegetables in wine or fruit juice, like apple cider. This saves on fat by not using butter or oil and really ups the flavor.

Desserts

• To create a lower fat version of some of your favorite baked treats, try swapping the oil or butter for pureed pumpkin, banana, yogurt or applesauce. In most recipes you can do an even swap. You will also be increasing the fiber and other nutrients without losing flavor with this type of substitution.
• Some baked goods recipes need to be followed pretty close to the original but if you have time to play around with a favorite recipe try adding half the salt and go a little heavy on spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
• Use a graham cracker crust instead of a regular pie crust to save on added fat and salt.
• Cut back on sugar by 25 percent to save a few calories. Instead of adding a cup of sugar, add ¾ cup then really bump up the spices such as vanilla, almond or cinnamon.

For additional substitutions, John Hopkins Medicine has this handy chart to help save on fat calories while maintaining flavor and texture.

You can also find some great holiday recipes that switch things up a bit on your regular ingredients on EatingWell’s website. I am particularly looking forward to trying the Pear, Prosciutto & Hazelnut Stuffing recipe this year. Access the full recipe here. This tasty twist in stuffing has more fiber than traditional stuffing plus the pears add extra vitamin C and potassium.

Get your whole family into the holiday spirit by experimenting with some old family favorites this year. Who knows, maybe one of these new recipes will become your new family favorite. Happy holidays from Familythyme Wellness!