For Day 6 of our 12 Wild Days of Blue Countdown, we offer up a favorite holiday recipe with a berry twist. Yes, it’s Chex® Mix, and while the snack may sound a little retrograde (according to their web site, the famed party mix has been popular for 50 years), it’s still undeniably good, especially given a contemporary twist. If handfuls of pretzels and cereal just don’t have enough ho ho ho, trade up with recipes like Cajun Kick, Lemon Rosemary Mix or White Fantasy Clusters – it’s not your grandmother’s party mix.
Is it health food? It is not. But with moderation rather than denial as your guide, you can use these tips to keep calories in check: cut the butter requirement in half (it won’t really affect the recipe) and trade out the nuts and replace them with baked crisps or fat-free bagel chips. Then, bulk up the carby mixture with healthy dried berries. It’s an ingenious way to cut the calories from the nuts and pretzels and improve the flavor. That’s why our Day 6 pick is a berry holiday Chex® mix that is easy, pleasing and, predictably, blue.
Day 6: Holiday Berry Party Mix
Start with this Sweet Party Chex® Mix with Berries, which offers sweet and salty in an addictive combination, and the addition of dried berries provide a glamorous zing of holiday color. Food.com has the recipe, which calls for a little brown sugar, nuts, pretzels, famous bite sized Chex® (both rice and corn), and 1 cup each of the following dried berries: cranberries, blueberries and cherries. It will make a holiday bowl superbly appetizing, at least until it’s empty.
If you’re seeking something with a little chocolate, Pillsbury offers Buckin’ Blueberry Chex® Mix, and this exhaustive list of recipes at Chex.com will have you mixing up Snickerdoodle, Muddy Buddy, and Chocolate Banana Nut before you can say Ebeneezer. Party on!
Quick, Last Minute Solutions for a Healthy, Pain-Free Thanksgiving
We know Allison Fishman is a proponent of wild blueberries, learning to cook, and having plenty to chew on your plate. We love all three, so who better to weigh in on a healthful, always delicious Thanksgiving? Try a taste! She offers up Ciabatta Stuffing with Chestnuts & Raisins on this segment of Access Hollywood. It’s healthier, tastier, and totally calorie-busting.
In her capacity as Skinny Cook extraordinaire, Fishman is a Contributing Editor at Cooking Light, and they have some meal-saving last-minute cooking ideas for the holiday to help keep you sane in the kitchen. It includes a list of best holiday recipes, sensational sides, and turkey ideas if you are still considering what tasty twist to put on your bird. (Consider Maple-Cider Brined Turkey with Bourbon-Cider Gravy. So gobble worthy!)
Thanksgiving novice? Don’t worry. Cooking Light also has help for your first wing ding, including turkey tips and general culinary guidance. They also provide some of the Most Common Cooking Mistakes that amateurs and chefs alike can learn from. Our favorites include learning the art of low fat cooking, and the common misstep of zapping butter in the microwave to soften it – to the dismay of your cookies and cakes.
Pie emergency? Real Simple lends a hand with Thanksgiving 911. These tips help you out with holiday bugaboos like not knowing the first thing about carving a turkey to avoiding the ripped pie crust nightmare.
Having a feast with no beast? No problem. We’ve got you covered with Cooking Light’s perfect Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu. With Mushroom and Caramelized-Shallot Strudel as the main course no one will even miss the bird.
Avoid the nibble trap! Cooking Light also does the math when it comes to how many calories you consume just by tasting. The truth hurts. From the 75 calories gained from licking a bowl at 10 AM to the noontime mindless pecan crunching (49!) your diet is toast. Read the facts and weep. Then, resolve to keep the sampling to an absolute minimum. Thanks, we think. Maine-based blog Plating Up goes all out with their Citrus-Scented Roast Turkey recipe that heralds from Isle Au Haut, and then they turn around and outdo themselves with their Roast Turkey with Black-Truffle Butter and White-Wine Gravy recipe.
The final flourish: Let Martha help you with your finishing touch with these table settings. Out of these 54 easy-to-achieve ideas ranging from a pine cone turkey placeholder to a cornhusk votive, you’re bound to find something that fits your fête.
Hey, what about that frozen turkey? First step, don’t panic. Read this from Real Simple, and cross check USA Today. Then, cancel those back-up reservations.
Joanna Dogloff of the Huffington Post says that the typical Thanksgiving dinner has a whopping 2,796 calories. That might even sound a bit conservative, if Thanksgiving happens to be your favorite holiday. Fit Sugar alleges that the typical Thanksgiving meal actually comes in at 4,500, a number that truly puts the “gob” in gobble.
We know we have a tendency to overdo on Thanksgiving, but our typical holiday staples are actually quite healthy. Turkey meat is a low fat, high protein food, and favorite sides like sweet potatoes, pumpkin and carrots are fat-free, cholesterol-free, and high in vitamins and fiber. Thanksgiving is not inherently fattening and nutritionally void – it’s the appetizers, gravy, caloric drinks and choices like forgoing the greens for some extra potatoes that kill our calorie count. So how easy is it to get out of the Thanksgiving fat trap? Actually, pretty easy.
And now is the time to do it. It’s the year to fashion a not-so-traditional holiday meal – one that takes your principles of healthful eating that are in play the rest of the year into account. True healthy eaters think health 24/7. It’s part of their life. Higher fruit and veggie content, and lower fats and sugars become a way of eating, not a diet or a struggle. Just because it’s November 24, that shouldn’t obliterate your healthy habits. This year, it just stands to reason that the traditional holiday meal has evolved from artery-clogging carb fest to a bounty of fruits, veggies, healthy proteins, and portions that are in perspective.
Make Health Your Tradition
Fruit & Veggies More Matters has done some of the hard work of re-aligning your Norman Rockwell portrait and airbrushing in a more contemporary version of head of household – a healthy, vibrant you. They suggest 5 Ways to Take Fat & Calories Out of Your Holiday Menu. Can’t wait for those Garlic Mashed Potatoes? Go for it, they say! Use low-fat or non-fat milk instead of heavy cream and trade butter for low-fat sour cream.
F&V’s commitment to a Not So Traditional Holiday also provides us with these Seasonal Dishes that Fit the Nutritional Bill. They include Sweet Potato-Apple Salad, Turkey & Cranberry Stew, and kid-friendly Fruit Pizzas that work all season long. They offer plenty of holiday hints and how-to’s such as shopping on a budget, getting the kids involved, and avoiding the post-meal sugar slump. Thanks F&V!
Huff Post’s Joanna Dogloff offers her alternative to the calorie-packed 2700 calorie meal with one that comes in at just 750 by including some light alternatives that are equally as delicious. You can also check out her simple ways to have a healthier holiday. They include smart work-arounds such as starting with a veggie-heavy first course, and making gravy an option, not a requirement.
New York Times blogger Tara Parker-Pope weighs in with Holiday Main Courses for Vegans – it begins with Curried Lentil, Squash and Apple Stew and ends with Pumpkin Tiramisù. Top that.
Finally, if you’re seeking a way to fill up on fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, taste, and one of the most powerful nutrition-per-calorie foods, misson accomplished: add wild blueberries to your holiday spread – they’ve got the color, taste, and tradition that is worthy of your best holiday table. Enjoy!
Got a favorite tip for a healthy Thanksgiving? Tell us!
You may think harvest season marks the one time of year when wild blueberries truly get their due. But if your idea of wild blues is stuck in August, it’s time to change your thinking: November is the wild blueberry’s heyday.
With homemade food in the spotlight and new recipes to impress the family on the radar, wild blueberries steal the show at a Thanksgiving spread. Maybe it’s because they are one of few blue foods that appear in nature. Or maybe it’s because they make everything a little more fun. Bring wild blueberries to dinner and you’ll put a smile on your host’s face, and you’ll be a hit at the kids’ table as well. When all the gobbling is over and the tryptophan kicks in, you’ll be thankful you did. Here’s why:
Taste. There’s nothing comparable to the sweet-sour-spicy taste of wild blueberries. They work well with just about any Thanksgiving dish and provide the ideal yin to the generous yang that makes up the usual Thanksgiving suspects like turkey, tubers, and stuffing.
Tradition. The best Thanksgiving dish puts a subtle twist on tradition, and wild blueberries fit the bill. Indigenous to Maine and eastern Canada, their presence provides a nod to native American foods. In fact, there are only three native North American fruits – Concord grapes, wild blueberries and cranberries – so you’d be remiss to leave out this essential berry.
Ease of cooking. Wild blueberries are a busy cook’s dream. They are smaller and more compact than their cultivated counterparts, and that helps them hold their shape for whatever you put them through. And, thanks to IQF, freezing preserves their individuality (not to mention their nutrition). They are great for baking, boiling for sauces, they work cold and warm, and they garnish as well as they cook.
Health benefits. Total indulgence is so yesterday. Today, there’s a trend toward maintaining healthy eating so even during the holidays your nutrition doesn’t go to pot. That’s where wild blueberries excel. High in antioxidants, low in calories, and high in fiber, they satisfy the palate and nourish the body while still tasting like an indulgence.
Color. Seeking out colorful foods for Thanksgiving is a must. Because of the abundance of earth tones as a result of turkey, potato, stuffing, onions and other foods that are on the beige part of the spectrum, a spark of color is crucial to bring a Thanksgiving plate to life. Enter wild blueberries, a rare opportunity to add high-octane color to a piled-high platter.
Cranberries optional. If some members of your clan don’t care for the traditional cranberry sauce, wild blueberries save the day. Their flavor is a unique brand of sweet due to a wonderful natural flavor variation that is a result of a combination of several different varieties of plant that create this indigenous crop. Or keep the cranberries – they pair extremely well with blues, enhancing the taste of both in pies, sauce, and stuffing.
Cost. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, Thanksgiving dinner will be 13% more expensive this year than it was last year. The price of turkey alone is up .25/lb. If you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd, keeping costs down is key. The best advice? Think big. Buying ingredients in bulk helps, and oversize bags of frozen blues are economical and never go bad if they are unused. Avoiding pre-packaging is another way to stretch the food budget, and wild blueberries are a perfect unprocessed ingredient – it’s a frugal gourmet’s dream.
Plan Your Holiday Menu! How Will You Use Your Blues?
Looking for a Cranberry Sauce alternative? This Szechwan Crispy Duck with Chinese Wild Blueberry sauce creates a fantastic flavor profile. Using turkey instead of duck works equally well to show off these two tastes. Or make this very scoopable Wild Blueberry Salsa. Even Betty Crocker recommends adding cherries and blueberries to their Cranberry Stuffing recipe to vary the taste.
Done with traditional pie? Think outside of the circle – Wild Blueberry Grunt is a fun alternative to pumpkin pie, or you can impress the relatives with your culinary know-how by making Wild Blueberry Crème Brûlé.
Last Minute Favorites for a Healthy, Delicious Thanksgiving
There’s simply no excuse for not incorporating sweet, delicious, healthy foods into your holiday meal this year. Sure, plenty of Thanksgiving recipes pack in the calories, but forking up some lesser-known ingredients and unsung vegetables could be worth it if it helps you expand your food relationships all year. Besides, there IS a way to enjoy this food-infused celebration and maintain your health goals.
We don’t expect you to strip all the skin off your turkey, or forgo your favorite pie. But while you’re gearing up for the onslaught of food, you can keep your head. Here’s our favorite nuggets of (realistic) advice to keep your health on the front burner during for the big day, and some great recipe ideas to have steaming on the side.
Mind your substitutes. Use canola or olive oil instead of butter, herbs and spices instead of salt, and reduced vegetable stock instead of gravy while you’re cooking in an effort to make fatty foods a little healthier and save yourself some of the calories and the guilt. It’s your year-round cooking rule anyway, so why stop know? (Health Castle can help with some common substitutions.)
Get active. You know you’ll be invigorated with a pre-meal or post-meal walk – don’t let the exhaustion of cooking and company get you down. It’s the perfect way to burn a few calories, take a breather, and keep your exercise regime intact even on your day off.
Drink water. This is the best, simplest tip you’ll come across. They’ll be plenty of coffee during the early morning food prep, and plenty of holiday cocktail opportunities. Water is your best defense to keep empty calories down, and keep alcohol intake on the down-low.
Don’t starve. It’s tempting: save up your calories so you can enjoy the holiday party or have the extras. Unfortunately, it’s almost always bad advice: skipping meals to save calories backfires by causing you to overeat and head toward the carbs. Being consistent with your meals will help you moderate during party time and make good decisions when you’re smack dab in front of the spread.
Consider your plate. Keeping food groups in mind is some of our favorite advice: Think of your plate as one third protein, one-third vegetable and one third “other”, and that includes stuffing or pie. You’ll be more likely to eat across the rainbow and get all your food groups, not just one.
Remember you’ll survive. One gooey dessert does not mean you’ll gain five pounds. If you are blaming Aunt Hazel’s insistence on having that second serving of sweet potato pie, remember that you’ll need to eat an extra piece of pie every day for the next two months to gain those 5 pounds. So, don’t throw in the towel so fast. Indulge, be conscious, give thanks and enjoy.
Let the Cooking Begin!
Thanks again to Amanda & Merrill at food52.com for giving us the gift of wonderful holiday food in all its incarnations. They offer vouched-for favorites such as Parsnip Potato Mash, exquisite starters like Butternut Cider Soup, and lots of fantastic sides like Ciabatta Stuffing, and Gingered Cranberry & Fig Chutney. Need dessert? Here’s 12 options whether your penchant is for crust or no crust. A delight!
Eat Well With Janel generously offers up a vegan twist to a not-exactly traditional dish. Her Vegan Pumpkin Alfredo is a unique take on some leftover pie ingredients and a way to incorporate tofu with creativity. Thanks, Janel!
Serious Eats can help with the perennial Thanksgiving conundrum: how do you get a little color into the drab tans and whites on your plate? With green bean casserole, of course. It’s a classic, and with this Ultimate Homemade Green Bean Casserole they’ve upgraded mom’s version to incorporate some homemade ingredients that separate your greens from the pack.
Let’s not forget to give thanks to Martha for the opportunity to be beneficiaries of her always flawless holiday advice. She’s got you covered from Mushroom Walnut Gravy to Roasted Peaches with Sweet Onions. She has plenty of ideas if you are stumped on desserts as well – Pumpkin Chocolate Tiramisu is definitely a good thing. Find them all at Martha Stewart Thanksgiving Recipes: Turkey, Stuffing, Side Dishes & Desserts.
A healthy and delicious Thanksgiving? Yes, you can have both! Give thanks to your health and longevity this year. Cheers!
Yes, it’s a Halloween tradition, and it protects your front yard from getting TP’d. But if you’ve been working on getting a cupful of blueberries and a bowlful of greens in your diet instead, bringing a bushel of mini Snickers into your kitchen can bring bone-chilling fear to your Hallow’s Eve.
But don’t be bothered by the boo – if you find October 31st truly scary, consider that it can provide a reminder of healthy eating principles that you can embrace all year. Here is a bit-sized list of rules for gathering Halloween loot that we’ve lived by since we were kids. We’ve applied them to the rest of year to help you turn a day that strikes fear in your heart into one that can actually strengthen your resolve and help you achieve your healthy eating ghouls…er, goals.
1. Cook what you eat.
One of today’s popular rules of eating better, attributed to real-food evangelist Michael Pollan, is if you’re going to eat it, cook it. Crave an indulgent dessert? Put in the time to do the baking. It’s not just penance—it ensures you are using real ingredients, and if cake isn’t available at a moment’s notice, it means you’re probably having it less often.
The same goes for Halloween. There are lots of treat options that don’t come pre-wrapped: roasted pumpkin seeds, chocolate dipped fruit, cocoa crispy balls, caramel apples…they are fun, unique, yummy, and less loaded with fat and preservatives. Bake Halloween cookies, try some frightening Halloween snack ideas, or check out these spooky recipes and tips.
2. Check for dangers.
It dates back to the early days of trick or treating – parents would scan their child’s candy bag for the truly frightening treat such as razor blades in apples or any other unwrapped, sinister-looking dangers posing as bonbons. Checking for dangers is a prudent health rule for the rest of the year as well. Healthy eating land mines including restaurant visits, overbooked schedules that lead to drive-through and packaged eating, and high stress times that only mindless eating can cure.
If you’re on a mission to be a cook, to get your servings of fruits and veggies, or to avoid brain-sedating taste triumvirates, make sure mindfulness is part of your life so you can keep your most dangerous habits in check. Otherwise, you’ll end up sleepwalking through a hall of horrors, an easy target for nutritional ghosts and goblins.
3. Trade your treats.
After the treats and tricks are over and you and your wig-wearing, makeup-smeared friends were back at home evaluating the take, trading was key. Too many Smarties and not enough hot balls did not a diversified candy sack make. But that could be easily fixed through the complex negotiations of treat trading, where a Snickers bar equaled two Junior Mints.
Even when the sacks are emptied, the trade must go on. Replacing portions of a meal of average nutrition with one fruit or veggie, or adding color to your plate to create a more vibrant edible rainbow should always be the rule of thumb. Get your trade on: replace potato chips for baby carrots; switch your white-colored food for something deep green or bright blue.
4. Divide.
You know the routine – ingest all you can on Halloween night, then put the rest in zip bag and store it in the freezer. Parceling out treats over the long term is just a mother’s intuition, and it couldn’t make more sense. You know eating thirty milk balls when two will suffice will help you maintain your diet and nutritional goals over the long term.
Portion control is a truly American phenomenon, where muffins are as big as manhole covers and cleaning our plate is the only option. Stretching high-fat, high-calorie food out over weeks or even months is pure mathematical division, and it has the same benefit as stretching those giant portions out so a little less goes in over a longer period of time.
5. Don’t eat your feelings.
Whether you dressed as a princess or pauper, you knew your Halloween candy was earned through the hard work of knocking on doors and trudging through the elements. This hard-won booty was yours, not to be doled out as a reward for doing your homework or taking out the trash.
Using candy as a reward or a bribe turns that peanut butter cup into a little ball of love and acceptance, and that equates confections with emotions. Don’t confuse your kids or yourself by conflating acceptance and love with something caramel-filled. Love yourself with a sweet peach or a blueberry smoothie instead – sometimes a mallow bar is just a mallow bar.
6. Snub the fear.
As a kid, you never passed up an opportunity for a haunted hayride or a late night slasher flick. As a grown-up, you can still be fearless. Just because you are surrounded by sweets, don’t let it scare you. Indulging is part of a realistic diet. Vilifying food by locking it up behind a three padlocks only leads to desperate lock-picking on the flipside.
Nutrition, disease prevention and longevity are life-long pursuits, and can’t be toppled by a momentary poltergeist. Have a chocolate eyeball or an orange M&M! Indulge – mindfully and in moderation. Remember, every day is full of demons, these just happen to be in fun sizes.
