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Monday, November 23, 2009

Healthy Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas

I love Thanksgiving! I love the whole concept of giving thanks for all we have and of course I love the food. I love the desserts most of all. If I could, I would eat the dessert first on Thanksgiving. I don’t think my husband would appreciate it though, since he loves to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner. By the time I get to the dessert, I’ve already started thinking about the amount of calories I’ve eaten. This year, I’m making some healthy desserts. They will still taste great but I won’t have to worry as much about the fat and calories. Here are my top three healthy Thanksgiving desserts that I’m making this year.

Pumpkin Pie – It’s not my favorite but without it, it doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving. I will use a premade pie crust. I like to use a graham cracker crust because they usually have fewer calories. You can use the canned pumpkin pie puree. A regular recipe usually calls for five or six eggs, but try two whole eggs and five egg whites to cut down on fat and calories. A regular recipe also calls for a lot of sugar. You can cut out some of the sugar and put in some extra cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. This can save you some calories since spices don’t have any. You can also use a little bit of honey to give it a little different taste. Honey has about the same calories as sugar so don’t use too much. Finally, top it with some low fat cool whip instead of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Cool whip has very few calories and almost no fat.
Apple Crisp with Cranberries - I’m making apple crisp this year instead of apple pie. With an apple crisp you can save a lot of fat and calories. Use your favorite apples (Granny Smith work well) and some FRESH cranberries. Try not to use dried cranberries. Use lemon and apple juice to pour over the apples and cranberries to give it a nice flavor. Instead of using a high calorie, high fat pie crust, I’m making a healthy crumble for the topping. Start with rolled oats and some whole wheat flour. You will still need about ½ cup of brown sugar but you can add spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice so you don’t have to use so much sugar. While whisking your crumble together, use LIGHT butter cut into little pieces. You will only need a few Tbsp. You will save a lot of calories and fat and be serving a high fiber, yummy dessert.
“Ice Cream” Sandwiches with Cinnamon – I usually make this one for the kids but some of the adults love them too. All you have to do is get some cinnamon graham crackers which are very low in fat, some low fat cool whip and some cinnamon. Just lay out the graham crackers and spoon the cool whip onto the cracker. Sprinkle with cinnamon, cover with another graham cracker and place in the freezer. You can also add some chocolate chips but they do add calories. Serve them frozen just like a regular ice cream sandwich.

These are just a few low fat, low calorie versions of popular Thanksgiving desserts. You can make yours lower in calories and fat by using some simple tricks. Replace eggs with egg whites and 1 or 2 eggs, use Splenda instead of sugar (you can also use ½ sugar and ½ splenda), serve cool whip instead of ice cream or serve fresh fruit. Ask your friends for other ideas. Enjoy your guilt free Thanksgiving dessert this year!

- Jennifer

Note: Splenda Sugar Blend has about the same amount of calories as regular sugar so to reduce calories you want to use the Splenda No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated.

Labels: Holiday Eating, holiday ideas, Jennifer