Traditional Thanksgiving meals usually look very similar. There’s turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, corn, biscuits and pumpkin pie. While this is a great meal for Thanksgiving, it doesn’t contain too many “super” foods. I usually don’t encourage people to change up their Thanksgiving dinner because it’s typically a well-established menu and why mess with perfection. However, I do suggest that you turn your leftovers into “super” meals with a few simple changes and additions.
- Everyone loves to have a turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving. This year, make your sandwich on oat bran bread and add some fresh cranberries on top. The oat bran is great for helping fight high cholesterol and cranberries are full of antioxidants and loaded with fiber. Sprinkle some oregano over the turkey before you make your sandwich to give it extra flavor as well as a boost of antioxidants and many other nutrients.
- Give your left over mashed potatoes to your guests to take home and replace them with some sweet potatoes the next day. You can simply poke a few holes in a sweet potato and microwave it. Let it cool and eat it with your leftover turkey. Sweet potatoes are full of vitamin A, vitamin C and fiber. If you end up with a lot of leftover sweet potatoes, make some sweet potato soup.
- Change up your stuffing. I know most people don’t like anyone to mess with their Thanksgiving stuffing. However, you can change up your leftover stuffing to make it taste great and be packed full of nutrients. Chop up some dried fruit and mix it in your stuffing. Use some dried cranberries, raisins and dates. This will give your stuffing some fiber, antioxidants, potassium and of course great flavor.
- If you have leftover salad or green beans you can add some nuts to increase the flavor and nutrient content. Nuts are a great source of protein and healthy fats. Try some almonds over your green beans or some pecans on your salad. They also provide a healthy dose of vitamin E.
- After your guests have left and you are relaxing with your leftovers, sip on a glass of red wine. Everyone knows that red wine has health benefits. Red wine is full of healthy flavanoids which have been found to help fight off cancer and heart disease. Red wine has also been found to help reduce inflammation. Make sure you only have one glass. Too much wine can actually be detrimental to your health.
With a few simple tricks, you can turn your leftovers into “super” meals. So go ahead and enjoy your leftovers, guilt free!
- Jennifer
Labels: healthy eating, holiday ideas, Jennifer
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Always good to get right back to it & make the healthier versions with left overs!
Hey, I learned something a while back.. ya don't have to prick your potatoes to microwave them.. either regular or sweet or yams. I stopped pricking & mine are fine! Give it a try but I have had no probs.