The holiday season is one of the best times of the year because it’s a time of relaxation and spending time with family and friends. Of course, this year is much more different than any year before because of the pandemic. Whether you’re spending your holidays by doing a smaller, immediate family only type of affair, or going all out with lots of decorations, we hope that you and your family stay safe throughout this holiday season. We have created an article to help guide you through the stressful part of planning your holiday events for this season in hopes of easing you of some of your troubles this year.
Undoubtedly, one of the best parts of the holidays is the food! It never fails to bring everyone together and allows you to enjoy a nice home-cooked meal with your family. But, let’s take a healthier approach to this year’s holiday menu. Opt-out from buying pre-made foods or even pre-prepared ingredients because you can’t control the amount of fat and salt in these products. This can run the risk of making even the healthiest foods unhealthy. Instead, consider making your foods from scratch with wholesome ingredients. Another great way to make your favorite holiday foods healthier is to switch out the processed ingredients for non-dairy or grain-free alternatives!
Here are some ways to make your favorite holiday foods healthier:
Macaroni and Cheese
Whether you have picky eaters, you’re a broke college student or even an adult, nothing beats this classic cheesy pasta dish. Macaroni and cheese is just one of those foods that makes you feel good no matter how your day went. But, there are plenty of ways to make this dish healthier, and in a way that even if you are/have the pickiest eaters, they wouldn’t even be able to tell the difference between a normal bowl and the healthier version.
The first way to make the dish healthier would be to replace the normal pasta with chickpea pasta. Chickpea pasta is a healthier alternative to regular pasta that contains a lot more protein, more fiber, and less carbs. The best part about this pasta is that it has the exact same texture as regular pasta, so you’re not missing out on the classic taste and feel of mac and cheese.
The second option, would be to make vegan mac and cheese. A lot of people have varying opinions about vegan alternatives because they are afraid that it won’t taste as good. But, if you’re someone who is lactose intolerant or even lactose sensitive, this dish is perfect for you! There are so many recipes online, some that use vegan cheese, and others that don’t! But regardless of if you use vegan cheese or not, you won’t even miss your regular bowl of mac and cheese anymore because the vegan version is better!
Making a vegan version also allows you to add more wholesome ingredients and, especially if you have picky eaters, allow you to sneak in some veggies and they won’t even suspect it! My favorite vegan mac and cheese recipe utilizes sweet potatoes, along with the help of other ingredients, instead of vegan cheese, in order to make it creamy and give it that iconic orange color.
Cauliflower Mash
Mashed potatoes are a staple holiday food. They’re warm, fluffy yet smooth, and are the perfect vessel for gravy. But, they’re also high in carbohydrates and starch; these things can cause excess bloating therefore making you more full and not allow you to properly enjoy the rest of your meal. Additionally, when making mashed potatoes, most recipes call for a lot of butter, heavy whipping cream, and other super fatty ingredients. Therefore, it’s really easy for the fat and calories to add up.
However, a great alternative for mashed potatoes would be cauliflower mash! Cauliflower is a vegetable that’s super low in calories as well as carbohydrates and even mashes and feels, texturally, like mashed potatoes once cooked! Another great thing about cauliflower mash is that it’s high in fiber and antioxidants! So unlike with mashed potatoes where it’s a bowl of just fat and carbohydrates, mashed cauliflower offers you a similar texture and taste, but with added health benefits!
Here’s a simple, yet super flavorful cauliflower mash recipe that’s sure to wow you and your family this holiday season!
Gravy
Usually, when eating out or at a dinner, some people opt to eat their meal without gravy in order to save themselves the hassle of a few extra calories. It’s true, gravy can be extremely fatty and high in sodium, however, if you can find a way to lessen the amount of fat and salt in the recipe, it can be a flavorful side dish that can be doused on top of your favorite holiday foods.
Substituting a super fatty brother such as beef broth with a lighter more calorie-friendly broth such as chicken or turkey broth is a great first step. Then from there, finding wholesome and clean ingredients is the key. “The Gracious Pantry”, a clean eating food blog details her switch to clean eating while providing her readers with healthy alternatives to some of the most calorie-filled foods. In her gravy recipes, she substitutes out a lot of the processed ingredients with tons of preservatives, calories, and fat, with super simple and clean ingredients to provide her readers with a recipe that is both delicious yet nutritious.
Check out her recipe here!
Greenbean Casserole
Another savory food that looks healthy because of the greenbeans, but can contain quite a bit of fat and calories due to the other ingredients is greenbean casserole. By making your own mushroom sauce instead of using a canned version, you’re able to cut down on the majority of the fat and sodium. Also, adding almond meal to your fried onion mixture allows the fried onions to not only stay crunchier longer but also allows you to use less fried onions thereby saving you from consuming extra calories and fat! Here’s an amazing recipe that can help you to achieve the perfect, low-calorie, highly nutritious greenbean casserole.
Stuffing
Stuffing is one of those recipes that is great for mixing with other foods as well as incorporating all of the leftover ingredients that you have lying around your kitchen. However, most stuffing recipes are made with a base of bread as well as the turkey drippings left in the pan from cooking. The mixing of these ingredients can increase your saturated fats intake as well as your carbohydrate intake.
But, an alternative is making a stuffing this year that is grain-free and utilizes wholesome ingredients! You can add the turkey drippings if you so please, however this recipe is great as is! The food blog “40 Aprons” has created a paleo (non-grain) version of stuffing that incorporates sautéed vegetables as well as almond flour to provide you with a stuffing that tastes amazing and is good for you too!
Stuffed Apples
Nothing says fall-time like a baked apple! The soft and gooey apple that still retains a bit of crunch and is naturally caramelized with a hint of cinnamon. However, baked apples can still be extremely fatty as well as have a ton of sugar. Stuffed apples provide you with a cinnamon-y apple taste as well as an added crunch from the granola filling that is used. While there are plenty of unhealthy recipes for this dessert, there are also plenty of alternatives to make this recipe incredibly healthy while also making it delicious! “Kim’s Cravings”, a food blog that is aimed at creating recipes with wholesome ingredients. She has created a recipe that incorporates using rolled oats along with cinnamon and other spices that are filed with antioxidants and are antibacterial in nature. She also uses neutral oils to cut the saturated fat content and make the dessert a lot healthier!
Eggnog
Whether you enjoy a more adult version of this drink, or you enjoy it on it’s own, eggnog makes for one of the most perfect cold-weather drinks. Its creamy rich flavor from the eggs and the cinnamon make for a super cozy feeling. However, the creamy flavor does come with some extra calories as well as the added guilt of drinking a few extra cups throughout the night. So, in order to rid yourself of the guilt, consider making an alternative recipe to create the perfect low-calorie drink that you and your family will enjoy!
There are a few ways to make this drink healthier. One way is to cut out all of the refined sugars from the condensed milk and the heavy cream, and substitute those ingredients for maple syrup. In this recipe by “Super Healthy Kids”, they have done just that! Another option is to do a non-dairy option! By choosing a rich and creamy plant-milk option, you’re able to cut out the other extra refined sugars in the recipe by “A Sweet Pea Chef”! Plus this recipe also substitutes honey for the sugar! It’s win-win! You still get that rich creamy flavor that you love, without the guilt from all the extra calories!
Pumpkin Pie
Much like the other items on this list, pumpkin pie can be super unhealthy mainly based on the fact that it contains a lot of refined sugars. However, this can be easily repaired by substituting sugar for any other healthy sweetener alternative such as honey or pure maple syrup. Substituting this alone can cut the fat content a lot, however, we can take this one step further. Regardless of if you are vegan or not, substituting a non-dairy milk can benefit the calorie content of this pie. Using almond milk instead of the usual whole milk keeps the pie moist as well as creamy! This recipe by “Ambitious Kitchen” incorporates a non-dairy milk alternative as well as other wholesome ingredients to create a great pumpkin pie!
Holiday Cookies
Making cookies is a great way to spend time with your family as well as show the people you care about how much they mean to you! However, like everything during the holiday season, they’re super calorie-filled and provide little to no nutritional value to your body. But, there are super simple ways to incorporate more wholesome ingredients into your cookie batter to make them healthier! On “Two Healthy Cookies”, their food blog has a list of 31 different holiday cookie recipes, from simple sugar cookies to gingerbread and even almond cookies, that are much healthier and nutritious than regular cookies!
Brownies
While brownies are not the most typical holiday desserts, some people enjoy the fudgy, gooey, chocolatey decadent piece of dessert. Brownies are a super easy recipe to bake, especially if they’re from a box, but we’re not here to make mediocre brownies from a box! In order to make brownies that are still super delicious but healthy, you should check out this recipe for zucchini brownies! Now, I know what you’re thinking, “won’t the brownies just taste like vegetables??” And the answer to that is, no! The zucchinis are chopped up super thin and add some extra moistness to the brownies that something like butter or vegetable oil would add. This recipe is a really good way to sneak some vegetables to your children and they won’t even notice the difference! Plus, this recipe doesn’t use any refined sugars! So, you can be totally assured that you’re not ruining the nutritional value of the veggies by adding sugar!
