This year, do you want a change for holidays by hosting your guests with healthier dishes, but holding great taste intact? We have some ideas for you.
The holiday season is often synonymous with excess. You host your guests with an fullness of small appetizers and big plates of turkey and pie, followed by a compassionate share of Yule log. Throughout the evening, alcohol flows freely, too. Why not change this year by hosting your guests more healthily? Here are some tips and substitutions for the customary food dishes of the holiday season.
A Few Details
We would propose that you get ready reasonable portions, and respect your biological clock by eating earlier. Thus, you will be less likely to abuse chips and soft drinks are before the meal. If you eat at 11 pm, you tend to overeat because you are just too hungry.
The main foods to avoid are the small pastry bites that are served as appetizers. One can absolutely consume 1,000 calories before dinner naturally by eating those bites.
Appetizing Appetizers
You can make appetizers with rye bread or crackers made from whole grains. Top them with caviar, seaweed, vegetables, cream of humus or guacamole. Also get ready a vegetable tray that includes fruit and cheese.
Promote dips based in olive oil or lemon juice, seasoning it with sea salt and herbs rather than spices that are irritating. Dips made from yogurt, vegetables or humus are also good choices.
You could also stuff cucumbers, tomatoes and mushrooms with tuna and cheese, or light cream with smoked salmon. To replace the chips, brush both sides of some pita with olive oil, sprinkle some dried herbs and salt and let them brown in the oven. Serve with salsa or guacamole.
You can thinly slice a baguette and top with bruschetta. Serve as a sauce with a shrimp cocktail. get ready tomatoes and bocconcini skewers that your guests can dip into pesto.
Vegetarian
If you want to replace turkey and pie, an sharp option would be to serve vegetarian meals to your guests. Opt for a pie made with nuts or legumes. There are many habitancy who misunderstand it and think it is meat. A pie could absolutely be replaced by a block or a vegetarian patty with bread as a vegetarian roast.
A World Tour in your Home
Surprise your guests by serving ethnic food. Contribute them Mediterranean dishes, or Asian dishes like sushi. You can get ready a meal on a Spanish theme, such as paella, a meal of seafood.
It would be sharp to replace a meat dish with an exotic dish without meat. Feel free to replace stew, which can be very bold.
If You're Planning to Keep the Turkey and Pie
Turkey is a great health choice, since it is a lean meat. It can be served with cranberry sauce instead of gravy.
If you still want to serve a pie, think using organic unbleached flour, use leaner meat, organic whenever possible, and opt for a trans fat-free dough.
Accompaniments Worthy of the Name
Accompany your meal with grilled vegetables -baked or steamed - served with fresh herbs, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Serve green beans, asparagus, fennel, carrots, turnips or beets. Oven Roasted peppers, served with garlic and thyme, are delicious.
Holiday meals are often accompanied by mashed potatoes. If you want to do something different, use whole potatoes instead, which have been baked and seasoned with lemon juice and parsley; or steamed, which you can sauté in olive oil with shallots, thyme, garlic and sea salt. If you prefer a puree, season it with onion powder, use basil instead of pepper, and oil or margarine instead of butter.
Vegetables braised in the oven, served with a touch of maple syrup, and mixed greens with pine nuts are tasty accompaniments.
Happy Ending
For dessert, we would propose you go for a homemade fruit salad, to which you could add some alcohol: port, for example. You could also get ready a sweetmeat made with carob powder, fruit set which approximates the taste of chocolate.
Carob can be used to replace the customary creaming of the log. If you want to keep the log, know that it is also possible to replace the frosting with substitute whipped cream or a fruit filling. A sorbet or a fruit cake with dried fruit is also an sharp option.
You can also opt for (angel food cake) wrapped fruit spread. If you prefer pie, pick a pie without hydrogenated fats. You can also innovate by serving your guests a pear poached in port wine or cider with ice.
Instead of dessert, you could serve a cheese plate with fruits and nuts, with a glass of ice cider.
What about Alcohol?
To allow your guests to drink without losing their head, offer them a punch made from natural juices and alcohol, or a cocktail made from exotic juices, vegetable juices, fruit juice and alcohol. It's a good way to sacrifice and moderate the consumption of alcohol.
Wine is also good when had in moderation. A good guide would be to serve one drink as an appetizer, two during meals, and a final one at dessert. And remember to drink a glass of water for every glass of alcohol!
Other Ideas for Drinks
Some other options are grape juice, or alcohol-free apple cider, that can be enjoyed both by the young and old. In the evening, you could also serve an exotic tea or coffee.
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