Healthy Recipes For The Thanksgiving Dinner

Friday, November 11, 2011

I love Thanksgiving as much as the next person, but it sure can be a day with lots of fattening side dishes and desserts. Here are few healthy and delicious recipes that you can incorporate into your Thanksgiving Feast. 


Pumpkin Soup: 






Serves 4 (Double or triple the recipe when serving for more guests)

Ingredients

    3/4 cup water
    1 small onion, chopped
    1 can (8 ounces) pumpkin puree
    1 cup unsalted vegetable broth
    1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1 cup fat-free milk
    1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    1 green onion, green top only, chopped

Directions

In a large saucepan, heat 1/4 cup of the water over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Don't let the onion dry out.
Add the remaining water, pumpkin, broth, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the milk and cook until hot. Don't boil.
Ladle into warmed individual bowls and garnish with black pepper and green onion tops. Serve immediately. 



Here is a twist on the classic Thanksgiving side dish of stuffing: 


Wild Rice Stuffing: 





Serves 12

Ingredients

    • 3/4 cup uncooked wild rice (or equal amount of uncooked quinoa)
    • 2 1/2 cups water
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 3/4 cup chopped onion
    • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
    • 1 cup chopped apple (including peel)
    • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
    • 2 cups diced celery
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
    • 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
    • 1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
    • 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Directions

Rinse wild rice two to three times — until water runs clear.
Place wild rice and water in a 1 1/2 quart sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, stirring frequently. Do not burn. Cook wild rice for about 30 minutes. (If you're using quinoa, cook it for about 15 minutes.)
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add onion, mushrooms, apple, cranberries and celery. Stir and heat through until tender. Add the salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Continue to stir and cook slowly until fragrant, about 10 minutes total.
Combine the rice, the fruit/vegetable mixture and chicken broth in a large bowl. Use to stuff turkey. Or bake in a dish coated with nonstick spray. Cover and keep warm in oven until serving. Garnish with a sprinkle of toasted almonds.
Gives these a try mock mashed potatoes a try!
Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes:

Serves 4

Ingredients

    1 head cauliflower
    1 clove garlic
    1 leek, white only, split in 4 pieces
    1 tablespoon soft-tub margarine, nonhydrogenated
    Pepper to taste

Directions

Break cauliflower into small pieces. In a good-sized saucepan, steam cauliflower, garlic and leeks in water until completely tender, about 20 to 30 minutes. While cauliflower is hot, puree until the vegetables resemble mashed potatoes. (Use a food processor, of if you prefer a smoother texture, use a blender. Process only a small portion at a time, holding the blender lid on firmly with a tea towel.) Add a little hot water if vegetables seem dry. Stir in margarine and pepper to taste.

Give Thanks Banner

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

 

It’s that time of year to get out my Give Thanks Banner.

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Each part of this banner is made starting with a different fall colored circle. Then topped with a book page pin wheel. Then each pin wheel is covered with alternating leaves…

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…and acorns. Then a letter is placed on top to spell out the words GIVE THANKS. Then this is attached to a string of twine with a clothes pin that is covered by a felt leaf.

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That is my fun Fall Give Thanks Banner!

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November Free Printables

Saturday, November 5, 2011

I apologize for the delay, but Novembers printables are finally up!

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It is always nice to share a meal with a friend in need, but now especially at this time of the year wouldn’t it be great to share a meal with a friend just because. If you are planning to share a meal with a loved one we have tags for you to give along with the meal to let them know that their meal is made with love. There is even room for directions in case it is something that needs to be heated up. We are offering six different designs for you to choose from for almost any occasion.

Do you have a friend who just had a baby boy?

meal tag 2- Baby Boy copy

or a baby girl?

meal tag 3- Baby Girl copy

Maybe you just want to say Merry Christmas…

meal tag 4- Merry Christmas copy

or Happy Holidays enjoy a meal on us!

meal tag 5- Happy Holidays copy

Or maybe it is a loved ones birthday.

meal tag 6- Happy Birthday copy

Or maybe you want to share a meal just because.

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As always, head on over to our Facebook page to download your meal tags.

*Update: This is now available under the printables tab at the top of the blog.

1,200 Calories

Friday, November 4, 2011

On average most bodies burn around 1400 calories a day. Our heart, our lungs, and our minds all take energy to function. This is great because if we consume less then we expend we should lose weight!

Below I wrote a meal plan for about 1,200 calories, eating these days worth of calories alone without exercise you will hopefully help you lose weight. 

Breakfast:                            Calories 

1 activia yogurt                       70 
1/4 c blueberries                      48
3/4 c egg whites                      90

Snack:
Almonds                                 100 

Lunch:
6 oz grilled chicken                 180 
1/2 tomato                                28
1 Tbsp. pine nuts                    136 
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar         35
1 Tbsp. EVOO                       120 

Snack:
1 laughing cow cheese            35 
1 cup celery                             16 

Dinner:
4oz. lean turkey                      120 
1/8 avocado                             39 
2 c. green salad cuc, tom         48
1 Tbsp. light dressing              35 

Snack: 
Healthy Choice Fudge Bar    100 

Total: 1200 Calories

Have a great weekend!!



Dr. Seuss Reading Corner

Monday, October 31, 2011

I recently added a little reading corner to my son’s room. As you may know, my son’s room is Dr. Seuss themed. So everything that I added has a hint of Dr. Seuss.

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The room already had a couple of book shelves.

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Underneath the shelves I added a magnet wall.

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I just used Rustoleum magnet paint. This stuff is amazing! You can even paint over the magnet paint so that the magnet wall can just blend right in with the rest of the wall. I decided to leave it for the time being so that my son can see the contrast between where to put the magnets and where not to. I think eventually I’ll paint over it and then just frame the part of the wall that is magnetized.

Here is the wall before right we painted it.

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I love the magnets on the wall. I happened to come across some Dr. Seuss foam stickers at Hobby Lobby one day. They came in a pack of 200. I thought that they would be perfect for this project. I just converted them to magnets by adding some adhesive magnet tape to the back of each sticker.

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There are some cool magnets. All of the ABC’s, plus pictures of Dr. Seuss books and characters. They even have a magnet for every page of Green Eggs and Ham so you can even read the book right there on the magnet wall.

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In addition to the magnet wall, I also sewed my son a bean bag chair using various Dr. Seuss fabrics. I used the Michael Miller child bean bag chair pattern.

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It sits right next to his book shelf.

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Contrary to the story this picture tells, my son actually loves his chair. He spends a lot of his day sitting and reading in his bean bag chair. He just wasn’t interested in sitting in it when I wanted to take a picture.

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Here is a view of the entire reading corner, complete with a pennant banner made from Dr. Seuss book pages.

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Here are a couple of links to other Dr. Seuss projects in his room.

Cat in the Hat Mobile

Dr. Seuss Storage Boxes

P.S. Happy Halloween! We spent our evening reading Halloween books in our Halloween PJ’s. We’ve had 3 rounds of trick or treating over the last week so we took the night off from candy collecting to pass out candy to others. It was just as fun but without the sugar high. My son would get so excited every time the door bell rang!

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