Hosting My First Thanksgiving...

Angel of the Morning · **Hosting My First Thanksgiving...**

I'm hosting my very first Thanksgiving dinner this year. I know that we're having Turkey, but I'm not sure what other staples are necessary to make sure my guests aren't disappointed.

I really want to make a healthier Thanksgiving dinner and found some healthy suggestions for trimming down here. What do you guys think? Do these recipes still look like most people will like them? What do you do to cut back on the calories/fat on some of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes?

Momofoneboy · 11-05-2009, 04:13 PM

I think it is a great idea to try to incorporate healthier options but...
I am one that is trying to be very health conscious these days and trying to watch what I put into my mouth and make better choices. However, Thanksgiving and Christmas meals are the ones that I look forward to the most so feel like I should be able to have my favorites on those special days of the year. I guess I am just more of a traditional person as far as that goes and would want my favorites for the one day, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, etc.

calimari · 11-05-2009, 04:21 PM

In our family, we have found that eliminating the appetizers/munchies prior to the meal was the best thing to do. We got filled up before the turkey was even served! We also do our holidays pot-luck, so that the hostess doesn't have to cook everything. Normally:

Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes. Sweet potatoes (not a casserole - just mashed w/ butter or cut up onto pieces w/ maybe some butter/brown sugar drizzled on top). If we don't do sweet potatoes, there will be baked squash. Rolls. Vegetables might vary wildly: we might do a salad, or roasted/gingered carrots, or a stir fry, or a baked broccoli-cheese casserole. We NEVER make the green bean casserole. Grosses everyone out. We might also offer up applesauce, cranberry sauce or cranberry relish or chutney, and maybe red cabbage. My mom used to make keilbasa/sauerkraut for the polish relatives as well,

Pies for dessert: pecan, apple, pumpkin.

Amber03 · 11-05-2009, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calimari

In our family, we have found that eliminating the appetizers/munchies prior to the meal was the best thing to do. We got filled up before the turkey was even served! We also do our holidays pot-luck, so that the hostess doesn't have to cook everything. Normally:

Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes. Sweet potatoes (not a casserole - just mashed w/ butter or cut up onto pieces w/ maybe some butter/brown sugar drizzled on top). If we don't do sweet potatoes, there will be baked squash. Rolls. Vegetables might vary wildly: we might do a salad, or roasted/gingered carrots, or a stir fry, or a baked broccoli-cheese casserole. We NEVER make the green bean casserole. Grosses everyone out. We might also offer up applesauce, cranberry sauce or cranberry relish or chutney, and maybe red cabbage. My mom used to make keilbasa/sauerkraut for the polish relatives as well,

Pies for dessert: pecan, apple, pumpkin.

It all sounds delicious to me. My DH is part Polish but his side never makes any Polish dishes. They sound good though I like Kraut but he doesn't.

ruthie · 11-05-2009, 05:04 PM

We do the turkey, ham, mashed pot, corn, mac & cheese, dressing (or stuffing) green beans and then pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie and pumpkin spice cake.

To me the holidays are not meant to be diet days

Phoenyx · 11-05-2009, 05:32 PM

I don't worry about calories for special occasion meals. Birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, I go all out - damn the torpedos and pass the corn on the cob.

For Thanksgiving, I roast the turkey with the skin on after I slather it with butter and sprinkle it with cayenne. The skin is my favorite part of both chicken and turkey.
I always use real butter - you will never find margarine in my house.

I make cornbread dressing, which starts by making two skillets of my grandmother's cornbread. I use butter in place of shortening.

I use sour cream, cream cheese, and half-and-half in my green bean casserole - and of course, I top it with a layer of fried onions half an inch deep.

I also make a broccoli and cheese casserole, and squash smothered in onions.

I cut up sweet potatoes into a baking dish along with Granny Smith apples, raisins, and nuts, then add brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and maple syrup (tree sap, not maple flavored corn syrup) before baking them. No nasty marshmallows in my sweet potatoes - the only thing those are good for is sticking Rice Krispies together.

I make mashed potatoes (from scratch, with the skins), and I make giblet gravy to go over them.

I make pan de jamon,which is like French bread, only generously stuffed with bits of ham, extra sharp cheddar, pecans, and raisins before baking. When M'ija was little, she called it "Built-in sandwiches."

I use raw sugar, brown sugar, cane syrup, honey, or maple syrup for all sweetening. The only no-calorie sweetener in my house is a few packets of Nutrasweet that I keep on hand for when a diabetic friend of mine comes over, so that she can sweeten her coffee or tea.

If I make a dessert, it will most likely be some sort of pie, again using butter for the fat in the crust, and real fruit and real sugar. Or if I bake a cheesecake, I do it in a deep casserole dish, so we're talking about a quart of sour cream, and a pound of cream cheese, plus butter and brown sugar in the graham cracker crust.

For beverages, kids have a choice of water, whole milk, fruit juice, iced tea, Abita root beer, or Jones cream soda (Abita and Jones are both made with sugar, not HFCS).
Adults have their choices of any of the above, along with the added choices of beer or wine. If I buy the beer, it will be Abita Amber, Shiner Bock, or Guinness. If I buy the wine, it will be Amato's blackberry, cranberry, or muscadine. (Amato's is a local winery that makes to-die-for wines from all kinds of fruit - those three are my favorites). People also bring their own specialty dishes and bottles to share.

Momofoneboy · 11-06-2009, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phoenyx

I don't worry about calories for special occasion meals. Birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, I go all out - damn the torpedos and pass the corn on the cob.

For Thanksgiving, I roast the turkey with the skin on after I slather it with butter and sprinkle it with cayenne. The skin is my favorite part of both chicken and turkey.
I always use real butter - you will never find margarine in my house.

I make cornbread dressing, which starts by making two skillets of my grandmother's cornbread. I use butter in place of shortening.

I use sour cream, cream cheese, and half-and-half in my green bean casserole - and of course, I top it with a layer of fried onions half an inch deep.

I also make a broccoli and cheese casserole, and squash smothered in onions.

I cut up sweet potatoes into a baking dish along with Granny Smith apples, raisins, and nuts, then add brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, and maple syrup (tree sap, not maple flavored corn syrup) before baking them. No nasty marshmallows in my sweet potatoes - the only thing those are good for is sticking Rice Krispies together.

I make mashed potatoes (from scratch, with the skins), and I make giblet gravy to go over them.

I make pan de jamon,which is like French bread, only generously stuffed with bits of ham, extra sharp cheddar, pecans, and raisins before baking. When M'ija was little, she called it "Built-in sandwiches."

I use raw sugar, brown sugar, cane syrup, honey, or maple syrup for all sweetening. The only no-calorie sweetener in my house is a few packets of Nutrasweet that I keep on hand for when a diabetic friend of mine comes over, so that she can sweeten her coffee or tea.

If I make a dessert, it will most likely be some sort of pie, again using butter for the fat in the crust, and real fruit and real sugar. Or if I bake a cheesecake, I do it in a deep casserole dish, so we're talking about a quart of sour cream, and a pound of cream cheese, plus butter and brown sugar in the graham cracker crust.

For beverages, kids have a choice of water, whole milk, fruit juice, iced tea, Abita root beer, or Jones cream soda (Abita and Jones are both made with sugar, not HFCS).
Adults have their choices of any of the above, along with the added choices of beer or wine. If I buy the beer, it will be Abita Amber, Shiner Bock, or Guinness. If I buy the wine, it will be Amato's blackberry, cranberry, or muscadine. (Amato's is a local winery that makes to-die-for wines from all kinds of fruit - those three are my favorites). People also bring their own specialty dishes and bottles to share.

You are making my mouth water. Maybe I will show up at your door for dinner.

Amber03 · 11-06-2009, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ruthie

We do the turkey, ham, mashed pot, corn, mac & cheese, dressing (or stuffing) green beans and then pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie and pumpkin spice cake.

To me the holidays are not meant to be diet days

Amen to that

grassisgreener · 11-07-2009, 11:12 PM

I have tried to make some tweaks during various Thanksgiving dinners, and it's not gone over so well. Not so much "thinning" down the recipes as trying to make them a bit more elegant. At least for my family and my husband's family, the oldie but goodie recipes that we all grew up on have trumped the more modern versions every time. So I cook healthier and fancier during the rest of the year, but the holidays get the old fashioned comfort foods that everyone expects. It makes everyone more comfortable, and one day a year won't hurt us.