Christmas is well known for food and festivities. With relatives and friends gathering in homes across America, one of the most famous traditions of the season is sitting around the table and enjoying a delicious feast. Unfortunately, the traditional Christmas foods that are prepared are typically filled with sweets, carbohydrates, and a lot of calories.
This Christmas, consider breaking your long standing tradition and opting for healthier holiday entrees. There are several tasty alternatives you can try. For example, choose classic prime rib for your main dish. With some salt, pepper, and rib roast, this is an easy and delicious choose. And, it’s healthy. By slow roasting this meat at a low temperature, the flavor comes from the meat itself, meaning you don’t have to exasperate yourself finding the perfect seasonings. For the classic prime rib, make sure you get a high quality beef.
Cooking is an art that can be perfected and altered to fit your needs. This Christmas, alter your chicken by varying the seasonings to create a healthier approach to your main course.
Foods that are roasted are a healthier choice than fried foods. Opt for a roasted chicken with lemons and thyme. The seasonings used on this dish come from the Sephardic Jewish cuisine of Spain. By adding simple seasonings—paprika, thyme, and lemon—you can easily roast this dish so that the flavor of the meat take precedence.
When Christmas comes to town, it can often turn into an eating frenzy. From the main course to the desserts and, especially, the side dishes, it only takes one plate full of food to send you soaring past your daily caloric intake. And who only has one helping on Christmas day?
This final entrée is no where near your traditional main course, but its flavor and healthy benefits will have you ready for seconds—and you can indulge without guilt of added calories.
A roasted leg of lamb seasoned in herbs and citrus. Use orange and lemon along with cumin in your marinade. These bold flavors will leave your taste buds completely satisfied as well as your waist line. And the best part? When Christmas is over and it’s time for leftovers, you can enjoy a tasty pita with lamb and yogurt.
Because of the food choices for holiday festivities, it can be difficult to keep your figure and enjoy the food and festivities that the Christmas season brings. Help your friends and family this year by preparing healthier alternatives to traditional pies, meats, and mashed potatoes.
Pasta isn’t typically known for its nutritional values. However, this next side dish will, which can be served as the main dish, is a pasta no one will be able to resist—Penne with Brussels sprouts and crisp bacon.
This dish is full of impressive flavors and is easy to put together. Steam Brussels sprouts, add hazelnuts and crisp bacon for the crunch factor, and a creamy Parmesan sauce. You can decide between a chicken broth and vegetable broth to add additional flavor.