Healthy Holiday Recipes

Holidays feasts can leave us feeling full, bloated, and tired!  If you are looking for some healthier options that are tasty, AND easy to make be sure to check out our Nutritional Therapist Tanya Jarrett’s FUN holiday cooking demo video above from our LIVE Online Holiday Open House.  Do you have limited time for cooking?  You can even make some of these healthy holiday recipes ahead of time and freeze them for later!

Beef Up Traditional Holiday Stuffing Recipes

OR Should we say “Pork Up” your holiday stuffing with this CHORIZO & SWEET POTATO STUFFING!

Holiday stuffing doesn’t have to be just bread, onion, & celery!  Add some flair to your holiday stuffing by adding in more flavor & fiber!  Are you familial with Chorizo!?  Chorizo is a slightly spicy Mexican version of pork and is delicious in this stuffing recipe!  If you are plant based, or vegan you can absolutely substitute with brown lentils or “beyond the meat” crumbles.

Prebiotic Stuffing?

This stuffing recipe add foods including: apples, onion, fresh garlic, & celery and they not only add a ton of fiber, but are loaded with prebiotics. Why do we need prebiotics? To feed our gut bacteria to support our gut health!

Who puts sweet potatoes in stuffing?  Not many people!  We add sweet potatoes for flavor AND because they are rich in beta carotene.  Sweet potatoes are also fantastic in raising your blood levels of vitamin A!

Are you supplementing with Omega fatty acids?  Well why not add in ingredients that are rich in omegas?  Of course! We layered in some walnuts to add a nutty flavor and increase your omegas!

What Type of Bread for Stuffing?

For a healthier holiday recipe, buy a high quality bread like organic sourdough, organic wheat flour, or sprouted grains.  Unbleached flour is the way to go!  When a flour is bleached that means it is treated with chemicals and it loses some nutritional value.

Don’t forget the herbs!  Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, & Fresh Thyme add savory flavor AND are high in antioxidants!  These herbs are also inflammatory AND they boost the immune system!  The Winter is the perfect time for supporting your immune system!

Canned VS Fresh Cranberry Sauce

Did you grow up on Ocean Spray canned & jellied cranberry sauce!?  We did!  The canned sauce isn’t the most healthy option as it has 24 grams of sugar per 1/4 cup and STILL contains high fructose corn syrup!  If you are going to splurge with sugar during your holiday meal, save it for desert and not from your cranberry sauce.

If you want a 5 ingredient FRESH low sugar cranberry sauce, this SIMPLE & FRESH CRANBERRY SAUCE recipe is worth a try!

Sour to Sweet:  Transforming Fresh Cranberries

There are a lot of people who don’t like fresh cranberries as they can be a little bitter and sour, but they are HIGH in Vitamin C, Vitamin K, and help improve your good gut bacteria!  We can add a sweetener to our sauce to combat bitterness.  You can use at natural sweetener like honey, (local raw is our choice) , maple syrup, or coconut sugar.  We also include some orange juice, and fresh lemon zest for layers of flavor.  We also add a little bit of fresh grated ginger in our cranberry sauce. It adds a little bit of sweetness to the sauce without adding excess sugar.

GINGER TIP!

Freeze the ginger!  That way when you are looking to zest the ginger it makes it a lot easier!  You can can add it to curries, soups, and stews.  Ginger is loaded with anti-inflammatory properties, boosts immune health, and is great for digestion!  You can even add ginger zest to warm water and make a digestion supportive tea!

Healthy HOLIDAY MAC & CHEESE AND VEGAN?!

How many of you LOVE macaroni & cheese!?  We have a PUMPKIN SQUASH MAC & CHEESE recipe that is, drum roll please….100% PLANT BASED!  This mac-n-cheese is not only fantastic to add to the holidays for a little flair, but this is a perfect way to get more vegetables into your children’s diet. You can use chick pea pasta, quinoa pasta or any pasta you would like.  Do you love or prefer pumpkin?  Well you can even substitute pumpkin for the butternut squash in this recipe!

Vegan Cheese Alternative?

If you don’t want to purchase expensive vegan cheese alternatives,  nutritional yeast can be an affordable substitute. It is a great alternative to cheesy flavor if you are vegan or cannot handle dairy.  It has been used for certain nutritional deficiencies as it is high in B12 and manganese.  Oh, and another great tip:  This cheese sauce can even be put on top of steamed vegetables!

We hope you enjoy these healthy twists to traditional holiday recipes!  If you want all of these recipes and cooking instructions DOWNLOAD HERE!

Wishing you a happy & healthy holiday season!

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