Healthy Holiday Recipes

My holiday season gift to you!  Four traditional holiday recipes, made over to give you the healthy holiday recipes for the dinner of your dream. I want to challenge you to replace 1-2 of your favorite holiday recipes with a healthy alternative. I am giving you 4 reasons below to accept my challenge! You are going to love me for this… 😉

#1 Healthy Holiday Recipe

It’s always a real mystery stuffing vs. dressing.  I am from Texas and we always called it dressing.  I am not sure that is a Texas thing, maybe more of a family thing.  Still why the difference?  Well it is simple…dressing is made outside of the turkey and stuffing is made stuffed inside the turkey.  Now that we have that cleared up, here is my my favorite remake of holiday Dressing! Bonus, you can make this ahead of time and reheat to give you more time to spend outside of the kitchen.

Gluten Free Holiday Stuffing

1 lb. ground turkey sausage (see recipe below)
½ med. yellow onion chopped
¼ cup olive oil
1 medium acorn squash
2 green apples, cored and chopped
¼ cup apple juice
2 cups royal quinoa
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup dried cranberries
2 cups veggie stock
1 cup water
3 tsp. dried sage rub
1 tsp. fennel seed
salt and pepper to taste ½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley

In a 4 quart stock pot add onions and olive oil, cook for 10 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add squash cook for 3 minutes; continue to stir to prevent sticking. Continue to stir and add apples, cook for 3 minutes. Add apple juice, quinoa, sausage, and stir in sage, walnuts and cranberries. Add veggie stock and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and lower heat. Cook until 90% of the liquid is gone. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to oven safe casserole dish with lid. Place in 300 degree oven and bake covered for 15 minutes until top is slightly crisp and the liquid is gone.
NOTE: Stuffing can be made ahead and stored in refrigerator for up to 2 days before serving. Before serving, place in oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Ground Turkey Sausage

1 tbs. olive oil
1 lb. ground organic turkey
3 tsp. ground sage rub
1 tsp. fennel seeds (crush in hands before adding)
½ tsp of cayenne pepper
1 ½ tsp. sea salt

In a 12 inch skillet add all ingredients cook until turkey is brown, stirring often to prevent sticking. NOTE: Can be formed into patties for breakfast sausage.

#2 Healthy Holiday Recipe

The use of real whole foods in holiday cooking is so easy!  You can have your sweet potatoes and eat them too!  Checkout this total makeover of a holiday favorite.  Bonus, they don’t take up precious room in your over or stove!

Slow Cooker Apples and Yams

1 tsp coconut oil
1 tbs of lemon juice
½ tsp of cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
6 sweet apples peeled and sliced
6 large yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
¼ cup apple juice
1 tbs of melted butter or ghee

Grease slow cooker with coconut oil. Toss apples and yams (sweet potatoes) in lemon juice add to slow cooker. Whisk together cinnamon, cloves, apple juice and butter. Pour over apples and yams. Cover and cook on high 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

#3 Holiday Healthy Recipe

Ok, I always ALWAYS thought I hated cranberry sauce.  It is because it was always from a can and slid from it like a living being, that grossed me out.  Red slime is all I could think about…Ick!  Then I discovered this recipe from detoxinista.com and my holiday dinners changed forever.  So easy to make and so so so good for you.  Bonus here, you can make it 3-4 days ahead of time and delete a task from your holiday cooking list!

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

12 oz. fresh cranberries
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

Wash the cranberries and discard any soft ones.
In a 1½ quart sauce pot, combine the water, maple syrup, lemon juice, ginger and cinnamon over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the cranberries, and cook for 15 minutes. The cranberries should burst and the sauce will thicken. Make sure you don’t cook the cranberries any longer than 15 minutes, or pectin will start to break down and the sauce will not set as well.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a mold, or storage jar.
Allow to chill for at least 6 hours before serving. OR make ahead and store in refrigerator for up to 4 days and freezer up to 4 months.

#4 Healthy Holiday Recipe

Nobody needs green bean casserole with this lovely green bean recipe.  This is a gorgeous recipe that plays well with the Christmas theme of red and green.  Why not eat well and be festive at the same time.  Bonus is you can make this in a snap and serve it nice and hot right to your dinner table.

Ginger Green Beans

1 pound fresh organic green beans
2 tbs of grass fed butter or ghee
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 ounces of fresh ginger, shredded or chopped
2 medium organic tomatoes, chopped
3 tbs of olive oil

Rinse green beans, trim the tips and set aside. Melt the butter (ghee) in a 2 quart pan over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger, cook for 1-2 minutes. Add green beans, tomatoes and olive oil, reduce heat slightly. Stir frequently and season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from heat after 7- 10 minutes. Green beans should be crisp. Transfer the bean mixture to a serving bowl and top with left over sauce.

NOTE: Recipe From Book – The Happiness Diet By Tyler Graham & Drew Ramsey MD