Tag Archives: thanksgiving

Plan a Non-Traditional Thanksgiving for Full Control Over the Meal

By J.J. Kunkle from The Fit Life

The Thanksgiving my husband and I share is a bit different than most. We love our families, but because Thanksgiving tends to focus on food and eating, it’s the one holiday we typically reserve for just the two of us.

Aside from the occasional fish dish, we eat a vegetarian diet. In addition to eating vegetarian, we also eat very health consciously—avoiding processed foods, preservatives and salt as much as possible. So, since we’ve been together, on Thanksgiving we take off for the Smokey Mountains. We rent a nice, little one bedroom cabin and together, cook a nice vegetarian meal for Thanksgiving. Then we spend the long weekend hiking in the mountains. Last year we made quinoa stuffed red peppers.

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Posted on November 17, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Chef Aida Mollenkamp Dishes Up a Biggest Loser Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving can be a difficult holiday to navigate on a diet but not if you’re a contestant on NBC’s The Biggest Loser. This year, cooking expert Aida Mollenkamp will prepare a healthy Thanksgiving feast for the trainers and past season contestants on The Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now?

Mollenkamp, a chef, television personality and food writer, has a holistic approach to cooking delicious dishes for her friends and family. Following graduation from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, she moved to Europe, where she trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Since then, Mollenkamp has worked at several restaurants and hotels in the United States, from the California Pizza Kitchen to Hotel Bel-Air, in Los Angeles, California.

In addition to her experience in the hospitality industry, Mollenkamp has been an editor for CHOW Magazine, a host on Food Network and Cooking Channel and is writing a cookbook due out in Fall 2024. No matter what she is doing though, one thing is for sure: she’s usually thinking about food. On the Cooking Channel’s foodCrafters, Mollenkamp leaves the kitchen to discover the best handmade foods from around the nation.

Whether she’s cooking a feast for national television or an intimate dinner for friends and family, Mollenkamp has a holistic approach to cooking wholesome, healthy foods with fresh, sustainable ingredients. (more…)

Posted on November 15, 2023 by Maris

Your Guide for Enjoying a Safe Gluten-Free Holiday Season

Wendy Gregory Kaho blogs about the care and feeding of a gluten-free family at Celiacs in the House.

As the holiday season approaches, those new to the gluten-free diet, and even those with years of experience, can feel a sense of dread with all the opportunities for gluten in holiday gatherings and foods. How do we share the spirit of the season without the effects of an accidental “glutening?” I’ve gathered tips to make this a safe, joyous, and gluten-free holiday.

Communication is key to staying safe and gluten-free during the holidays. Linda Etherton, the Gluten-Free Homemaker, shares tips for staying safe and gluten free when eating those holiday meals. Not only do we need to educate our guests and hosts to keep us safe, but it is also an opportunity to lovingly hint to our relatives that they may need to be tested for celiac disease or gluten issues, since this is genetic.

Planning is critical. Whether it is planning a safe dish to take to a potluck or party to planning an entire gluten-free meal. (more…)

Posted on November 14, 2023 by GuestBlogger

A Full Feast of Turkey Trots to Get You Moving Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is full of traditions. The turkey, the pie, the stuffing, and the stuffing of bellies are all synonymous with Thanksgiving. Thankfully a growing tradition of Thanksgiving Day foot races is sweeping the country. More and more feasters are burning those calories before the tryptophan takes over and they become overfed couch dwellers for the afternoon.

Here are some of the best turkey day races the nation has to offer. Start a new tradition with your family and get a run in before you gobble.

1. 116th Annual YMCA Turkey Trot Buffalo, NY
Be a part of American history with this race. This is the oldest continually running footrace in North America, it’s even older than the Boston Marathon.
The 8K race brings more than 14,000 runners out in the brisk morning air. Each runner is asked to bring 2 cans of non-perishable food, making it a huge charity opportunity as well. What a way to celebrate the holiday!

2. Manchester Road Race. Manchester, Connecticut
The Manchester Road Race began in 1927 with just twelve runners. Today the 4.748 mile race welcomes over 15,000 runners and walkers. This race is celebrating its 75th anniversary and continues to see elite runners, professionals, and Olympians every year. The race also welcomes amateurs all the way down to their “mall walker” category. This long standing race is accustom to seeing running superstars like nine-time champ Amby Burfoot toe the line. The historic course and the supportive crowds are what have kept this race in business for so many years.

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Posted on November 13, 2023 by Lacy

Holly Mosier’s Tips For Managing Holiday Stress

At age 40, Holly Mosier felt like she had hit a wall. “[It was] hard to come out of my bedroom at times. I was a wife, mother, stepmother, trial lawyer… trying to blend a family and maintain some semblance of peace, joy, health and vitality, and I was failing miserably,” says Holly. She sought solutions everywhere she could think of to find tools that she could work in to her life despite being a very busy professional and mother.

Despite searching in books, seminars, classes, medical studies, experts, and television shows, as she looked for practical, efficient solutions, and Holly never found the answers she was looking for, she was able to develop her own set of tools to create a “lifestyle that balances the needs of the mind, body, and spirit in a practical, efficient way.” After working these techniques into her own life and seeing the result, Holly put them together in her book Stress Less, Weigh Less. Holly has now expanded her techniques to create the following tips for handling holiday stress.

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Posted on November 12, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

Healthy Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes That will Satisfy Everyone at Your Table

While Thanksgiving can be a challenging day of the year for all dieters, it’s especially difficult for vegetarians and vegans who abstain from eating turkey. There is no shortage of vegetable dishes at most Thanksgiving tables, but the meal often revolves around turkey as a main course.

While the vegetarian diet is diverse and exciting, there are certain parts of the Thanksgiving meal that can be challenging to navigate on a meat-free diet.

Meat-Free Main Dishes
This year, whether you are eating a vegetarian diet, vegan diet or simply want to cut down your consumption of animal products, you can easily swap the turkey out of your Thanksgiving dinner without sacrificing tradition. While offering meat substitute like “Tofurkey” is one option, many home cooks prefer to take advantage of fresh seasonal produce and hearty grain salads.

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Posted on November 11, 2023 by Maris

Source a Sustainably Raised Turkey for Thanksgiving

More than 250 million turkeys are slaughtered in the industrial system each year in the United States, and about 46 million of those are for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a wonderful, warm holiday, full of family time, great traditions and good food. Unfortunately, there are many not-so-good things about the Thanksgiving turkeys most grocery stores offer to their customers.

The status quo for raising turkeys and other meat birds is the industrial, factory farming system. The conditions in which factory farmed turkeys are raised is horrendous. It’s cramped, with each bird given about 3 feet of space to live its life. So that these cramped and stressed turkeys won’t turn to pecking at each other, prior to confinement their beaks and the tips of their toes are cut off (processes some liken to having the tips of a child’s fingers and toes chopped off). These turkeys, raised in gigantic warehouses, are denied their natural instincts and can’t eat their natural diet of seeds, vegetation and insects. They’re also bred to grow so rapidly that it puts an incredible strain on their bodies. Some researchers estimate that factory farmed turkeys spend at least a third of their lives in chronic pain.

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Posted on November 10, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Thanksgiving Fun with Your Family Takes the Focus off Food

I love Thanksgiving. It’s my very favorite holiday ever. Lots of friends, lots of food, no gifts to buy – it’s just about the perfect holiday, in my mind. There’s just one small problem – the food and the festivities tend to make one a bit, shall we say, sluggish. After filling your belly with a week’s worth of calories, you feel like taking a 3 hour nap. Instead of doing that, why not try some of these fantastic, family friendly options that will help you not only enjoy the day but end it feeling as if you’ve done something good for you?

Start the day off right. This year, all of my kids are finally old enough to participate in a Turkey Trot and I hope to make this an annual tradition. Even just running a mile, first thing in the morning, gets the blood flowing and gets everyone off on the right foot. Knowing you’ve done even a tiny bit of exercise makes it less likely that you’ll fall, face first, into the pecan pie.

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Posted on November 8, 2023 by Carmen

Yoga Poses to Help Restore Your Back on Thanksgiving Day

Planning on standing at the kitchen counter for hours preparing the Thanksgiving meal? Or perhaps you will be sitting in front of the television for hours while someone else prepares the Thanksgiving meal. Either way, your back is going to take a beating. The following gentle yoga inspired poses and stretches will help smooth out the kinks and restore your spine for a second helping of holiday fun.

Kitchen Counter Stretch

Place both hands on the edge of your kitchen counter. Take one big step back and fold forward from your hips, keeping both arms straight. Reach your hips back as you lower your chest in between your arms. Take five deep breaths and then stand up. Repeat as often as needed between mashing up the potatoes and stirring the turkey gravy.

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Posted on November 7, 2023 by Jill

Gluten-Free Stuffing Recipe for a Traditional Thanksgiving Side Dish

Wendy Gregory Kaho blogs about the care and feeding of a gluten-free family at Celiacs in the House.

My family has a list of holiday dishes that are not to be tinkered with or changed. They must look and taste the same way each and every year. We even have serving dishes and casseroles for each recipe, like the 28-year-old wedding gift baking dish to hold the stuffing.

When we found out about celiac disease and that three of us would be gluten free for the rest of our lives, one of the challenges was to get those textures and flavors from our traditional holiday foods without gluten. It’s gotten easier over the last six years to make our traditional stuffing recipe now that there are good gluten-free store-bought breads, cornbread mixes, and recipes available.

I created this gluten-free stuffing recipe especially for DietsInReview.com. This recipe combines two kinds of gluten-free bread that is cubed and toasted in a low oven, then it’s combined with gluten-free cornbread that is also cubed and toasted.  This is all added to the rest of the ingredients and baked. We never stuff anything in our turkey but onions, celery, garlic and a carrot because we like a drier stuffing to soak up lots of gravy.

Gluten-Free Stuffing

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup celery, finely chopped
  • 1 cup onion, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil or a combination
  • 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning or 1½ teaspoons of dried sage and ½ teaspoon of thyme
  • 1½ teaspoons of salt
  • ½ teaspoon of pepper
  • 2 tablespoons of dried parsley or add ¼ cup of fresh chopped
  • 4 cups of gluten-free bread cubes. (I used about 6 slices of whole grain and 6 slices of white sandwich bread.)
  • 2 cups of cornbread cubes (I used ½ pan of Pamela’s Cornbread Mix made without sugar. The other half will be frozen and go into the Christmas stuffing.)
  • 2 cups of gluten-free broth
  • 1 beaten egg

Click through for the Gluten-Free Stuffing Instructions, and to share the recipe with a friend. (more…)

Posted on November 3, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Be Grateful Before, During and Long After Thanksgiving Has Passed

The true meaning of Thanksgiving can easily get lost in translation when we are so focused on the wide array of particulars. Maybe you are the host this year and a dozen family members or more are about to grace your dining table. Perhaps it is you and your own family’s turn to pack up the Suburban  and trek across the country to be the guests of honor. However you live your Thanksgiving experience, it is easy to forget about thanks and giving. It is often not until grace is said, the wine glasses clink and someone passes the stuffing that we actually relax and feel some gratitude, yet this moment of pure thankfulness doesn’t have to be lost when the meal ends and grandma starts loading the dishwasher.

Whether we believe Thanksgiving Day marks a time when the pilgrims and the Indians set aside their need to fight over their differences, or feel it began as a simple celebration of the bountiful fall harvest, it remains a day that reminds us all to practice gratitude.

Each and every one of us can think of something we are grateful for yet our thankfulness is often overshadowed by our busy and hectic schedules before and after Thanksgiving Day. The following reminders will help you to keep feeling gratitude before, during and long after Thanksgiving Day has past so that the other 364 days of the year are filled with just the same amount of joy that being grateful brings.

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Posted on November 2, 2023 by Jill