With Thanksgiving coming up about a week away, we wanted to share a few of our favorite recipes for festive, healthy (and tasty!) side dishes. These are staples we make in our own households for thanksgiving and we are excited to share them with you!
As you'll notice all of these recipes incorporate vegetables, which is a tactic we teach with managing weight during the holiday season. Using the MyPlate method of incorporating about half of your plate vegetables it will allow you to fill up on a more nutritious part of the meal from fiber, while still giving you some flexibility to enjoy other side dishes that you really look forward to all year round! This Thanksgiving try to aim for 1/4 of your plate from protein, 1/4 plate from starches/grains, and 1/2 of your plate of vegetables. You'll better control the calories, increase satiety, and leave feeling satisfied without that over-stuffed feeling. Much better than restricting and denying ourselves our holiday favorites, but rather managing it better.
Shared below is my Festive Kale Salad and my Not Your Mother's Brussels Sprouts. I created these recipes a few years back and they have became a staple in my household for Thanksgiving. The recipes are listed below.
Our dietitian Katherine, also has two of her favorites from the Food and Wine website for a Broccoli Shiitake and Red Onion Roast, as well as this Quinoa Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato, Kale & Pesto Vinaigrette recipe from Cookie and Kate.
From all of us at The Rite Bite Nutrition Counseling, we hope you have a healthy and happy holiday!
Until Next Time,
Jacqueline (Iannone) Cataldi, MS, RDN, CDN