It takes more than active gaming to keep your family fit and healthy, a healthy diet is also a necessity. With Thanksgiving Day staring you down, you might want to consider serving side dishes that are healthier than the traditional calorie bombs you usually serve. Thanksgiving isn’t always all about the bird, surround this year’s roasted turkey with side dishes that are as healthy as they are delicious.
Traditionally, the Thanksgiving Day dinner is a caloric nightmare, but if you load up on healthy side dishes, it can really add up in saved calories.
Sweet Potato Soup
Silky smooth soups usually get their heavenly texture from heavy cream, but we found a lighter version that gets its creaminess from Greek yogurt and sweet potatoes. It’s really a simple recipe, after roasting the sweet potatoes you blend up the rest of the ingredients up in a food processor.
Ingredients
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon green onion
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- dash of salt and pepper
Peel the sweet potatoes and roast them at 375° for an hour, pull them and mash them up. Add potatoes and rest of ingredients to the food processor and blend until smooth.
Parmesan Carrot Fries
These tasty baked fries are sure to please grown-ups as well as the kids. The recipe is so simple that it is almost foolproof, even your husband could do it! These tasty treats pack a healthy dose of vitamin A and beta-carotene, which helps promote healthy vision and healthy skin.
If french fries are your guilty pleasure, swap out the potatoes for carrots and you have a healthier stand-in. Roasting carrots allows their natural sweetness to emerge and tempt your taste buds.
Peel the carrots and cut them into matchstick slices. Place sliced carrots into a bowl and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread mixture out on a baking sheet and bake at 450° for 12 – 15 minutes or until they turn a golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the fries with fresh basil and grated Parmesan cheese.
Creamy Mashed Cauliflower
If you have never tried cauliflower mash, you are certainly missing out on a treat. When it’s finely grated and mixed with butter and cheese, it really seems just like mashed potatoes.
Simply place cauliflower florets and garlic in a steamer basket over boiling water and steam until tender. Place the cooked cauliflower in a food processor with buttermilk, butter, oil salt and pepper and pulse until creamy and smooth. Garnish the mashed cauliflower with cheese and chives and serve.
Oven-Roasted Squash
Winter squash becomes tender and sweeter when it is roasted and makes a great Thanksgiving Day side dish. This is definitely a recipe to save so you can make this healthy dish every holiday season.
Peel and dice squash into one-inch cubes. Toss diced squash into a bowl and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the mixture evenly on a baking sheet, bake at 375° for 30 to 40 minutes or until tender throughout. Pull from oven, sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve.