Preparing for Turkey Day
It’s all about presentation when we 
serve our perfect bird on Thanksgiving
Day. But what about nutrition?
How much fat and salt do we use in our
preparation of “the perfect turkey”?
To have a moist and tasty bird, it isn’t necessary to tuck all kinds of butter under the skin or to lavish it with salt.
Try removing the giblets and neck from the cavity of the turkey and rinsing it well. Then place a cut up orange inside while roasting. Citrus is a great way to offset the salt.
On the outside of the bird, wash the skin and pat it dry. Then rub with a paste of seasonings made from 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and your favorite spices including: black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, rosemary and sage. If you’d like, you can put a little of the rub under the skin of the breast meat.
Some roast their birds breast side down to keep the white meat more tender and moist. Others advocate making a tinfoil tent and covering the breast loosely. I like to pace my bird in a large electric roaster and let it cook that way. No matter how you do it, make sure the internal temp of the bird is at 165 degrees before serving. When you take it out of your oven or roaster, be sure to let t sit undisturbed for about 5 minutes before carving it to prevent the loss of all the moisture.
Stuffing Muffins
1 cup finely chopped celery 1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 box of frozen spinach, thawed and drained well 1 tbsp Parsley, dried, 1 tsp margarine 1/2 tsp Garlic powder 1/2 tsp Onion powder, 1/4 tsp Sage, ground (optional), 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/8 tsp salt 8 cups dried white bread cubes 1 cup low sodium chicken broth 1/2 cup skim milk
Mix all ingredients together and scoop into a muffin tin. Each “muffin will be perfectly portion controlled. Bake at 350 until done – about 15 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.
- Servings Per Recipe: 12
- Amounts Per Serving :
- Calories: 68.7
- Total Fat: 1.0 g
- Cholesterol: 0.2 mg
- Sodium: 52.1 mg
- Total Carbs: 12.3 g
- Dietary Fiber: 0.6 g
- Protein: 2.4 g
Low sodium calzones (11/2/13)
4 cups of Flour, any combination of whole wheat or white (Use 1 teaspoon of wheat gluten per cup of flour when using whole wheat flour.) 1 and 1/3 cups of water, (You might have to use a little more if you use all whole wheat flour and if the dough is too heavy. I use 1 and 1/2 cups) 1 and 1/3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil, 2 and a half teaspoons of *Active Dry Yeast, 1/2 teaspoon of salt (I used 1/4 tsp)
I make this in my bread maker on the dough cycle. You could also do it by hand or buy frozen bread dough My recipe makes 8 nice sized calzones, each of which = one serving. I divide my recipe into 8 balls of dough and roll out each one to about 8-10 inches in diameter.
Filling – mix this all together and divide into 8 portions of about 1/4 cup each. 1/2 of a 10 oz. package of frozen Spinach, thawed and drained. 1 medium or large egg, 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese 1 Tablespoon of parsley 2 teaspoons of dried Italian seasoning 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic and onion powder 1 and 1/2 cups of part skim ricotta cheese 1 cup of fat-free shredded mozzarella cheese
Spread the filling on each round of dough, leaving about a half-inch around each edge clear for sealing the calzones. add extra veggies of your choice and fold over the calzone, sealing the edges.
Extra toppings as desired: 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped Onions, 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped Green Peppers 1 cup of diced Red Ripe Tomatoes Ground meat, ham, sausage are optional and not counted in the calories here.
Bake at 400 degrees on greased cookie sheets for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Extra calzones can be frozen for later.
Nutritional Info per serving: Servings Per Recipe: 8 Calories: 352.1 Total Fat: 8.3 g Cholesterol: 39.8 Sodium: 314.3 mg Total Carbs: 43.7 g Dietary Fiber: 6.9 g Protein: 20.7 g
They can be made smaller or cut in half for a smaller portion. Paired with a nice green salad, this makes a full meal.
Pumpkin for breakfast?
You Bet! Try some Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Thanksgiving time always reminds me of pumpkin pie. So what better treat than to have pumpkin pie for breakfast – Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal that is!
This is my favorite fall breakfast – low in sodium and full of vitamins! It can be made as a single serving, or doubled, or even tripled ; cooked in the crockpot or in the microwave. But however you make it, you’ve gotta try this!
For a single serving you need:
1/4 cup of pureed, cooked Pumpkin. You can use canned pumpkin, preferably a low sodium variety, but not prepared pie filling. I use my own pumpkin so there is no sodium added. You will have to account for the sodium in the canned variety. 1/2 cup of skim Milk 1/4 cup of oatmeal any kind but instant. 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice Your favorite sweetner to taste
Optional: 2 Tablespoons of raisins (about 25) Slivered almonds 1 Tablespoon
Mix all together and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. A great way to start the day!
Nutrition info (without raisins and almonds):
- Servings Per Recipe: 1
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories: 130.2
- Total Fat: 1.7 g
- Cholesterol: 2.5 mg
- Sodium: 196.9 mg
- Total Carbs: 23.9 g
- Dietary Fiber: 2.7 g
- Protein: 7.1 g
Philipsburg Gospel Tabernacle 