Ah - the week of Christmas is here upon us.  

 

I’m wondering if most of us, with having less options for Christmas gatherings and plans with family and friends, maybe have planned more elaborate foods and meals with our smaller family circle.  I know we are, in order to keep things fun and interesting in our limited holiday options.

 

I have some suggestions if you are looking for some new and crazy delicious but also amazingly healthy meals and foods.

 

We have focused so much on food in our house the past few months.  We have been trying many different recipes and finding new favourites.  With so much more time at home, it made being in the kitchen, seems to be making the best of the time we have.

 

Some small but hopefully helpful Christmas meal (or any meal) ideas….

 

Gravy - An amazingly healthy gravy with such deep flavour, you’ll never miss your flour and drippings version.  It is 3 ingredients.  4 garlic cloves minces and 2 large onions chopped.  Sauté until nicely caramelized.  Once done caramelizing, add 2 cups of chicken broth, using bouillon cubes, if making turkey or beef broth if making beef gravy.   Simmer and let it reduce, maybe an hour or so.  Once ready, blend it up to make smooth with an immersion blender or in a regular blender.  Add salt and pepper, to taste, when ready to serve.  You get all the onion and garlic benefits of fibre and many nutrients in this very tasty gravy. 

 

Note: I always keep on hand organic bouillon cubes.  QG has them in their soup isle in little boxes.  You have to be careful with bouillon cubes, as they often have MSG and other not great additives.  These organic ones are great.

 

For Christmas Day brunch ideas, I have a real treat, but it will take a bit of different thinking.  Often Christmas brunch, at least in our house, is either the good old Wife Saver, or a buffet style of eggs and bacon, or sausages, with toast, avocado, tomato or maybe some waffles and syrup.  All great ideas, but those can be kind of heavy and lots of work to prep.  

 

Just give this idea below a moment to linger.…  A light but filling raspberry parfait.  

 

You can prep it the day before or whip it up in the morning, it just needs 2 hours (or overnight) to set.  The recipe is by my favourite cookbook creators, Oh She Glows.  Recipe can be found by searching for Oh She Glows chocolate raspberry dreams parfait

 

A few ideas for your big dinner.…  

 

No matter what the main focus of the meal is, making sure to have lots of veggies with fibre, to help with digestion and balance blood sugar if lots of “treats” are happening.  Try oven roasting carrots and Brussels sprouts as an example.  By roasting you bring the natural sweetness which make the flavour much more interesting compared to just steaming them.  They are incredible just on their own, but you can also drizzle balsamic vinegar, to add a unique flavour.

 

Then, if you are doing a turkey and want to do a bread stuffing, use a nice whole food sprouted grain bread like Silver Hills.  Again, lots of fibre and nutrients to help with digestion.  

 

Looking at even just a few certain ingredients and swapping for less processed, and more whole versions, is a huge step in boosting the benefits of meals, even traditional Christmas meals.

 

No matter what, enjoy your food and those who are with you this Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas!

Lisa

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