Simplify the Overwhelm of the Holiday Meal with Chef Marianne

Transcript:

MELANIE: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today's podcast is brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. We are a company in Minnesota that specializes in nutrition education and counseling and having been spreading the message to eat real food for over 30 years. I'm Melanie Beasley, a Licensed and Registered Dietitian, and I'm pleased to be here today with my cohost, Kara Carper, and our special guest, Chef Marianne.

KARA: Thanks for the introduction, Melanie. It's going to be a fun show today. So, this podcast was actually released early December, which means we're in the prime holiday party season. Many of you just got done celebrating Thanksgiving with friends or family. Hosting a gathering can often feel stressful and sometimes overwhelming.

Even if you're not hosting a holiday gathering, what if a family member, a friend, or a colleague invites you to a party and asks you to bring a dish? You might be wondering, what should I bring? What if someone attending ends up having a food sensitivity or an allergy?

Our topic today is called Simplify the Overwhelm of the Holiday Meal. We're going to give you some tips to help you feel less overwhelmed if you're hosting in your home or if you're assigned to bring a dish to a gathering.

Joining us today is Marianne Jurayj. Marianne is a chef and a culinary educator. She teaches virtual cooking classes here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness. Recently, I moderated a class that Marianne taught. It was called Delicious, Nutritious Soups. The three soups she made did absolutely look delicious.

I also watched her Healthy Appetizers class and I really learn a lot every time I attend Marianne's classes. So Marianne, thank you for taking the time out of your day to host this podcast with Melanie and I. What do you think causes the most overwhelm when someone's planning to host a holiday dinner or a gathering?

What can cause overwhelm when hosting a holiday dinner?

MARIANNE: Well thanks for having me here, ladies. I am excited to be here and talk about all things kitchen and holidays. So I think certainly the overwhelm can come from many different things and I think It certainly depends upon how many people you are having for the holidays. And there's a lot of questions that you might ask as a host, and I think we're going to cover those.

So not only what you're going to serve, but how you're going to serve it. What sort of space do you have to accommodate that number of guests? Will you be sitting? Will it be buffet, family style? All of these things we have to answer before we even decide what's on the menu, and then you certainly want to accommodate your guests if they have allergies or food sensitivities; things like that. So being a good host is also, it also means you have to ask lots of good questions.

MELANIE: And we'll interview Marianne today to get some of her tips that will help lessen your overwhelm if you are planning a holiday meal or get together I think these will be really helpful for you. And we'll start by getting her advice on how to put together a plan for your meal. We're also going to share some of our licensed dietitian’s favorite recipes for our main dishes and sides.

KARA: Delicious. And we'll be covering topics like what should I do? Because I know a couple of my relatives that are coming eat gluten free or maybe dairy free. And then there are always questions about food safety. I actually don't know a lot about that, but I know Marianne has specific recommendations on how long food can safely sit out, as well as tips on how to keep your food cold or hot while it's being served.

MELANIE: And if you're listening to our podcast or you're familiar with our real food message, you probably already know that we are proponents of eating real food in balance to support our moods, energy, metabolism, really your overall health. The recipes and tips that we give will start with quality animal protein, natural oils and fats, and real vegetable and fruit carbohydrates.

KARA: I'm glad you brought that up, Melanie, because we know that our listeners want to be feeling their best during the holidays so they can fully enjoy the time that they're spending with their loved ones. That's why we'll be giving a few suggestions on how and what you as a listener can eat before and during the holiday gathering, so that you'll be able to maintain good moods and energy and really avoid those blood sugar spikes and crashes. If you've been working on a health goal or a weight loss goal, it’s just not worth it to throw in the towel with your eating plan during the holidays.

MELANIE: I think that's a really common habit I hear in my clients is that, well, it was the holidays. Really, the holiday is one day. So if you can sort of have a game plan and then on that one day, maybe relax your standards and that's kind of the way to do it.

And then immediately get right back on track with real food eating. There's so many ways to enjoy good food at a holiday gathering without sabotaging your health or weight goals or whatever goals you're trying to achieve. Even the order of foods we eat can make a difference. And we'll talk about that healthy stack.

Tips to consider as a host or guest

KARA: I can't wait to talk about that. So let's start things out with one of the big questions that we hear from listeners when they're trying to plan a big gathering. What do I serve? So you might already know that you're going to be hosting a Christmas dinner. Perhaps your family celebrates Hanukkah or Kwanzaa.

All of those holidays are observed in late December, and gatherings are typically centered around food. Of course, different cultures tend to have Traditional foods that are served at these gatherings. But for someone who doesn't have a set menu yet, where do they start? What do you think, Marianne?

MARIANNE: That's a great question. And like I said earlier, determining how you're going to serve it may actually dictate part of your menu. So a lot of people, I think they think about the holidays and they see that Norman Rockwell picture where they bring out the turkey and it's all, you know, they're going to carve it at the table and everyone's sitting around and things are served family style, but you may not have that kind of space or maybe everybody's going to be sitting in the living room with plates on their lap.

And so that may dictate what your menu is. I always say, keep it simple. I think you should make something that you have probably made in the past. A lot of people are tempted to try a whole new recipe. And, so I think it's much easier to keep it simple. Think about your kitchen space and what you might be able to accommodate.

Maybe your oven can't fit that 25-pound turkey. And so you might want to think about, something smaller, or maybe you use a different piece of equipment. Of course, we know that oven space is precious, so we have to think about that. And of course, you want to keep it balanced. As Kara and Melanie were saying, you want a really good protein, your carbohydrates, your really good fats. I feel like a holiday meal is an excellent place to showcase all of that.

MELANIE: I completely agree. And I always think if you have at least two veg, you know, two vegetables, you know, something leafy green and fresh and another vegetable, I always start out with a vegetable, you know, it’s always the best way to make sure you're getting some nourishment on board.

These are really great tips that Marianne is sharing with us and how to host and meal plan kind of clarifies everything, takes the stress out when you have a plan. But if you're not hosting and you've been asked to bring a side, or an appetizer to a holiday gathering, for some people that can be overwhelming to figure out what dishes to bring, how much and how to keep it at the proper temperature. That's the challenge. Cause you want your dish that you worked on to be presentable and delicious when everyone eats it.

MARIANNE: Exactly. So I'm going to say, Just the questions that you have as a host, like how many guests you're going to have and where everything's going to be, as a guest, you're also going to ask those questions.

So if you're invited, ask your host how much space there will be. Will there be oven space? Should I bring my dish in an instant pot or am I going to keep it warm in a slow cooker? Will there be plug ins? Will there be counter space? All of those kind of things. And, or if it's cold, is there going to be refrigerator space for my item?

I think, certainly as a good guest, bring everything you need and have it all ready to go there. You always have that friend that comes with the components of things and they're trying to throw it together before the party and it becomes challenging. So bring your, the serving implement, how you're going to, how you're going to serve it.

All of that relieves the host of so much stress. You want to be that good guest. And also I'm going to say as a guest, offer to clean up or to assist in cleaning up. Be the good guest that everybody wants. You can come back to another event.

MELANIE: I love when I see someone just go ahead and empty the trash, take that to my garage. Those people are gold.

MARIANNE: Yes, you invite those people back for sure. And again, you ask the question, does anyone have an allergy? I actually, I have three gluten free, dairy free folks that will be at my holiday table, and one of them has a nut allergy.

So I always make sure, as a host, if anyone is bringing something, I let them know, we have a nut allergy. Could you, you know, make that pumpkin pie instead of the pecan pie? Or, you know, don't toss those nuts into the salad because of that.

KARA: Right. And then even just how severe is the allergy? Some people can't even have nuts, like, in the vicinity. So that's kind of important as well.

Food ideas

MELANIE: If it fits in with what the host is serving, I like to bring a dish or an appetizer that has quality protein. We mentioned deviled eggs, and that's one of my favorites. Another big hit is the recipe from our website, weightandwellness.com. The salmon cakes, they're delicious, they're unusual, and they can be kept hot in an insulated travel container with hot packs. They're gluten free and would be a good option for those who prefer not to eat meat or poultry. I love them and I even like them cold.

MARIANNE: And I'm going to say you can make them smaller than the recipe calls for and now you have an appetizer, and you can actually serve them at room temperature. They're lovely. You know, take them out of the fridge, give them a moment and serve those.

MELANIE: One of my favorite toppings for those is I take avocado mayo and a little truffle oil and a little onion powder and make a truffle aioli that they can dollop on top. So good.

KARA: That sounds delicious. Well, I agree with you, Melanie, the idea that you had about like bringing something like a deviled egg or a crab cake or salmon cake, but at most holiday parties, there's usually no shortage of starchy carbohydrates.

There's often not a lot of options for protein or maybe vegetables, aside from the main entree, of course. So eating protein and pairing it with a healthy natural fat, that is really key for stabilizing blood sugar or glucose levels, and that's going to help to reduce your cravings, it helps to stabilize moods and energy, and it prevents overeating the tempting starches and sweets that might be put out at the spread.

MELANIE: Yeah.

MARIANNE: Yeah, that is, the challenge. And I think that's a challenge, whether you're hosting, whether you're a guest, or you're going to an event where they're passing appetizers, they always put those carbohydrates first. They're going to come out with the chips and the bread and all of that.

So I tend to, even when I'm cooking my holiday meal as a host, I will snack on high protein things so that I know that I won't overeat when the time comes. Because you're busy all day and you're making food.

MELANIE: What would those things be?

MARIANNE: Oh, just like you said, I might make a batch of hard boiled eggs and I will have that. I do a crustless quiche usually the morning, if I know I'm going to be cooking all day, that's kind of a nice thing to have so that you're not starving. I also think you shouldn't hold out until that meal and not eat anything, which a lot of people do. They think, well, you know, it's going to be fun.

And I'm going to eat all the things I want to eat. And but boy, you walk into that party and you're going to fill that plate up with a lot of carbohydrates. Eating the olives, the meats are going to be better than grabbing those carbohydrates.

MELANIE: I love to make, a crock pot full of meatballs, just because they're great. And then I have a bunch of different, aiolis and dips. Primal Kitchen makes a buffalo ranch if you don't want to make your own and then you can dip and that's an easy protein food that people can be dipping into.

KARA: Very convenient as well.

MELANIE: Convenient. You can take them ahead of time and freeze them and then just throw them in the crock pot to sort of warm.

MARIANNE: Yeah, that's a great idea. I'm also going to say, you know, your charcuterie boards or your boards, fill it with roasted vegetables, meats, olives, nuts, not just crackers and breads and things like that. It will, it's a nice way to give you some breathing space as a host. You set out that beautiful board and people can snack on that while you're finishing a meal, or it also will take away a little bit of that overwhelm.

MELANIE: Well us more about the roasted vegetables on a charcuterie board.

MARIANNE: So make them, cut them small. Think about how you're, the end user is going to eat that vegetable and create your board knowing that it's going to be a little bit of a grazing experience before we sit down to the meal and put things on that board that are going to be satisfying and won't spike blood sugar. Roasted carrots, parsnips, cut them into nice long little pieces, roast them so that they have a little char on them. Put some fresh or dried herbs. It's absolutely delicious.

KARA: Would the roasted vegetables be cold or warm when you serve them? They would be absolutely delicious. Would the roasted vegetables be cold or warm when you serve them?

MARIANNE: They could absolutely be at room temperature.

KARA: It's time for a short break. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Our topic today is how to simplify the overwhelm of the holiday meal. Our guest today is chef Marianne. She hosts demo cooking classes from her kitchen. You know, when participants watch her classes, including myself, they realize that it doesn't have to be complicated to use real whole unprocessed foods to feed themselves and their loved ones. We will be right back.

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MELANIE: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Melanie Beasley. I'm a licensed dietitian. I'm here with Kara Carper, who's a licensed nutritionist, and Chef Marianne. And we have a cooking class coming up in the new year called Eating Well on a Budget. It will be January 25th at 6pm. Our live cooking classes on Zoom are 75 minutes long, and you receive recipes, a shopping list, and you get the recording in case you missed the live class or if you want to re watch it on your own time. The recording lasts for 5 days. Go to weightandwellness.com for more information and to register.

Sign Up For a Cooking Class!

So, before we went to break, we were talking about a charcuterie board with some roasted vegetables. I love this idea so much. I've always done cold, but what I love about this is you can make that charcuterie board ahead of time. Simply slide it out of the fridge, put it on the counter. So beautiful.

Those are all great general suggestions that Marianne gave before break on how to keep your blood sugar level stable before or during an event. You know that crash after a big meal where everybody seems to puddle out and fall asleep on the couch? That's a carbohydrate crash.

Managing timing for dishes of various temperatures

So let's back up a bit. If someone has their menu plan and it's getting close to the day of the party, how can they best prepare themselves to manage everything in the kitchen? A big concern that comes up at every gathering where there are multiple dishes that are being served is how do I plan for the timing when some cold dishes need to be served hot and some need to be cold, some room temperature. What's your wisdom?

MARIANNE: Yeah, that is the challenge. And I feel like timing of the meal is probably the hardest thing that anyone has to manage, which is why I'm a huge proponent as a host of delegating to other people, having that potluck. I'm usually pretty specific about if someone offers to bring something that they love, that's great, especially if they're gluten and dairy free. Like my kids are adult kids and one of them is gluten and dairy free. She's going to bring that stuffing that she can eat.

So let's talk about kitchen logistics. Think about your space. Be realistic about your space. Use all the equipment you have. If you've got an instant pot or a slow cooker, pull them out, dust them off and use them as your warming tray, you know, you can put your mashed potatoes into your slow cooker, turn it on the keep warm setting or your instant pot for that matter.

And now you have, you know, you've extended your buffet and you're keeping that food warm. If your guests have to use the oven, make sure that that oven is set, you know, maybe you've made your turkey or your roast and you're letting it rest, which it can do, in fact, the higher the mass of your protein, so let's say you have a really big turkey or have a big roast, it will continue to cook even when you take it out, so take it out of the oven, tent it, it's going to be just fine for probably 30 minutes, so all your other dishes could be set out and, and you're getting your buffet ready to go.

I'm also a big proponent of making things ahead of time, and boy, does that take something off your plate, right? Now you're not chopping, mincing and dicing everything all in one day. Or chop, do all your chopping, mincing and dicing the weekend before the holiday. And now you have all the components ready for that.

KARA: And how would you go about reheating mashed potatoes that you had made the day before?

MARIANNE: Yep. So I'm going to say, the restaurant way is you would put it into a water bath, but you know, most people aren't going to do that. So you might put it into your slow cooker, put it on high, add a little bit of water so that, it doesn't dry out at the bottom and stir them occasionally. And again, you have not taken up any of your oven space, which is precious.

And you could do the same thing with your stuffing. You could put that in your Instant Pot, put it on, a low setting, keep stirring it so while you're cooking all your other stuff or getting everything else ready, you can heat that up and it'll be up to temperature by the time you need to serve.

MELANIE: I kind of want to have a camera in her kitchen. And, and document you.

KARA: Yeah. The great thing is, she does have one when you participate in her Zoom classes.

MELANIE: This would be great to watch you do a Thanksgiving meal. A real live would be even better. That would be wonderful. It'd be like, take the place of the Christmas dogs or the fireplace. Put Marianne on TV. Or a reality show. Yeah, the Marianne, Chef Marianne reality show would be awesome.

KARA: We were talking about the different kinds of serving and I think the most common ones, like you said, Marianne, are family style or buffet. Buffet seems to be becoming a little bit more common these days, especially for those larger gatherings.

Like you said, maybe not everyone's going to be sitting around a table. There could be limited seating and then, you know, your family's just going to grab a plate and kind of find a chair or a couch and have the plate in their lap. And that works great, too. But there's always that concern about food sitting out for too long.

We've all been to a buffet, or maybe some of us have hosted one, where the food just sits out indefinitely. So, could you talk to us…?

MELANIE: I can't bear it, so I'm waiting to hear the wisdom. I'm the one that pops up and starts putting things away because I can't bear it. I've got too much microbiology in my background. Especially those…

MARIANNE: I'm a little bit like you, Melanie. I don't, you know, as a kid growing up, I feel like food was set out and then it just sat there all day until we ate it again for another I mean, it was crazy. So I do not recommend that, so let's talk about some food safety and there's something called “the danger zone” which oh my gosh, it sounds ominous doesn't it?

So the danger zone for food is 41 degrees Fahrenheit to 139. So think about your fridge is 40 degrees or under and, so it's basically that room temperature window of time; you have about two hours, technically, for it to be in that temperature; “danger zone”, and I'm putting that in quotations if you could see my air quotes here.

And so , you don't want it to go longer than that. So some of the tricks that, certainly you've seen restaurants where they set out a buffet, but they don't put everything out at once. They might put things out in stages if you think your dinner, your meal is going to go that long;

Don't know if that's going to happen at your house, but you might want to parcel it out so that you don't heat everything up. And then some of it's going to sit hot for, on your table and you don't want that. So refilling is a great idea. Making sure that you are putting things in that slow cooker or that, instant pot, keeping it warm while you're serving.

That's a nice, you know, it's like your own little steam tray and then keeping things cold when they should be cold. Take them out of the fridge just before you're going to serve it, stick it back in the fridge after everybody's gone through the buffet.

MELANIE: So just to clarify, it would look like you have a beautiful bowl that you put some mashed potatoes in or some stuffing in and then you would leave the rest staying hot in their warming houses, whether it be a crock pot or whatever it is.

MARIANNE: Exactly. Absolutely.

MELANIE: Your table is less crowded too that way.

MARIANNE: Yeah. And that's a great way to think about your family style. And I'm going to go back to the Norman Rockwell picture where everyone's sitting at the table and the dishes are passed. That is your family style. I don't know how many people do that anymore.

Cause sometimes you don't have the dining room table to accommodate and then you need the, the little, you know, buffet at the end to put the plates down when they're not being passed. So that can be challenging, but that is a great way to do that so that you are keeping everything at a good temperature.

Tips on balancing your plate

MELANIE: So great advice. When I go to a restaurant buffet, I notice that at the beginning of the buffet, there are a lot of starchy carbs and more of the processed foods like bread and rolls and muffins, pasta. So as I go down the line, eventually I'll start seeing some protein, vegetable side dishes, and salad.

If you can check out all of your buffet food options before you line to dish up, that's a great way to plan out in your head how you'll balance your plate. I think even more if you're hosting, start with the protein and the vegetables in the head because, you know, really, those other foods should be more of a garnish.

KARA: Yeah.

MELANIE: Yeah.

KARA: I love that. I mean, that just gets back to the balance that's going to ensure that ourselves and our loved ones end up feeling our best post-holiday meal and not all crashed out on the couch like you mentioned. A balanced plate might look like this: a quarter of your plate would have protein.

For me, that would be five or six ounces of something like turkey or ham. Maybe it's fish or beef or chicken. Then a fourth of your plate could have a starchy carbohydrate. Examples might be those white potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice. Those are just three examples, but then really fill the rest of your plate.

So half of your plate with vegetables, and like Melanie said, ideally, if you're hosting, you know, strive to serve at least two non-starchy vegetables. And then just liberally fill your plate. You're going to feel so good after that. You're, you're not going to be crashing on the couch.

MELANIE: I've never had anyone say, wow, this is too much fresh food for me. You know, everyone's like, oh, thank goodness there's some vegetables available, you know. I think that's a big deal.

KARA: Yeah. And there's so many different kinds. I mean, it could be a green leafy salad, shaved Brussels sprouts, maybe some green beans. And then of course we always have to get back to our healthy fats, right? Cause that's, what's going to anchor the blood sugar and prevent those spikes and crashes that make you have cravings and kind of fall asleep.

MELANIE: I don't think any Thanksgiving meal is short on fat.

KARA: That is probably correct. You know, whether it's a nice butter on your potatoes or a little bit of healthy gravy.

MARIANNE: Exactly. So think about going to that all you can eat buffet, whatever that is, and you are always going to see the inexpensive things are at the front of the line. Because it's a food cost thing, it becomes a, you know, first of all, with the buffet, and this is also something you have to think about as a host, you don't really know how much of each thing someone is going to take.

It's a little bit of a gamble, right? Because, you know, everybody has preferences. I'm going to take a whole bunch of the mashed potatoes, but I won't take, you know, maybe I'm not going to take a lot of the green beans and you're going to have a little bit of that buffet roulette is what I like to call it.

So, think about that, how you're going to set your buffet up. As we were saying, put that big, beautiful, leafy salad at the beginning. Think about putting that on your plate. That's going to take up a chunk of space. Your beautiful protein, have a platter. Maybe if you do more than one protein, you do have ham, turkey.

Put it on a beautiful platter. Make it easy for people to put on their plate. I think that's important. And then finish with your gorgeous vegetables, simple, even if it's just green beans with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. It can be easy. And then finish with those carbohydrates that everyone is expecting, the mashed potatoes, the gravy, the sweet potatoes, that kind of thing.

MELANIE: It's so interesting, but not surprising. It's similar when you go to sit down in a restaurant and the server brings you what that basket of bread, crackers or rolls, maybe it's tortilla chips. There was an interesting study that found that when people started out eating rolls and bread at a restaurant, they were more likely to order and eat dessert at the end of the meal. So I think once you get on that carbohydrate train, it's a hard one to get off of.

KARA: I remember reading that. I think that information's in one of the classes that we teach as well. But it makes sense, because starting out your meal by eating bread, that's going to spike the blood sugar right away, which means it's going to start crashing within an hour or so. Once it crashes, what goes up too high is going to come down too low, that's when those cravings for sweets and sugar set in, and they can really feel uncontrollable.

MELANIE: It's also when, if you're going to, theater or production, or you're going to even go play cards with people and you have eaten this way, your energy tanks. This is when you fall asleep in the theater, right? Because your blood sugar then crashes.

MARIANNE: Oh, absolutely. I also feel like, with the balance, you're going to have the energy to, I mean, you have to clean up now, you know, if we're a host, you don't want to get the sleepies after and now you're going to have all these dishes to do and you're not going to have the energy to do it.

So set up that buffet, even if you're sitting as a family style, pass strategically, I say, or have the salad already on the table and that's going to be the first thing that people take. It's almost, you know, you're sort of nudging people in that direction and maybe you keep those things on the table if you're doing family style and have the carbohydrates go sit on that little buffet on the side that makes it a little bit harder to overeat those.

KARA: I'm going to use that. I've never thought about that. Like leaving the vegetables on the table and then putting everything else a little bit out of reach, maybe out of sight even.

Ideal order to eat a meal for blood sugar stability

So we had a recent meeting with the licensed and registered dietitians, all get together, a meeting of the minds, so to speak, an interesting conversation came up about what's the ideal order to eat a meal to best stabilize blood sugar? Melanie, I thought I heard you say a little bit ago, stacking. Is that what you call it? So correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you were all saying the best order for blood sugar balance is start by eating a fibrous vegetable, maybe a salad.

MELANIE: Yep.

KARA: End with the starchy carb, carbohydrate.

MELANIE: Yeah, that kind of stack kind of gives your blood sugar a fighting chance. So if you start with and you know, think about a salad usually has some sort of acidic vinegar. So that also helps blood sugar. So if you're starting with fibrous vegetable, has a little vinegar in it, and then you move to your protein with has some healthy fat, and think of buffering your blood sugar is what we're doing.

KARA: So that's going to be really helpful as well for the holidays, especially.

MELANIE: I mean, sometimes you're, it's a soup or a casserole where it's all blended together. You can't always do that, but if you always start with a vegetable, you can't go wrong.

KARA: I think it's human nature a little bit to kind of dig into those mashed potatoes first. That's what's going to cause the sleepies.

Tip: decide ahead of time what you want to indulge in

So another method I started using years ago when attending holiday parties or even going out to dinner at a restaurant is decide ahead of time. What do you want to indulge in? Don't indulge in everything. Maybe pick one or two things, whether it's a beverage or a sweet or a starchy carbohydrate, and really kind of portion that out.

An example that I used this Thanksgiving dinner. We hosted. We served turkey, mashed red potatoes, had some sweet potatoes, a healthy green bean casserole, some gluten free gravy, and a green salad. We had some wine and there was a pie for dessert as well. You know, I know myself, I'm super sensitive when it comes to blood sugars.

And if I would have eaten everything, I would have been that person that like retired early and went into the bedroom at 6:30 and didn't come out until 9. So instead, I decided to choose a very small portion of a little bit of sweet potato, a little bit of red potato. I had my six ounces of turkey. I had plenty of green bean casserole because it was a healthy one. I had some salad with a full fat dressing. I did have some wine, but I decided to skip the pie.

MELANIE: And you know, it's, that's brilliant to think that way. Somehow when we sit down, and like Marianne said, we haven't eaten because we're going to, we're in it to win it when we get to that meal. This is not your last meal. There will be other meals where there is pie. There will be other meals where there's a glass of wine. There will be other meals where there's a potato. We don't have to do it all.

KARA: Especially if you're, if you have a lot on your calendar this holiday season. You know, Melanie said there's really only just one day that's a holiday, but you might have half a dozen gatherings to go to. And so that can really create a lot of stress in your body if you're just kind of throwing in the towel every time.

MELANIE: Yeah, if you go into every holiday event with indulgence brain, where it's the holidays, I'm going to indulge, that can get you into trouble two, three weeks after the holidays. You've got cravings, you've got weight, you've got cholesterol issues when you carry it on like a marathon.

Holiday recipe ideas

KARA: So at the beginning of the show, we did mention that we were going to go over just a few recipes. We have so many wonderful balanced recipes on our website, which is weightandwellness.com. So I thought we could just spend a few moments before we wrap up our podcast and tell you what are, some of our favorites are.

MARIANNE: Yeah, well, let me I'll tell you my a couple of the proteins that are on the website that that are great: the instant pot beef brisket. First of all, making anything in your instant pot is going to make your life so easy. You can make it in advance. I even like to have just a little bit of spin on something, maybe make it a little spicy. Have it, you know, not just the same old, same old. That's fun. You can throw in a jar of salsa or something a little bit different.

And then of course we all know the roasted turkey, certainly for Thanksgiving, but some people have it for other holidays as well, brined, I know that can be really intimidating. You can wet or dry brine. Dry brine is actually much easier. You're just going to take that turkey and, take the spice mixture that you're going to use that your salt, your pepper and your dried herbs and cover it with that.

Put it in your refrigerator uncovered with all those spices and leave it for 24 hours. It's actually going to draw some of the, it's almost an osmotic process where it pulls some of that juice out of the turkey and then redistributes it as a flavored element with that brine, that dry brine, and it's absolutely delicious.

And I like to butterfly my turkey, also known as spatchcock. It takes half the time. It's delicious. There's a zillion recipes out there that will show you how to do it. It's lovely. What's the name of that again? Spatchcock. So you cut out the backbone of the turkey and you lay it out flat. And you will not be cooking your turkey for hours and hours. It's a fraction of the time.

MELANIE: That is awesome. I have never brined a roasted turkey, but that makes me want to try it. One of my favorites is the green bean casserole on our website. It's a healthy version of an all time favorite. There's no cream of “ippity ip” in there, so it's all healthy stuff. I love that it's a comfort food, but it also has all the reminisce flavors that you grew up with. The other favorite of mine is the pomegranate salad because it's bright, it adds color to the table. And pomegranates are such a powerhouse of nutrition.

MARIANNE: And in season.

MELANIE: And in season, yes.

KARA: So, a recipe that is one of our go-tos, it's the mashed potatoes and cauliflower recipe. The reason I like that is because you're not, you can be a little bit more liberal with your serving.

MARIANNE: Yeah, you can sneak it in. You can sort of decide what ratio of, of cauliflower and mashed potatoes you want. And I feel like a lot of people wouldn't even know they're in there.

KARA: No, they don't. I mean, you know, when you're cooking it, right? That little bit of a sulfur cauliflower smell.

MELANIE: That might be when you do the day in advance.

KARA: Absolutely. But honestly, people would not have any idea. And then it's not contributing, it's not a regular potato contributing to that overall carb load that makes us crash. And then as far as kind of sweet treats, it's always nice to have a little bit of something. And we have the pumpkin cheesecake bar recipe. Which is a huge hit. I also really like the chocolatey fat bombs. I know that, I don't know if that seems holiday-ish, but for me, I could have those 365 days per year.

MARIANNE: You could make those fat bombs look like truffles and maybe put nuts on the outside. You sort of roll it in pistachios or something, and then they look like truffles and they're delicious.

KARA: Yeah, so check out our website. That's just kind of a handful of all of the wonderful different concoctions that we have at weightandwellness.com.

Check Out Our Website Recipes!

MELANIE: And I do have to give a shout out to the mocktails. My daughter is pregnant. So, mocktails is the term she's using a lot and we have so many delicious mocktails on our website. Check it out so you can have something for your nonalcoholic guests. Our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple yet powerful message. Eating real food is life-changing. Thank you for joining us and listening today.