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Enjoy a little of everything


After putting together a handful of healthy recipes (makeover recipes) on my blog, I think it is important that we all enjoy the holidays and the good food that comes with time with family/friends and lots of laughs and smiles.
I started my Turkey day holiday with a small piece of a brownie, 1/2 oat bran muffin and one of my applesauce-oat and raisin drop cookies (recipe I will post on a separate blog) this morning after I got home from the Y. Karel enjoyed the rest of the brownie and the other half of Laura's fabulous oat bran muffin.
A lady at swimming turned 50 today so a few of us brought in treats to swimming (we do this for every b-day). The set today was 40 x 100's (which seemed to last forever) but since I love the water oh-so-much, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Plus, it was raining out so I didn't mind being indoors in the water. After the swim I ran 6 miles (tempo intervals) and after the run I did circuits and weights with Karel. After I cleaned up from my workout (which is still exercising to me. I have no plan for swim-bike-run right now, I just do what I feel like depending on the day. Except for weights which is a must 2-3 times per week) I headed home to make a whey smoothie. And with my smoothie...I was super excited to try a real brownie and not a Marni-brownie. Although it was super yummy, I could taste the sugar, saturated fat and butter...ingredients that aren't in my daily diet. I did enjoy every bite and crumb but I don't think I could eat a real brownie (let alone a whole brownie) more than a few times per year.
Speaking of sweet treats, Laura has my mouth watering of all of the fantastic foods (many vegetarian) that she making for Thanksgiving. Because the Trek has the Biggest Sale Ever on Fri we won't be visiting my parents until Fri evening in New Port Richey. We are super excited to spend time with Laura and her family and I'm sure Campy and Bman will be so happy when Laura and I "accidentally" drop foods on the floor for our little ones.
In addition to wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, I hope that you can enjoy a few sweet treats and not feel guilty when treating yourself on Thursday. If you need help with the Do's and Don'ts of Thanksgiving, check out my blog post from 2008


Thanksgiving Do's and Don'ts


If I had one piece of advice, enjoy a little of everything rather than a lot of one thing. When it comes to my desert plate, I let Karel get the deserts and I share with him.
I took the time to list some popular T-day foods and nutrition facts just so you can be aware of what you are eating. I don't think we should ignore the fact that when a person portion-controls foods around the holidays, it is possible to not splurge in 3000+ calories in one sitting.

I tried to keep the foods basic. The calories (and portions) probably don't represent family-style servings or recipes. Recognize that most dishes you eat will be higher in calories than the foods I found on calorieking.com.
For example: Take this recipe for Pumpkin pie (which is sure to taste sweet):
Ingredients:
* 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
* 2 eggs, slightly beaten
* 1 cup half-and-half
* 1/4 cup melted butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
* 1 (9 inch) refrigerated pie dough
* whipped cream, for topping
1 serving:
Calories: 552
Total Fat 35.0g (56% calories from fat)
Saturated Fat 18.0g
Cholesterol 178mg
Sodium 637mg
Potassium 318mg
Total Carbohydrate 53.6g
Dietary Fiber 2.7g
Sugars 37.3g
Protein 8.5g


I think it is very important that you have a plan, and some nutrition fact knowledge of what you are eating and how much of it you choose to eat. Study your measuring cups so you can better understand portions before you eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey breast roasted without the skin: 4 ounces - 153 calories, .8g fat
Ham boneless, roasted: 4 ounces - 201 calories, 10g fat, 1695mg sodium
Stove Top Turkey Stuffing: 4 ounces - 640 calories, 4g fat, 1760mg sodium,
Candied yams: 1/2 cup - 210 calories, 38g sugar
Sara Lee sweet potato pie: 1/8th pie - 280 calories, 10g fat, 26g sugar
Cranberry sauce: 1 slice (1/2 inch thick) - 86 calories, 21g sugar
Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie: 1/20th - 170 calories, 9g fat, 16g sugar
Pumpkin pie: 1/6th of a 8" pie - 229 calories, 10.5g fat, 15g sugar
Mashed Potatoes: 1 cup - 237 calories, 8g fat, 699mg sodium
Green bean casserole: 6 ounces - 190 calories, 11g fat, 750mg sodium
Butternut squash soup: 8.5 ounces - 150 calories, 4.5g fat, 630mg sodium
Mixed Nuts: 1 tbsp - 55 calories, 5g fat


How about a sweet and fruity recipe for those who don't like to cook or bake:
My fruit pizza!

Fruit pizza

1 package reduced sugar cookie sugar dough
1 container fat-free strawberry cream cheese
Any fruit you want (fresh or canned)

1. Roll out cookie dough (very thin) on a baking sheet. Cook according to package.
2. Spread a few spoonfuls of cream cheese on cooled cookie sheet.
3. Decorate with lots of fruit!