Appetizers: Ditch the heavy cheese dips and chips before the big Thanksgiving meal. Creating this adorable veggie platter will give lil’ ones something to do while you cook, and will also interest them more in eating it since they were part of making it. Healthy snacks like veggies are often quite filling, and will help curb your appetite before the big dinner.

The Turkey: Almost everyone has family recipes and traditions on how to cook their own turkey. As for us, we have a few suggestions on how to keep that healthy. Try to avoid deep-frying your turkey, but rather roast it in the oven. Flavorful herb recipes like this one from Food Network reduce the need to cover the turkey in butter or gravy without sacrificing great flavor:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/herb-roasted-turkey-breast-recipe/index.html

Sweet Potatoes: Ditch any recipes with a lot of brown sugar or marshmallows in favor of healthier (just as good!) sweet potato recipes. Simple baked (sweet) potatoes is one option, as they are easy to cook and healthy! If you want a more traditional casserole, try this healthier version of the sweet potato and marshmallow casserole: http://recipes.womenshealthmag.com/Recipe/marshmallow-whipped-sweet-potatoes.aspx

Green Beans: A quick and easy way to enjoy green beans without butter or cheese, is to just steam them in a double boiler. Take a sauce pan with a little bit of olive oil, and brown some sliced almonds. Toss these together for a much healthier (and still delicious) version of green bean casserole.

Stuffing: In exchange for fat and carb-loaded bread stuffings, try these healthier, non-traditional versions of the Thanksgiving favorite.

• Celery stuffing: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Celery-Stuffing/Detail.aspx
• Wild rice stuffing: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wild_rice_stuffing.html
• Wild mushroom stuffing: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wild_mushroom_stuffing.html
• Quinoa stuffing: http://www.fitsugar.com/Quinoa-Stuffing-Recipe-Thanksgiving-25897153

Cranberry Sauce: Cranberry sauce is often loaded with sugar in order to make up for the tart-ness of the Cranberries. Unfortunately, so much sugar can be a diet buster for many. Enjoy recipes that are low-sugar or sugar free, like this one: http://wellnessmama.com/3392/slightly-sweet-cranberry-sauce-recipe/

Bread: To help with portion control, try baking cornbread muffins. The pre-portioned muffin serving will keep you from overdoing it, but the cornbread will let you enjoy the spirit of Thanksgiving. If you still want a loaf of bread, go for the whole-wheat option.

Drinks: Skip on the alcoholic beverages or juices at the table this year in favor of water. If you want to spice this up and make your table look fancier, use sparkling water with a lemon wedge on the rim of the glass. This will save you the empty calories, and leave space for dessert… yum!

Dessert: Feel free to indulge in a little healthy dessert… remember everything in moderation! A main downfall of us dessert lovers is having to try a little bit of EVERYTHING. To prevent this, try to only offer a few dessert staples. After all, you’re just cooking for a few, not an army! Don’t underestimate the power of a bowl of fresh fruit or homemade fruit salad as a great dessert option as well.

• Low-Cal Pumpkin Pie: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/low-cal-pumpkin-pie
• Healthy Fruit Pizza (feel free to add in kiwi, mangos, oranges, or any other fruit of your choice on top: http://undressedskeleton.tumblr.com/post/51247006634
• Mom’s Apple Squares: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/moms_apple_squares.html

We hope you like these recipes; feel free to try them out this week before the big day and leave comments below! Overall, the biggest helpful hint we can give you is: moderation! There are always Thanksgiving leftovers, so don’t worry about eating it all in one sitting! Gobble Gobble!

Luckily people like me love to navigate all the food terminology that gets thrown around these days and share simple, healthy tricks. And this time of year is no exception! Whether you’re a parent or sitter, check out these tips about food labels, cooking and baking for a happy, healthy fall.

Halloween Candy Labels:
With trick-or-treating around the corner, it’s good to watch out for what’s in your child’s candy sack. The number one rule is to avoid high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Yup, this excludes most of the traditional brands. If you’d like to give out a healthier option, consider the brand UNREAL candy; it’s gluten-free with no GMO’s, artificial flavors or preservatives http://getunreal.com

Healthy and cute snacks

Cozy Snack Recipes:
Classic munching favorites are potato chips and fries. Two fantastic alternatives are kale and sweet potatoes; they taste great and are more nutrient dense than your plain old spud. Use sea salt rather than table salt to get more trace minerals and less blood pressure stress. Tip: leave the skin on to save time.

Crispy Kale Chips
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/crispy-kale-chips-recipe/index.html

Sweet Potato Fries
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-sweet-potato-fries-recipe/index.html

Seasonal Gluten-Free Squash Sides:
Try these recipes instead of processed mac’n’cheese or spaghetti noodles.  The delicata squash skin can be left on and eaten.  With spaghetti squash: scoop, pour on sauce and serve.

Parmesan-crusted Delicata Squash
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2011/12/21/parmesan-crusted-delicata-squash/

Spaghetti Squash
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/cheese-and-pepper-cacio-e-pepe-spaghetti-squash-recipe/index.html

Baking Substitutes:
I recommend cutting out refined, processed sugars (white or brown) and unhealthy fats (shortening and canola oil). Fruit, like bananas, applesauce and avocado, can be used for all of the above, as well as for egg and dairy allergies.  The finished product will usually be softer and sweeter. Try just one substitute per recipe until you get comfortable!

Brown Sugar: natural applesauce (no sugar added) in 1:1 ratio

Canola Oil: coconut oil in 1:1 ratio

Shortening: ¾ cup coconut oil for 1 cup shortening

Butter: coconut oil or avocado in 1:1 ratio (avo will tint green, but the flavor cooks out)

Egg: ¼ cup mashed avocado or banana for 1 egg 

-Rebecca Kittle recently graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition as a certified health coach. She is interested in educating people about clean eating, recognizing chemicals in processed and packaged foods, special dietary restrictions, and increasing your digestive health. 

Anne Zimmerman of nutrimommy.com so graciously hosted our New York City Cooking Club (NYCCC), which is a group of 20 Manhattan women interested in social and food (including many Lucky L’il Darlings Babysitters), in her home to teach us the tricks of the trade of organic whole cooking. Six members of NYCCC and Anne’s four children got our hands dirty making Basil Nut Dip, Farmer’s Salad, Shitake Mushrooms (amazing), Steamed Spring Rolls, Dipping Sauce for the Spring Rolls, Saffron Rice, Asparagus, Pesto Dip (my absolute favorite) and Peanut Butter Bars.

Our troupe arrived around 7pm and enjoyed the entire prep process, learning how to blend and sauté from Anne herself, sipping vino and talking about the royal wedding.

One of our NYCCC members Laurie said, “Best Cooking Club Ever!! I’m so inspired to buy a food processor and might even have to try being vegan. Anne was amazing!!! The food was incredible.”

To book your own cooking social email Anne at:
nutrimommyblog@aol.com

Visit her blog at www.nutrimommy.com
Follow her on Twitter @nutrimommyblog