Recipe Substitues for Thanksgiving Favorites

The Thanksgiving holiday usually brings about many delicious recipes and the tendency to overeat. You can still gorge yourself on food, but if you are looking for ways to make delicious alternatives to the high sodium, high fat, high sugar, or high calorie traditional Thanksgiving fare, you don't have to look any further than The Wine and Food Lover's Diet.

The Wine and Food Lover's Diet isn't really a book about dieting, but about eating the right kinds of proteins and carbohydrates. The author, Dr. Phillip Tirman, recognized an opportunity to share delicious recipes and suggestions for enjoying food and wine instead of depriving yourself.

My husband and I started cooking from this book before our wedding. We thought it might be a helpful way to lose a few more pounds without going on some crazy diet and getting more miserable and stressed than we already were. We both were amazed with the results. Within a few weeks, we'd each lost 5-10 pounds. Add in some exercise and you've got a great recipe for health, fitness, and enjoyment.

We don't follow this plan daily, but we do like to make many of the recipes often. The foods taste delicious and you feel great when you eat like this.

While the recipes in this book are certainly every day meal options, I thought it would be fun to offer some suggestions for mixing up the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes by making some healthier alternatives instead.

Thanksgiving Recipe Substitute: Barley Risotto

You can substitute this flavorful variation on the rice risotto by using barley. I actually prefer this anyway because I'm not much of a rice lover. I do love barley! In Dr. Tirman's book, this recipe calls for several ingredients that you probably already have in your refrigerator. The ingredients I use include, olive oil, shallots, pearl barley, white wine, fresh chopped thyme, kosher salt, black pepper, low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (or water), cherry tomatoes, lemon juice, and parsley.

Thanksgiving Recipe Substitute: Cauliflower with Smoked Gouda

You may not think of cauliflower as a substitute for a potato, but it is delicious. If you would like to avoid the high starch content of white potatoes, you could substitute this cauliflower dish. I make it with cauliflower, garlic, unsalted butter, smoked gouda, kosher salt, and black pepper. I cook the cauliflower in a saucepan and then I add all the goodies. In the book, Dr. Tirman actually suggests pureeing it (which even creates the texture of mashed potatoes). I think it would be delicious whether you leave the cauliflower in bite sized pieces or completely pureed it.

Thanksgiving Recipe Substitute: Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce

Good to use in place of any starchy pasta dish. This stuff is also quite delicious. I hadn't cooked with spaghetti squash prior to trying out this recipe. It really does peel apart into strands of delicious squash. Easy and yummy. The tomato sauce is only necessary if you want it to resemble the taste and texture of pasta. Otherwise, you can just cook the squash with olive oil, garlic, shallots, basic, kosher or sea salt, and pepper.

Thanksgiving Recipe Substitute: Collard Greens with Garlic

You don't have to cook collard greens all day with a ham hock to get a delicious tasting dish. Simply cook the collard greens with olive oil, garlic, kosher salt, and black pepper (Dr. Tirman's recipe) and enjoy. This is a wonderfully tasty vegetarian variety of collard greens.

There are so many delicious and healthy recipes in this book that you will certainly be satisfied if you pick up a copy for this Thanksgiving or anytime. There is invaluable information about eating smart fats and carbohydrates, and you're even allowed to drink wine!

The Wine and Food Lover's Diet: 28 Days of Delicious Weight Loss, Phillip Tirman, M.D.

Copyright 2007.