Holidays/Pumpkin HELP!

[ChefAshley]

Ok quick questions on prepairing for the upcoming holidays, the biggest eating days in my family...Thanksgiving and Christmas....(I cook for both) so are there low cal recipes out there that I can bring for myself/family would enjoy... any substitutes I'm guessing is what I'm really asking for things like noodles, dressing(stuffing for those non southerners), mashed potatoes, yams with marshmellows ect, or am I just going to have to stick to a veggie platter and jello for dessert.... BTW I am CRAVING pumpkin right now around this whole fall season change...any suggestions?

 

[maleficent]

Pumpkin is quite good for you, lots of beta carotene and fiber and other good stuff.. its also low in calories... it's the other stuff - like the btter and sugar and other stuff that kills you..

If I haven't posted it here, I will when I am home this weekend - I have an absolutely killer recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake thats super easy to make and wonderfully tasting- I got it from Gourmet magazine a few years ago and made some tweaks to it using low fat ingredients... so it's not really bad for you.

For potatoes... yeah the butter and cream make them taste really good but don't make your waistline happy... substitute either low fat sour cream, low fat cream cheese and/or roasted garlic - it gives the taters a creaminess but without loading it down with fat.

For the stuffing, instead of the butter, use a reduced fat chicken stock to moistenin it.

I've made a wild mushroom gravy with red wine and chicken stock, so no pan drippings which kept the fat down, that was a huge hit... and reduced enough it was nice and thick and tasty.
Use your chef's skills and get creative to give up some calories, without having the family think you've put them all on a diet...

 

[pequin]

It also helps to add a bit of chicken stock with the fat free sour cream to the mashed potatoes to moisten instead of all the butter & milk.