Healthy Holiday Baking

We all know that baking is a huge part of not only Thanksgiving but of Christmas as well. There are few people who abstain from baking cookies, pies or cakes during the holiday season. Unfortunately, baked goods usually mean unwanted calories, fat and sugar. Lucky for us though there are many ways to make our holiday baking healthier. Here are some of those tips!

The first thing to remember when it comes to changing a baking recipe is to make small changes and to limit the number of changes. Making all of the following changes can make for some interesting baked goods so take all of these suggestions with a grain of salt.

The first thing you can do to make your baking a little healthier is to include some wheat flour instead of using entirely all purpose. The standard ratio for this change usually half and half. Depending on the baked good though this can make for a rather dry good so make sure you play with the recipe to see what works best with all of your recipes.

Another easy change that can be made is to reduce the amount of sugar within a recipe. Sugar makes for both unwanted sugar and unwanted fat. Most of the time recipes actually call for more sugar than is really needed so using less sugar is okay. The standard deviation for this suggestion is about one fourth, which also means one fourth the fat and sugar.

In order to sustain flavor in your recipes while changing the amount of sugar you put in you can add other flavors. Tasty baking flavors that offset the reduction in sugar include cinnamon, vanilla or nutmeg.

Also, to reduce the fat within your baked goods you can often times use vegetable oil in place of butter or shortening.

So remember this holiday season if you are looking to reduce your caloric intake while still indulging in all the delicious holiday dishes, making your baked goods healthier with these tips is a good way to do so. More great, healthy cooking tips for the holidays can be found here.

How to Make a Thanksgiving Turkey More Entertaining

Thanksgiving is well-known for two things: family and turkey. While most cultures would frown at the notion of eating your family, the next best thing is the turkey. For some, traditional is the way to go: season the bird up, stuff with stuffing, and soak it in gravy. While this is all well and good, especially if you’re fond of the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach, there are other ways to make your Thanksgiving bird a little more enjoyable to the palate. I am, of course, speaking of both a friend turkey and a turducken.

A fried turkey might sound like a difficult prospect given the size of the bird, but in actuality it’s not. Besides, any inherent difficulty is offset by the end result, which is a deliciously moist, flavorful turkey that melts apart in your mouth. Directions concerning the actual frying process can be found here, but here’s a few pointers for you. Always make sure the bird has been dried off before placing it in the oil, as the ice coming into contact with the oil can result in a giant fireball out of the pot. Fun to look at, not fun to deal with. You can use a marinade injector to inject whatever flavor you want into the turkey before frying it to give it a unique flavor.

The other option is the elusive turducken. This delightfully feathered portmanteau is a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey, with a layer of stuffing around each bird. Several theories exist concerning where it was created, but the most evidence lies with “Hebert’s Specialty Meats,” in Maurice, LA, which has been producing turduckens since the mid-eighties. Variations of the bird include substituting a goose for the turkey, which is known as a gooducken. Despite being an intimidating Frankestein-esque dish, it is quite delicious, and something everyone should try once.

Despite being incredibly tempting, if you’re watching your waist-line you may want to go with more traditional fare this Thanksgiving season. Fried turkey and turducken are incredibly fatty, and once you take a bite of either one you’ll be tempted to eat as much as you can. If you do decide to make one, eat it in moderation, and save any leftovers to be consumed at a later date. Of course, this is predicated upon the assumption that

Whatever you decide upon, just remember that Thanksgiving is about family. It doesn’t matter which variation of this Thanksgiving staple you decide upon, all that matters is that you’re surrounded by loved ones. There are ways to make your Thanksgiving a memorable one by going here.