Thanksgiving Recipe Lineup!

Do you tend to get stressed out around the holidays? Are you already feeling worried that you’re going to fall into the same trap again this year and take 2 steps back with where you’d really like to be feeling in your body?

I’m a firm believer that when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Never was this more true than it is for the holiday season.

Step #1: Choose your absolute favorite dishes to have the day of the actual holiday. Narrow it down to no more than 5 (excluding dessert).

Step #2: If you have more than 5 holiday recipes you absolutely love, enjoy them on a different day that month.

Step #3: Healthify your favorite recipes! This simply means that you use recommendations, like the recipes I’m sharing with you below, to give your favorite dishes a health makeover!

Here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving holiday dishes that my family, friends, and clients also love:

• Brined Turkey: True, brining a turkey takes extra work, but dang, your bird will be so tender that you’ll find it is SO worth it!

• Gravy & cranberry sauce
• Mashed cauliflower
• Garlic almond green beans or bacon Brussel’s sprouts
• “Cornbread” stuffing OR Sausage stuffing
• Pumpkin custard with whipped cream OR Apple crisp

Ta da! Now, you’ve got a great plan for what you’ll enjoy for your holiday meal. The other SUPER important part of planning an awesome holiday is to reduce the stress that leads to choices you’ll regret later (delegate, cook what you can in advance, accept help, put on fun music, take breathing breaks), and of course, getting in touch with what so many refer to as “the reason for the season.” By this, I simply mean what does the holiday actually mean for you besides the food? What do you like about it (besides the food)? What’s fun about it?

I know for me, these were hard questions to answer. Holidays were mostly about the food for me. And yet, I usually felt like something was missing afterward. It wasn’t until I really started paying attention to my inner desire for what I wanted my holidays to be about that I actually started to develop new traditions (like a family hike, a family game, a trip) that make me honestly look forward to the holidays.

It’s this kind of planning that you’ll be so grateful for doing. Create traditions that support who you are and what you really want.

You’ll be thankful that you did. 🙂

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

~Rebecca