5 "Healthier Holiday" side dishes
A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a "Healthier Holidays" party at my house with my nutrition expert, dietician and fitness friends. Everyone brought a healthier version of a holiday dish. We had a very wide variety of eating styles represented, which is fitting for the times during this holiday season! We all walked away with some new recipes we loved, as well as some ideas to indulge during the holidays without going completely crazy and feeling guilty and gluttonous afterward!I browsed Pinterest to find some new ideas (you can find some of those here on my Healthier Holidays board) and put a couple of spins on some things I found. I would also like to share some of my favorite recipes from blogs I follow as well as my awesome fellow FitFluential bloggers' delicious recipes! I hope you find a couple of things to inspire and mix up your holiday menu!
Pomegranate, Kale and Wild Rice Salad by Pinch of Yum
This one tastes as beautiful as it looks and I wouldn't change a thing about the recipe. Even kale-haters will love it! I promise you, everyone at your party will want the recipe! You will look like a pro, and your table will look good, too!
Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Balsamic Reduction, Goat Cheese and Almonds, by Food Faith Fitness
I have tried many brussel sprout recipes, and I love this combination. Brussel sprouts are a favorite of mine (particularly during the holidays) and this take makes a delicious side dish!
Roasted Fall Vegetables with Sage, Parmesan and Balsamic Reduction by Chelsea's Healthy Kitchen
LOVE the flavors and colors of this side dish. Chelsea has some other great side dish ideas on her website.
Sweet Celeriac Mash (A mashed potato alternative) by Healthy Helper
This dish uses some unique ingredients but has tons of flavor and nutritional value. A nice spin on a mashed potato alternative. No one will even miss the old mashed potatoes!
No Bake Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies by Be Whole Be You
My friend Lorie has so many awesome recipes on her blog, but I love this one, especially, because it is a tradition in my house to make the old Hershey kissed peanut butter cookies. I'm definitely swapping them for these this year!
It seems inevitable that we are bound to indulge at some point in these next few months, but any little swap you can make can make things just as, or even more, enjoyable. I personally think it comes down to good ingredients. Look to your local farms for organic turkeys. Use real, whole ingredients. Try some things out on your friends like I did. There are so many better options out there these days. I encourge you to follow all 5 of these blogs, as they have so many other ideas- it was hard to only choose a few!
Have a "Healthier Holidays" recipe you'd like to share? Enter it in the comments section for a chance to win a fun giveaway!