Healthy Christmas recipes are what my English teacher at school used to call 'an oxymoron', a great word, which means 'a contradiction in terms'. 'Healthy' and 'Christmas' in the same sentence? It is hard to imagine, I agree.
To my way of thinking there's nothing wrong with a bit of festive indulgence when it only comes but once a year, but if you're used to eating healthily, or on a mission to lose weight, you don't want to abandon your principles entirely. There's a lot you can do to create healthy Christmas recipes in all sorts of small ways, to make your Christmas dinner healthier and lower in fat without compromising on taste or enjoyment.
Healthy Christmas recipes
Turkey is by far the best choice for a healthy Christmas dinner, since goose and duck are much fattier. Roast your turkey on a rack so that it doesn't bathe in fat as it cooks. When you make the gravy, skim off as much fat as you can from the juices in the pan. The best low fat Christmas dinner is slices of turkey breast meat only, with the skin removed. The dark meat is higher in fat and calories.
Don't know what to do with the remains of the bird? Check out these leftover turkey recipes.
Cook stuffing in a separate dish, not inside the bird. If you buy stuffing mixes, inspect the pack. Some popular brands contain unhealthy hydrogenated vegetable oils. Make your own stuffings, and use smaller quantities of healthier fats in your recipes.
Brussel sprouts are an essential part of the Christmas feast. See a range of Brussel sprout recipes here.
Bacon rolls and sausages: flatten the bacon rashers with the back of a knife on a chopping board, and scrape off as much fat as you can before rolling. Bake bacon rolls and sausages in the oven, then drain off the fat and place on kitchen paper to soak up as much as possible.
Bread sauce: make it with semi-skimmed milk, and add just a small knob of butter to finish.
Cranberry relish: add sugar with a restrained hand if you make this yourself. Fresh cranberries are extremely tart, but you can sweeten them with fresh orange juice and reduce the sugar accordingly for healthy Christmas recipes.
Christmas pudding: traditional recipes are high in calories, but so rich that it's only possible to eat a small portion. Make it a splash of cream or custard rather than a lake, or just a dab of brandy butter.
Try serving a healthier festive dessert as well, or instead of, the traditional pud. An exotic fruit salad is refreshing at the end of the meal, or try a champagne or lemon sorbet. A huge pile of clementines and other seasonal citrus looks beautiful, and people will nibble their way through plenty of them if they're just left on the table.
Don't bring on the nuts until right at the end of the meal, when everyone will be feeling well fed. Buy nuts in the shell - the effort of cracking and extracting means people will eat far less than if you serve ready-shelled nuts which can be shovelled in by the handful.
Turning ordinary recipes into healthy Christmas recipes
In baking, reduce the amount of sugar, increase the quantity of sweet spices. Substitute up to half the fat content with pureed cooked apple. See Healthy Cake Recipes for more healthy baking ideas.
Have yourself a healthy little Christmas...
Befriend the glass of water, the bowl of salad, the plate of vegetable crudites. Fill up on these healthy low fat and low calorie items half an hour before you embark on the main meal.
Make a decision beforehand that you won't have a total blow-out and leave yourself feeling unpleasantly over-full. Take small portions, use a smaller plate. You know what they say about 'a little of what you fancy...' Have everything you want, but in seriously smaller quantities.
Keep up with the exercise. Ten days slumped in front of the telly won't do your waistline or your heart any good. Have a good walk every day, and get back to your normal pattern of exercise within a couple of days.
If you are in charge of shopping for Christmas food, curb yourself. Perhaps you don't really need a giant sized pot of extra thick cream, a vast tub of brandy butter, an extra couple of dozen mince pies, a Brobdingnagian box of chocolates.
Cater for the number of people you are feeding, not for an imaginary tribe of relatives, friends and droppers-in, and buy rich food to enjoy for just a couple of days, not enough for a fortnight. You know what'll happen to it all...
Sleight of hand goes a long way towards creating a healthier Christmas. Hang just a couple of chocolate ornaments per person on the tree. Don't leave tempting bowls of candies and sweets standing around ready for non-stop nibbling. The same goes for dishes of savoury biscuits, fruit and nut mixtures, or any other high calorie or high fat snack that's so easily eaten mindlessly.
Don't feel that you have to be a Scrooge-like killjoy at Christmas - it's a time of celebration after all. A large meal once a year won't do you any harm, but make use of healthy Christmas recipes, include out the salads, simple soups and fresh fruit in your menu plans, and remember to go back to healthier way of eating as soon as you can.
