This is another post from the archives (Nov 24th 2009). It's all about enjoying dessert without nasty additives found in cool whip and store bought treats. No red 40 will be in our cherry pie! Sure it looks a little anemic, but tastes better. We'll also be making bread cube dressing from scratch this year. I'm thrilled to have something to do with all that chicken stock hogging space in the freezer! PS. Look at little boo's chubby cheeks. I miss that toddler face! Gobble Gobble.As my contribution to dinner for 21, I volunteered to make pies this year. I've got cherry, peach, pumpkin and pecan on the must have list. It is dessert, but along with several spoonfuls of sugar each pie I'm making this year also provides nutrients.
- The fruit in peach and cherry provides fiber, vitamins and antioxidants.
- The pecans are high in protein and healthy fat. The protein in the dessert will help the body assimilate all the sugar better in the blood stream.
- Chocolate provides more antioxidants than green tea or red wine according to several studies.
- I'll whip my own cream using heavy whipping cream and avoid bizarre food additives in "whipped topping" (don't be fooled by that stuff, there is no dairy in there, i'll take fat over food additives any day). I can reduce sugar in the topping by adding just a few tablespoons of sugar before whipping it into a froth.
- I routinely eliminate 1/4-1/2 cup sugar from desserts and they are still tasty. No one seems to miss the extra sugar.
- Pumpkin, a member of the "winter squash" category, makes this pie a veggie dessert! The eggs in the custard give it protein to help keep blood sugar in check. Pumpkin has been shown to prevent cell mutations ( as happens with cancer) , promote lung health, and as a rich source of beta-carotene has anti-inflammatory properties, helps prevent cholesterol oxidation (heart health), and helps to prevent diabetic heart disease. Read George's pumpkin summary for more details.
I'm using up my orchard picked, put up freezer peaches for the peach pie. I hope to make all the crust from scratch using 50% white wheat flour in the pie crust recipe. For the cherry pie I'll use canned cherries (not cherry pie filling) and make my own filling. See the recipe for reduced sugar cherry filling here, then I'll dump that into crust, top with lattice and bake. If I get what I want, I'll churn out a chocolate pecan as well, I've got my eye on this recipe although I'll probably nix a 1/4-1/2 a cup of sugar.
The Truth About Kids and Holiday Meals
Neither of my kids ate well at family meals when they were younger. Too many distractions with different table, visitors, schedule, unfamiliar food, our normal dinner routine was out of whack. Appetites are dulled by finger foods set out before the meal. Attention is diverted to adult conversation. Suspicions about odd looking food abound. Abundant food options make what-to-eat decisions hard that often "nothing" is chosen.
I hope this year to be an improvement over thanksgivings past. Big boo and little boo are 5 and 3 this year. I know going into this Thanksgiving meal that my youngest likes mashed potatoes. If you've followed this blog long, you know that even one kiddo who eats mashed potatoes is a little personal victory in my feeding my family journey!! My oldest has enough frame of reference he is happily anticipating many traditional dishes. He's also mastered the skill of eating when food is available even if circumstances are distracting (like school lunches or family gatherings). I think the wild card this year for both will be the abundant snacks/appetizers available before meal time for, and the over abundance of choices will still confound little boo at 3.
Last year I wrote this post with some tips about how to make the most of holiday meals and young kids. Get a ginormous list of handy hints there. I've highlighted a few below:
- keep it fun
- use this meal as a time to experiment with new flavors
- know that they have decades of thanksgiving meals ahead of them to find some dishes they come to cherish and happily anticipate each year
- realize that even if they push their main meal around with a fork consuming little you will have taken one step towards exposure and acceptance to your family's favorite holiday dishes.
Happy Thanksgiving!
oh what a cute picture of you all and great pies also good tips for kids
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of using less sugar in the pie. I doubt anyone would notice in my family either!
ReplyDeleteThis was our new recipe for Thanksgiving:
ReplyDeletehttp://mulberryspot.blogspot.com/2009/11/sweet-potato-salad.html
The baby loved it, and the bigger kids did pretty well snacking on the cooked, diced sweet potatoes before I added the dressing. :)
I do find big holiday meals tough with the 5 and under crowd. My three year old is already very suspicious of most foods, and anything casserole-ish is a big turn-off for him. But I am trusting that if we keep at it, he'll come around. My 6-year-old is an adventurous eater, though it's even hard for her to eat a good meal when there are desserts within sight. But we figure it's one day, and we just try to make up for it by eating lots of good veggies in the week following.
hannah-thanks for sharing the sweet potato salad, it looks amazing. I bet big boo would go for it, and I might like the sweet potatoes this way too.
ReplyDeletei agree, keep to it with kids and holiday meals. my theory is that every year they'll adopt a new traditional dish and by the time they're out of elementary school they will be proficient at the holiday meal.
little foodie- no one noticed the pies had less sugar, or that the crust was whole wheat! each of the five pies was someone's favorite, success in my book. my personal favorite was the chocolate pecan, although my druthers would have been pie sans pecans, hehehe.
Everything looks so yummy. My child is allergic to dairy so we make everything homemade without all the additives too. Just wish there was a yummy dairy free alternative to whipped cream! The soy one just doesn't cut it.
ReplyDelete