Holiday dinner for conflicting diets
November 13, 2024 8:54 PM Subscribe
Can you suggest holiday dinner dishes that would satisfy a group of three that includes a pescetarian, a traditionalist, and a pre-diabetic? Bonus points for an entree, recipe, and being easy to cook (especially if it can be prepared ahead).
Instead of a turkey make a stuffed fish. Stuffed white fishes are traditional New England food so to me they go with Thanksgiving and the stuffed presentation makes it festive. Because of the pre-diabetic guest, choose a no-carb stuffing, some choices around google are crabmeat and shrimp, or this one for spinach and cheese (I have not made this particular recipe): https://joyfilledeats.com/stuffed-flounder-recipe/
posted by ponie at 1:07 AM on November 14
posted by ponie at 1:07 AM on November 14
Stuffed delicata squash boats. They are oblong and the skin is tasty when roasted so they make really great vessels for other things. I’d say one half of a medium delicata squash, cut lengthwise, per person. Do a stuffing made of dried cranberries, walnuts, and white beans simmered in thanksgiving-y herbs and spices, which you can make ahead of time. And you can roast the squash boats ahead of time too, until cooked through. Then combine the filling (probably best to add the walnuts in at this stage too) with some breadcrumbs, just enough to bind it a little, stuff the squash, and put them back in the oven to heat through and get browned. Sorry I don’t have a recipe, but there a ton of roasted stuffed delicata squash recipes, and simmered herby white bean recipes. I’ve made a similar thing once and it was just off the cuff, it worked out great, but I was doing a more Italian type thing with different herbs and dried currants and pistachios. White beans are very forgiving, they basically work with any flavor, and delicata squash is like if a sweet potato were a squash, it’s lightly sweet and nutty with a great texture.
I find it very easy to roast a single turkey wing, which you should be able to find right now, and you could totally do that ahead of time for your traditionalist and your pre-diabetic to split. Pop it back in the oven to crisp up just before serving so it gets extra crackly skin.
For gravy, make a mushroom gravy with a vegan roux (that just means use a vegetable fat instead of butter). Use mixed dried mushrooms, soak them overnight and then strain the soaking liquid very thoroughly, wash the rehydrated shrooms very well and mince them up. Use the soaking liquid with a vegetable stock and simmer the minced mushrooms until fully cooked, then thicken with your roux and season to taste. If it’s okay for everyone’s diets, this would be a great place to add a splash of wine, sherry, or cognac. You could also roast fresh mushrooms ahead of time and serve them as a side dish, along with using them in the gravy. A combination of types will be tastiest but just use whatever ones you have access to.
For something green, roasted Brussels sprouts are pretty traditional and iirc pretty low carb, but I could be misremembering. I also love a winter salad with thinly sliced celery, shaved carrots and slivers of Bosc pear on fresh greens, butter lettuce if you can find it. Just a simple dressing of good olive oil and white wine vinegar with salt and pepper will make it a great contrast to the other heavy roasted flavors.
Pumpkin pie for dessert is non-negotiable for me, but I guess you could try your luck with an apple crumble? Do it in little personal ramekins so it feels fancier. Apple crumble is pretty low carb in the scheme of autumnal desserts, and you can serve ice cream on the side for those who want it. And you can prep it ahead of time and put it in the oven to bake during the meal.
posted by Mizu at 2:44 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
I find it very easy to roast a single turkey wing, which you should be able to find right now, and you could totally do that ahead of time for your traditionalist and your pre-diabetic to split. Pop it back in the oven to crisp up just before serving so it gets extra crackly skin.
For gravy, make a mushroom gravy with a vegan roux (that just means use a vegetable fat instead of butter). Use mixed dried mushrooms, soak them overnight and then strain the soaking liquid very thoroughly, wash the rehydrated shrooms very well and mince them up. Use the soaking liquid with a vegetable stock and simmer the minced mushrooms until fully cooked, then thicken with your roux and season to taste. If it’s okay for everyone’s diets, this would be a great place to add a splash of wine, sherry, or cognac. You could also roast fresh mushrooms ahead of time and serve them as a side dish, along with using them in the gravy. A combination of types will be tastiest but just use whatever ones you have access to.
For something green, roasted Brussels sprouts are pretty traditional and iirc pretty low carb, but I could be misremembering. I also love a winter salad with thinly sliced celery, shaved carrots and slivers of Bosc pear on fresh greens, butter lettuce if you can find it. Just a simple dressing of good olive oil and white wine vinegar with salt and pepper will make it a great contrast to the other heavy roasted flavors.
Pumpkin pie for dessert is non-negotiable for me, but I guess you could try your luck with an apple crumble? Do it in little personal ramekins so it feels fancier. Apple crumble is pretty low carb in the scheme of autumnal desserts, and you can serve ice cream on the side for those who want it. And you can prep it ahead of time and put it in the oven to bake during the meal.
posted by Mizu at 2:44 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
For such a small group, I would roast a chicken instead of a Turkey. Pan-seared salmon. Fresh (tomato, cucumber, etc) salad. Plus whatever else you need for purposes of tradition. A custard-based pie, that could be pumpkin, for dessert.
posted by SemiSalt at 4:54 AM on November 14 [2 favorites]
posted by SemiSalt at 4:54 AM on November 14 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Just want to check whether this is for American Thanksgiving, and whether you're asking specifically for mains or if sides are fine too?
1. For this year, I am thinking ahead, toward U.S. Christmas. But it would be good if any dishes were also suitable for American Thanksgiving.
2. I am interested in both mains and sides.
Thanks.
posted by NotLost at 5:02 AM on November 14
1. For this year, I am thinking ahead, toward U.S. Christmas. But it would be good if any dishes were also suitable for American Thanksgiving.
2. I am interested in both mains and sides.
Thanks.
posted by NotLost at 5:02 AM on November 14
I would recommend a winter quinoa kale salad. Basic premise is quinoa and shredded kale, plus any number of additional things like dried cranberries or pomegranate seeds, slivered almonds or walnuts, grated carrots, cubed squash or avocado, etc. Toss with a vinaigrette. I make without cheese but some recipes have crumbled feta on top.
It can be served warm, cold or room temp, and keeps well so can definitely be made ahead.
I guess it’s technically a side but it is very filling.
posted by subwaytiles at 5:23 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
It can be served warm, cold or room temp, and keeps well so can definitely be made ahead.
I guess it’s technically a side but it is very filling.
posted by subwaytiles at 5:23 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
There was one year at my house that the only dish everyone ate some of was the green peas. I had a vegan, someone with no teeth, a diabetic, and three people with texture issues. Green peas are a good bet. Start frozen and microwave in a covered dish, that you also serve them in. Garnish with something easy and nice, like snipped up herbs or chives.
I suggest a whole roasted stuffed trout, cooked the day before in a shallow dish, and then put in the fridge and brought out and served cold, paired with a roasted chicken, served hot. We stuff our whole fish with slices of onion and other vegetables such as sweet peppers. Get a bunch of dill and a lemon to cut into segments to make the presentation prettier once you slide it onto the platter. If a trout isn't going to be big enough, go with a stuffed whole salmon.
Check what your pescaterian limits. Can you use butter, cheese, eggs or cream or do they avoid all land animal products? If they avoid the dairy and eggs, then some of your recipes may need serious tweaking, and you'll want to invest in a tub of vegan margarine.
Make gravy for the traditionalist, but be prepared to augment the ingredients if your chicken turns out not to produce enough fat. I find that simply throwing some butter in to replace it produces the nicest flavour and the guests don't notice or complain.
If you make mashed potatoes, don't peel them. Slice them and then boil them, and this will increase the amount of soluble fibre. It's important for your pre-diabetic to be avoiding simple carbs and the peel in the potatoes will help. And not peeling saves you a step.
Check with the traditionalist what really IS traditional in their micro-culture. They might think turkey is optional, but greens and succotash are not, or they might think any old poultry will do but there HAS to be raisins in the dessert. Tradition varies a lot from family to family and you can easily miss the fact that Aunt Jane lives through the whole year for the garlic mashed potatoes and the ham and never eats much of anything beyond that, and ruin her Christmas by leaving out the garlic and the ham.
I'd suggest mincemeat or pumpkin tarts for the traditionalist. Being small, and served after the rest of the food it will be easier for the pre-diabetic to avoid the sugar overdose. If they don't mind store bought get those two bite tarts in both flavours. If you are up to making them yourself you can make them two days before and significantly reduce the sugar in them. I would not go with artificial sweetners, as there is some evidence that they increase sugar cravings and make diabetes worse that way. Up the butter/cream content in the pumpkin filling if you reduce the sugar as the richness will make up for the lower sweetness, and consider sprinkling brown sugar to caramelize on the top. This will mean that the pumpkin tart will taste very sweet at first bite but in fact not contain much sugar as the pumpkin filling will be mostly cream and pumpkin and egg.
Here is a mincemeat recipe you can tweak to reduce sugar and avoid animal fats that might dismay your pescatarian.
Small sides will make this festive. Get a very small amount of nice fruit such as clementines, grapes in two or three colours and cherries. Pick only fruit that you don't have to cut up. But don't get much of them, as you want the prediabetic to limit themself, and they will likely not binge if it means depriving the rest of the guests.
Put out nuts - protein, and as easy to prepare as opening packages and putting in dishes. Have some raw sliced veggies - buy one of those little raw vegetable trays and repackage it into something that looks much nicer than the clear plastic it comes in. Make sure the dip for the vegetables isn't sweetened. If desired add lettuce and some sliced cucumber and/or tomato.
If ham is traditional in your circle you can get a really small boneless one - and then boil it, instead of bake it. This will give it a much more mild flavour and leave the oven free for the poultry and the baked dishes. Look for one with the least amount of sugar possible and don't make any sweet sauce for it from the pineapple juice and the ham juices. Just stud it with a few cloves and surround it with some drained pineapple tidbits.
So my menu is:
Trout stuffed with sliced veggies
Boiled boneless ham with cloves and canned pineapple
Chicken stuffed
Bread stuffing cooked inside the chicken
Chicken gravy
Mashed potatoes with the skins
Green bean casserole or whatever hot greens are traditional,
Frozen green peas done in the micro
and
Raw veggies
Whole fruit
Nuts
Cheese and crackers
Mincemeat and pumpkin tarts
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:29 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
I suggest a whole roasted stuffed trout, cooked the day before in a shallow dish, and then put in the fridge and brought out and served cold, paired with a roasted chicken, served hot. We stuff our whole fish with slices of onion and other vegetables such as sweet peppers. Get a bunch of dill and a lemon to cut into segments to make the presentation prettier once you slide it onto the platter. If a trout isn't going to be big enough, go with a stuffed whole salmon.
Check what your pescaterian limits. Can you use butter, cheese, eggs or cream or do they avoid all land animal products? If they avoid the dairy and eggs, then some of your recipes may need serious tweaking, and you'll want to invest in a tub of vegan margarine.
Make gravy for the traditionalist, but be prepared to augment the ingredients if your chicken turns out not to produce enough fat. I find that simply throwing some butter in to replace it produces the nicest flavour and the guests don't notice or complain.
If you make mashed potatoes, don't peel them. Slice them and then boil them, and this will increase the amount of soluble fibre. It's important for your pre-diabetic to be avoiding simple carbs and the peel in the potatoes will help. And not peeling saves you a step.
Check with the traditionalist what really IS traditional in their micro-culture. They might think turkey is optional, but greens and succotash are not, or they might think any old poultry will do but there HAS to be raisins in the dessert. Tradition varies a lot from family to family and you can easily miss the fact that Aunt Jane lives through the whole year for the garlic mashed potatoes and the ham and never eats much of anything beyond that, and ruin her Christmas by leaving out the garlic and the ham.
I'd suggest mincemeat or pumpkin tarts for the traditionalist. Being small, and served after the rest of the food it will be easier for the pre-diabetic to avoid the sugar overdose. If they don't mind store bought get those two bite tarts in both flavours. If you are up to making them yourself you can make them two days before and significantly reduce the sugar in them. I would not go with artificial sweetners, as there is some evidence that they increase sugar cravings and make diabetes worse that way. Up the butter/cream content in the pumpkin filling if you reduce the sugar as the richness will make up for the lower sweetness, and consider sprinkling brown sugar to caramelize on the top. This will mean that the pumpkin tart will taste very sweet at first bite but in fact not contain much sugar as the pumpkin filling will be mostly cream and pumpkin and egg.
Here is a mincemeat recipe you can tweak to reduce sugar and avoid animal fats that might dismay your pescatarian.
Small sides will make this festive. Get a very small amount of nice fruit such as clementines, grapes in two or three colours and cherries. Pick only fruit that you don't have to cut up. But don't get much of them, as you want the prediabetic to limit themself, and they will likely not binge if it means depriving the rest of the guests.
Put out nuts - protein, and as easy to prepare as opening packages and putting in dishes. Have some raw sliced veggies - buy one of those little raw vegetable trays and repackage it into something that looks much nicer than the clear plastic it comes in. Make sure the dip for the vegetables isn't sweetened. If desired add lettuce and some sliced cucumber and/or tomato.
If ham is traditional in your circle you can get a really small boneless one - and then boil it, instead of bake it. This will give it a much more mild flavour and leave the oven free for the poultry and the baked dishes. Look for one with the least amount of sugar possible and don't make any sweet sauce for it from the pineapple juice and the ham juices. Just stud it with a few cloves and surround it with some drained pineapple tidbits.
So my menu is:
Trout stuffed with sliced veggies
Boiled boneless ham with cloves and canned pineapple
Chicken stuffed
Bread stuffing cooked inside the chicken
Chicken gravy
Mashed potatoes with the skins
Green bean casserole or whatever hot greens are traditional,
Frozen green peas done in the micro
and
Raw veggies
Whole fruit
Nuts
Cheese and crackers
Mincemeat and pumpkin tarts
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:29 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
Back when I had the space for dinner parties, I often had this kind of solve-for-multiple-diets issue. I would often go with a buffet approach - just pile a whole lot of different food on the table, and let people pick and choose what they wanted. They didn't have to declare whether they were loading up on kale salad for any specific reason or avoiding the meat course for any reason, they could just do it. The trick was to make sure that each individual person could serve themselves from at least two or three different things.
Since you're also targeting Christmas instead of Thanksgiving, that gives you a little more leeway too - if you're in the US, we tend to already shift to a sort of casual buffet-style thing anyway instead of a more sit-down traditional dinner, largely because the big traditional dinner is on Thanksgiving and a second turkey kinda feels like overkill. Have some kind of meat course if you like, but it could be, like, a sliced ham or something; or you could go with something seafood-based, as long as it's a little fancy. (We used to do the whole big turkey blowout when I was a kid, but then the aunt who did those meals moved away and my parents started hosting Christmas; the first time, one night before Christmas while they were figuring out what they could make for Christmas dinner my father happened to make some especially good fish cakes and they decided "screw it, let's do this for Christmas". They did, everyone else in the family thought they were great, done.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:38 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
Since you're also targeting Christmas instead of Thanksgiving, that gives you a little more leeway too - if you're in the US, we tend to already shift to a sort of casual buffet-style thing anyway instead of a more sit-down traditional dinner, largely because the big traditional dinner is on Thanksgiving and a second turkey kinda feels like overkill. Have some kind of meat course if you like, but it could be, like, a sliced ham or something; or you could go with something seafood-based, as long as it's a little fancy. (We used to do the whole big turkey blowout when I was a kid, but then the aunt who did those meals moved away and my parents started hosting Christmas; the first time, one night before Christmas while they were figuring out what they could make for Christmas dinner my father happened to make some especially good fish cakes and they decided "screw it, let's do this for Christmas". They did, everyone else in the family thought they were great, done.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:38 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
.Turkey & gravy. You can buy just a breast. I love turkey, so I get a small one and cut it lengthwise, freezing half for later.
.Mizu's vegan gravy sounds quite good. I find miso helpful in vegan sauces where meat broth is traditional.
.Scalloped potatoes with chickpea flour batter instead of milk, or
There's an NYTimes recipe (hombre root vegetables)with sliced beets, then sliced sweet potato, then white potato. Layer in thinly sliced onions and vegan butter, then add chickpea batter, bake. It has protein and fiber so diabetics should be okay, though leave out beets if that's too much sugar. This is one of my go-to holiday dishes for potluck. It's delicious, meets many food requirements, and really pretty. (chickpea batter = chickpea flour + water, make it a biit ahead, should be the consistency of thin pancake batter)
.Stuffing with bread, onions, celery, miso broth, vegan butter. I often add roast butternut squash to make it more of a main dish.
.Corn pudding - corn meal or corn bread mix, extra butter, eggs, and broth (Milk or cream, but I don't eat dairy)
.Roast Veg. Roast butternut squash or sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt pepper, curry spices. I like to roast sliced carrots in miso broth with salt, pepper, and thyme, easy and delicious, but carrots are pretty sweet. or cauliflower roasted with olive oil and Louisiana hot sauce. Balsamic-Roasted Brussels Sprouts.
.Hasselback Sweet oe white Potatoes would be festive
.Cranberry jelly or sauce. I make cranberry ice.
.Scallops, crab cakes, salmon, or shrimp are festive.
.I dislike the green beans with canned mushroom soup, but love green beans (frozen haricots vert from Trader Joe's) with spaetzle, mushrooms and/or shallots and a buttery sauce.
.You can use a mix of stevia and sugar in apple or pumpkin pie. Both also have a lot of fiber. Or use a pastry bottom crust and a crisp topping with oatmeal.
posted by theora55 at 7:37 AM on November 14
.Mizu's vegan gravy sounds quite good. I find miso helpful in vegan sauces where meat broth is traditional.
.Scalloped potatoes with chickpea flour batter instead of milk, or
There's an NYTimes recipe (hombre root vegetables)with sliced beets, then sliced sweet potato, then white potato. Layer in thinly sliced onions and vegan butter, then add chickpea batter, bake. It has protein and fiber so diabetics should be okay, though leave out beets if that's too much sugar. This is one of my go-to holiday dishes for potluck. It's delicious, meets many food requirements, and really pretty. (chickpea batter = chickpea flour + water, make it a biit ahead, should be the consistency of thin pancake batter)
.Stuffing with bread, onions, celery, miso broth, vegan butter. I often add roast butternut squash to make it more of a main dish.
.Corn pudding - corn meal or corn bread mix, extra butter, eggs, and broth (Milk or cream, but I don't eat dairy)
.Roast Veg. Roast butternut squash or sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt pepper, curry spices. I like to roast sliced carrots in miso broth with salt, pepper, and thyme, easy and delicious, but carrots are pretty sweet. or cauliflower roasted with olive oil and Louisiana hot sauce. Balsamic-Roasted Brussels Sprouts.
.Hasselback Sweet oe white Potatoes would be festive
.Cranberry jelly or sauce. I make cranberry ice.
.Scallops, crab cakes, salmon, or shrimp are festive.
.I dislike the green beans with canned mushroom soup, but love green beans (frozen haricots vert from Trader Joe's) with spaetzle, mushrooms and/or shallots and a buttery sauce.
.You can use a mix of stevia and sugar in apple or pumpkin pie. Both also have a lot of fiber. Or use a pastry bottom crust and a crisp topping with oatmeal.
posted by theora55 at 7:37 AM on November 14
I like cedar-planked salmon with a glaze made of maple syrup, soy sauce, and whole grain mustard. It's delicious, pretty quick and easy to prepare, and feels fancy.
It might be harder around Christmas, but for Thanksgiving it's fun if you can get ahold of some smaller, nice-looking chanterelles and cedar-plank them whole as well - super tasty and visually appealing!
posted by cnidaria at 9:27 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
It might be harder around Christmas, but for Thanksgiving it's fun if you can get ahold of some smaller, nice-looking chanterelles and cedar-plank them whole as well - super tasty and visually appealing!
posted by cnidaria at 9:27 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
For my diabetic, I make cranberry sauce using fresh cranberries (this year, from Bandon, Oregon!) using stevia or splenda instead of sugar. Instead of a pumpkin pie, I make a small pumpkin custard, no crust, again with stevia and traditional pumpkin pie spices. We spatchcock a chicken, make gravy using meat juices and no dairy, make a stovetop stuffing and garlic mashed potatoes and green beans with bacon. Happy Thanksgiving to us all!
posted by Lynsey at 9:31 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
posted by Lynsey at 9:31 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
Personally, with a small group I prefer duck as a main for more traditional folk, and the duck fat gets used in gravy and potatoes. I use this recipie.
A nice vegetable roast can include potatoes but also things like brussle sprouts and cranberry. I use this one with nuts. It's also a great sub for more carb heavy stuffing.
posted by AlexiaSky at 10:00 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
A nice vegetable roast can include potatoes but also things like brussle sprouts and cranberry. I use this one with nuts. It's also a great sub for more carb heavy stuffing.
posted by AlexiaSky at 10:00 AM on November 14 [1 favorite]
I'm sorry that I forgot the pescatarian part, so here it is. When we lived in the Pacific Northwest, a roast whole salmon for Thanksgiving dinner was perfectly acceptable for large gatherings, and of course, you could size down for a smaller number of guests. When we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, we were treated to local crab served as a Thanksgiving protein treat. All kinds of possibilities there, if you have crab locally available to you,
posted by Lynsey at 10:16 AM on November 14
posted by Lynsey at 10:16 AM on November 14
I would probably take this one as a feast of the 7 fishes challenge and call that traditional.
But if calling it a tradition doesn’t work for the traditionalist, a turkey breast, roast vegetables, kale salad, and salmon pot pie.
posted by warriorqueen at 10:40 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
But if calling it a tradition doesn’t work for the traditionalist, a turkey breast, roast vegetables, kale salad, and salmon pot pie.
posted by warriorqueen at 10:40 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
One of my tricks for this (honestly for all turkey holidays, I can't be bothered) is getting a catered turkey or turkey breast. In my experience, half the BBQ and "family" type restaurants in town plus all the grocery stores offer a to-go smoked, fried, or roasted turkey that you only need to pop in the oven to warm up.
And then you can do a simple roast salmon, and while whole-fish is pretty intimidating, I just do as many sides of salmon as I need in this simple method.
My philosophy as a generally low-carb person is that it's the responsibility of the diner to decide how many carby traditionals they want to eat, I'm not making keto stuffing. But I make a point of putting some non-gloppy vegetables on the menu - roasted sprouts done simply without bacon, these green beans cook in the same time as the salmon, on a rack underneath the fish, and the higher heat for the salmon means the green beans won't be so...toothsome. I think crunchy green beans are gross.
Stuffed acorn or delicata squashes do look nice and are less all-starch than a potato or yam, or you can stuff spaghetti squashes for a lower-carb option. And you CAN do them in advance and microwave them, I do it all the time for meal prep. This is an interesting stuffing with quinoa, black beans, and avocado. I do mine with brown rice and lentils (cooked all together), diced onion and mushroom, slivered almonds or chopped pecans, diced apple. Here's a sort of formula guide for making your own.
Don't make sugar-free cranberry sauce. Even at my keto-est, not even I wanted that. A few tablespoons of the real stuff isn't going to make anybody diabetic, but the taste of sugar-free cranberry sauce (and I will eat a LOT of SF frankenfoods, I'm no snob here) will make everyone sad. And give most of them diarrhea.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:41 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
And then you can do a simple roast salmon, and while whole-fish is pretty intimidating, I just do as many sides of salmon as I need in this simple method.
My philosophy as a generally low-carb person is that it's the responsibility of the diner to decide how many carby traditionals they want to eat, I'm not making keto stuffing. But I make a point of putting some non-gloppy vegetables on the menu - roasted sprouts done simply without bacon, these green beans cook in the same time as the salmon, on a rack underneath the fish, and the higher heat for the salmon means the green beans won't be so...toothsome. I think crunchy green beans are gross.
Stuffed acorn or delicata squashes do look nice and are less all-starch than a potato or yam, or you can stuff spaghetti squashes for a lower-carb option. And you CAN do them in advance and microwave them, I do it all the time for meal prep. This is an interesting stuffing with quinoa, black beans, and avocado. I do mine with brown rice and lentils (cooked all together), diced onion and mushroom, slivered almonds or chopped pecans, diced apple. Here's a sort of formula guide for making your own.
Don't make sugar-free cranberry sauce. Even at my keto-est, not even I wanted that. A few tablespoons of the real stuff isn't going to make anybody diabetic, but the taste of sugar-free cranberry sauce (and I will eat a LOT of SF frankenfoods, I'm no snob here) will make everyone sad. And give most of them diarrhea.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:41 AM on November 14 [3 favorites]
Don't make sugar-free cranberry sauce. Even at my keto-est, not even I wanted that. A few tablespoons of the real stuff isn't going to make anybody diabetic, but the taste of sugar-free cranberry sauce (and I will eat a LOT of SF frankenfoods, I'm no snob here) will make everyone sad. And give most of them diarrhea.
Ooh, I have some advice for how to go low- or no-sugar with the cranberry stuff! And this is a definite make-ahead and easy thing to boot!
Go with cranberry relish. My family grows cranberries and that's what we did every year. And it's INCREDIBLY easy - you just take a bag of cranberries, and dump it into a food processor. Then you take a whole orange - UNPEELED - and cut that into like quarters, and throw that in too. Blitz the food processor to chop everything up. Taste what you've got - it might be sweet enough from the orange already. If not, add a spoon or two of sugar and blitz again.
That is literally it. This is served cold (and if it's in my family, served cold from the silver-and-glass serving dish with the little mother-of-pearl spoon because we felt all fancy-like).
My mother would do this about three days in advance and just leave it in the fridge, it was fine.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:31 AM on November 14 [4 favorites]
Ooh, I have some advice for how to go low- or no-sugar with the cranberry stuff! And this is a definite make-ahead and easy thing to boot!
Go with cranberry relish. My family grows cranberries and that's what we did every year. And it's INCREDIBLY easy - you just take a bag of cranberries, and dump it into a food processor. Then you take a whole orange - UNPEELED - and cut that into like quarters, and throw that in too. Blitz the food processor to chop everything up. Taste what you've got - it might be sweet enough from the orange already. If not, add a spoon or two of sugar and blitz again.
That is literally it. This is served cold (and if it's in my family, served cold from the silver-and-glass serving dish with the little mother-of-pearl spoon because we felt all fancy-like).
My mother would do this about three days in advance and just leave it in the fridge, it was fine.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:31 AM on November 14 [4 favorites]
Not sure if traditionalist is just another way of saying this person really wants turkey? Buy them a prebaked turkey breast.
Leave the marshmallows off the yams for the prediabetic. Pretty sure marshmallows are a relatively modern tradition, if the traditionalist doesn't like it tell them the pilgrims didn't have marshmallows so you didn't include them.
posted by yohko at 3:01 PM on November 14 [1 favorite]
Leave the marshmallows off the yams for the prediabetic. Pretty sure marshmallows are a relatively modern tradition, if the traditionalist doesn't like it tell them the pilgrims didn't have marshmallows so you didn't include them.
posted by yohko at 3:01 PM on November 14 [1 favorite]
For your potatoes or rice you can make them more diabetic friendly by cooking them, cooking them off and refrigerating them overnight and then reheating. It lowers the glycemic index.
posted by MadMadam at 3:37 AM on November 15 [4 favorites]
posted by MadMadam at 3:37 AM on November 15 [4 favorites]
As a pre-diabetic, my strategy is to combine the dishes in the proportions that suit me. So I don't have pies and only a tiny bit of cranberry or other sweet sauces, and I eat mostly the green stuff. I see it as my problem, not the hosts, but obviously if there are no real unsweetened options, I do feel a bit sad.
Anyhow, I really loved the amazing Sohla El-Wally's fried chicken dinner on YouTube. The recipes are at the NYTimes, which you may not want to subscribe to in these times, but the video is fine for an experienced cook.
It's not like you have to cook a fish for the pescatarian, but if you feel you do, a trout or salmon en papilotte is a fine and easy to cook option. It can be made ahead and served at room temp.
In my experience, the main thing for traditionalists is the gravy, pie and mash, and there are several options here. You could just make a turkey gravy using store-bought stock, or buy a premade one. Or use Sohla's untraditional but very delicious-looking mustard gravy. I think mash is important, but you can perhaps make it half and half celeriac for the pre-diabetes person. It really helps. And as someone who avoids pie, IMO do whatever. Make Sohla's pecan cake instead. Buy it from a good place. Don't worry. Others may disagree.
Also, like others above, I think a piece of turkey breast, smoked or just well cooked in the oven, is better in most situations than the whole thing. And again, you can have all the accoutrements if you want to.
posted by mumimor at 9:05 AM on November 15
Anyhow, I really loved the amazing Sohla El-Wally's fried chicken dinner on YouTube. The recipes are at the NYTimes, which you may not want to subscribe to in these times, but the video is fine for an experienced cook.
It's not like you have to cook a fish for the pescatarian, but if you feel you do, a trout or salmon en papilotte is a fine and easy to cook option. It can be made ahead and served at room temp.
In my experience, the main thing for traditionalists is the gravy, pie and mash, and there are several options here. You could just make a turkey gravy using store-bought stock, or buy a premade one. Or use Sohla's untraditional but very delicious-looking mustard gravy. I think mash is important, but you can perhaps make it half and half celeriac for the pre-diabetes person. It really helps. And as someone who avoids pie, IMO do whatever. Make Sohla's pecan cake instead. Buy it from a good place. Don't worry. Others may disagree.
Also, like others above, I think a piece of turkey breast, smoked or just well cooked in the oven, is better in most situations than the whole thing. And again, you can have all the accoutrements if you want to.
posted by mumimor at 9:05 AM on November 15
Yep, after seeing that fried chicken dinner last night, we're at the very least making the sweet potatoes mornay.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:16 AM on November 15
posted by Lyn Never at 9:16 AM on November 15
Response by poster: Thanks for all the ideas. I think I'll lead with stuffed fish.
posted by NotLost at 3:22 PM on November 17
posted by NotLost at 3:22 PM on November 17
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Speaking as a pescetarian, usually at Thanksgiving I fill up on some combo of green bean casserole, yams, succotash, salad, and bread. If you're trying to bring a dish, I'd go with succotash, which is easy, reasonably filling, and very customizable to your own preferences. It's not impressive, but it has the cool feature that it may well have been eaten at the first Thanksgiving.
My solve for holiday meals more generally, if I'm hosting, is to always make sure there's a goat cheese and mushroom quiche on the table, no matter the holiday. It's not zero-carb, but it's not terrible for a pre-diabetic since there's plenty of protein and fat in it. Vegetarians and pescetarians eat it and it's very satisfying. It heats up well as leftovers for days if it doesn't get eaten on the holiday itself.
posted by potrzebie at 10:43 PM on November 13 [1 favorite]