Those wonderful holidays are here!

[zoewmu]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

Halloween is no big deal to me. I don't eat candy. Not that I didn't used to eat candy, but now that I'm on this WOE it's a no brainer. I don't eat it. I'll make sure I have dinner before we go so I'm not hungry, but other than that I'm sure I'll be fine. I've had 15 bags of candy in my trunk for a week and haven't even thought about them. Last year, they would have been a big temptation. This year they are a non-issue.

Thanksgiving is loaded with so many legal treats that I plan to stay on plan. Turkey, veggie tray, cheese and crackers. I plan to bring spaghetti squash and a sugar free, crustless pumpkin pie to the outing so I have at least a bit of a treat. It shouldn't be a problem.

[Razzle39]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

Well, I guess I'll post the recipe then explain what happened when I did it.

Pork Rind Stuffing
1c chopped celery
1/4c chopped onion
salt and pepper to taste
poultry seasoning, to taste
1 packet splenda, or other sweeetener
2T butter
1/4c heavy cream
3 1/2oz chicken broth
10oz pork rinds, crushed
4 eggs

Saute celery, onion, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, sweetener and butter in a frying pan until transparent and tender. Add other ingredients and mix together until the pork rinds are coated and moist. Put into baking ish and bake for 35 to 50 minutes until set like regular bread stuffing. Feel free to add more eggs or cream to get the texture you are used to. Some people also add mushrooms, sage sausage or oysters.
Yield: 8 Servings, Each with: 276 calories, 18g fat, 25g protein, 2g carb, trace dietary fiber so 2g net carbs

Mine ended up with almost a cup of onion (lack of attention whilst chopping), beef stock (the store was out of chicken broth and I had bought the stock for another recipe), and 3.5oz pork rinds instead of 10oz (I thought a bag had 10 and didn't actually check the amounts on the grocery list). I think I cooked it around 375 since it went in with the chicken. The next time I make it, I will use the 10oz pork rinds, mine was delicious, but I am curious... but I will probably keep the onion at a cup.

Oh yeah, I used a pretty decent size pan for this, so I'm not sure that it will all fit in with the 10oz... perhaps may need to mix it in a bowl not the pan.

You Just made my Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks so much for posting this

[ceemarie]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

Speghetti Squash is a great veggie that can subsitute for potatoes. It is simply to make and there are lots of way to dress it up. I prefer butter and salt and pepper.

[StillSmiling]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

I am going to continue to plan, plan, plan... it's got me through Canadian Thanksgiving last month and Halloween (so far). Temptation is inevitable for me. I love sweets, and without a plan of how I will deal with those cravings (locking it all in a filing cabinet and giving hubby my key is my last resort - but I will use it if necessary) I am sunk for sure. I just tell everyone that I intend to stay on plan, and they support me in any way they can. I'm pretty lucky that way. They cheer and hooray when I successfully get through a rough spot (like you would any other addict, I suppose) and love me for my determination. Pretty cool, right?

Christmas? Well, I'm having it at my place again this year, and I will be cooking everyone's traditional faves, but will Brown-Sugar-Splenda my squash, make some extra cauliflower for my faux-tatoes fix, and try out that spectaculraly brilliant dressing recipe Lyssie was angelic enough to post for us. Yippee! For sweets, I'll stick with pies for the guests (pie - yuck), and make some kind of legal, delectible desserty-something, for them to try and (hopefully) "ooh" and "ahh" over. Suggestions, anyone? Cheesecake just doesn't say "Christmas" for me, you know?

Great thread, everyone. Thanks again for all the great suggestions. BigLove, S.

[Lyssie]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

Christmas is difficult.. I'm trying to figure out whether splenda will work for meringue christmas cookies...

Depending what rung you're on by then, there could be quite a few options about how to make cookies or pecan or pumpkin pie.. I even found an egg nog recipe.

[Velcrocat]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

have you considered making a pumpkin mousse? I make it with cooked pumpkin, whipped cream sweetened with splenda and knox gelatine.
Cook the pumpkin, season with pumpkin pie spice, add whipped crean and knox gelatine and whip then chill til set. I don't remember quantities right now; will have to experiment again to get it right. But it sure is yummy.

[Elffriend]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

We're Americans living in Canada and we celebrate both Thanksgivings. Since no one likes stuffing except me, I just don't make any. That's one temptation down. I eat a lot of turkey and make sure to have a low carb veggie side dish.

For Halloween, I usually put together a buffet for us to snack on all evening. It's easy to make things that are carby but don't appeal to me so long as I have enough stuff that I do like. This year I made turkey roll ups by spreading a mixture of cream cheese and horseradish on slices of turkey. I made tiny little cheese balls, mini meatballs and had some dill pickle spears. I also made some franks in blankets and ate a few of the franks without the pastry.

When I am feeling really in the need of something sweet and chocolaty I whip up half a cup of heavy cream with a little cocoa powder and splenda. Whipped heavy cream with a bit of vanilla flavoring or peppermint flavoring is also really good. It's decadent and makes a good dessert while everyone else at the table is chowing down on pie.

[Lilacs]

Re: Those wonderful holidays are here!

My pen is out and I'm taking notes I'm doing Induction right now, but am already starting to plan out my Thanksgiving and Christmas menus.Thanks for the good suggestions.