Thanksgiving day is a day of thanks. It is when friends and family come together over the big dining room table to share a feast of epic proportion. It is difficult not to over-indulge during Thanksgiving because there is so much food. People gain the most weight over the holidays. Well, it does not have to be that way, if you make some of your items using healthier tactics. This post is going to give you recipes to help with this goal. These recipes will include all natural ingredients.

Apple-Shallot Roasted Turkey

Ingredients:

1 10- to 12-pound turkey (you can go a step further with an organic turkey if you like)
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus 3 sprigs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, plus 3 sprigs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, plus 3 sprigs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds shallots, peeled and halved lengthwise, divided
1 tart green apple, quartered
3 cups water, plus more as needed

Once you have all your ingredients together, you are ready to get started. Place oven rack on the lower third so you will have room for your turkey. Preheat oven to 475. Prepare turkey for the removal giblet stock. You should remove giblet and neck from the turkey cavity. Place turkey breast side up in a large roasting pan. Pat dry using paper towel.

Combine your oil parsley, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Using your hands, rub the herb mixture all over the turkey, covering the entire turkey. Place your herb sprigs, the 6 shallot leaves, and apple in the cavity. Tuck wings under the turkey and tie the legs together. Then add the 3 cups of water to the pan.

Place in oven and roast for 45 minutes or until the outer skin is a golden brown. Pull turkey from oven and insert your thermometer into the deep part of the thigh. Cover the breast with a double layer of foil. Take what’s left of your shallots and scatter them around the pan, next to the turkey. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and stick the turkey back in. It’s done when your thermometer reaches 165 degrees. It should take 1-1 ¾ hours or possibly longer, depending on the size of the turkey. If the pan dries out during the baking process, tilt the turkey, letting juice from the cavity run out. Add an additional cup of water.

When done, move the turkey to a serving dish. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Carve and enjoy!

Nutritional facts: 155 calories per serving, 5 grams fat, 63 grams cholesterol, 25 grams of protein, 115 mg of sodium, 258 mg of potassium

Pear Prosciutto Hazelnut Stuffing

Ingredients:
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced, cut into ribbons
2 cups onion, chopped
2 cups diced fennel bulb
1/4 cup minced shallot
2 teaspoons minced fresh sage
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
8 cups stale baguette, preferably multi-grain (not sourdough), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 Bosc pears, ripe but firm, chopped
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth (organic or all natural brand preferred)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray to coat a 9×13 inch baking dish.

Using medium heat take a non-stick pan and 1 teaspoon of oil, heat it up. Throw in the prosciutto, cook while stirring until crispy for 5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel.

Clean pan and heat remaining oil on medium high heat. Now throw in onion, fennel, and shallot. Cook, stirring until softening and starting to brown. This takes about 6-8 minutes. Then add in your sage, thyme, and rosemary, stirring for 1 minute longer.

Now get a large bowl and put everything in it. Gently stir in your bread, pears, parsley, hazelnut, and prosciutto. Add your broth and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Add your stuffing into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil to bake until the top is crisp. Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake 25-30 minutes more.

Nutritional Facts: 176 calories, 5 grams of fat, 8 grams of cholesterol

Double Nut and Date Tassies

Ingredients:

Crust

1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch of salt

Filling

4 ounces pitted dried dates (about 3/4 cup)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting or whipped cream for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using cooking spray, coat 24 mini muffin cups.

Get crust ready. To make the crust pulse flour, brown sugar, walnuts, cornstarch, 2 tablespoons butter and salt in a food processor. Split the crust up among the mini cups, roughly 1 ¼ teaspoon per cup. Press it evenly to the bottom of each cup.

Now on to the filling. Using a small sauce pan combine dates, brown sugar, water and 1 ½ teaspoons of butter. Bring to a boil over a medium heat until all liquid is gone. Let it cool for a few minutes. Then take the mixture and put it in a blender. Process it until it turns into a paste. Then add cream cheese and paste, and process some more. Put it into a medium bowl. Stir in the peanuts. Divide the date-nut filling among muffin cups, at least 1 teaspoon in each. Press the filling down and smoothe.

Bake until crust is golden brown and the filling is lightly cooked, 15-17 minutes. Let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer the tassies to a wire rack to continue cooling. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar or serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Recipes c/o: Eating Well
Image c/o: Wikimedia Commons