Food is part of the holiday season ritual at most houses, and cutting down is hard to do.
But many family members and guests arriving for dinners have diabetes, heart disease and other problems, and you can help them while helping yourself to a meal with fewer calories, carbohydrates and fats.
Chef Scott Curry and Decatur General Hospital registered dietitian Laura Watson joined forces recently to produce a dinner with his cooking flair and her eye on ingredients.
He prepared the food, which was served to about 250 who signed up for the event at Decatur General Hospital.
Curry, owner of Curry's Restaurant in Decatur, and Watson discussed cooking and seasoning while guests tried the menu items: Strawberry Vinaigrette over green salad, Jerked Pork with Peach Chutney, Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sauteed Bell Peppers, Steamed Green Beans with Toasted Almonds, and desserts including Low-Fat Sugar-Free Carrot Cake, Chocolate Roulage and Lite Pumpkin Pie.
To achieve similar results in your home cooking, Curry advised using a lot of spices, including fresh minced ginger. He used a marinade including nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and allspice for his jerked pork dish.
"I love food a little spicy, but if you think it's too hot for use, back off on the jalapenos," said Curry. "And marinate it for four days, not eight hours, for more flavor."
He said not to marinate or store food in an aluminum pan, in case some aluminum comes off.
"Start learning to cook with kosher salt, and you'll like it more," he said. Sometimes he even adds the type seasoning he would use for a blackened fish dish.
He prefers the cubed sweet potatoes to have a chewy texture, and he doesn't like for the green beans to be cooked until soft.
"There's nothing exciting about fresh green beans dropped into water, with no onion, no brown sugar, no bacon or bacon grease," Curry admitted, but almonds and seasonings can help when you want to serve this non-starchy vegetable.
"That traditional green bean casserole with soups, cheese and french fried onions is really not good for you," Watson said.
Watson said she went over the recipes with Curry in advance so they could make substitutions, such as 1 cup Splenda for 1 cup sugar. He also mixed together half Splenda and half brown sugar to get the brown sugar flavor for the chutney.
She said canola oil is usually the best oil to use with the least saturated fat.
They both advised people to watch their portion sizes and take liberties with recipes to cut fats and other ingredients while cooking at home.
For the pumpkin pie, for example, the crust was created from ginger snap crumbs, rather than vanilla wafers or Oreos.
For the chocolate dessert and many others, Curry said to try beating Splenda and vanilla in with whipping cream, instead of sugar.
For the carrot cake, he said either freshly grated carrots or canned pureed carrots can be used.
"You can hardly ever find desserts with fewer than 150 calories, and this cake has only 122 calories," she said.
The desserts had only 65 to 70 grams of carbohydrates each, Watson said.
"You can do this at home, too," she said, showing a container with the 4 cups of sugar that they removed from the dishes.
Here are the recipes for many of the items they prepared:
Jerked Pork
6 pounds pork tenderloin, lean
Marinade:
8 scallions, with some green, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 to 3 Scotch bonnet or other fresh hot chili peppers, seeded, deveined and finely chopped
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon raw cane sugar or light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
Combine all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Place the pork in a roasting pan and coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Prepare charcoal grill. When the coals glow dusty red, push the coals to the sides and place a foil drip pan in the center; arrange the coals around the pan to provide indirect heat. Place the pork in the center of the grill over the drip pan. Turn and brush the meat with the marinade as often as possible for about 11/2 hours. Add more coals if the heat begins to flag. Remove the pork to a chopping board. Chop with a cleaver into 1-inch pieces.
Serves 4 to 6. Each 3- to 4-ounce serving has 276 calories, 9 grams fat, 15 grams carbohydrates and 32 grams protein.
Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Sauteed Bell Peppers
2 medium/large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon light butter with canola oil
1 teaspoon olive oil
Dash of salt
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
Coat a non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Add sliced peppers to medium heat; stir until soft and cooked through. Add a little water if peppers start to stick to pan.
Melt butter and combine with olive oil and salt. Coat sweet potatoes. Spread in glass pan or foil-lined baking sheet. Add sauteed bell peppers to sweet potatoes. Season with oregano if desired.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes or until tender.
Makes 4 servings. Each 1/2-cup serving has 130 calories, 4 grams fat, 2 grams protein and 18 grams carbohydrates.
Steamed Green Beans with Toasted Almonds
16-ounce bag of green beans
4 tablespoons sliced almonds
Pepper for taste
Place raw almonds in metal pan. Place in oven on 350 degrees until toasted; do not overcook.
Place green beans in microwave bowl and cover. Microwave on high for 8 minutes; stir halfway through cooking. Add almonds and stir. Add dash of pepper for taste. Makes 6 servings. Each 1/2-cup serving has 50 calories, 2 grams fat, 3 grams protein and 5 grams carbohydrates.
Low-Fat, Sugar-Free Carrot Cake
1 cup flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 egg whites
11/4 cups Brown Sugar Twin (brown sugar substitute)
1 cup applesauce, unsweetened
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups carrots, grated
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup fat-free cream cheese
2 cups powdered Splenda*
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine flours, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir with a whisk. In another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in Brown Sugar Twin slowly, followed by the applesauce, buttermilk and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and stir until just moist. Stir in the pineapple, carrots, raisins and walnuts. Spoon batter into baking pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
Frosting: *To make powdered Splenda, place regular Splenda in a food processor and grind into a fine powder. Beat cream cheese with lemon juice and vanilla. Add in powdered Splenda until desired consistency is reached. Spread over cooled cake.
Makes 16 servings, each with 122 calories, 2 grams fat, 6 grams protein and 25 grams carbohydrates.
Peach Chutney
2 teaspoons jalapenos
2 teaspoons garlic
1 teaspoon shallots
2 tablespoons peanut oil or canola oil
6 cups water
4 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar blend (1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup Splenda)
10 cups frozen peaches
30 whole cloves
2 teaspoons red chili powder
2 teaspoons dry mustard
In a medium size pot, saute jalapenos, garlic and shallots in peanut oil. Add water, apple cider vinegar and sugar; stir. While stirring occasionally, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and add peaches, cloves and spices. Cook for about 1 hour and then puree the mixture.
Makes 6 cups. Two tablespoons has 25 calories and 6 grams carbohydrates. To see more of The Decatur Daily, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.decaturdaily.com Copyright (c) 2008, The Decatur Daily, Ala. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008, The Decatur Daily, Ala.