Healthy Holiday Recipes

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For my second article for Tennessee Health & Wellness this Christmas, I got to do one of my favorite things...browse new recipes! There is no other time of year when people host and attend potlucks and family dinners, and sometimes you need something quick and/or new. If you're like me, cooking can be a great way to express yourself and serve others. This was a great stress relief for me during the end of the semester!

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We all know that holidays are the best time of year to gather with family and friends to enjoy each others’ company, and this rarely happens without food. Holiday food tends to be the most delicious, too, right? This can strike fear into some people as they are worried about their health and how indulgent a dish may be. There is no reason that holiday meals can’t be healthy, too. Here are some examples of healthy foods including sides, desserts, and main meats that you can make for the holiday celebrations.

Coffee braised pot roast recipe from Eating Well uses reduced sodium and adds coffee, garlic, thyme, and onion for a boost of flavor.

By using garlic, ginger, curry, and cumin, your turkey can have great flavor and health benefits. A yogurt topping can provide more protein and a creamy option other than gravy. (Eating Well)

Fig and pig quiche is a recipe that will impress your guests. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, this versatile dish from Run Fast, Eat Slow will help you savor the season while feeling good about what you put on your plate.

Squash in combination with chili gives it an even more winter-comfort-food feel while adding color and vitamins. Adding in “hidden” chia seeds packs a nutritional punch for protein, fiber, omega-3s, and iron. (Food Network)

Mushroom and sweet potato pot pie could serve as a side or a main dish depending on how big you want to make it, where it could serve as a meat-free main dish. (Taste of Home)

 -Monique at Ambitious Kitchen makes this traditionally sweet and buttery sweet potato casserole with few ingredients and as much or more satisfaction. Instead of sugar, butter, and marshmallows, this casserole uses maple syrup, oats, and pecans.

For another root vegetable side, these lemon parmesan carrots go beyond basic while still making the cooking simple. (Cooking Light)

I don’t know how you can have a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal without green beans, so here are two options: A casserole found on Cooking Light uses mushrooms and cauliflower for creaminess and wheat bread crumbs for crunch. For simply seasoned beans, add miso to the sautee pan. (MyRecipes.com)

 Food Network’s winter fruit salad recipe brings in some of the season’s best fruits, adding minimal extras, to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Bobby Flay’s brussels sprouts with pomegranate and hazelnuts make this side a nutrient-packed side that could cover the bases for an entire meal! (Food Network)

Cauliflower tapioca pudding is a recipe from Spartan Race weekly newsletter. The creaminess of this pudding from coconut milk will make you forget that you made it from a vegetable.

Apples are one of the traditional fall fruits, and peaches carry similar baking uses. With only apples, orange juice, nuts, raisins, and spices, you have a simple and healthy dessert. For a slightly sweeter and creamier option, follow this recipe for a peach crisp with a coconut milk caramel drizzle.

USA marathoner Shalane Flanagan shares sweet treats in her famous cookbook Run Fast, Eat Slow that are hearty, yet healthy, because your body needs healthy fats to indulge in. That is the goal of her pecan butter truffles. With only five ingredients, these are simple to make even if you are pressed for time. Fig jam cookies just sound like a holiday pastry. A wheat-based dough encompasses a figgy center for a bite that may remind you of Fig Newtons, but make you remember that the better things in life are homemade.

Christmas Song Histories

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It's been a long time since I've posted anything, but with school, cross country, and (lack of) time and sleep, I had to keep my priorities straight! Well, as straight as I could manage, still not doing so well in that area. However, I was busy to say the least. There are so many good things I wanted to share along the way, so I will whenever I get a chance.

For December, I squeezed in two articles for Tennessee Health & Wellness. These were not only "jobs," for me, but they were also an enjoyable activity. In the midst of preparing for projects and finals, I was able to do some Christmas celebrating in researching and writing these articles. This first one I'll share is about some of the top Christmas songs, history and fun facts. Short and sweet but interesting nonetheless!

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This time of year, whether you are in your car, watching TV, or in a store, Christmas music is sure to be heard. There are new songs and remakes that come out, but there is no beating the classics. While we may know the lyrics to these songs by heart, it is unlikely that we know the stories behind them. See if you knew the backgrounds of these ten holiday chart-toppers.

Jingle Bells was originally written by JP Morgan’s uncle, who was not a very cheery man himself, as he left his family multiple times and enlisted in the Georgia cavalry. The song was first performed in blackface. It was issued under the name “One Horse Open Sleigh,” and it was not written as a Christmas song, but rather Thanksgiving. Jingles Bells is also the first song broadcast from space on Gemini 6 on December 16, 1965.

Little Drummer Boy is a parallel to the Bible story of Jesus’s birth and an encouragement to people that no matter what they have, their gift to God is enough. Though there was no real drummer boy in the Bible story, it gives perspective of people visiting young Jesus with no gifts worthy of a King. Due to the repetition of “pa rum pum pump um,” it was originally called “Carol of the Drums.”

Oh Christmas Tree, aka O Tannenbaum, is a German carol dating back to the 1500s. “Tannen” is the word for fir, but most trees today are spruce. In translation, the first written lyrics come out roughly as, “Oh pine tree, you’re a noble twig! You greet us in the winter, the dear summer time.” The song is about acknowledging life of the evergreen tree year-round rather than how we now decorate them at Christmas.

Silent Night is another German song coming from a slightly unfortunate event of some actors traveling across the Austrian Alps to reenact the story of Jesus’s birth. The organ of one church they were scheduled at did not have a working organ at the time, so they moved the drama to a home. Following the show, one audience member took a peaceful walk home, remembering the words of a poem he had written a few years before. He decided it would be perfectly fitting for the congregation at the Christmas Eve service, where the organ was not missed as they embraced the beauty of the “silent night.”

Bing Crosby’s version of White Christmas holds claim to the best-selling Christmas song of all time. It already has a sad sound, but it’s first airing was also only weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The composer Irving Berlin (also behind “God Bless America”) was a Russian Immigrant and Jewish, so he did not celebrate Christmas. Possibly the most sad part of the story is that he wrote the song in memory of his three-year-old son who had died on Christmas Day. The song still brings up nostalgia with people today.

Blue Christmas, another color, another sad theme, was a hit no one expected. Elvis and many others in his recording industry, thought it would fail, and he almost refused to do it. Many others have since recorded the song, including (ironically) the Beach Boys, but Elvis’s version leads the way.

Santa Baby was actually written in majority by a man, and he still doesn’t really like the song himself. He did not know how he was going to complete such a task as writing a “sexy” Christmas song for icon of the time, Eartha Kitt. After her recording in 1953, it was banned in several states for being such a scandalous turn from the norm in those days.

Feliz Navidad is only made up of 20 words in English and Spanish, but it is one of the most heartfelt carols sung today. Puerto Rican musician Jose Feliciano decided to include English lyrics because he knew that if it was only Spanish, American stations wouldn’t play it. Feliciano leads his audiences in celebration with his heart for dancing, even though he is blind and can’t see them.

The song most would recognize from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Christmas Time is Here by the Vince Guaraldi Trio was first sung by the children’s choir of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 1965. The song originated as part of the Peanuts story, but it was assumed the show would only last once or twice. Little did they know the big impact the song and show would have on future generations. Lee Mendelson, producer of the show and recruiter of Guaraldi, says, “Those children’s voices will likely outlive all of us, meaning something different and something sadly wonderfully the same with every passing year.”

While “Joy to the World” can be found on Christmas-related products left and right, the song was not written about Christmas. Isaac Watts wrote this song about Jesus’s second coming. In comparing the lyrics to scripture, it is obvious to see the differences between the first and second coming. For example, when Jesus was born, the world did not accept Him, but with the song and the story of the second coming, heaven and earth both sing in praise of His return. Beyond the religious realm, it has been sung by many secular artists including Moriah Carrey and is even referenced in “Jeremiah was a Bullfrog” by Hoyt-Axton.

As you deck the halls with these Christmas classics, take a moment to think about what the words mean to you and your life during the holidays.