Omnivore

I have been sick this week and didn’t feel much like cooking or eating. On top of that I am scheduled to have a diagnostic test next week which puts me on a low-fiber diet. Low-fiber, not a really good thing if you are trying to feel sated while eating low-calorie. So probably I am going to pretty grumpy for the next five days.

Anyway, this dinner is a throwback to when I was growing up. At our house we always had mashed potatoes. It really didn’t matter what else was being served. Green beans were always the vegetable of choice. In the New Jersey summers my father would grow green beans along with his tomatoes and lima beans. He had the most impressive tomatoes. He grew them in cages and they would top 6 feet high and were resplendent with delicious red orbs. I think he loved those tomato plants more than his kids.

Once again I digress. I made the mashed potatoes with russet potatoes and whipped them with “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, Light” and a quarter cup of low-fat milk. I made Brussels sprouts for John, and I frenched a bunch of green beans just for me. The gravy is from a packet and weighs in at about 20 calories for 1/4 cup. John did his usual masterful job on the chicken. So low-cal, low-fiber dinner = success.

Pan roasted chicken with frenched green beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy

Here’s a picture of the buffet table I set up for Thanksgiving. I find having people grab their plates and fill them up and then sit down works much better than passing everything around. I can also keep things warm with hot trays and simmering water in crock pots. Gravy and cranberry relish are the only Thanksgiving dishes on the table. This way there is lots of room for glasses, salt and peppers, napkins etc. Our grandson, Nathan, made napkin rings and place cards this year. He was so proud of his accomplishment.

So here’s what we had. In the back row left to right – over simmering water in the large crockpot is a chipotle sweet potato casserole, over the small crockpot are rutabagas, in front of the rutabagas is a 9 X 13 of cornbread sausage stuffing, then corn pudding and Death by Broccoli. In the front row are mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, turkey (breast and stuffed thighs), green beans and roasted creamed onions.

Thanksgiving buffet table

Obviously a lot of this stuff is not for someone who is “dining lite.” I made some extra vegetables so that I would have something to fill up my plate. So reasonable things to eat were turkey breast, gravy, green beans, rutabagas and Brussels sprouts. The mashed potatoes and the sweet potatoes had butter and cream in them. The Death by Broccoli is self explanatory and the creamed onions had cream in them. I did about as well as could be expected which was really not too well. It was hard not to at least try a little of everybody’s dishes. For dessert we had pumpkin pie and Indian pudding with ice cream.

When I used to work for Weight Watchers, I used to remind people that it’s not what you eat on Thanksgiving (or your birthday, or Christmas) that makes you fat. It’s what you eat all the other days of the year. I will try to keep those words in mind the rest of the week.

John made turkey gravy on Wednesday in preparation for Thanksgiving. He used turkey necks, wings, and giblets. I cut up a bunch of vegetables Wednesday in preparation for Thanksgiving. I cut up carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, parsley and rutabagas. He had leftover meat. I cut up a few extra vegetables. We added stock. Voila, turkey soup before we are sick of eating turkey.

Turkey soup

When the kids were growing up, everyone knew that Monday was “chicken day.” As Sarah got older, I let her loose in the spice cabinet and she would pick out some combination of spices to use on our chicken dinner. The game was that after her seasoning and my baking of the chicken, Mom, Dad and Jonathan would have to guess what spices were on the chicken. I think she hit her high with 17 spices used.

Anyway, I guess the tradition continues because if I ask John what he wants to eat on a Monday, he’ll say, “well, it’s Monday isn’t it? Let’s have chicken.” This past Monday as we were struggling to get back on the diet track we had pan roasted chicken breasts with roasted butternut squash and sauteed Brussels sprouts. I also made up a packet of chicken gravy mix.

Here’s how John does the chicken. He sears it on all sides and then places it in a low oven (250 degrees) until it’s done. And how does he know it’s done? He uses our thermapen. When the breast meat reads 155, it comes out of the oven. The meat is juicy and delicious.

Thermapen

The thermapen is pricy. When I bought ours several years ago, it cost $89. I’ve gotten them for Jon and Sarah for Christmas presents. According to America’s Test Kitchen, it is the best temperatuare probe to be bought. The probe itself is slender so it doesn’t poke big holes in the food, the temperature is accurate and it reads in a giant read-out in about 2 seconds. I highly recommend it.

The butternut squash I split in half, scoop out the seeds, add a little butter spray, salt, pepper and nutmeg. I bake it cut side up in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes. The time kind of depends on the size of squash. Find ones with a big neck. That’s where all the flesh is. Once the squash is tender all the way through, remove it from the oven and when you can handle it, scoop out the flesh. Mash it up. Season to taste.

So here’s my diet dinner for a Monday.

Pan roasted chicken, butternut squash and Brussels sprouts