Ideas your guests will love
If you're entertaining during the holidays, you want your
guests to eat as much as they like. However, many people try to
maintain a sensible diet during the holidays and often avoid foods
they think are loaded with fat or calories. Here are some tips on how
to prepare delicious dishes that health-conscious guests will gobble
up.
- Don't prepare foods you wouldn't want to eat yourself.
- Stock up on low-fat munchies such as fresh fruits and vegetables rather than nuts and chips.
- Roll cheese logs in wheat germ instead of ground nuts.
- For variety, serve several different vegetables and/or salads. Serve a large, festive salad with low-calorie dressing.
- When serving vegetables, make large quantities rather than skimpy ones.
- Sweet potatoes taste great when sprinkled with ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, or allspice.
- A turkey breast, with skin and bone removed, can be rolled and tied for a wonderful roast.
(Wrap in foil to prevent drying.)
- A flavored coffee is ideal for a sweet after-dinner treat.
- In dessert recipes, you can use half the amount of sugar called for without affecting the texture
or flavor. Also, by adding vanilla extract to a recipe, or increasing the amount already called for, you can
make foods taste sweeter than they really are.
- Use sugar-free gelatin to greatly reduce the amount of calories in gelatin
molds.
If you think specific guests are concerned about fat and
calories, let them know privately that you have prepared reduced fat or
lower calorie recipes. They will appreciate you for providing a
healthful alternative.
Published: December 26, 2001
Source: "Shape," by Gayle Shockley Hoxter, MPH, RD, September 1992, p. 103.
More Lean and Luscious, Bobbie Hinman and Millie Snyder, Prima Publishing and Communications, 1988.
Writer:
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