That's right!  You can save 1,273 calories and 92 grams of fat with this Thanksgiving menu!   This is the first in our series of Healthy Holiday Cooking tips to help you navigate the holiday season without packing on the average 7 lbs most Americans do between Thanksgiving and New Years!

That's not to say we plan on putting a damper on your  Thanksgiving day plans.  We promise this menu, from the book  The Simple Art of Eating Well. You will enjoy sausage stuffing, green beans, easy pan gravy, sweet potatoes, creamed onions and of course roast turkey. With a few simple changes to the classic versions, this Thanksgiving  menu comes in with almost 1,300 fewer calories and 92 grams less fat than a traditional version.   And that's a big benefit just for planning ahead and being willing to try new things!

Bon Appetit!  Here's the bird recipe!

Healthy Holiday Cooking Secret: Turkey doesn't need butter or brining to be a success.
The typical antidote to dry, boring turkey is to slather it with butter, which adds saturated fat, or to brine it, which starts several days in advance and is messy. Our simple solution this year is to use a rub made with miso to add a subtle, savory flavor to the turkey. Miso is a paste made from fermented soybeans; it can be found near tofu at most supermarkets.

Roasted Garlic & Meyer Lemon-Rubbed Turkey

Calories saved:  199

Makes: 10 (3-ounce) servings, plus leftovers
Active time: 1 hour 20 minutes | Total: 5 hours | To make ahead: Prepare through Step 4; cover and refrigerate the garlic-lemon paste for up to 1 week. | Equipment: Kitchen string

Mellow white miso paste is the secret ingredient in this amazing roast turkey rubbed with Meyer lemon and roasted garlic. The miso gives the turkey a mildly salted taste without the hassle of brining.

Roasted Turkey
2 heads garlic
3 Meyer lemons (see Tip)
1/4 cup white miso (see Note)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, plus 3 sprigs
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 10- to 12-pound turkey, neck and giblets reserved for stock (discard liver)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and quartered, divided
2 cups water, plus more as needed
Citrus Gravy (see separate recipe on slide 7)

1. To prepare turkey: Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 400°F.

2. Rub off excess papery skin from garlic heads without separating the cloves. Slice the tips off, exposing the ends of the cloves. Place the heads on a square of foil. Sprinkle with 4 teaspoons water and wrap into a package. Roast until very soft, 40 to 45 minutes. Unwrap and let cool.

3. Zest lemons. Place the zest in a medium bowl; juice the lemons into the bowl through a strainer to catch the seeds. Reserve the squeezed lemon skins.

4. Add miso, oil, chopped thyme and pepper to the lemon mixture. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins into the bowl. Whisk until the mixture forms a paste.

5. Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Set aside giblets and neck for making Turkey Giblet Stock, if desired. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.

6. Loosen the skin over the breast and thigh meat. Rub the paste under the skin onto the breast meat and leg meat and a little inside the cavity. Tuck the wing tips under the turkey. Place the reserved squeezed lemon skins, thyme sprigs and 2 onion quarters in the cavity. (You may not use all the citrus skins.) Tie the legs together with kitchen string. Place the turkey breast-side up on a roasting rack set in a large roasting pan.

7. Roast the turkey for 1 hour. Add 2 cups water and the remaining onion to the pan, tent with foil and continue roasting for 1 hour more. Baste the turkey with pan drippings and continue roasting, basting every 15 minutes or so, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a thigh without touching bone registers 165°F, 1 1/2 to 2 hours more. Add more water 1 cup at a time if the pan is dry.

8. Transfer the turkey to a clean cutting board (reserve the pan juices and onions). Let the turkey rest while you make Citrus Gravy. Remove the string and carve.

• Calories per 3 ounces turkey (without skin) & 1/4 cup gravy: 200 calories; 6 g fat (1 g sat, 2 g mono); 63 mg cholesterol; 6 g carbohydrate; 0 g added sugars; 26 g protein; 1 g fiber; 250 mg sodium; 312 mg potassium.   Nutrition bonus: Zinc (17% daily value).
• Tip: Look for Meyer lemons from late fall to early spring in well-stocked supermarkets and specialty grocers. If you can't find them, use 2 teaspoons lemon zest and 1 teaspoon orange zest plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 2 teaspoons orange juice in Step 3. Place lemon and orange skins into the cavity in Step 6.
• Note: Miso is fermented soybean paste made by inoculating a mixture of soybeans, salt and grains (usually barley or rice) with koji, a beneficial mold. Miso is undeniably salty, so a little goes a long way. White or sweet miso (Shiromiso), made with soy and rice, is yellow and milder in flavor than red miso. Look for it near the tofu in most supermarkets or natural-foods stores.

Sausage Stuffing

Calories Saved: 187

Healthy Eating Secret: Stuffing is best made from scratch.
Instead of prepackaged stuffing mix, start with good, wholesome ingredients. This sausage stuffing has about half the calories and 87% less saturated fat than traditional sausage stuffing because we use more apples and vegetables and less bread and sausage. Plus we go with whole-wheat bread for added fiber and turkey sausage because it has less fat than regular pork sausage.

This classic stuffing pairs turkey sausage with the tangy sweetness of apples. By using turkey sausage instead of pork, we cut the fat content from 19 grams to 4.

• 8 cups cubed whole-wheat bread (10-12 slices)
• 8 ounces bulk turkey sausage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons canola oil
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 3 Golden Delicious or McIntosh apples, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage or 2 teaspoons dried rubbed
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread bread on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon to break it up, until no longer pink, 5 to 10 minutes. Drain in a colander to remove excess fat.

3. Add oil to the pan and heat over medium-low heat. Add celery, onions and garlic; cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add apples and cook, stirring, until tender, 8 to 10 minutes more. Transfer to a large bowl.

4. Add the sausage, toasted bread, sage, thyme and basil to the bowl. Toss well. Drizzle broth over the mixture and toss until evenly moistened. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a lightly oiled 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

5. Cover the stuffing with foil and bake until heated through, 35 to 45 minutes. If you want a crisp top, uncover it for the last 15 minutes.

This recipe makes: 10 servings, about 3/4 cup each

Calories per serving: 183 calories; 4 g fat (1 g sat, 2 g mono); 17 mg cholesterol; 26 g carbohydrate; 2 g added sugars; 11 g protein; 4 g fiber; 512 mg sodium; 317 mg potassium.

Active time: 50 minutes | Total: 1 hour 20 minutes | To make ahead: Prepare through Step 4; cool, cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Let stand at room temperature for about 45 minutes before baking.

All of these recipes are from a wonderful book called, The Simple Art of Eating Well by Jessie Price. Combined, these delicious recipes will save you and your family a whopping 1273 calories at the table this Thanksgiving! And all without feeling deprived!

Meringue topped Sweet Potatoes

This lightened-up take on the classic Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole is spiked with crushed pineapple and toasted pecans. We top it with an airy, slightly sweet meringue. You can pipe the meringue to make it look fancy or simply spread it neatly with a rubber spatula.

Healthier Secret: Sweet potatoes need not taste like dessert.
If you didn't know better, it would be easy to mistake the classic marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole for a dessert instead of a side dish. So we cut the butter and sugar and use evaporated milk for creaminess and crushed pineapple (with just 2 tablespoons of brown sugar) for a mellow touch of sweetness. Plus we skip the marshmallows and top it with meringue. The result: we cut more than 400 calories and 15 grams of fat per serving.

Sweet Potato Casserole
2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (about 3 medium), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup low-fat evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, undrained
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (see Tip)

Meringue Topping
4 teaspoons dried egg whites (see Note), reconstituted according to package directions, or 2 large pasteurized egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a food processor. Process until smooth.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat an 8-inch-square (or similar 2-quart) broiler-safe baking dish (see Tip) with cooking spray.
3. Whisk whole eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, oil, evaporated milk, vanilla and salt in a large bowl until smooth. Add the sweet potato; whisk until smooth. Stir in pineapple and its juice. Spread the mixture in the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with pecans.
4. Bake the casserole until heated through and the edges are bubbling, 35 to 45 minutes. Set aside while you make the topping.

To prepare meringue topping: Position rack in top third of oven; preheat broiler. Beat egg whites in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until soft peaks form (see Tip). Beat in granulated sugar in a slow, steady stream. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Spoon the meringue into a gallon-size sealable bag. Seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible. Cut a 1/2-inch hole in one corner. Pipe the meringue onto the casserole, making marshmallow-size dots. (Alternatively, use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip or spread the meringue over the casserole as if you were frosting a cake.) Broil until lightly browned, watching carefully to prevent burning, 30 to 90 seconds.

Per serving: 196 calories; 7 g fat (1 g sat, 3 g mono); 46 mg cholesterol; 29 g carbohydrate; 10 g added sugars; 5 g protein; 3 g fiber; 194 mg sodium; 361 mg potassium.

Nutrition bonus: Vitamin A (281% daily value), Vitamin C (23% dv).

Tips:

• To toast chopped nuts, place in a small dry skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes
• A broiler-safe baking dish is one made of metal or earthenware. Glass baking dishes, such as Pyrex, may shatter under the broiler.
• To make soft peaks, beat egg whites with an electric hand mixer until they are stiff, but still soft enough to curl over when beaters are turned upside down.
• Pasteurized dried egg whites are a wise choice in recipes that call for uncooked egg whites. Look for brands like Just Whites in the baking section of most supermarkets.

We all love gravy, but you'll save hundreds of calories this Thanksgiving by opting for green beans rather than mashed potatoes.

Holiday Green Beans

Calories Saved: 36

Simple is better for vegetable sides. Sure, you can spend hours on fancy vegetable dishes, but we prefer to stick with quick preparations for green vegetables (there are plenty of other dishes to spend your time on). These steamed green beans are tossed with lemon and dill and take only 15 minutes to prepare. Their clean, fresh flavor is a welcome counterpoint to the rest of the menu.

This lemon and dill vinaigrette is a natural complement to green beans. It's also great tossed with steamed asparagus or drizzled over sliced fresh tomatoes. To make this recipe serve 10, multiply all the ingredients by 2 1/2: Use 2 1/2 pounds green beans, 3 tablespoons dill, 2 1/2 tablespoons each shallot, oil and lemon juice, 2 1/2 teaspoons mustard and 3/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

	This Recipe	Traditional Recipe	Amount Saved	% Cut
Calories	72	108	36	33%
Fat (g)	4	8	4	50%
Saturated Fat (g)	1	4	3	75%
Sodium (mg)	207	72	-135	-188%

Fabulous Pumpkin Pie

Calories Saved: 203

A slice of pie can be guilt-free. To add fiber and nutrients and keep the crust tender, we use a blend of whole-wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour. Plus we reduce saturated fat by replacing some of the butter with heart-healthy canola oil. We use low-fat sweetened condensed milk instead of full-fat for the pumpkin filling. You still get a great-tasting pie, but with 25 grams less fat and 203 fewer calories per serving.

	This Recipe	Traditional Recipe	Amount Saved	% Cut
Calories	292	495	203	41%
Fat (g)	9	34	25	74%
Saturated Fat (g)	3	19	16	84%
Sodium (mg)	174	192	18	9%

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