overnight in a vinaigrette dressing to make coleslaw or “jade-and-coral” slaw of shredded carrots and broccoli. If you insist on having a platter of raw veggies (crudité) before the main event, try to be a bit more creative than limp celery sticks and broccoli florets with Lipton onion-soup dip. Try serving a holiday-themed antipasto – marinated asparagus spears, succotash, homemade pickled vegetables (cukes, green beans, peppers, cauliflower), slices of raw turnip or parsnip, or imported olives. Skip the commercial dip and offer an herb-infused dipping oil, a homemade relish like piccalilli, or else a blend of plain Greek yogurt/vegan sour cream with chopped dill weed and chives. Vegetables poorly prepared are vegetables that have died in vain. Veggies should always be cooked fork-tender (never mushy) – boiling them to death turns them into a tasteless glop with virtually no nutritional value. You want a crunchy “tooth” to them when you take a bite – al dente, like pasta. Steam or simmer prepared veggies until softened, but not soggy. Never, ever boil them to death. Whenever possible, don’t peel the skins off your vegetables – scrub them clean with a brush before you cut them up.
Pass the salt, please
Our bodies need a certain daily amount of sodium (salt) for optimal health and functioning. But fast-foods and commercially-processed foods are overloaded with unnecessary amounts of sodium – and it all adds up quickly. Everybody goes overboard with fancy foods during the holidays, oftentimes serving ready-made or microwaveable food instead of making it from scratch. But if you really care about your health, read the list of the ingredients and additives on those
package labels– then go read your grandmother’s “real food” recipes for carrots-and-turnips, slaws, succotash, or baked acorn squash. Salted nuts, chips, sodas – they’ll make you thirsty (just like theatre popcorn does), bloat you up, and send your blood pressure skyrocketing. Commercially-prepared condiments (like A-1 sauce, dry soup mixes, or cocktail sauce), canned vegetables, bread cubes for stuffing, and canned gravy are all loaded with excess salt. Even some antacid tablets are full of sodium!
Cut down on the hidden carbs
Sure, we need carbohydrates to give us long-term energy and to keep our blood sugar levels stable, but the real villain of carbohydrate overload (and therefore high blood sugar) is our consumption of too much commercially-processed refined grains like white bread, beer, Pepperidge Farm stuffing cubes, frozen doughs, bagged snack-foods, Sara Lee frozen desserts, Shake-n-Bake bread-crumbs, dehydrated “instant” potatoes/rice/pasta, and flour-thickened gravies and sauces. Don’t place all the blame on the poor potatoes and bread. Breads are not just functional objects meant for sopping up the gravy. The bread basket at a holiday meal should offer an assortment of sweet and savory whole-grains, a memorable part of the meal. Instead of serving the Pillsbury crescent rolls or the supermarket dinner rolls, assemble a medley of homemade seasonal breads: johnny cakes, anadama bread, brown bread (you can settle for the B&M version), mini corn muffins, gingerbread, cranberry scones, and homemade quick-breads made with applesauce, bananas, nuts, pumpkin, or zucchini. Continued ON NEXT PAGE
In praise of winter cabbages In the fall and early winter, there’s a lot of cabbages (cruciferous vegetables) out there looking to take the nutritional place of summer’s dark greens. Whether it’s kale, Brussels sprouts, Savoy cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, or the lowly “boiled-dinner” green cabbage, cruciferous vegetables deserve to be on your harvest/holiday table. They’re full of healthful fiber, vitamins A, C, and E, folic acid, and antioxidant phytochemicals. Make a colorful holiday coleslaw! Mix cabbages of different colors and textures, like a head of red cabbage with the leaves and celery-like stalks of bok choy. With head cabbages, peel off the outer leaves, then use a serrated bread knife to make very thin strips, discarding thick rib pieces. Toss with a vinaigrette, maybe add some shredded carrots or scallions, and let it all marinate overnight, shaking frequently. You can top with some pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, or crushed walnuts before serving.
Trust Your
Thanksgiving Meal To Lees Market!
At Lees, we understand that planning a holiday meal can be stressful. Let us help take the hectic out of the holidays. Over the years, Lees has developed a reputation for being the store to trust with your holiday meal selections. We will go the extra mile to earn your trust year after year. Our experienced team will help you choose the perfect options to make your meal a success.
We Offer Only The Finest: Fresh Thanksgiving turkeys from 10 to 30 pounds. Not sure how much you need? Our Meat Department team would be happy to advise you. Reserve yours today! An array of artfully prepared side dishes available for pre-order. Scratch-made cakes and pies from our Starfish Bakery. All made the old fashioned way with the utmost attention to detail.
And So Much More!
796 Main Road • Westport, MA (508) 636-3348 The South Coast Insider / November 2016
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