A Healthier Thanksgiving

I absolutely love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. Not only do I get to cook up a feast, but people come and eat it and take food home too! But I also like the idea of having a day to get together with the family and count our blessings and all the positive and good things in our lives, no matter how small, for attitude is frequently half the battle.
And this year, I wanted to keep the dishes on the healthier side so we wouldn’t feel quite so guilty for indulging. Come to think of it, it was quite a vitamin C and veggie feast. I had lots of red bell peppers and other veggies, used mostly healthy fats (olive oil) and banished soda from the table. Though I don’t drink soda, it has been a tradition to have soda at any major get-together. But this year I insisted on seltzer water and fancied it up with some juices (the ones with no sugar added). The drinks were fizzy, which contributed to the celebratory feeling, but also much lighter and healthier than soda. So here is what we had:

Thanksgiving menu

Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Smoked mackerel (from the Russian store)
Roasted pepper salad
Vika’s sauteed pepper salad
Egg “salad”
Cabbage salad
Tabouleh
Cranberry sauce
Chocolate truffles with rum
Meringue and fruit individual trifles