What to Do with Those Leftovers

Already missing your favorite Thanksgiving treat? Perhaps you should incorporate it into your regular diet! My grandmother, for example, ate cranberry sauce every day of her life and was radically healthy right up until she developed Alzheimer’s (which I don’t think had anything to do with the cranberries) (and that might be the first-ever joke made about Alzheimer’s, at least on this blog). Just don’t eat Thanksgiving portions all year!

Foodie alert: it’s better to eat these things seasonally, rather than all year!

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes can be substituted nearly any time you’d cook regular potatoes, most thrillingly in the case of sweet potato fries. They make a super-easy lunch; just cook in the microwave, and top with sour cream and whatever other toppings your little heart desires. That strong color also indicates a healthy dose of healthy nutrients, like beta carotene.

…and pumpkin

Pumpkin! Not just for Halloween and pies. You can use it in salad, in stir-fry, in soup, in baked goods.  And okay, when it comes to pie, the consensus seems to be that it’s healthier—that is, skinnier—than apple and especially pecan pie.

Cranberry sauce

Cranberry sauce may seem like a specialty condiment, but you can use it more regularly than just the third Thursday of November. My grandmother, who by the way would approve of me getting a chuckle out of what is otherwise a totally depressing disease, spread it on her daily turkey sandwich, together with a little mayonnaise and lettuce. It’s basically Thanksgiving between bread. You can also eat it with any roast meat, on top of waffles (cranberry sauce + maple syrup = Sunday morning heaven), or mixed into baked goods. Just stay far, far away from the nasty canned kind! It’s incredibly easy to make yourself. Keep the sugar low, and benefit from all those vitamins and antioxidants.

Turkey

Turkey is often touted by fitness and weight-loss fanatics alike. It’s high in protein, low in fat. While I wouldn’t start eating exclusively turkey—especially as it’s hard to find turkey that was raised humanely and not pumped full of antibiotics—it does have far fewer calories per portion than red meat, which makes it a great substitution if you’re watching your weight.

Green Beans

Green beans are undervalued. You can buy them cheaply, and they freeze incredibly well (better when blanched first), which makes them an excellent mid-winter vegetable. Plus, with all that fiber, they’re more filling than your average salad.

Pumpkin Beer

Just kidding. Pumpkin beer never tastes as good as you think it will.

What foods do you give thanks are available year-round? Tell us here or on Facebook!