Thanksgiving Recipes and Meal-Planning Tips
The holiday season provides an opportunity to try new healthy recipes and share them with your friends and family. You can turn traditional family recipes into healthier ones by making simple plant-based substitutions. For your  convenience, The Cancer Project team has compiled some holiday recipe favorites and resources so that your Thanksgiving meal will be a great success. Try the new recipes below, or visit The Cancer Project's archive of recipes for a healthier holiday.
The key is to incorporate fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables into your recipes and to keep your recipes simple. Here are some suggestions on how to modify some of your family’s traditional recipes into more healthy fare.
2009 Thanksgiving Recipes
Appetizer: Creamy Spinach Dip
Salad: Hot or Cold Beet Salad
Soup: Mushroom Barley Soup
Main Dish: Tempeh Broccoli Sauté
Side Dish: Rutabaga Mashed Potatoes
Dessert: Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Appetizer
Creamy Spinach Dip
This creamy, high-fiber dip is great for a family gathering or as a dish to pass for a holiday cocktail party. Serve it with raw vegetable pieces or chunks of crusty bread.
Directions
Makes 10-12 servings
1 1/2 cups cooked or canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup water
2 pounds spinach, chopped and steamed, or 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup salsa
1 tablespoon all-purpose seasoning
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mash the beans and water together using a potato masher. Alternatively, process them in a food processor or blender until smooth. Stir in the remaining ingredients and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
Store in a covered container in the refrigerator, leftover Creamy Spinach Dip will keep for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Information
Per serving (makes 10-12 servings):
61 Calories
0.3 g Fat
0.1 g Saturated Fat
3.8% Calories from Fat
0 mg Cholesterol
4.2 g Protein
11.3 g Carbohydrate
1 g Sugar
2.9 g Fiber
410 mg Sodium
62 mg Calcium
1.6 mg Iron
3.9 mg Vitamin C
1552 mcg beta-Carotene
1.1mg Vitamin E
Salad
Hot or Cold Beet Salad
The pigment that gives beets their rich crimson color and makes this salad so gorgeous is also a powerful cancer-fighting agent in the anthocyanin family.
Directions
Makes about 3 1-cup servings
3 medium beets
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon apple juice concentrate
1 teaspoon stone-ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
Wash and peel the beets. Cut each beet in half, and each in half into four wedges. To prevent staining your countertop, place a dark-colored towel or paper towels under your cutting board.
Steam the beets over boiling water until tender when pierced with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes.
Combine the lemon juice, vinegar, apple juice concentrate, mustard, and dill weed in a serving bowl. Add beets and toss to mix. Serve hot or cold.
Store in a covered container in the refrigerator, leftover Hot or Cold Beet Salad will keep for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Information
Per serving:
36 Calories
0.2 g Fat
0 g Saturated Fat
4.9% Calories from Fat
0 mg Cholesterol
1 g Protein
8.4 g Carbohydrate
7 g Sugar
1.1 g Fiber
61 mg Sodium
15 mg Calcium
0.6 mg Iron
4 mg Vitamin C
21 mcg Beta-Carotene
0.1 mg Vitamin E
Soup
Mushroom Barley Soup
This soup takes just minutes to make if you have cooked barley on hand. Because it is very low in fat, it helps the immune system recognize and destroy cancer cells. All fats, including healthful vegetable fats, should be kept to a minimum when it comes to cancer prevention and survival.
Directions
Makes about 3 1-cup servings
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup pearl barley
2 cups plain rice milk
2 tablespoons barley flour
1 can (4 ounces) mushrooms, undrained, or 6 fresh mushrooms, quartered
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of dried marjoram
Pinch of dried sage
Pinch of dried thyme
Pinch of dried dill weed
To cook the barley, bring the water and barley to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook until all the water is absorbed, about 30 minutes for regular barley or 10 minutes for quick-cooking barley.
Place the rice milk and flour into a blender and process on high speed for a few seconds. Add the cooked barley and process on high speed for about 10 seconds, or until the barley is coarsely chopped. Add the mushrooms and their liquid and process briefly, just until they are coarsely chopped.
Transfer the blended mixture to a medium saucepan and add the garlic powder, salt, marjoram, sage, thyme, and dill weed. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until the soup is hot and slightly thickened.
Stored in a covered container in the refrigerator, Mushroom Barley Soup will keep for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Information
Per serving:
172 Calories
1.7 g Fat
0.2 g Saturated Fat
8.9% Calories from Fat
0 mg Cholesterol
3.2 g Protein
36.7 g Carbohydrate
9 g Sugar
4.1 g Fiber
350 mg Sodium
213 mg Calcium
1 mg Iron
0.9 mg Vitamin C
9 mcg Beta-Carotene
1.2 mg Vitamin E
Main Dish
Tempeh Broccoli Sauté
This dish is a healthy entrée to add your holiday meal plans. Tempeh is made from fermented soybeans—a protein-rich plant food. In just one serving of this recipe there are 20 grams of protein. The broccoli in this recipe adds calcium.
Directions
Makes 4 servings
1 10-ounce package tempeh (any variety)
2 broccoli stalks, chopped, or 2 bags frozen broccoli florets
1 small onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger, or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
2 cups cooked couscous or cooked brown rice
Chop tempeh into 1/2-inch pieces and steam for 10 minutes. Discard cooking water. Sauté tempeh, broccoli, onion, bell pepper, garlic, and ginger in broth over medium-high heat until tempeh is lightly browned. Add soy sauce or tamari at the last moment. Serve over grain of choice
Allow leftovers to cool before covering and refrigerating. This dish will keep two to three days in the refrigerator.
Nutrition Information
Per serving:
285 Calories
8.1 g Fat
1.7 g Saturated Fat
25.5% Calories from Fat
0 mg Cholesterol
20.2 g Protein
37.2 g Carbohydrate
5.8 g Sugar
7.1 g Fiber
312 mg Sodium
127 mg Calcium
3.1 mg Iron
86.4 mg Vitamin C
1293 mcg Beta-Carotene
2.3 mg Vitamin E
Side Dish
Rutabaga Mashed Potatoes
If you’ve never cooked with rutabagas, this is a good place to start: a simple recipe with a delicious result. Rutabagas—members of the cruciferous vegetable family along with broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, radishes, and turnips—are extremely high in vitamin C. They also have generous amounts of many cancer-fighting compounds.
Directions
Makes about 4 servings
1 medium rutabaga, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 cup water
1/2-1 cup fortified plain unsweetened soymilk or other nondairy milk
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
Ground black pepper, to taste
Arrange the rutabaga in a medium saucepan. Arrange the potatoes over the rutabaga. Add the water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes, until the rutabaga and potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife. Check occasionally and add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the saucepan becomes dry.
Mash with a potato masher or fork. Then stir in enough soymilk to obtain a creamy consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Store in a covered container in the refrigerator, leftover Rutabaga Mashed Potatoes will keep for up to two days.
Nutrition Information
Per serving:
123 Calories
0.8 g Fat
0.1 g Saturated Fat
5.7% Calories from Fat
0 mg Cholesterol
3.7 g Protein
26.7 g Carbohydrate
3.2 g Sugar
3.7 g Fiber
187 mg Sodium
87 mg Calcium
1 mg Iron
23.2 mg Vitamin C
3 mcg Beta-Carotene
0.7 mg Vitamin E
Dessert
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
This is a low-fat smoothie version of the favorite Thanksgiving dessert.
Directions
Makes about 6 1-cup servings
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 cups soymilk, or to taste
2 cups ice
1/2 cup maple syrup, or to taste
1 tablespoon vanilla, or to taste
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, or to taste (Alternatively, you can use a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.)
Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend for 1-2 minutes until everything is incorporated.
Nutrition Information
Per serving:
135 Calories
1.6 g Fat
0.3 g Saturated Fat
11% Calories from Fat
0 mg Cholesterol
3 g Protein
27 g Carbohydrate
21 g Sugar
2.5 g Fiber
227 mg Sodium
138 mg Calcium
1.7 mg Iron
5 mg Vitamin C
5314 mcg Beta-Carotene
0.8 mg Vitamin E
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