Don't know where this goes, but I'll try here. I'm scared to death, frankly. It's been hard enough for me to get where I am now, and OH JOY! It's time for Thanksgiving, Christmas, all the Holiday parties, and frinds and family. What do I make for dinners, and what foods do I prepare for my own parties that I can enjoy also? What alcohol can I serve and drink?

I want to make pumkin pie
I want to make cranberry sauce fresh
I want some sort of stuffing
I want mashed potatoes
I want dinner rolls

GRRRRRR

you can make faux-tatoes.... Califlower steamed and mashed in the food processor or by hand (if you are strong ) add in butter and sourcream.. parm cheese and parsley... salt and pepper... viola! yummy faux-tatoes...

Make some low carb rolls... with butter...

I think you can find a pumpkin recipe... make splenda whip cream...

Make some lc EggNogg... with Rum... Rum is acceptable..

Cook up... the possibilities are endless...

Here's some links - I do recommend you check through the kitchen area of the forums. Karen has a couple of posts which pull together all of the Thanksgiving recipes - and they'll be just as good for Christmas too.

Look at the appetizers section for finger foods, and do a search for "alcohol" to get a bunch of threads with people's suggestions..

Hope these help!



Pumpkin Pie Recipes
http://www.lowcarb.ca/karen/recipe054.html
http://www.lowcarb.ca/recipes/rrecipe014.html
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...ghlight=pumpkin

Cranberry Sauce
http://www.lowcarb.ca/karen/recipe027.html

Stuffing
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...hlight=stuffing
-Try making like your favorite using low-carb bread

Mashed Potatoes
-Mashed fauxtatoes! Cauliflower steamed and then press the water out of them – mash in a food processor with butter and bit of cream & you won’t miss your mashed potatoes. Lots of variations on the forum.

Dinner Rolls
-Check a LC store/bakery
-Order a mix from an online store
-Make your own from scratch!

I just went through ourThanksgiving. I made cranberry sauce with fresh berries and simply sub'd bulk splenda for the sugar. Tastes great.
I made LC pumpkin cheesecake with ground hazelnut crust. Absolutely yummy. Dressing I didn't try and I was the dressing queen before. I suppose you could try low carb bread and try to not eat too much of it.I also made green beans and squash and I was full. Good luck.

mmmm pumpkin cheesecake!

To be perfectly honest, I plan on cheating Thanksgiving day. I won't gorge. I never did. I don't like potatoes, but I WILL have cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. I mean Hell, it IS Thanksgiving. Christmas, we always have Lasagna and I just skip most of the noodle and just dig out the cheese, meatball and sausage. YUM. I

For some reason, I've never been very into sweets, so the cakes and cookies at Christmas don't bother me too much. I do like Egg Nog. I'll probably allow myself some nog on Christmas Eve only.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Kristi

Oh, yeah! You've got absolutely excellent advice here! I've been thinking up ideas already--so far have in mind some low-carb Russian butterball cookies, low-carb bread, lots of meats, some cheeses, stuff like that!

I WILL make the cauliflower stuff, but to me it just doesn't taste like potatoes, although your mileage may vary. It is still very, very good! I added sour cream and melted some medium cheddar into mine the other night. Scrumptious!

This time of year always scares me to death. There is always someone having a party. Not to mention that at work there is a constant supply of goodies floating around. Atkins has an excellent eggnog. I added one extra splenda pkt and used cruched ice. My dh couln't tell the difference.

I'm going to semi-cheat for Thanksgiving. I'm going to bring LC Ice Cream and make Whole Grain, Sugar-Free Rolls...I'm going to eat the Mashed Potatoes that my Grandmother makes. I wonder if Ketato mix would work as a gravy thickener ??? That might help with the Glycemic Load. I'll probably also pop some Starch Blockers before the meal.

If you don't want to eat Mashed Potatoes, you might try Keto Ketato. It tastes good because it's real Potatoes...mixed with a goodly amount of Fiber and Protein [to reduce the the GI and Carb Count.] I've tried Faux-Tatoes. They don't taste ANYTHING like real potatoes.

I didn't know Atkins had an eggnog. I would definitly be up for trying that. It is a little to sweet for me anyway. Thanks for the info.

Happy holidays.

Kristi

My sister and I discussed what we were going to do for Thanksgiving in July when we both started Atkins. We're cooking for our extended family this year, and we both knew that we were going to cheat - but not too badly. Since our mother is also on a low-carb diet, the majority of the dishes we'll be serving will be low-carb. There's no way that we're going to skip the mashed potatoes and stuffing. Since we've planned so far ahead for this specific indulgence, we're not considering it a "cheat". ;-)

I'd find some lc dinner rolls--cuz, so far, there is no substitute for bread and lots of melting butter! MMMMM!

For pumpkin pie, I'd find a recipe that uses splenda and spaghetti squash. I think I've heard that just using the pumpkin pie spice is what really gives it its flavor.

I'd make cranberry sauce w/ splenda or crystalline fructose and go easy on it.

Stuffing could be really great w/ sausage and onions and your favorite mushrooms instead of bread crumbs. And wine.

Sorry I don't have recipes, just lots of ideas. My problem is what to do when most of the options are not lc because we're not eating at my house!

Here are a few easy ideas for appetizers at parties:

Meatballs, either homemade or the frozen packaged ones. I heat them up and serve them with Atkins (or Steeles) sf honey mustard dressing as a dip.

Chicken wings, again either homemade or bought frozen. Tyson's makes a "Hot and Spicy" flavor which is very low in carbs. Their other flavors are much higher, perhaps because of the breading?

Pork Rinds. I've been surprised to learn how many folks will eat pork rinds. I took a bag of them to a friend's party a few months ago so that I would have something to eat, and once they were put out on the table, everyone else started gobbling them up. Hurrumph....

Nuts, especially smoked almonds.

Olives, any kind. Mt. Olive Splenda sweetened gherkins. Food Lion carries them. So does Lowes Fresh Market, but I'm not sure if you have Lowes in Virginia.

Bacon wrapped shrimp, broiled or grilled. Well, that one entails a bit of work....

Celery stuffed with cream cheese mixed with chopped pecans.

You can also put out other high carb things like chips for your guests, but with the lc stuff mentioned above, you and any other lc-ers will have lots to choose from.

My only addtional "holiday meal" suggestion would be to try to find Williams-Sonoma's Turkey Gravy Base. Two grams per 1/8 of a cup (2 tablespoons) which is enough to moisten a serving of turkey. The jar says to mix it with milk while heating and add drippings from the turkey, but we like it "straight" out of the jar, heated up. It's darn good stuff! Very rich tasting.

Party on!

Kay

Thanks for this recipe and link, sounds great