Archive for November, 2009
Meat Thanksgiving Alternatives
Alternate Meats in the Thanksgiving Meal
George Foreman® Thanksgiving Main Course Alternatives
Over the past few posts, we’ve covered all the bases in providing an alternative entrée to the start turkey at your Thanksgiving table – for vegans, vegetarians, non-poultry eaters and the like. Still, there are those who eat meat and poultry, but simply don’t like the taste of turkey.
Sound like sacrilege? Not really. In fact, there is a healthy debate over whether turkey was actually served at the first Thanksgiving table at all. It would’ve been around in the area at the time, but venison would have been a more likely choice for their main dish.[1] In fact, turkey more likely became the traditional main course after 1863 when it was made an official national holiday – at a time when both turkey and cranberries were mainstays of a fine meal in American Victorian culture.[2]
So what do you do for your guests that don’t feeling like going along with tradition? For a more authentic feel, you could use a protein that would’ve been around at the time. For red meat eaters, venison is an outstanding choice – it’s not something they get everyday, it has a bit of history with the holiday and it’s actually leaner with about 1/3 less fat than a comparable cut of beef.[3] Cooked on your George Foreman grill, that’s a highly healthy red meat serving with a bit of holiday flair.
Another interesting red meat choice would be buffalo. While it wouldn’t have been in the New England coast area of the Plymouth landing, it was a plentiful part of American colonial culture. It’s a popular red meat that’s making a comeback and it fits the American Heart Association’s dietary standards[4], so it comes out lean, healthy and delicious from George Foreman grill with its patented slope.
Of course, you can also do beef, chicken, lamb or pork for your alternate main course. Pork chops are an icon in the traditional American diet, so they make a good choice. Whatever protein you choose, again, try to keep the marinade and/or seasoning centered around the holiday with fresh herbs like dill or thyme, cider vinegars and the like. If you’re cooking for only one or two guests that won’t eat turkey, the best idea is to focus the alternate main course around their tastes, so everyone at your table can walk away happy.
[1] http://hnn.us/articles/406.html
[2] http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/tgivinghistory.htm
[3] http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/venison.htm
[4] http://www.buffalohillsbisonmeat.com/nutritional_information.php
Fish Thanksgiving Alternatives
Some Traditional Fish Alternatives to Thanksgiving Turkey
Discover the bounty of Thanksgiving with George Foreman
Vegans and strict vegetarians aren’t the only ones that don’t necessarily want turkey on Thanksgiving. Whether it’s a non-meat/poultry vegetarian or just someone that doesn’t like the taste of the traditional bird, sometimes you may need an alternate protein at your Thanksgiving dinner.
A good solution is to serve a fish entrée as an alternate main course to the turkey. Simply do a nice whole fish or thick cut of steak to give your non-turkey guests something as hearty and filling as the main entrée. Like the vegetarian alternatives offered in Wednesday’s posting, when you cook the fish, try using spices and liquids in your marinade or rub that have a more traditional Americana feel to them, to keep with the spirit of the meal. Dill, lemon and apple cider vinegar are all good options to use as a flavor base.
As for the types of fish you want to use, it will feel more authentic and traditional if you can use a fish that’s distinctively American. Trout and catfish are good, classic choices for your fish, and salmon can work as well. However, the most traditionally accurate choice you could use would be an Atlantic Cod. This fish was around the area of the pilgrims and plentiful at the time,* so it’s something that will hearken back to that first Thanksgiving and give a real sense of a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Like the vegetarian suggestions we made on Wednesday, the other advantage to a fish dish main course alternative is that you can use your electric grill to cook the dish instead of infringing on already limited oven space. If you have a grill that has a griddle plate or deep-dish bake plate – like the 360 Grill™ or the Power Grill™ Grill & Griddle – you can even do a baked fish dish without using your oven.
Vegetarian Thanksgiving Alternatives
Using Your Electric Grill to Cook for Vegans at Your Thanksgiving Table
Parties and big meals are almost never an easy place for vegans to be, but that’s especially true for a holiday that’s centered on turkey. While you could leave the vegan at your table to munch on the relish tray or enjoy a nice medley of side dishes, the better alternative is to provide an alternative main dish to make the meal just as special for them.
Using your George Foreman® grill is the perfect way to provide an alternate main dish to your Thanksgiving bird. You can grill a few servings of tofu or your favorite main-dish veggie, so you won’t have to take up any of the oven space that’s such a hot commodity during holiday cooking.
If you’re using a vegetable as the key main ingredient, you want to choose one that’s hearty and filling – something that doesn’t feel like they’re eating just another side dish. Two great candidates are grilled eggplant and grilled acorn squash – the latter even provides the added benefit of feeling like a Thanksgiving meal in a “Horn of Plenty” kind of way.
In addition to saving oven space by using your electric grill, a grilled vegetarian main dish will also help cut down on the time you spend cooking the alternate dish. Instead of constructing a complex baked recipe, you can simply whip up a tasty marinade, leave the tofu or veggies to soak in the flavor, and then grill them up just before the meal.
If you’re going to do a marinade, make it more special and festive by using marinade ingredients with a holiday feel to them, such as maple syrup or apple cider vinegar. This way, the vegan at your table is still getting the tastes and flavors of the holiday, even without the turkey.
Healthy Cooking Blog Welcome
Welcome to the official start of the George Foreman® Healthy Cooking Blog! We’re excited to launch this new project, to provide even more tips, tricks and inspiration for using your George Foreman products.
The goal is to provide a closer look into all things George Foreman® – in-depth explanations of how and why features work, hints on how to get the best flavor in your food, special recipes and seasonal ideas for using your products and more. You also get access to the content that runs in our monthly newsletter, so this can be a bookmarked one-stop-shop for all the information you need.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be focusing on using George Foreman for the holidays – from Thanksgiving turkey alternatives and using your grill to free up big appliances, to gift ideas of the best grills to get for each of the people on your shopping list.
If you have any suggestions/ideas on content you’d like to see, we encourage you to post comments to help us provide the best information possible. Blog postings are currently set tentatively for Monday/Wednesday/Friday, so stop by again to see our next post on Wednesday for vegetarian Turkey Day alternatives.
Finding the Best Veggies
How to get the best vegetables to your table
Seems like this should be a no-brainer, right? Just go to your supermarket and hit up the produce aisle – no problem. The truth, however, is that vegetable purchasing can actually be a bit more confusing than that. Do you buy standard produce or organic? Is organic more fresh? What about farmers’ markets, CSA and local growers? We’re answering all these questions and more to help you get the best vegetables possible on your plate.
What’s the deal with organic produce?
Organic food is officially defined as food, “that’s been grown and processed without artificial ingredients, preservatives or irradiation.” Organic food growers undergo rigorous inspections of their practices to ensure that everything from the soil to any plant food used are natural. Cloning and genetic engineering are also strictly prohibited.9
It’s because of these strict guidelines and the cost involved with growing food organically that organic produce is typically more expensive that regular produce – sometimes up to double on the per pound cost. It’s for this reason that many families on a budget are better served just getting more fresh vegetables on the shopping trip than just a few organics for the same amount of money.
The key to understanding here is that organic produce is not “fresher” than the regular produce sitting next to it on the shelf. It’s a matter of how it’s grown, not when. In this light, organic is more about a personal choice of what you want touching the food you put in your body, instead of a question of how fresh or good the produce is. In many cases, things prevented by organic growing practices can actually be considered good, such as irradiation, which is used to kill bacteria in the produce. As mentioned above, organic farmers have to go through a more rigorous process to give the same result naturally.
How do I get fresher produce?
Depending on where you are in the country, the answer can vary. Almost anywhere you live however – even in more urban areas – you can find fresher produce alternatives to what you get in your supermarket. What you need to look for are farmers’ markets, local growers associations or CSA organizations in your local area.
Most people are familiar with farmers’ markets – where local farmers (usually family farms in the area) sell fresh produce and more at small stands in a public area. Some areas have farmer’s markets that last year-round, while others are only seasonal. Check with your local chamber of commerce or local community center, or you can search online as there are a number of websites that provide full lists of the markets held around the country.
In addition to farmers’ markets, many areas have local growers associations and/or community supported agriculture (CSA) programs. Both of these are similar in the service they provide – local farmers selling produce locally.
With local growers, the idea is akin to what happens at the market, you just don’t have a central buying location. You buy your produce directly from the farm, directly from the farmer. This means it’s not only fresher, but you have the added little boost that you’re helping the environment by reducing your carbon footprint (local buying means no cross-country shipping) – and supporting local farmers!
CSA programs are along the same lines, but are a little more involved. In a community supported agriculture program, you buy “shares” of the farmer’s crop. These “shares” are then paid each week during harvest – typically in the form of an actual box of produce. You get fresh vegetables each week, while giving the farm a pre-harvest investment to contribute to the success of that year’s crop.
The nice thing about all of these fresh produce options is that you help your local growers, which is becoming increasingly imperative for the continued survival and success of their farms. It also reduces your carbon footprint, at the same time that you’re putting fresher produce on your family’s dinner plate. No matter how you purchase your vegetables, though, the important thing for your healthier diet is that you incorporate them.
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11http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
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