Redone Stuffing

Sorry for such a delay, we had an ice storm blow through and knock out our internet for a little while. Anyway, without farther ado let's get on with stuffing.

Traditional stuffing out of the box isn't by itself bad for you. In fact as far as fat content goes they all seemed very low. It the boils down to how you cook it as well as what you put in it. When you cook it in your turkey not only does it absorb all the fat from the bird, but when you stuff the skin with butter that melts and seeps into the stuffing as well. Now if you leave it by itself and add nothing, then you are more likely lower in fat content then my home made. However I like flavor.


Here is how I redid it.

I started with some jiffy corn bread muffin mix and followed the directions using fat free evaporated milk instead of regular. After it was baked I crumbled it up and dropped the oven temp and let it dry out for a few more hours. While that dried out I cooked down some celery and onion for those same few hours until it was mush. I then tossed it all together in a bowl added an egg and chicken broth until I was happy with how it felt. Those who have made stuffing from scratch know what I am talking about. Then I just popped it in the oven with all my other stuff and let it cook.



Traditional can range from 0g of fat to up to 17g per serving.

Redone stuffing, was around 4g of fat for the same size serving.

Totals:
Traditional :  26 (I did 8 for the stuffing so that could change things)  Remade: 14g of fat.

~Skadia the ice breaking panther.

Turkey Redone

     While turkey itself isn't very fatty, it's actually one of the leanest meats out there. All things considered, I redid it anyway. Normal people for thanksgiving keep the skin on and pack it full of butter to keep it all moist and juicy. That adds nothing but fat sadly. So here is how I changed things up.

     I used a mix of chicken breasts and thighs. Now their fat content is a little higher but our local store only was selling whole turkeys and the four guests I had, and all the sides it would be way too much food left over. I took the chicken and tossed it in a pan with some low sodium chicken broth. I seasoned it the same way I would have a turkey, poultry seasoning, paprika, black pepper, ect. I covered them up and put them in the oven.



Traditional thanksgiving fat content: 1g of fat for a serving the size of a deck of cards of white meat. 2g for a similar piece of dark meat. That by itself isn't bad, adding butter however can add up to 16 grams of fat for a serving!

Thanksgiving remade: Chicken thighs have 10 grams of fat in them total and that is for one thigh without skin. Already a larger portion. Where as half a breast (same portion) without the skin is only 3.5 grams of fat. No added butter but all the flavor.

   So for the sake of experiment I'm going to keep a running total of fat content, of course there are many other factors in weight loss and diet plans, but for a side by side for someone who needs to be on a similar diet to Calico where fat content is what matters this might help.



Traditional: 18 grams fat                                        Remade: 10 grams fat

Tomorrow we will tackle another one.
~Skadia, the food loving panther.

A reworked Thanksgiving

     So this time of year is filled with family and good food. Normally no one thinks twice about what they are putting on the table. Not this year for us though. With my partner, calico's many surgeries this year and her guts more or less being pulled out and put back in it has altered her diet greatly. The normal recommended fat intake is between 60 and 75 grams total per day. Calico's is about 30 a day. The difference, the normal person feels a bit heavy, maybe gains a few pounds. She however, could very well land her back in the hospital.

     Her aunt thought it would be nice to host the big dinner before we make a cross country move, wonderful thought, but when I started thinking it all over, she won't be able to enjoy most of it. Gravy is fat, while the turkey isn't full of fat, the butter you put in it adds up. The stuffing inside that is absorbing the turkey juice as well as the melted butter. So before long that will all add up.

     So how can she enjoy the holiday? Easy, I'm going to make some changes to most of the dishes and switch some things up so that she can enjoy it as much as everyone else. Over the next few days I will be sharing some of my numbers with you all (fat content) as well as some of the recipes for the most traditional dishes of the season.

A twist on Tortilla Soup

I did a crazy thing a while back and found a 5 pound bag of tilapia fillet on sale for $5. There was roughly 16 in the bag, so super good deal. Only thing I forgot is that I hate fish. So I invested in a few low cost ingredients and attempted to make Tortilla soup but with fish. I of course did no measuring but ended up with a massive pot and could easily feed 4 or more people.

I parboiled some rice while I poached the fish. Maybe a cup of rice. I chopped up 2 bell peppers and tossed that in with some garlic with the fish. I let that cook down and then tossed in a can of chicken broth. I added half a packed of McCormick chicken taco seasoning. I tossed in a small can of corn, and a can of black beans and diced tomatoes. I let that boil for a bit and served it topped with fiesta blend cheese and tortilla strips.

While it didn't hide the fish as well as I would hope, it did make a lot of food, and it's pretty good.

2 tilapia fillets
minced garlic
2 bell peppers (I used one red and one yellow)
1 small can of chicken broth
1 very small can of corn
1 can of black beans
1 can of no salt added diced tomatoes
1 packet of McCormick chicken taco seasoning

I paid less than $5 for all the extras aside from the fish, so for the entire batch, I maybe coughed up maybe $6 for the entire pot of food. For the two of us I could have easily halved the recipie. I will be freezing some of this for perhaps another meal. So I think it was well worth it.