Healthy Holidays

The holiday season is here. Christmas lights are up, people are out shopping and of course everywhere you look is food. Pies, cookies, eggnog, chocolates – they are everywhere you look. So how do you make it through this season of sugary baked goods and fatty foods with your health intact? By planning ahead! If you are going to a Christmas party, having people over for a holiday gathering or are the sort of person who just likes to snack throughout the day, you can do all of these things and still eat healthy. Instead of buying cookies, make your own. Swap out the refined sugar for organic sugar, use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate, and try some new healthier recipes! There will always be sugar and fat everywhere you look this time of year. So try to keep things in moderation and sneak in some nutrition with those sweets!

Here is one of my favorite cookie recipes:

cookies

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Ingredients:

  • 11⁄2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3⁄4 cup good quality cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3⁄4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1⁄2 cup dry red wine, such as burgundy
  • 10 ounces dark chocolate, broken into chunks
  • 1 cup dried tart cherries

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Combine flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
  3. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and wine and combine. Slowly in
    batches add the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the chocolate and cherries.
  4. On a nonstick cookie sheet, place a heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie about 2
    inches apart from each other.
  5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until tops are still soft looking but edges look firm.

If you’re trying to eat better during your main meal, you can use the same principle of sneaking in nutritious foods. For example, swap mashed cauliflower for mashed potatoes, or skip the brown sugar and marshmallows on the sweet potatoes (they are sweet enough).