Healthy Makeovers For Your Favorite Holiday Recipes

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” can quickly turn into “It’s the biggest weight gain time of the year” if we’re not careful. But who wants to take away the joy of delicious food shared with those we love? Not us! And not you either we’re guessing, which is why we’ve come up with some healthy-but-super-tasty makeovers of some favorite holiday recipes. Read on to discover some nutritious upgrades to recipes that might already be on your menu. There’s even a make-your-own bone broth recipe for good measure!

Bone Broth Gravy

Makeover tip: skip the turkey fat and replace with these lower fat alternatives

We’d like to share a little secret: you don’t need to slave away for hours to make the perfect gravy. We’ve got a quick, easy, and healthy version for you here and it’s packed full of taste and seasonal goodness. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 servings of LonoLife Chicken Bone Broth
• 2 tablespoons ghee or butter
• 2 large yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons red wine
• Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1) Melt ghee or butter in a pot over medium heat and add onions. Cook for 15 minutes or until the onions begin to turn golden brown.

2) Add the garlic and herbs and sauté for a minute. Then add the red wine to deglaze the pan.

3) Add hot water to LonoLife Chicken Bone Broth and then mix the bone broth and increase the heat to high. Once mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 20-30 minutes, or until the mixture reduces by half.

4) Place remaining sauce into a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth.

Green Bean Casserole

Makeover tip: replace heavy cream with bone broth 

The holidays aren’t the holidays without a green bean casserole dish, but all that heavy cream and stodge can be a bit much sometimes, right? We think you’ll love this recipe because it’s a lighter-but-equally-delicious take on the nostalgic side dish that has tradition written all over it.

Ingredients

• 2 medium to large yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour or gluten free oat flour)
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 pound (16 ounces) sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose GF flour)
• 2 cups LonoLife Reduced Sodium Chicken Bone Broth 
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Place sliced onions in a large bowl, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil then add in flour, panko bread crumbs, garlic powder and salt. Use your hands to toss to combine, then place onions onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes, using a tong to toss the onions every 8-10 minutes or so, until nice and crispy.
3. Once done cooking, set onions aside. Reduce the heat in the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. While the onions are cooking, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans in two batches, cooking for about 2-3 minutes per batch.Set aside.
5. Next cook your mushrooms: Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add in 2 tablespoons butter. Once butter melts, add in the mushrooms, fresh thyme and salt and pepper. Cook mushrooms, stirring occasionally until mushrooms are nice and golden brown; about 4-6 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
6. In the same skillet you cooked the mushrooms, add in 2 tablespoons of butter and place over medium heat. Once butter melts, whisk in flour and cook for 15-30 seconds until a paste forms, then VERY slowly add 2 cups of the LonoLife Reduced Sodium Chicken Bone Broth, while you continue to whisk away any lumps. You’ll need to whisk pretty vigorously. 
7. Once smooth, increase heat, and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes stirring every so often until sauce thickens up a bit, similar to a gravy. If it gets way too thick, add in 1/4-½ cup more broth. 
8. Once thick, turn off the heat and stir in minced garlic and parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Spray a 2 quart baking disk or 9×13 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, or grease with olive oil or butter. Add in green beans, mushrooms and 1/4 of the crispy onions; gently toss together. 
10. Pour the sauce all over, then cover with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove foil, add the remaining crispy onions on top and bake for 5-10 more minutes. Serves 8-10

Recipe adapted from The Ambitious Kitchen

Bone Broth Mashed Potatoes

Makeover tip: replace cream with nutritious bone broth and the healthy fat of avocado oil

We could almost write an ode to mashed potatoes, we love them that much. But this staple holiday dish can really pack on the pounds without delivering much in terms of nutrition. This healthy take on the dish adds all the nutrition goodness of bone broth as well as some healthy fats from avocado oil. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 pounds yukon gold or red potatoes washed and peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 large yellow onion diced
• 1 cup LonoLife Chicken Bone Broth 
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 6 garlic cloves minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley

Instructions

1. Place potatoes in a large saucepan or pot, cover, and bring to the boil over medium heat for 15-20 minutes or until soft enough to pierce with a fork. Drain well.
2. In a large pan, add the avocado oil and then add in the onion and garlic, cooking over low heat for 3 minutes. Be careful not to brown the garlic. Add in a tbsp of the bone broth and cook a little longer. 
3. Mash your potatoes using a potato masher and add in the onion and garlic mix.
4. Slowly pour in the remaining bone broth until you find the perfect consistency.
5. Add in the butter, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Make Your Own Bone Broth  

While this one isn’t exactly a makeover, we thought we couldn’t skip it. After all, you’ve already roasted the bones and we’ll put money on you having carrots, celery, herbs and more in the fridge — so go ahead, why not make your own bone broth. While you might not be into making your own bone broth on a regular basis (you are reading this on the LonoLife website after all), if there’s one time of the year we highly recommend it, it’s after Thanksgiving. 

INGREDIENTS

• The bones and carcass of your Thanksgiving  turkey 
• A mix of vegetables that you have leftover including scraps. Examples are 4 unpeeled carrots, 3 sticks of celery (feel free to include the tops), bell pepper stems… Just stay away from the cruciferous kind (cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage.) Roughly chop the vegetables.
• 2 large onions, cut in half
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (this helps leach minerals from the bone)
• 10 herb  stems (parsley, thyme etc.)
• Cold filtered water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Because bone broth needs to cook for up to 48 hours, we recommend using a slow cooker, but you can use a large pot on the stove top too.
2. Place your turkey bones and carcass into the slow cooker along with all the other ingredients and cover with water until it is all just covered.
3. Cover and cook on a high setting until you get a simmer, then switch to low for up to 48 hours.
4. Once it’s ready, sieve through a colander into a large bowl then let it cool before refrigerating. You can also freeze your broth in ice cube trays for convenient use.
5. If it all seems too much effort, don’t worry — LonoLife is always here with our convenient powdered broth ready in an instant!