Thanksgiving and Chanukah: recipes for a healthy feast

The average American takes in a whopping 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving. This number may shock you, but if you think about the bounty of mashed potatoes, stuffing, casseroles, gravy, bread rolls, and pies that will likely cover your table on this holiday, that seemingly improbable statistic actually starts to make sense. This year in particular, I wouldn't be surprised if that number was higher.

As many of you know, Chanukah and Thanksgiving fall on the same night this year, which hasn't happened since 1888 and won't happen again for another 79,000 years. This exciting anomaly has sparked many who celebrate both holidays to get creative with their Thanksgivukkah meals, with cooks alike coming up with unique hybrids of the two's traditional foods. I've come across some pretty glorious stuff, from cornbread and pumpkin challah stuffing to horseradish-chive mashed potatoes, but among my favorites is a recipe for sweet potato latkes with toasted marshmallows. Perhaps not the healthiest of recipes, but creative, none-the-less!

Under normal circumstances, I would post my usual run-down of healthier recipe options for each holiday separately, but with both taking place on the same night and being only a couple of days away, I had to combine the two under one post.

Below, you'll find a list of links for healthier versions of customary Thanksgiving and Chanukah recipes. If your family is celebrating both holidays and would like to keep the the food more traditional in lieu of combination dishes, consider selecting a few recipes from each list below— think matzah ball soup and latkes for appetizers and all of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes for the main course!

I apologize for not having this posted earlier; I forgot about how much planning goes into these meals! For those who have yet to do their grocery store rounds to pick up ingredients, I hope you can still incorporate some of these recipes into your feast!

Thanksgiving Recipes

Apple-Shallot Roasted Turkey

Green Beans with Lemon-Almond Pesto

Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa Mushroom Pilaf

Spicy Roasted Vegetable Bisque

Apple Cider Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Cornbread

Pear and Red Onion Gratin

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Balsamic Asparagus with Goat Cheese and Toasted Walnuts

Stuffed Apple Pies

Silky Sweet Potato Pie

Clean Eating Pecan Pie

Chanukah Recipes

Tri-Colored Latkes with Horseradish Sour Cream

Oven Barbecued Brisket

Healthy Ketchup (for the brisket, of course!)

Simple Roast Chicken

Matzo Ball Soup

Spicy Spaghetti Squash Latkes

Easy Homemade Applesauce

Winter Squash and Chicken Tzimmes

Brussels Sprout Latkes with Balsamic Dijon Sour Cream

Cheese Blintzes (could be made with Stevia or Monk Fruit instead of an artificial sweetener)

Quinoa and Cauliflower Kugel with Cumin

Rugelach (this recipe isn't healthy, but it's definitely healthier than most rugelach recipes out there!)

Now, if you're really hooked on the hybrids (which, from what I've seen, aren't of the leanest options), you can still put a healthier spin onto the many mashup recipes flooding the Internet. Check out this list of common ingredient substitutions and consider implementing a few into your unique dishes!