Dana's blog

When one is operating at a disadvantage –– say, a total lack of first-hand experience –– it’’s best to admit it up front. So here it is: Not being Jewish, I’’m at something of a loss writing about Hanukkah cookery. But since when have I ever let a little thing like that stop me? I certainly can cook, and as both a librarian’’s daughter and a librarian’’s wife, I know a bit about research, too. So I’’ll forge ahead, do my best, and try not to go too far out on a limb.

If it's December, it must be time for me to republish my UnPotato Latke recipe! The original calls for Ketatoes, no longer available. But Dixie Diners Instant Mashers, a similar product available from Carb Smart, Netrition, and other low carb etailers, will work just the same. The Atkins bake mix can be swapped out for rice protein powder.

My pal Barbo Gold told me, when I first came up with these, that they were good enough to make me a Latke Maven. Which ain't bad for a girl as goyish as me.

UnPotato Latkes

1 cup shredded cauliflower
1 cup shredded turnip

Remember the holidays of your childhood? Mom would festoon the house with evergreen roping and ornaments, lights would twinkle from each tree, the air would be filled with the scent of baking, and every party table would be groaning with lovingly-concocted canapes and other tempting treats?

Makes you want to go bury your head under a pillow, doesn’t it?

Been to a few parties recently? Likely to go to a few more? Holiday parties are notorious diet-busters. All sorts of carb-y food, the weight of "tradition," people handing you excuses to Indulge ("Aw, c'mon! It's Christmas! Live a little!"), plus the disinhibition that comes along with a little "holiday cheer," and it all ends up to waking up the next day with a carb hangover and three or four pounds of water weight around your waist.

So let's talk parties.

Gang, I've had a request from a reader for good low carb forums. I don't hang out at any, so I really can't recommend one. So I turn to the collective wisdom of my readership. Where are the good low carb forums? Fora? Someplace intelligent, reasonably thoughtful, as flame-free and spam-free as possible?

‘Tis the season to send food! If it hadn’t occurred to me yet, my mailbox would remind me. Sheaves of catalogues arrive daily, selling everything from cheesecakes to petit fours to caramel corn. I love the age-old tradition of giving gifts of food. They’re always the right size and the right color. They don’t take up storage space, at least not for long. They require no dusting. And who ever has enough goodies, with all those holiday guests dropping in?

Everybody had enough turkey? Okay, onward to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Festivus, or whatever the heck else you might celebrate to make this dreary time of year bearable! Time to think. Time to plan. Not our shopping (me, I've already done most of mine online; somuch easier than slogging through malls.) I'm talking about the food, of course!

Remember, come Thanksgiving Day, all the turkeys left at the grocery stores will be marked way down. I always buy at least a couple and stash them in the deep freeze to eat later in the year. If you don't want to roast a whole turkey for just your family -- an understandable feeling -- be aware that grocery store butchers will generally slice one up the middle for you at no additional charge. A half-turkey -- one breast, one wing, one thigh, one drumstick -- makes a nice family-sized roast for a Sunday dinner.

Only works with un-frozen turkeys, though.

If you're having Thanksgiving dinner at someone else's house, resist all offers to wrap up some leftover pie for you to take home. Remember, even if you're having an Indulgence Day, it only lasts for one day! No eating sugar-sweetened pie for breakfast on Friday!

You might ask if they'd let you have some leftover turkey or ham, instead. I love having leftover turkey in the house!

"But, Dana!" I hear you cry. "I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner! I'm going to my mother's/mother-in-law's/cousin's/sister's/brother's/grandmother's house! I'll have no control over the menu!"

Here are some more ideas for cutting the carb count of your Thanksgiving dinner -- which, I might add, just might make for a somewhat livelier Thanksgiving evening. Forget "It's the tryptophan in the turkey that makes you sleepy." It's far more likely to be wonky blood sugar from that massive carb overload.

There are few foods more all-American than cranberry sauce. Cranberries are native to the United States, and are one of only three Native American fruits that are commercially cultivated on a large scale. (The other two are blueberries and Concord grapes.) Their distinctive tart flavor has made them a huge national favorite.

Does the name Gary Taubes ring a bell?

Stuffing

Call it stuffing, or call it dressing, it’s just not a holiday turkey without it! For me, stuffing is an essential part of holiday dinners. Indeed, I used to have what I like to call an “Indulgence” (a term I prefer to “cheat”) on holidays largely so I could have stuffing! Since then, however, I’ve learned to cut back on the carb count of my turkey stuffing. Here are some ideas:

With Halloween behind us, we have officially entered the Holiday Season. Let's start thinking about how we're going to make it to January 2nd still fitting into our clothes, shall we?

Here are a few preliminary points to keep in mind: