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What's for (Thanksgiving) dinner?

The recommended daily calorie consumption is 2,000.
The typical Thanksgiving dinner has more than twice that -- about 4,300 calories, or so I once read.
So what am I cooking, and what are we eating, at our Thanksgiving table?
Well, the entree will be the same as last Thanksgiving, and every Thanksgiving of my life. It's turkey, of course. Turkey breast is one of the leanest, healthiest meats there is. But what I did last Thanksgiving, and what I'm doing this Thanksgiving, is a variation on the traditional oven-roasted bird. I'll be marinating turkey breast cutlets in a marinade whose principal ingredients are three citrus juices -- orange, lemon and lime -- then grilling the cutlets on my trusty George Foreman grill.
Appetizers? I haven't decided yet. I'd like to get a raw veggie tray for myself, but Jay won't eat it. He might eat a few raw shrimp. So maybe shrimp cocktail. Shrimp, without all the breading and with just a touch of sauce, is low in calories and high in protein.
We will have potatoes, but they'll be roasted creamer potatoes with savory herbs. The Wisconsin-based Little Potato Company packages them in microwave-ready bowls, and includes a packet of herb seasoning, which I sprinkle on after giving the freshly-cooked spuds a quick squirt of butter-flavored cooking spray.
And, in keeping with our family autumn tradition -- acorn squash for lunch, once a week -- I'll bake the season's last squash in the oven with a little water. I eat mine with a small serving of lower-fat butter substitute and a generous sprinkling of lemon pepper.
For dessert, there's yogurt. Dannon actually makes a pumpkin pie flavored 80-calorie yogurt, available in the fall; it was sold out last time I was at the grocery store, but we have plenty of low-fat dessert yogurts -- cookies and cream, caramel and pretzel, key lime, strawberry cheesecake, etc. -- that offer a 130-calorie dessert with the stirred-in sweets.
Jay likes a nice Chardonnay with his meal. I'm not wild about white wine, so I have little or none with the meal, though I might have a thimble-full of red wine before dinner. Red wine is good for the heart.
We can have a festive Thanksgiving without overeating. And, if the weather's decent afterwards, we can go for a walk -- or to Anytime Fitness.
Here are some more scenes from our Thanksgiving 2017:



Have a blessed, festive Thanksgiving, everyone!

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