Healthy Foods for Christmas

What are you going to cook or bake for Christmas?

For a lot of people, the yuletide season is a time to prepare the most sumptuous foods and treats, in the most creative of recipes. For many, meat products are the prime ingredient - hotdogs, ostrich meat, veal, and a whole assortment of chicken and pork parts.

Of course, you don't have to always go with the traditional way of cooking, especially if there are other options and ingredients you can try, to come up with a healthier recipe. Instead of using meat products, why not go for veggies?

One of the choice foods during the Christmas season is mincemeat. The traditional cooking or baking of mincemeat included ingredients such as minced beef and pork parts, suet, venison as well as sirloin. Over the years, however, the meat ingredients have slowly vanished from the kitchen table, and by the mid 20th century, vegetables and dried fruits have been minced to replace meat products. Butter, vegetable fats, as well as dried fruits, chopped apples and fresh fruits have been used in most occasions for as ingredients for mincemeat.

Meat versus Veggies

Many people go as far as to find comparison between eating meat products and vegetables. Although meat is a more concentrated source of protein, the cholesterol or artery-clogging fat present in meat products have push for vegetables and fruits as an alternative for mincemeat.
Add to the fact that vegetable and fruit products contain a fair amount of fiber, which is also called the "nature's broom", because of its ability to help clean or sweep away the toxins out of the body.

Many health experts have suggested a balanced recipe composed of both meat and vegetable products. However, for those who feel the need to cook or bake a healthier batch of mincemeat come Christmas time, vegetables and fruits are great options.

So if you're feeling horrible about having another bite of pork or beef in your mincemeat pie, you should make it a habit to gather vegetables and fruits beforehand, to mesh and mash into your own vegetable mincemeat. Another great option is just to buy whole foods online like mincemeat. You can also purchase a jar of vegetable mincemeat in a whole foods or grocery store. A good option to make, however, is to look for a good recipe where you can use vegetable mincemeat, before you decide to buy all the ingredients for your mincemeat pie, or mincemeat meal.

By Arthur Martin