The holidays are probably the time of year when you put all healthy eating goals on hold and stuff yourself silly with festive fares like fruit salad, ham, lechon, cakes, grandma’s apple pie, mashed potatoes with gravy, and other holiday favorites that can bring joy to any gathering. You can and should allow yourself to have a good time over the holidays, but you should be mindful of your healthy lifestyle. However, you are aware that in order to feel your best, you should eat healthily and keep active. With so many tempting foods and calories available, how can you avoid temptation?
Think about your health objectives for the holidays, such as not overeating, maintaining an active lifestyle, interacting with others, reducing your stress level, or preventing weight gain. You can schedule a time to prepare healthy meals at home, go grocery shopping, engage in regular exercise, and enjoy a little time to relax. Fortunately, Bria Homes creates a list solely for you! for additional useful sources for healthy holiday recipes that are simple to prepare and taste just as good, if not better, than the traditional recipes that are anything but healthy.
Celebration-themed meals are always an expression of love, but they are typically filled with sugar, fat, and other unhealthy ingredients. No longer, obviously. You’re covered by Bria Homes! These clean-eating and light recipes for the holidays are nutritious. yet still totally delicious.
5 Healthy Holidays Recipes to Serve on Noche Buena and Media Noche
1. Loaded Broccoli Salad
You will frequently receive special requests for this broccoli salad. It’s difficult to resist the flavor combination of Cheddar, bacon, scallions, sour cream, and mayonnaise. And all the flavors are sharpened by adding rice vinegar or cider vinegar.
Ingredients
- 3 slices of bacon
- 1/4 cup of sour cream
- 1/4 cup of mayonnaise
- 4 teaspoons of rice vinegar or cider vinegar
- 14 teaspoons of black pepper
- 4 cups of chopped broccoli florets (11 ounces)
- 1/2 cup of sliced scallions
- 1/2 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese
Directions
Step 1. Bacon should be cooked for 5 to 7 minutes at medium heat in a large pan. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. 1 tablespoon of bacon fat should be collected. When the bacon is cool enough to handle, chop it.
Step 2. In a large bowl, mix the sour cream, mayonnaise, vinegar, pepper, and the saved bacon fat. Add the cheese, bacon, scallions, and broccoli. Toss to implement the dressing. After that cover and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.
2. Vegetable Gyoza
To soothe your stomach, try the veggie gyoza. These dumplings are easily customizable with your own fillings and can be prepared straight from the freezer. Gyoza skins purchased in stores are an alternative.
Ingredients
- 250g of plain flour
- Corn starch, for dusting
For the filling
- 200g of white cabbage
- 4 chestnut mushrooms
- 1 carrot
- 4 water chestnuts (optional)
- a thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 spring onions, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil, plus extra for frying
- 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
- For the dipping sauce
- 6 tablespoons of your favorite soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
- Add chili oil (optional)
Directions
Step 1. When making your own dough, add 1 teaspoon of salt and the flour to a bowl. 150 ml of boiling water should be measured from a boiling kettle. To create a stiff dough, slowly pour the water over the flour while stirring with a spoon. When the dough is at a manageable temperature, place it on a surface and knead it for 10 minutes, or until it is smooth. Chill the dough for at least one hour after wrapping. As an alternative, you can use 25 to 30 gyoza skins from the store.
Step 2. Garnish a bowl with roughly chopped cabbage, mushrooms, carrots, and water chestnuts, if using. Add the spring onions, ginger, and garlic. All the vegetables are added to a hot wok with the oil already heated, and they are stir-fried for 3 minutes until softened. Cook for two to three minutes after adding the sake and soy sauce. according to taste. Return to the bowl to finish cooling.
Step 3. Split the dough in half. Spread plenty of cornstarch on a surface, then roll out one ball of dough to a paper-thin consistency. Rounds of dough can be cut out and piled up with a 10 cm cutter; the corn starch prevents them from sticking. Reroll the trimmings and continue the process with the remaining dough until you have about 25 skins.
Step 4. Put cornstarch on a tray and get a bowl of cold water ready before assembling. Put a teaspoon of the filling in the center of the skin while holding it in your palm. By dipping your finger in water, you can clean the skin’s inner edge. Pinch the skin’s edges together while creating pleats on one side. Then, pour them into a bag and put them back in the freezer. Place them on a baking sheet and place them in the freezer. It can be stored for three months. It is possible to cook from frozen.
Step 5. In a nonstick frying pan with a lid, warm a little oil. Fry for 2 minutes with the flat side down until golden. Cover the pan after adding 100 mL of water. Cook the gyoza for 3–5 minutes over medium heat, or until the water has completely evaporated. Gyoza should sizzle on the bottom for a minute after the lid has been removed. Combine the ingredients for the dipping sauce, then plate the gyoza.
3. No-Cook Black Bean Salad
A traditional black bean salad is a must-have dish for healthy holidays. The avocado has been blended to give this vegan version its creaminess. Any combination of salad greens will do, but if you want to give this savory salad a flavorful kick, try arugula leaves.
Ingredients
- ½ cup of thinly sliced red onion
- 1 avocado, pitted and roughly chopped
- ¼ cup of cilantro leaves
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 tablespoons of virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon of salt (rock salt or iodized salt)
- 8 cups of mixed salad greens
- 2 kernels corn, or 2 cups frozen corn, dried after being defrosted
- 1 grape tomato, halved
- 1 (15 ounce) can of black beans
Directions
Step 1. In a medium bowl, add the onion and then the cold water. Place aside. In a small food processor, combine the avocado, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, and salt. Process until creamy and smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary.
Step 2. Combine salad greens, corn, tomatoes, and beans in a big bowl just before serving. Add the avocado dressing to the bowl after draining the onions. Stir to coat.
4. Filipino Fresh Spring Rolls (Lumpiang Sariwa)
Lumpiang Sariwa, as the name suggests, is a style of Filipino spring roll that can be eaten as a light lunch or afternoon snack when it is fresh or unfried. With additional garnishes of ground peanuts and minced garlic, it is made of stir-fried vegetables wrapped in a crepe wrapper or thin pastry skin and smothered in a sweet and savory peanut sauce.
Ingredients
For the filling
- 2 tablespoons of avocado oil or any oil
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1 white or red onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup of ground pork (optional)
- 3 ½ ounces firm Tofu
- 10 pieces prawns, shelled and deveined
- 1 ½ cups of sweet potato, cubed or cut into strips
- 1 carrot
- ½ cup water
- 2 cups cabbage, shredded
- 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
- salt and pepper
For the wrapper
- ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
- ½ cup of cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- ½ tablespoon avocado oil or any oil
- 1 cup of milk
For the sauce
- 1 tablespoon of your favorite soy sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon of iodized salt
- ⅓ cup of brown sugar
- 2 cups of water
- 3-4 big cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch, should be dissolved in ¼ cup water
For the Toppings and Garnish
- Any peanuts, chopped for toppings
- 5 lettuce leaves
Directions
Step 1. For the filling, garlic and onions should be cooked in oil over medium heat until limp. For three minutes, while constantly stirring to prevent lumps, add the ground pork. The tofu is then added, and it is cooked for 3 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Cook the prawns after adding them until they are pink throughout.
Step 2. Add the water, carrots, and sweet potato. The sweet potatoes should only be barely cooked after another 3 minutes of cooking. Fish sauce and cabbage are added. When necessary, season with salt and pepper and cook the cabbage for a little longer, just until it is tender.
Step 3. Move to a colander to drain any extra liquids. Give it some time to cool. Meanwhile. Prepare the sauce and wraps.
Step 4. All the dry ingredients for the wrapper should be combined in a bowl. To create a paste, add a fourth of the milk and whisk. This is done to stop lumps from developing. The remaining ingredients are then added while continuing to whisk. To make a smoother batter and later smoother wrappers, pour the runny batter into a colander.
Step 5. A nonstick crepe pan should be warmed slowly. Apply a little oil to the pan with a spray bottle or a brush. Half a cup of batter should be poured into the pan, then the bottom should be completely covered by tilting the pan side to side in a circular motion. Cook the batter for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it thickens and releases from the pan easily. Keep it from getting brown. Flipping it over might be necessary, but if the top has dried out as well, there is no need. The wrapper should be placed on a plate and left alone.
Step 6. It’s time to make the sauce. Simply combine all the ingredients in a saucepan, excluding the cornstarch mixture, and heat it to a soft boil. Give it three minutes to cook. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook, constantly whisking, until the sauce thickens.
Step 7. To assemble, lay a lettuce leaf on top of a wrapper on a plate or other flat surface. Place some fillings in the center of the wrapper. Beginning at the bottom, fold the wrapper into the center, covering the filling with the sides as you go.
Step 8. When the Lumpia is wrapped, drizzle some sauce over it, and then top it with finely chopped peanuts.
5. Puto Bumbong
Purple rice cakes, or puto bumbong, are very popular in Filipino cuisine. A bamboo tube is used to steam a mixture of ground purple rice to create it. Puto Bumbong was traditionally sold outside churches during Simbang Gabi, which explains why it’s so well-liked during the holiday season. Margarine, grated or shredded coconut, and muscovado sugar are typically added as garnishes, and it is typically served on top of a banana leaf.
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups sticky purple rice
- 1 1/3 cups of malagkit or glutinous white rice
- 2/3 cup of long-grained purple rice
- 6 cups of water for soaking the rice
- 3/4 cup muscovado sugar
- 1 1/2 cups of freshly grated coconut
- 1/2 cup softened butter
Directions
Step 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the different kinds of rice. Pour some water. Soak it for 2 days
Step 2. Pouring the bowl’s contents into a big colander will help remove the water.
Step 3. In a large food processor, place the soaked rice. Rice should be started grinding and continued until very fine. To get this consistency, it took me about 10 minutes.
Step 4. Halfway fill your puto bumbong steamer with water. Heat the water first, then allow it to boil.
Step 5. Fill each bamboo tube, or bumbong, with rice powder in the meantime. To allow for easy steam passage, avoid compressing the rice.
Step 6. Place each bamboo tube on the steamer once the water begins to boil quickly. Cook until steam begins to remove from the tube.
Step 7. From the steamer, remove the tube. Place the products on top of a piece of banana leaf. Butter should be spread all over, followed by freshly grated coconut and muscovado sugar. and prepare it for serving.
Meanwhile, pursuing healthy holidays recipes may seem challenging and unusual, but doing so is both desirable and beneficial. Even though it sounds cliche, the best Holidays present you can give your family and yourself is good health. And also, don’t forget to help your friends and family. At all times of the year, remind them to eat a balanced diet. Consider baking, broiling, or grilling food instead of frying it if you’re serving dinner.
Lastly, if you are looking for a quality and affordable house and lot for you and your family to start your healthy eating goals for the holiday season, BRIA Homes is ideal for you!
Written by Alfred Alaba
