Festive recipes with diet foods

We can celebrate family Christmas gatherings around a table, with special food, but it does not necessarily have to be with an excess of food or with a high intake of sugar, alcohol, proteins and fats, as is usual. It is preferable that we choose to make special preparations, yes, but based on healthy and interesting foods, in terms of flavor and nutritional contribution . We propose you festive recipes with diet foods.

There are foods that we associate with social and pleasant intakes and that unfortunately are generally very unhealthy foods and other foods that instead we associate with weight loss diets, calorie restriction and often carry the fame of boring foods. It doesn't have to be that way, we can make very original, different, appetizing and festive preparations with any of these foods that are so associated with diets. Who has not heard of the artichoke diet? Or the pineapple diet? And the apple diet?

Let's see what we can do with these foods ...

APPETIZERS WITH ARTICHOKE

Can you think of the possibility of preparing an aperitif, such as a canapé or a very tasty and vegetable-based skewer? Why not?

• Salty artichoke and anchovy bites. With hearts of we can prepare some colorful and tasty healthy and low-calorie canapes. On a toast of whole wheat bread with seeds we will put a slice of roasted pepper, on which we will place an artichoke heart on top of which we will have rolled an anchovy and a caper on top. We prick all this with a toothpick and we already have our first artichoke canape.
• Artichoke and ham canapes. Again we resort to whole wheat toast as the basis of our preparation. In this case we roll the artichoke heart with a slice of Serrano ham and place it on the toast. On top we put a parsley leaf and a slice of black olive and we have it.
• Montaditos of artichoke cream or cream to spread. We can prepare this option in the form of a canapé already prepared or put it in a bowl and offer sticks to take it. What we are going to make is an artichoke cream to spread. We need artichoke hearts, fresh cheese, a clove of garlic, and black pepper. If we want to complement with toast we will choose whole wheat bread or if we accompany it with sticks we can prepare vegetable sticks of carrot, celery, cucumber, zucchini ... Imagination to power!

Preparing the cream is as simple as mixing and whipping the fresh cheese (about 100 g), the cooked artichokes (about 200 g), and the garlic clove, all together. We must remove the most fibrous part of the artichokes to prevent them from becoming "threads". We can add chives or parsley to taste, olive oil and a pinch of salt. And to enjoy!

MAIN DISHES WITH PINEAPPLE

It is an exotic food that despite its link with weight loss diets we can well relate to a special meal. The most common options are precisely in the appetizers where their appeal is extolled, or as part of the desserts. But nothing to limit its consumption to this type of elaboration, since pineapple offers much more play.

• Red cabbage, pineapple, ham and mung bean salad. To make a more attractive preparation, we can arrange the ham slices at the base of the plate creating a flower. And in the central part we make a mountain with red cabbage that can be consumed both cooked and raw, and on which we will add a handful of previously cooked mung beans. With the pineapple segments cut into triangles we will finish decorating the central partl. Finally, we season to taste and complement with some parsley leaf or even lamb's lettuce.
• Pineapple stuffed with seafood cocktail. This preparation admits multiple variants to suit the consumer. Searching the net you can find many variants with pink sauce or some type of sauce, but the truth is that with a good combination of ingredients and seasoning with a good oil and some spices we can perfectly save the sauce. A good option would be to cut the pineapple in half lengthwise, empty the two sides by cutting the meat into small squares or triangles and reserve. We cut lettuce very finely, we cook prawns and peel them, we also cook mussels, we shell a large pomegranate and we mix pineapple, lettuce, mussels, prawns and pomegranate. With the mixture we fill the pineapple and dress to taste.
• Baked turkey stuffed with pineapple and apple. Baked meat and fruit combinations are often interesting, and this one is no exception. Something as traditional as stuffed turkey can be varied to find lighter recipes that help us have better digestion. Instead of stuffing the turkey with minced meat, as is the traditional version, we can lower the protein and fat content of the recipe, making it lighter and more digestible and filling it with pineapple or pineapple and apple. We can find different recipes and choose the one that best suits our tastes.

APPLE DESSERTS

A fresh and bite-sized apple is a perfect dessert option, but we understand that for Christmas we seek to offer elaborate preparations, different dishes and in general colorful and appetizing meals from start to finish. Well, of course you can make many recipes with apple. Both sweet and savory, although in this case we are left with sweet desserts.

• Fruit skewers with "chocolate threads". Instead of opting for the apple as it is or even for the fruit salad (which despite being an elaborate dessert is more common). We can choose fruit skewers that always achieve a more attractive result. We can use seasonal fruits such as grapes, tangerines, apples, bananas ... To prevent the fruit from darkening, we must sprinkle it with lemon juice, especially apple and banana. And to make the preparation more special, we can melt chocolate and sprinkle the skewers with dark chocolate.
• Apple pie. There are many recipes for apple pie or treats, some with a large amount of sugar, but there are many options with very little sugar, and in which the main ingredient is apple, since it represents between 80 and 85% of the recipe, and is complemented with egg, flour, a little sugar, lemon and sunflower oil.
• Glasses of yogurt with apple. The simplest option is to use the apple raw and simply chopped, but to add a bit of "glamor" to the recipe we are going to cook the apple into small cubes with cinnamon (it can be done in the oven, preferably in papillote or in the microwave). Once the cubes are cooked, we put most of them in the bottom of the glasses and reserve a few to put in the envelope. We beat the natural yogurt and pour it into the glasses, we finish decorating with the apple cubes that we had reserved, sprinkle cinnamon and add a mint leaf.