Tis’ the season for good cheer and holiday food. In past years, you may have felt bloated, had digestive issues, or noticed your pants fitting tighter after eating all that holiday food. This year can be different. Check out how you can lighten up holiday classics and find six healthier food swaps. To cook your holiday dishes with more nutritional value, there are some easy ingredient substitutions to keep in mind. If a recipe calls for heavy milk or cream, swap it for plant-based nut milk. Use Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. Substitute canola, grapeseed, or olive oil in place of butter. You can also use an herb and spice blend to flavor dishes rather than using butter.

1. Instead of cheese balls or spinach cheese dip, use hummus instead. This removes a lot of fat and sodium and introduces fiber and protein.

2. Instead of buttered white bread rolls, eat whole-grain bread with olive oil. This adds protein, fiber, and more nutrients.

3. Instead of a sweet potato casserole, make roasted sweet potatoes with warming spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. This lessens the sugar content.

4. Instead of mashed potatoes, make a blended version with half mashed potatoes and half mashed cauliflower. This reduces the calorie count and adds in more vitamins.

5. Instead of pecan pie, make pumpkin pie. This cuts out some fat and calories and adds more nutritional value such as vitamin A.

6. Instead of eggnog, have a glass of wine, spritzer, or spiced apple cider. This decreases calories, fat, and sugar consumed.

Now you can eat healthier this holiday season! Your food will still taste delicious - it just has more nutritional value now. Also, remember that it is okay to indulge in one cookie or a cup of your favorite drink every once in a while. Happy Holidays!

Capirotada is known as Mexican Bread Pudding here in the United States, and it’s traditionally a food eaten during Lent. There are many versions of this recipe as well- some put bananas in their Capirotada, some put coconut flakes, some put onion in theirs and others put sprinkles on top. My family makes Capirotada for Christmas and the making of our particular recipe is one of my fondest childhood memories...

It was cold outside, but in my grandmother’s kitchen, it was warm. I remember several of us being involved in the making of Capirotada (like in the making of Tamales!)  My grandmother and mom (and my aunt) would be toasting bread in the oven in batches while at the same time making a wonderfully aromatic syrup on my grandmother’s wood-burning stove… that syrup was made with water, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, anise, and “piloncillo” (which is unrefined whole cane sugar)… Children helped cut butter and cheese into small pieces, while my grandfather sat outside where he could make a mess shelling pecans and peanuts… at times I would go outside to sit next to him and help him shell the peanuts because those were easier to shell. After all the ingredients were ready, my grandmother was the one who assembled the layers of this delicious treat in a huge pot (one that looked like the one she used to steam her tamales!) Our Capirotada layers go like this: at the bottom of the pot are pecan pieces, peanuts, and raisins, then a layer of toasted bread pieces, then butter and cheese pieces on top of the bread, and then that layer is topped with pecans, peanuts, and raisins… then you start another layer of toasted bread, then butter and cheese, then nuts and raisins… When the pot was full she would pour the hot syrup all over the top making sure she put enough in to soak all of the layers, but not too much to make it soggy… You wait for it to cool off and you can either eat it warm or you can eat it cold, but I personally love it warm. My grandmother’s Tamales were delicious, but they were spicy hot. Her Capirotada, on the other hand, was sweet and delicious (plus, I love pecans). It was the perfect dessert after having her spicy hot tamales! It’s still something that goes hand in hand at our Christmas gatherings- Tamales for dinner AND Capirotada for dessert.

May you make lots of warm memories this Holiday Season!