When celebrating Thanksgiving season, it’s a good idea to look for meals that are quick and simple to prepare. These foods are not going to take too much time, but perfect for the holidays.
Try these meal ideas from Burbank functional medicine practitioners at Functional Medicine Los Angeles!
1. Cook Your Turkey in the Slow Cooker
If you are trying to prepare an actual Thanksgiving feast without a lot of time, our functional medicine Los Angeles experts suggest you consider cooking your turkey in a slow cooker. There are large slow cookers that will fit a medium-sized turkey just fine. Just make sure you have the sizes right.
The turkey is the main component of Thanksgiving and is luckily something you can enjoy even when you are on the whole foods diet. By using a slow cooker, you can cook the turkey all day without having to check on it and free up oven space for other recipes.
2. Try Simple Vegetable Side Dishes
Vegetable side dishes don’t have to be difficult to prepare, whether you’re feeding your family during this hectic holiday season or preparing side dishes for Thanksgiving dinner in a pinch. Brussels sprouts are a great option because they are not difficult to make, are in season during the fall, and can be really delicious with just a few added ingredients. A good recipe to try for Thanksgiving is to saute them with olive oil, seasonings, and cloves.
This makes them nice and flavorful, but not difficult to make. As functional medicine Burbank providers, we recommend you add some chopped nuts and dried cranberries to the top of the Brussels sprouts.
3. Make Some Fall Soup
During this busy time of year, soup is the perfect dinner option. It only takes a little time to prepare, stir, mix, and bake one dinner because everything is mostly cooked in one pot. Soup is light and healthy, and easy to make when you are on a whole-food diet.
A good soup for this time of year is butternut squash apple soup. Diced butternut squash, diced apples with the peels removed, chicken stock, onions, and seasonings are all you need to create it.
4. Simplify the Dessert
It’s not necessary to invest a lot of effort in creating a whole foods diet-approved apple pie or fake pumpkin pie for dessert. Functional medicine Studio City practitioners suggest using apples and sweet potatoes to make a simple Thanksgiving dessert that won’t take you a lot of time.
This dessert just asks for sliced apples, sliced sweet potatoes, cinnamon, salt, water, and ghee or coconut oil. It is very quick and easy to prepare.