With the admittedly delicious excesses of Thanksgiving around the corner, the Matador Sports crew rebels with their own healthy holiday menu for active lifestyles.
HARVEST FEASTS ARE about as universal as holidays get. While the details vary from culture to culture, they all have the same basic idea: getting together and celebrating having enough to eat.
Unfortunately, it’s sometimes hard to stop at “enough” when holiday cakes and pies are around, and our health suffers as a result. We at Matador Sports put together this healthy, four-dish fall menu to keep you moving through the winter and help you fight the food coma.
Soup –Organic Colorful Turkey Chili
Sports intern and frequent contributor Benita Hussain picked out this hearty turkey-and-bean stew, a perfect fuel for workouts in brisk weather.
This soup is packed with protein, good fiber, and carbs, and can be spiced up with some extra cayenne pepper to keep you warm.
– Benita
Main Course – Stuffed Acorn Squash
Besides being a great vegetarian-friendly comfort food, stuffed acorn squash is one of the healthiest harvest-season dishes you’ll ever encounter. The brown and wild rice used for the stuffing is packed with good carbohydrates to support sustained activity.
Buy baby acorn squash for instant portion control–each diner gets half a squash, plus the stuffing that fits in it.
-Adam Roy, Editor, Matador Sports
Hot Beverage – Apple Soy Chai Latte
Intern and resident technology whiz Lindi Horton goes on a chai latte kick when temperatures drop. This soy-based, apple-infused recipe is a spicy, heart-healthy take on the beverage.
Dessert – Raw Chocolate Cheesecake With Mint Ganache
This vegan, raw-food version of a classic desert comes courtesy of Sports intern Morgan Leahy deBoer. It’s not exactly low-fat, but the substitution of cashews and other nuts for cheese and milk cuts out much of the artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol of normal cheesecake.
I think the health benefits of agave are debatable, so substitute another sweetener if you prefer it. Either way, for a cheesecake, this looks pretty healthy.
– Morgan
Community Connection
Read Hal Amen’s musing on the fall holidays in A Traveler’s Thanksgiving.