POV: Cooking your holiday family favorites, but healthier!
It’s the holiday season! Oh… the lights, the warmth, the music… I love it all!
One of the things I look forward to each year is the holiday food! I am not much of a creative when it comes to décor; however, when it comes to the holiday menu, my inner adventurous chef stands tall!
In the African-American community, food is one way we pass along family traditions and connect across generations.
In many homes, it isn’t unusual to find two or three, sometimes four, generations of women and children collected around the table, swapping stories from the past while preparing portions of the holiday meal.
From shucking corn, washing greens and even shelling fresh peas for the main event, the holiday meal.
In the African-American community, food is one way we pass along family traditions and connect across generations.
While our community is known for well-seasoned, finger-licking dishes, we are unfortunately also known for some of the highest rates of heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), African Americans are disproportionately affected by diabetes with over 12.1% having the disease, compared with 7.4% of the non-Hispanic White population.
There are many contributing factors to this, including the lack of healthy eating habits.
Consuming highly processed foods, high sodium, fatty meats, fried foods, and unhealthy fats (e.g., lard, margarine, and shortening) has been a staple in traditional cooking methods to maximize taste and flavor on the plate, and we see an increase in these over the holiday season.
3 John 1:2-3 says, “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.”
This Scripture tells us that God cares about the state of our bodies just as much as He cares about the state of our souls.
Honoring Him in our hearts helps us honor the bodies He created by making better choices regarding what we may eat and enjoy—even on holidays and special occasions.
So, does this mean we have to eat bland, tasteless holiday food to avoid high sodium and unhealthy fats?
No way!
It simply means we make some easy swaps to maintain flavor while nourishing our bodies—even as we celebrate Jesus!
Honoring Him in our hearts helps us honor the bodies He created by making better choices regarding what we may eat and enjoy—even on holidays and special occasions.
Healthy Swaps for Your Holiday Table
– Swap out margarine, lard, and shortening for real butter, olive oil, coconut oil, or avocado oil.
– Opt for baking or roasting your main dishes and sides instead of frying.
– Fill your table with delicious high-fiber veggie sides like collard greens, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes (sans the marshmallow and caramel drizzle), and kale.
Upgrading a Family Favorite - Collard Greens
My family has been eating collard greens during the holidays for decades!
At Thanksgiving, we dip our cornbread in the “pot licker” (leftover broth).
At Christmas, they add a beautifully rich green hue to our table.
At New Year’s, we eat “greens” to signify prosperity in the new year!
Traditional greens are prepared with some sort of smoked meat, such as ham hocks, bacon, pork neck bones, or turkey necks—I know it may sound a bit weird! You can imagine that these meats add not only flavor, but a great deal of saturated fat, grease, and sodium to this highly nutritious veggie.
A few years ago, I was on a quest for healthier alternatives for some of our family’s favorite dishes. So, I pulled a few recipes together to create a delicious dish that nourishes the body and soul.
As a holiday gift to you, my extended Rev family—here is my family’s healthy collard greens recipe below.
Give it a try… and let me know what you think!
The Edge Family Vegan Collard Greens
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Cook Time: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Yields: 8-10 Servings
Ingredients:
- ½ onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken or beef broth)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp liquid smoke
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional for heat)
- 2 lbs collard greens
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (not pictured)
- Black pepper
Directions:
1. Coat a large stock pot with olive oil and heat on medium high heat until oil coats the bottom of the pot.
2. Sautė onions until almost tender. Once onions have softened, add in minced garlic. Cook for about 2 more minutes.
3. Add in vegetable broth.
4. Season broth with liquid smoke, salt, black pepper (to taste) and red pepper flakes.
5. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Make sure you like the flavor because this is how your greens will taste.
6. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat.
7. Add in the greens until they meet the top of your pan. Stir them around, then cover for a 2-3 minutes until they wilt down. Then add the remaining greens to the pot. Stir them around until all have been coated with the broth mixture, then cover and simmer for about 45-60 minutes. Green will continue to wilt down and will become dark green and tender.
8. Plate it up and serve with your favorite hot sauce or cornbread on the side!
Adrienne Edge is a Revelation Wellness Instructor from Platoon 25. She also serves as a Rev Educator and Revelation Wellness Podcast and Blog contributor. She lives in Summerville, SC with her husband, LeNolon, and their “Edgelettes”, LJ (14) and Layla (10). Adrienne shares her passion for family nutrition and faith-based wellness through partnerships and programming opportunities with organizations, schools, and churches in her community.
All You Need for Healthy and Whole Holidays
Find devotionals, family activities, special podcast episodes, healthy holiday articles, and MORE in our Healthy & Whole Advent Guide!
