The holidays often include groups of family and friends gathering around the dinner table – hooray! Want more good news? It’s pretty easy to eat healthy during the holidays. You just have to take control and stack the table in favor of health. Layer it with delicious, good-for-you dishes that provide lots of options for a satisfying meal.

There are a few essential parts of a crowd-pleasing holiday dinner: veggies, lean meats and unique seasoning. Herbs can make a good (but kind of boring) recipe amazing without adding fat or sodium. Chop up some herbs and add them to your roast, veggies, salad—even dessert! Be adventurous.

You can find cooking inspiration online and on social media. If you feel like you’re at a loss for recipes, turn to the Internet. Type the words “healthy holiday dinner” into Google and it digs up thousands of results. Search Instagram or Pinterest for healthy food posts. You’ll have your menu planned in no time! Don’t even get me started on all the fun recipes you can make with the leftovers.

Here's how we do holiday dinner. Is your mouth watering? 

Try these ideas for a crowd-pleasing holiday dinner:

• Make a big roast. Chicken is super lean, and you can take the skin off.  Any bird is pretty low in fat, and you  can stuff it with delicious things and inject flavor into it. Just don’t deep fry it!

• Add interesting veggies. Root vegetables are my winter favorites. Try something different this year—instead of mashed potatoes, roast some butternut squash (or spaghetti squash or acorn squash). There are so many options that go beyond simple starches. Sweet potatoes are great. So are green beans and Brussels sprouts. Don’t forget about kale! It’s kind of amazing what you can do with a couple pieces of bacon and some kale.

• Make a winter salad. I’m the one who makes a huge salad for Thanksgiving. I’ll make a crazy salad with tons of ingredients, like the citrusy, wintery flavors of wild rice with orange.

• Going out? Bring something good! When you go to someone else’s house for the holidays, bring something healthy that you like. If you know deep fried turkey is on the menu, for example, bring a huge salad to share. That way you’ll have something healthy to balance out the grease. Don’t forget to bring your favorite bottle of wine, too.

Now it’s your turn. What’s your favorite healthy holiday recipe? Share it in the comments! I’d love some new ideas.

Delicious and nutritious - check out our Healthy Driven recipes. Get cooking!