What am I thankful for this Thanksgiving? To have the smarts to plan my menu before Turkey Day arrives. A food strategy is the best way to make sure you don’t pig out! (Image via marthastewart.com)

Well Turkey Day is upon us and that means its time for another low-carb holiday menu. We’re staying put for Thanksgiving so that makes it easier for me to control the points and carb count. My goal for my weigh in after Thanksgiving is to maintain my weight. That means I need a menu that is both filling and delicious.

You can take a look at a snapshot of my menu with the carb and Weight Watcher point count. Below you’ll find either the recipes or links to the recipes for my Turkey Day menu.

Building My Menu
I’m allowing myself to eat up to 25g of net carbs. I have 29 daily Weight Watcher points. Because I plan to have wine and dessert, I’m going to tap into a handful of my weekly allowance points. But that doesn’t mean I go crazy. I’m allowing myself between 4-7 extra points. No more. I need to keep control. Just because it’s a holiday doesn’t mean food is the most important thing. Being with family is what it’s about…oh god, maybe I need to budget more points for wine!

I plowed through my new low carb cookbooks and some foodie sites I frequent. Clearly I love George Stella’s The Complete Low-Carb Cookbook as  I picked 4 recipes from that book. Yes, it is that awesome!

Breakfast
In the morning, I plan to do about 30 minutes of yoga and 30 minutes of resistance band training. That tends to work up an appetite. I’ll want something that will last until lunch. My husband’s itching for pancakes, a no-no in my house. But George Stella comes through with a Maple Silver Dollar Pancake recipe that is both low in carb and points.

Maple Silver Dollar Pancakes
Net Carbs: 2g
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 4
Servings: 4 (makes 16 pancakes)

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ C water
• 1 tbsp. maple extract
• ½ C almond flour
• ¼ C milled flax-seed
• ¼ C sugar substitute
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Directions

• Spray griddle or large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and heat over medium heat.
• Stir together all ingredients until a well-blended batter is formed.
• Pour 16 silver-dollar-sized cakes onto the hot griddle, and cook on the first side for 3-4 minutes, or until they are golden brown on the bottom.
• Flip and cook for just 1 minute. Serve immediately.

I have sugar-free syrup for my husband to use. For me, I’ll probably top my pancakes with dollop of whipped cream (1g net carbs and 1 WW point). Yum!

Just because it’s Thanksgiving doesn’t mean I skip my workout. My weights, resistance bands, yoga DVD and walking shoes are at the ready.

Lunch
After breakfast I plan to do some prep work with the stuffing before going on my 6-mile walk. After the walk, my turkey goes in the oven. By then, it should be time for lunch. I plan to make a crustless spinach Quiche the day before. We can either eat it cold or just warm it up in the microwave.

I am making 2 slight changes from the Stella recipe below. The recipe calls for Swiss cheese. But I’ve got a big block of cheddar cheese that needs shredding. Also the recipe calls for frozen chopped spinach. I’m using 6 cups of fresh spinach, which I’ll chop up, steam and drain.

Crustless Spinach Quiché
Net Carbs: 2g
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 5
Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 6 large eggs
• ¼ C heavy cream
• ½ tsp. minced garlic
• ¾ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 10-oz bag frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 2 C shredded Swiss cheese
• 1 tbsp. red bell pepper, finely diced.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9-inch pie pan with nonstick cooking spray
• Wisk together the eggs, cream, garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
• Fold the spinach, cheese, and bell pepper into the egg mixture and then pour into the pie pan.
• Bake 40 minutes or until the top of the Quiche is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into it comes out mostly clean. Let cool 5 minutes before serving warm.

I love me some Jiffy corn muffin mix, my dad’s favorite when making his stuffing. This time around coconut flour will replace my beloved cornbread mix. That will keep the carb and point count down.

Dinner
What’s Thanksgiving dinner with out stuffing? My dad always made cornbread stuffing. I fondly remember those blue and white Jiffy boxes on our kitchen counter. Perhaps that’s where I get my love of cornbread?

Unfortunately all that bread just means lots of carbs and pounds. Determined to have stuffing on our table, I took to the Web in search of low carb cornbread. Thankfully I discovered a cool little blog – Maria Mind Body Health. There I found a “cornbread” stuffing recipe with a twist. The cornbread is actually made of coconut flour.

Sigh…I’ll miss that blue and white box, but I know it’s for the best.

You can make the faux cornbread ahead of Thanksgiving — it can even be frozen — to save you time on Turkey Day. I have no idea if it taste good (all the comments on her site show it does), but I love the idea so much I have to try it. Check out Maria’s recipe.

My husband asked if the Bacon & Cheddar Mock Mashed Potatoes I made last week could take the place of my garlic red mashed potatoes dish. Wow! If he is asking for cauliflower purée over his beloved mashed potatoes, you know it’s a winning dish.

I found George Stella’s cranberry relish recipe on the Food Network. Most cranberry relish includes ton of sugar so I stay away from it. But this recipe calls for a sugar substitute and keeps the carb count at 6g. If you are doing Weight Watchers, this cranberry dish is just 1 point per serving. Awesome!

Dinner Net Carbs & Points
Mock Cornbread Stuffing (2.2g; 7 pts.)
Bacon & Cheddar Mock Mashed Potatoes (2g; 4pts)
Cranberry Relish (6g; 1 pt.)

Dessert
A couple of weeks ago I tested out a low carb pumpkin pie with almond crust. It tasted amazing. I still might make that, put I came across this recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Pie (again from George Stella) that I’m itching to try. The crust uses finely chopped pecans rather than almond flour. The almond flour is instead used as the streusel topping. Hmmmm….sounds like a nutty pumpkin flavor. My mouth is watering thinking about it.

Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Pie
Net Carbs: 3.5
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 5
Servings: 12

Ingredients:

CRUST

• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• ½ C finely chopped pecans
• ½ C sugar substitute
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

FILLING

• 1 15-oz can pumpkin
• ¾ C sugar substitute
• 1 tbsp. pumpkin spice
• 1-¼ C heavy cream
• 4 large eggs

STREUSEL TOPPING

• 3 tbsp. butter, softened
• ½ C almond flour
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ C sugar substitute

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350. Mix all crust ingredients and press it down evenly over the bottom of a 10-inch pie pan. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from oven.
• Turn the oven up to 425. Whisk together all filling ingredients and pour into the baked crust.
• Combine the streusel topping ingredients with a fork, and crumble evenly over the top of the pie. Bake for 15 minutes at 425.
• Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 50-55 minutes more, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Cool on the counter for at least 30 minutes, then chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

Toss in the turkey and 2 glasses of wine, I’ll end the day at 22g net carbs and 36 points (including 6 weekly allowance points). Woohoo! That’s a menu that is filling, tasty and keeps me on track. My goal is to maintain my weight. But If I can stick to my menu I have a shot at losing weight.