4 Easy Holiday Meal Preps for 5 Different Diets

Author: Riley Pearce

Director of Social Media

Variety truly is the spice of life, and being organized is a great way to maintain our sanity during the holiday season. To kick off Free Form Fitmas month, we want to provide you with both variety and organization.

There are a lot of diets and eating styles out there and if there is any time to try them all and learn a few new recipes it would be during the season of feasts and festivities. So here are 5 different holiday-themed meal prep ideas based on the vegan diet, gluten-free diet, paleo diet, and low-carb diet.

Vegan: Cranberry Salad and Mushroom Meatloaf

If you don’t know what a vegan diet is, vegans (those who follow this type of diet) consume everything but animal and animal products. This includes meat, but also dairy, eggs, fish, and anything else you can make with animal products. This means that vegans are consuming a variety of fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, and grains and any other product that those ingredients can create.

For the vegan holiday meal prep we are bringing you a recipe from A Virtual Vegan and their ultimate vegan christmas dinner menu. The cranberry pecan brussel sprout salad is just 1 of the recipes from her much larger list of recipes, but it is the most simple, and the easiest to use as a meal prep item.

Here is the cranberry pecan brussel sprout salad:

Ingredients

Salad

• 600g / 5 heaping cups Brussels sprouts
• 90g / ¾ slightly heaping cup pecan nuts , walnuts make a good sub.
• 120g / 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 pomegranate , optional

Dressing

• 1 large orange , zest and juice
• 1 shallot , or a small chunk of sweet onion
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar , or white wine vinegar
• 5 pecan nuts , walnuts make a good sub. For a nut-free option see recipe notes.
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• salt , to taste
• black pepper , to taste

Instructions

• Wash the Brussels sprouts, removing any old leaves and the stubby bit of stalk. 
• Shred the Brussels sprouts as finely as you can and put them into a large bowl. I use a food processor to do this as it makes it so quick and easy. Chop the nuts into small pieces and add them too along with the dried cranberries. 
• Blend the dressing ingredients together until completely smooth. If you prefer a slightly thinner dressing just add a few drops of water until you get to the consistency you like. 
• Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to distribute evenly.  Sprinkle with a few extra cranberries and pecans if you wish and also some optional pomegranate arils too if you have them. 

Notes

I don’t recommend you buy pre-sliced Brussel’s sprouts for this salad. They are generally cut quite thickly and having thin slices really makes a difference to flavour and eatability. Pre-chopped veggies also are often a bit dry and withered around the edges. Fresh is best and will pay dividends in flavour, texture and appearance.

This salad will keep well for a couple of days in the fridge once dressed. The sliced sprouts don’t go slimy like lettuce does. If you are storing it though I would advise leaving the chopped nuts out until just before you serve to keep them nice and crunchy. 

This salad can easily be made nut-free. Just omit the nuts from the dressing. It is still really good without them. And in the salad you can either omit the nuts completely or use some pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead.  

Estimated nutrition per serving:

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 285kcal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Sodium: 39mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 1200IU | Vitamin C: 190.6mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 2.5mg

Glute-Free Diet: Sweet Potato Casserole with Crunchy Oats

Eating gluten-free is maybe a diet a few of us have forgotten about, but those with celiac disease and gluten intolerances, gluten-free recipes are all they can stomach during the holiday season. 

For our next meal prep item we bring you the sweet potato casserole with a crunchy oat topping from Cooking Light. The large casserole is perfect to prep on the weekends and enjoy all week long.

(serving size: about 1/2 cup)

Ingredients

• 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (about 8 cups)
•  1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
•  2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and divided
•  1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
•  1 large egg, beaten
•  Cooking spray
•  1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
•  2/3 cup pecans, chopped
•  3 tablespoons almond meal
•  3 tablespoons maple syrup, divided
•  1 tablespoon canola oil

Instructions

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Step 2:

Place potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with water to 1 inch above potatoes. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 6 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain. Return potatoes to saucepan. Add milk, 1 tablespoon butter, and vanilla; mash to desired consistency. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and egg. Spread potato mixture in the bottom of an 11- x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Step 3:

Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, oats, pecans, almond meal, and 2 tablespoons syrup in a bowl. Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter and canola oil; toss to coat. Sprinkle oat mixture over potatoes. Bake at 375°F for 18 minutes or until surface is golden. Remove pan from oven; drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon maple syrup.

Nutritional Information

• Calories 232
•  Fat 10.1g
•  Satfat 2.1g
•  Monofat 4.5g
•  Polyfat 2.1g
•  Protein 4g
•  Carbohydrate 31g
•  Fiber 5g
•  Cholesterol 21mg
•  Iron 1mg
•  Sodium 195mg
•  Calcium 56mg
•  Sugars 9g
•  Est. added sugars 3g

Paleo Diet: Sweet Potato Hash with Ground Turkey, Brussel Sprouts and Apples

The paleo diet is one of those diets that seems to always exist just slightly under the radar. It isn’t an extreme diet like veganism or keto, but more or less a diet that simply promotes consuming the types of foods that would have been available-to and eaten-by our ancestors. 

If we are trying to go for an easy meal prep for the holidays we can’t even begin to propose the idea of making a whole turkey. Although making a turkey certainly yields a lot of leftover meat, it isn’t quick or easy. So instead we have this tasty, flavourful, paleo, ground turkey hash for you to try from Paleo Running Momma and enjoy all week for breakfast!

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups sweet potatoes peeled and chopped I used white but any variety is good!
• 2 cups quartered brussels sprouts
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil for roasting divided*
• sea salt and black pepper for roasting
• 1 medium pink lady or granny smith apple chopped (these are my favorite for cooking)
• 1/3 – 1/2 lb ground turkey**
• 1/4 tsp onion powder or 1 tbsp minced onion***
• dash poultry seasoning – optional
• Ghee or pastured butter for cooking turkey and apples
• 3-4 eggs
• Sea salt to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line two large baking sheet with parchment paper
2. In one bowl, toss the chopped sweet potatoes with 1 tbsp coconut oil to coat completely, then sprinkle with sea salt and toss to coat. Spread potatoes out in a single layer on the parchment lined baking sheet, and roast for 20 minutes, turn/shake for even roasting, and continue to roast another 10 minutes or until soft and golden.
3. In another bowl, toss the brussels sprouts in 1 tbsp coconut oil to coat, sprinkle with salt and spread out on the second baking sheet. Roast for about 15 minutes until soft and lightly browned.
4. When veggies are soon to be done roasting, heat a large heavy skillet over med heat and add ghee or butter. If using the minced onions, add these to the pan prior to the turkey to soften, Then, add the turkey and sprinkle with sea salt, onion powder if using, and a dash of poultry seasoning if desired.
5. As soon as the turkey is no longer pink, stir in the chopped apples and cook together, stirring occasionally, until the apples soften and the mixture is lightly browned.
6. Once the sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts are done roasting, remove from oven and add everything to the large skillet, stirring to combine.
7. Create 3 or 4 spaces in the hash for where you want to bake in the eggs. Crack each egg into these spaces and sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper if desired.
8. Bake in the preheated oven (still 400) until eggs are cooked to preference – for me this was about 12 minutes. Serve for any meal! Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

*You’ll use 1 tbsp for the sweet potatoes and 1 tbsp for the brussels sprouts

**I used just under 1/2 lb for this recipe

***Use one or the other depending on preference

Low-Carb: Eggnog Cheesecake Bars with Gingerbread Whipped Cream

Last, but certainly not least, the low-carb diet. For the final diet we could have gone full Atkins diet or even Keto, but prefer the idea of low-carb so that keeping the carbs low is the only “rule” you have to follow for is recipe.

We’ve had our breakfast recipe, 2 lunch/dinner options, so now it is only fitting to share a treat as our final recipe. We found this recipe at All Day I Dream About Food and were shocked that each bar only contains 5g of carbohydrates! The recipe should make around 16 bars, but you can decide to cut them smaller to make them a quick low-carb snack.

Ingredients

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cups almond flour
• 1/3 cup Swerve Sweetener
• 2 tbsp Coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup butter melted

Cheesecake Filling:

• 1 lb cream cheese softened
• 1/2 cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
• 2 Safest Choice Eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar-free eggnog (my recipe OR Safest Choice Eggnog made with your favourite low carb sweetener OR 1/2 cup heavy cream and one egg yolk)
• 1/2 tsp eggnog flavour OR 1 tsp vanilla or rum extract
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Gingerbread Whipped Cream:

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 3 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener
• 2 tsp molasses (optional, for colour and flavour)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger

Instructions

For the crust:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. In bottom of an 8×8 square baking pan, combine almond flour, sweetener, coconut flour, cinnamon, ginger, clove and salt.
2. Add melted butter and stir together until mixture begins to clump together. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom of the pan.
3. Bake crust 10 to 12 minutes or until just beginning to brown around the edges. Remove and let cool.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 300F.

For the filling:

1. Beat cream cheese with sweetener until well combined and fluffy. Beat in eggs, eggnog, flavouring and nutmeg until well combined and smooth.
2. Pour filling over cooled crust. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until just set. Remove and let cool, then refrigerate at least 3 hours.
3. For the gingerbread whipped cream, combine whipping cream, powdered sweetener, molasses, cinnamon and ginger in large bowl. Beat until medium stiff peaks form, but do not overbeat.
4. Cut cheesecake into squares and serve with a dollop of gingerbread whipped cream.

Recipe Notes

Serves 16. Per serving: 254 Calories; 24g Fat (83.8% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 101mg Cholesterol; 168mg Sodium. Total NET CARBS = 3 g.