Menu Conversion, Or What to Serve for Special Meals, Like Thanksgiving

This morning I woke up to find a letter from someone asking help in converting some traditional Thanksgiving recipes to kosher parve (no dairy products.)

I don't think she liked my general approach, which is to ignore tradition.  First of all, I like simple foods and menus.  I don't think it's healthy to have all sorts of animal proteins (meat, fish, poultry, dairy) at one meal.  Kashrut, the Jewish Dietary Laws, forbids meat/poultry with dairy.  Also, fish isn't cooked with meat/poultry, though they can be served separately.  As far as I'm concerned, it's enough for our bodies to have either meat/poultry or fish.  You don't need both, certainly not all at once.

I like my vegetables to be just vegetables and not full of fats and animal proteins.  For over a year now, I eat very few starches (carbohydrates,) and due to that diet change, I've lost over 35 pounds or 15 kilo.

My meals include a serving of animal protein, or tofu, plus lots of low starch vegetables and salad.  I find these meals filling and satisfying.  My vegetables are baked, roasted, sauteed and stir-fried. They're attractive and delicious when cooked those ways.  In addition, it's very easy to prepare vegetables like that.

Most studies show that overeating proteins is the cause of illness, high cholesterol etc, so if you only serve one animal protein, the chances are that you'll eat less than if there's a choice.  Make a variety of vegetables, and you'll find yourself healthier and slimmer.  Limit the carbohydrates to one starchy vegetable and one grain at most.  Don't sweeten vegetables.  Properly cooked, they're sweet enough.