Being Alive; November 1997
Jennifer Jensen, MS, RD

Everybody expects us to be happy, content, and celebratory when we get into the holiday season, but sometimes we're not so happy. Pretend. You'll probably read this just before The Annual Thanksgiving Visitation, Food, and Football Fest. Yes, the generic "holiday season" is practically lived around food. Here are some survival tips.

What if you don't want to have your family over for dinner? What if you don't love turkey, dressing and cranberries? What if you observe religious traditions not covered by Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's? Here's a suggested holiday strategy for relatives and other mandates you may not particularly like.

Thanksgiving

(This is a nutrition power-first-a recipe session.)

TG dinner is one of the easiest meals of all time to cook, the menu is always the same, and I use it to dispense with my holiday-hosting/hostessing duties. It's a big meal, football is amusing for background noise (though I personally like football), and since everyone eats 'til they're full, guests get tired fast and want to leave early. Turkey practically cooks itself; it doesn't need very much help. A thrifty turkey shopping tip is this: Since turkeys have about the same weight of bones, get the biggest bird you can find; it has more meat-per-dollar than smaller versions. While you're at the market, your shopping list should also include a meat thermometer, frozen chopped onions, stuffing mix, and that huge, one-time-use pan for your bird. Get two; it's good to double-layer them for oven protection.

Do the turkey early on TG day. To cook: Dig out the gizzards from the neck and end cavities and put them in a sauce pan with water; simmer covered all day. For the turkey itself, replace the gizzards with the frozen, pre-chopped frozen onions and seasonings for cavity flavor. Do not put stuffing in the turkey; it's a hassle and a health risk. Make it in a bowl according to package directions, and store it in a casserole dish. You can assemble this the day before TG, and nuke it to serve while the turkey is cooling and waiting to be carved.

Early on TG day, put the turkey into a 325 degree F oven, breast-side down(!)-let natural drippings drizzle down to saturate the breast. The onion (and other spices) you put into the cavities can do a good job of seasoning your preparation. Tie the legs together, secure the wings, and cover very loosely with foil. Open the oven door and look in on it every hour. Cook until the bird is at least 185 degrees inside at the deepest part, the breast. Since you'll need to turn the turkey over after it lets loose with a major juice-dropping event, the breast will be available for thermometer sticking. Don't worry, you'll know when the juice-event happens-all of a sudden the bottom of your cheap little pan will start filling up; another reason to have two-pan- protection. It will take about 5 to 8 hours of cooking for a 16-24 pound bird. The cooked turkey should stand to cool for at least half an hour before carving-time enough to make the gravy and warm the stuffing.

Gravy is so simple, I always wonder why it's only me that makes it when I'm a guest-you can do the same since practically nobody seems to know how to! Pour turkey juices into a bowl, add scraped tidbits off the sides of the pan, then ditch the pan. De-fat the juices by putting the bowl in the freezer. The fat will float to the top, and after about 15 minutes you can scrape it off and pour out all nonfat juices and tidbits into a huge frying pan.

During your 15 minute "freezer" hiatus, mix about H-1 cup of white flour (brown won't do) with nonfat milk or milk substitute. I like to use a jar that can be shaken to do the mixing-it turns out to be smooth and un-lumpy that way. Gradually, add the flour mixture to the meat juices over a medium-hot burner, whisking constantly (the whisk breaks up lingering lumps). Season this with salt and pepper "to taste." If your gravy gets too thick, add more milk; if it's too thin, add more flour. You simply cannot make too much gravy; you'll want it for leftovers. So, pour and whisk, and gravy is a huge "thank you" whether you're hosting or visiting.

As to non-meat meal portions, I assign these to visitors who ask "can I bring anything?" Yes, would you make some yams, please? A pie would be nice. We could use some mashed potatoes. Get the point? All you have to do is make the turkey, stuffing and gravy-your guests will bring the rest! It's the easiest meal in the world to make-truly. You can open the can of cranberry sauce for yourself-use the gel-type to avoid making diarrhea happen.

For vegetarians, all I can say is that you won't save the life of any turkey by not buying one. For this one traditional meal, you might want to "relax" dietary restrictions a bit. For nutrition information, the white meat is two-thirds less fatty than the dark meat, which is both softer and more flavorful; if you're watching your fat intake, be very white about your turkey-part choices. Use gravy to enhance moisture and flavor.

Be Safe

There are some things I have to say about food safety. First, keep hot things hot and cold things cold. If something was hot and now is room temperature, microbes might be building colonies inside; two for one, every 20 seconds, every minute, every hour, all day. That item must be re-heated to over 165 degrees for safety. And that's also why to not stuff your turkey-inside of cavities, germs can brew as the turkey cools, as it must, before carving.

Christmas

After Thanksgiving, the holidays could be optional visitations; you've dispensed with your obligatory host/hostess duties. Now you can wait to be invited, and accept only those events you truly want to attend. For some, Christmas is a highly religious event. Be respectful. For others, it can be fun and not particularly religious any more. Get some really cheap gag gifts for fun-giving. I just got some candles with "$100 bills" wrapped around them-for $1.50 each. Money to burn!!

Alternatively, if Christmas is vacation time for you, travel safely and observe all food safety precautions, especially water safety, as fastidiously as you can-I know you don't want to ring in the New Year with a case of Travelers' Trots! On the other hand, in sunny Southern California, we don't expect our winter to start until sometime in February; remember that others may want to visit you to get away from their own colder habitats. An occasion for seeing long-distance friends-a holiday bonus if ever there was one! You can already "be busy" if it's not someone you want to have as visitors.

New Year's

Now we're up to anticipating New Year's. While this seems far away, it may be a good idea to begin thinking about how you want your own 1998 to go. One of the best ways, although I might be slightly biased, is to have a Nutrition Check-Up; new protease rules, or side effects, may get great assistance from that little re-up with your nutritionist. If you don't have a nutritionist, perhaps you might want to take a $100 candle and blow it off by treating yourself to a special visit. Since there are a lot of competent HIV-savvy nutritionists locally, it should be quite easy to locate someone to satisfy your own needs for the new year. By the way, if $100 is too much for your financial outlook, some of us offer special low rates for HIV clients-call around.

First do no harm. Should any of this be, or seem to be, connected to adverse consequences, contact your nutritionist or your doctor.

Jennifer Jensen, MS, MBA, RD, is in private practice. She always offers an affordable fee for HIV clients. She welcomes your call to 310.450.5581, or e-mail to NutPower@aol.com

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