Holiday Hacks
My 4th of July BBQ won't break my caloric bank.
To my mind, holidays are all about food. Even if I’m abstaining from the eating competition, the idea of the holiday, has a flavor, has a scent, has some entanglement with food.
Thanksgiving is turkey/stuffing/potatoes/gravy, Christmas is my wife’s eggs benedict in the morning, the kids Pillsbury crescent roles baked around ham and various cheeses midday, and a prime rib roast for dinner. These holidays are epic gauntlets of consumption. Try as I might, I cannot think of a single holiday without flavor and scent…
This became a problem for me when I started dieting, or really, when I embarked upon “lifestyle change.” Occasionally I’d diet through a holiday, be the grump with only turkey breast on my plate for Thanksgiving, or the one peeling the crescent roll and cheese off my children’s creation on Christmas day, gobbling up the ham and discarding the rest. But as I’ve progressed with “lifestyle change” I’ve been trying to view my holiday plate as a temple of moderation. Not overburdened in either direction, neither too much indulgence or abstinence.
The 4th of July tastes and smells of BBQ to me. Not in a thick red sugar sauce way, but in charred meats over an open flame.
Here’s what I’ll be eating come this 4th:
I have missed sausage for so long, as a kid they were one of my favorite foods. Whether spiced with fennel seeds in the Italian tradition or heavily with paprika in the Spanish. Non-descript ground meat incased in non-descript animal casing makes my mouth water! I love andouille and kielbasa, hot links and bratwurst, I love a dirty water hot dog and I love a Magnificent Mangalitsa sausage with visceral passion. I love meat in tube form.
But it’s been off the menu for some years now, the average macro ratio has never been justifiable for me.
And then along comes a company called Bilinskis, throwing my entire understanding of tubed meat on its ear. They make really delicious sausage, in a plethora of flavors, and they’re not just cylinders of fat! At around 80 calories per link, with 12-14 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat and less than a gram of carbs, it’s almost like they were made just for me!
I love their andouille and spicy red pepper, but on the 4th I will be chowing down on spinach and garlic.
Arnold makes a keto hot dog bun, also 80 calories, loaded with fiber, and the pairing of these two items is a little burst of guilt-free heaven.
I will also be grilling chicken which has been marinating in Fage 0% fat yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, salt and oregano.
I’m going to pair this with a tzatziki also made from 0% fage yogurt, shallots, garlic, lemon, mint, and cucumber. The secret to a good tzatziki is getting as much liquid out of the cucumber as possible. I grate it, squeeze as much out as possible with a clean dish towel, salt it well, allow to rest, and then give it a good second squeeze after the salt has been given 10 or so minutes to do its work, mix them all together and it really feels like a high fat sauce.
With just a little bit of elbow grease, some thought and preparation, I don’t have to avoid all the flavors I associate with these holidays, and they don’t turn into cheat meals (that can turn into days) that can get out of hand either.
I’m still navigating this “lifestyle change” stuff. Turns out that I haven’t reached life’s finish line yet and must still put some effort into it. So why not make it as flavor-able as possible?