How to cook a low calorie Christmas lunch with all the trimmings!

Strip your Christmas lunch of over 300 calories with these clever tips and tricks.

Heres how to cook a delicious low calorie Christmas lunch…

The turkey
Drop instant calories when it comes to your turkey by following these golden rules:

Before you cook your meat prick the skin to allow the fat to drain out
Roast it on rack inside a roasting tin. This will keep the meat out of the fat that runs off it as it cooks
Remove the skin and you can save around 40 calories per portion
Eat the light meat as it has slightly fewer calories than dark meat, so choose breast instead of leg or thigh

The potatoes
Avoid goose fat and instead cook your potatoes in a tray of (unflavoured) coconut oil when roasting. The coconut oil will deliver the same great tasting crispy roast potatoes that youre used to (but better for you!) and leaving the skins on will mean they absorb less fat and keep all their nutrients.

Top tip: Keep your roasties in large pieces as this reduces the amount of fat they absorb!

The stuffing
Save almost 100 calories by choosing a chestnut or fruit-based stuffing instead of sausage meat. 100g of sausage meat stuffing contains around 252 calories a portion while a 100g of cranberry and roast chestnut stuffing has only 162 calories.

The Brussels sprouts
Brussels sprouts are a really good source of B vitamin and C, so make sure you pile up on them come lunchtime! To make them healthy, and really tasty, sauté them in a tiny bit of olive oil (brush it on the sprouts rather than pouring it in the pan to use less) and add either fresh herbs or lemon (which is calorie free), or chop up a small bit of pancetta which will add loads of flavour without too many calories.

The pigs in blankets
Christmas dinner wouldnt be Christmas dinner without pigs in blankets! To make them more diet friendly make your own. Use low-fat chipolata sausages and lean back bacon, and always bake them rather than fry.

The gravy
You can still use the juices from your turkey but make sure you drain off the fat first. Pour the turkey juices into a jug and wait for the fat to rise to the surface and carefully spoon off the fat before making the gravy.

The bread sauce
The best way to ditch the calories in your bread sauce is to use low fat, semi-skimmed milk instead of full fat milk or cream. Plus adding a clove of garlic to the milk will boost the flavour and stop it being bland. By simply doing this you can save over 200 calories PER serving of bread sauce – amazing!

The Christmas pudding
If your naughty treat is Christmas pudding dont worry just have a smaller portion and go easy on the brandy butter or double cream! Choose low fat crème fraiche instead which will save you tons of calories but still tastes good.