Healthy southern cooking

[yayoi]

I've had greens that were flavored with turkey wings instead of hams hocks. They weren't half bad. Also when I cook sweets, I usually cut the sugar by 25-50%.

[lilypad]

Watermelon is healthy, that's about it for Southern fare!

[Padgett2]

Trim all that yummy fat off the pork chops and ham. Yeah, I know it's goooood, but it's loaded with calories. You got to make choices with the Southern Cooking.

[NicoleJ]

I use turkey interchangeably w/ ham hocks. if it's smoked, most don't know the difference. I use in greens, butter beans, black eyed peas, etc.

I make a wonderful oven fried chicken - season as normal. to make it crispy, shake it in a mix of cornmeal and seasoned flour. spray w/ pam to keep from burning. comes out perfectly crunchy each time.

those big southern breakfasts? We use turkey bacon now instead. I SWEAR my meat eating dh loves it just as much as pork bacon. MUCH cheaper and much better for you. tastes lovely.

We use low fat shedds spread. it's got about 4 or 5 grams vs reg which has 9.

[missymomof3]

Thank y'all for your suggestions. I'll have to give em all a try!

[Nunyabiz86]

Originally Posted by Padgett2

Trim all that yummy fat off the pork chops and ham.

Heresy! I don't know what I would do without the fatty goodness that is Lard. You have to put something on those nasty tasting veggies to make them palatable. I have heard of a southern condiment called Chow-chow, although I've never tried it. Basically, it's a mixture of pickled veggies and cabbage. It should be available in the grocery store, in the relish section. I won't claim that it tastes good, but it should add a lot of flavor (of some kind) for not a lot of calories.