Healthy Meals During the Holidays with Chef Allison Schaaf

Trevor:                    Hi there. I’m Dr. Trevor Cates. Welcome to the Spa Dr. Podcast. The holidays are a great time to get together with friends and family, and food certainly is one of those things that pulls people together. The problem though is, is that we’re oftentimes tempted to make unhealthy choices with the foods that we eat. I invited today’s guest on to talk about how we can better prepare for healthy meals during the holidays.

My guest is Chef Allison Schaaf. He is a food nutrition and culinary expert and founder of PrepDish, a subscription-based gluten-free and Paleo meal plan service. Allison holds a bachelor’s degree in culinary nutrition from Johnson and Wales University, a masters in nutrition communications from Tufts University and became a registered dietitian at the New England Medical Center. When she isn’t cooking, Allison is an avid yogi and takes advantage of all the great outdoor living Austin, Texas has to offer. On today’s podcast, Chef Allison shares practical tips to help set you up for success for healthy eating during the holidays. Whether you’re traveling, staying home or going out and about, you’ll be really delighted to hear these tips and tricks that she shares. Please enjoy this interview.

Allison, it’s great to have you on my podcast.

Allison:                   Thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to talk with you today.

Trevor:                    Yes. We’re talking about a really important topic. We’re talking about how to make meal planning and eating easier during the holidays, and healthy, of course. That’s a big part of it. I’m big on food. I love food. I love to eat. I think especially on the holidays, it brings people together, meal time, being with family. It is important, but we don’t need to lose sight of our health goals during this time. There are a lot of things that we can do to enjoy the holidays, enjoy eating and meal prep without the unhealthy temptations, right?

Allison:                   Yes.

Trevor:                    That does mean that we need to plan a little bit, so that’s why I wanted to have you on to help us with this.

Allison:                   Exactly, yes, and I think it’s something that during the holidays, people, they focus on one meal and getting maybe the big turkey or some tradition, which is great, but then, you stop to eat three meals a day the other six days of the week, so really making sure that you have that prepared as well. I think that’s one of the big …

Trevor:                    Good point, because I know that, that’s what my family does. We’ll make this huge meal. Then, it’s just leftovers, but then, some people get sick of leftovers. Then, they just eat the truffles or whatever.

Allison:                   It’s a [crosstalk 00:02:44], yes.

Trevor:                    The chocolates and the cookies and the eggnog.

Allison:                   Yes, a lot of it’s there.

Trevor:                    Yes. Okay, perfect, so what’s the first step? What’s the first thing you think we should address here?

Allison:                   Well, I mean the most important part is if you can think through ahead of time, so not the day before, but even a month before if you can because there’s so many items that you can put into a freezer. That can be done a few months in advance. The further you can think through some of those items, the better.

Sorry, my cat is trying to get into the video.

Trevor:                    Okay. All right, so yes. Let’s talk about, so how do we plan ahead? I know that we’ve got some people listening, watching that are thinking, “I don’t plan ahead. I’m not good at this.”

Allison:                   Yes.

Trevor:                    Let’s make it easy.

Allison:                   Well, one thing is even if you can just, leading up to that time, make some meals, and then double them up. When it gets cold, you make a lot of maybe a healthy chili of some sort. When you’re making that, double or even triple the recipe, and then, set aside half of that in the freezer so you can pull that out. Breakfasts are a great option where you can do this. Things like an egg frittata with a bunch of vegetables. A frittata is basically a crustless quiche. You can do eggs with spinach or kale and tomatoes, onions, whatever vegetables you want to do. I love to do this into individual muffin tins because then, not everyone has to eat. You don’t have to pull it out for everyone, but if anyone wants the frittata, you can just pull out an individual little frittata muffin. That’s a great one to do ahead of time.

Trevor:                    That’s great because you can freeze those too, and then just take out, maybe thaw a certain batch of them or something like that and not have to do a whole pan of them or dish of them.

Allison:                   Yes. It’s too often, I think, people in the holidays, you can have some treats. That’s fine, but the baked goods, it’s easy to find those during the holidays. To try and think outside of the box of like, “Okay, what could be fun and maybe even kid-friendly but maybe isn’t like a muffin or a scone or something like that, and have some more savory, less sweet options that you can go to?” Another thing that I love to do is, I call them breakfast hashes. It’s just like a mixture of whatever vegetables you want, really, so chopped up sweet potatoes, onions, maybe some dark leafy greens. Chop all those up and saute them together and serve it with an egg on top, like a fried egg of some sort. That’s a great one that you can make extra off and freeze it. Those are one of my go-tos. It sounds really simple, but it is good for company too. I’ve served that with guests, and they love it.

Trevor:                    Yes, I bet. What about snacks, because that’s one where people oftentimes, when you’re hungry, and you need one to grab something fast, it’s easy to go for the chips or the pretzels or chocolate candy. Those sorts of things, but what would be something that people can easily have, ready to go?

Allison:                   Well, one thing is, it’s obvious, but it’s not, and I even do this sometimes when I don’t have company, and that’s just buy a veggie tray. Sometimes, it’s a little more expensive. Sometimes, it’s not at all, and there’s also pre-chopped bags of vegetables. That way, you don’t even have to do any chopping. It’s just pre-chopped broccoli or cauliflower, carrots. All of those items are great to have on hand. If it comes with a little dip, I usually just put that to the side or throw that away and just try not to think about that, but you can make your own little healthy, like I have a coconut milk ranch that I do that’s really tasty. Yes, something like that’s good.

Trevor:                    Yes, or a humus dip. I think my audience likes the bean dips and things. That could be another option, but I love that idea, making it with coconut milk. That’s interesting. Any chance you can share us some ideas on how to make that?

Allison:                   The coconut milk ranch? Yes. I mean I can give you the recipe too. It’s just like some coconut milk, some apple cider vinegar, garlic, fresh parsley really is helpful. Then, you can add in dried herbs if you want, but those are the basic ingredients and olive oil.

Trevor:                    Okay, fantastic. That sounds awesome. I’ll have to try that. That sounds … It’s always nice to have a different dip, especially if you’re … I love vegetables, so I’ll just eat vegetables, but I know not everybody feels that way. They want to have something to make it taste better. I’m using air quotes here, but that’s a great tip. Any other snacky things you can recommend?

Allison:                   I love to do roasted nuts, especially during the holidays. It makes the house smell really good without doing a baked item. You can add in some fresh chopped rosemary or do a curry spice, anything like that, but I really like to have the roasted nuts on-hand. That’s a nice healthy snack that you can have.

Trevor:                    That’s a great idea, because a lot of times, people will buy roasted nuts, but we could actually just get raw almonds, and then roast them yourself. Then, you can use the oils that you want to use, healthier oils like using coconut oil or avocado oil and then not use super high heat too.

Allison:                   Exactly, yes.

Trevor:                    I like that tip a lot. Which oil do you prefer with the nuts?

Allison:                   I’ve done everything. If you can tolerate dairy, butter is always delicious or some ghee or something, yes. That’s always really tasty, but I’ve done it with olive oil, coconut oil, avocado. I mean all of them work. It’s whatever the preference is.

Trevor:                    Great.

Allison:                   Yes.

Trevor:                    Okay. Then, I guess you could make your own healthy trail mix as well, something along those lines.

Allison:                   Yes.

Trevor:                    Perfect.

Allison:                   Yes, yes.

Trevor:                    Okay.

Allison:                   The trail mix would be really great too if you’d add in some dried fruit if there’s ever an outing or something that you’re going on, that’s a nice one that you can pack up and take in the car. I know sometimes, I don’t know, the family all gets together and goes some place, and so you can have that in the car in case anyone gets hungry.

Trevor:                    Yes. Okay, so then, we talked about some breakfast ideas. What about lunch and dinner, because these could really, you could make whatever you make for dinner. You could make extra for lunch, right? Give us some lunch and dinner ideas.

Allison:                   Well, I mean back to the … If you do it in advance, any soup or stew works really good because that’s easy to make ahead. It’s easy to make that to where it’s really healthy. You can have different vegetables, maybe … I have a chicken posole that I do or a Mexican pork stew of some sort. It’s nice because you can have it either in the Crock pot or on the stove. That way, if everyone’s not on the same schedule, you can heat it up, and it can be heated for a few hours of people are coming and going and eating. That’s my main go-to. Then, some of the snacks that we talked about before like having some raw veggies that you can munch on. I always like to have a side salad too. That’s something you can make the day of, obviously. You can’t make that too far in advance, but just some big mixed green salad is always really popular too.

Trevor:                    Mm-hmm (affirmative), that’s great. I love the idea of the soups and stews. I do that a lot in the winter time, especially since I live in Park City, Utah, and there’s this saying where nobody’s on time for anything here. I don’t know if it’s like that elsewhere. When I lived in California, in Virginia, it wasn’t like this, but in Park City, you never know when people are going to show up. I’ll say, now, what I do is I just say, “Come after 6:30.” Then, I just make a soup or stew. It’s just there in the Crock pot. Then, people can help themselves. Then, I don’t stress about, “What time are we all sitting down? What time is everybody going to get there,” or if somebody’s late. That way, it’s just there. Then, during the holidays, I know it’s great too for families.

I love doing chili, turkey chili or a bison chili. Those are some of my favorite ones to do. I even sometimes will put yams in it. I have my recipe in my book that I put yams in it just to make it more interesting and not just the typical chili that everybody else has. Any other ideas for soups and stews? I know you gave a couple that’s yummy.

Allison:                   Yes, I mean the taco soup and chili are always really good. I like to sometimes do a Thai flavored one that has some curry paste in it just to mix it up. You can serve that with lime wedges, and that’s really tasty. Another dish that I love to do, and this is something … When I used to work as a personal chef, I realized everyone loved lasagna. There’s no one that doesn’t love lasagna. If I’m ever entertaining or hosting, and I don’t know the dietary restrictions, I do lasagna because I do … I just do them all gluten-free, either with noodles or vegetable noodles, but then, I can do a vegetarian version. I can do a dairy-free version. I can just do a few pans of lasagna. Then, that way, you have all your bases covered. That can also be done in advance if you want and put in the freezer. If you have leftovers, you can freeze them. I like those as well.

Trevor:                    Another great idea because casseroles in general, and lasagna being one of them, are definitely an easy thing that we were taught by our moms and our grandparents. This has been passed along. It’s something that’s easy, but a lot of those recipes are not healthy. They’re full of dairy and sometimes even sugar if you use a tomato sauce. It’s already made. It’s going to be loaded with sugar. What are your tips on making a healthy lasagna, because it’s not the easiest thing to make healthy.

Allison:                   Yes.

Trevor:                    I’m sure you have a great recipe for that.

Allison:                   Yes, so if I want to do dairy-free, I use cashew cheese.i just soak cashews in some hot water and put that in a blender. It almost makes like a ricotta. It’s really, really tasty. Then, for the noodles, I either use gluten-free. When I do my noodles, the other trick is I never cook my noodles before I bake the lasagna. My mom had a recipe doing this growing up, and so I just started playing around with it. You might have to bake it a little longer, but you don’t have to mess with the noodles and the boiling water and any of that. I never do that. Then, if I want to do a vegetable one, this is where if you have a Microplane to get really thin planks of noodles. It works well. I like to do either zucchini or eggplant and put that as my lasagna noodle. Yes.

Trevor:                    I’m definitely going to try that. That sounds delicious, yes. Then, what about the tomato sauce?

Allison:                   Well, so I try and just find a tomato sauce or clean ingredient. It’s like a [Rouse 00:14:07] or … Anymore, I think actually, Whole Foods now has one with no sugar added. It took them forever to do that, but I’m pretty sure they have one now with no sugar added, but just were easy ingredients.  Rouse is the one that I like. They have good seasonings, but it’s all nice clean ingredients.

Trevor:                    They use olive oil instead of canola oil, right?

Allison:                   I think they do. I think they do.

Trevor:                    Yes, you know what I mean, because that’s one of the things we want to make French tomato sauce. That’s what I always use. A lot of these will have canola oil or soy bean oil, or some other type of oil we don’t want to be eating. You want to look for the one that has olive oil and does not have sugar and organic tomatoes because those are definitely one that the vegetables that gets sprayed a lot.

Allison:                   Yes. Oh, and sometimes, I’ll do just … You can buy either crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce. I mean you can use fresh tomatoes too, but the crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce … Tomato sauce, you have to read to make sure it’s just the tomatoes, but you can find that, and then, just add some Italian seasoning or some oregano and basil.

Trevor:                    Perfect, perfect. Yes, because not everybody’s got Whole Foods or a health food store in their town, so it’s good to have that information. Okay, great. Is there any other casseroles that you have found to be particularly easy, healthy?

Allison:                   I’ve done shepherd’s pie before and done it with … I’m trying to think what was in that. It’s like a ground meat on the bottom. I think I’ve done it with ground bison and mixed that up. Then, peas and carrots, but then, the top layer is not mashed potatoes, but I’ve done it with mashed cauliflower. That’s one that, it’s funny because it’s like one of those old recipes like, “Do people really like that,” but when you serve it, people … I have it on, I think, the January meal plan, and people always were like, “Oh, this is so awesome. I’m so glad I can have shepherd’s pie again.” Yes.

Trevor:                    For people who can have potatoes, I know that’s part of the nightshade family, so sometimes, people have to avoid them. At least use the Yukon Gold potatoes, right, instead of the rest of the potatoes because those are going to … Or purple potatoes. That might be fun. I’ve never done that, but that might be a cool thing to do.

Allison:                   Yes. I mean you could do sweet potatoes too.

Trevor:                    I’ve never done that. That sounds yummy. You’re saying, you’re thinking bison is a good one to go with sweet potatoes?

Allison:                   Yes. Actually, I remember one time, I did more of a Chipotle-flavored ground meat. I used bison and then did the sweet potatoes on top, so it’s more like a Mexican shepherd’s … I don’t know if it’s a shepherd’s pie at that point, but I don’t know what else you’d call it.

Trevor:                    Right. We got to come up with a different name for that.

Allison:                   Yes, yes.

Trevor:                    Okay. All right, all right, sounds good. Any other tips for the meals that we could plan ahead, prep ahead, have in the freezer, make extra, any of those?

Allison:                   The other thing I was thinking when you said snacks is, well, I was going to say for kids, I love to have them is on Instagram, they’re really popular now, like little balls basically. It’s like some nut butter and all ground together in nuts and maybe some … I usually sweeten it with dates. I put it all in a food processor and roll it into little balls. Those are just nice energy bites for in between to have on-hand. Those can be made months in advance if you want.

Trevor:                    I really do like those. Actually, my youngest daughter and I make those oftentimes as little Christmas gifts. We put them in little tins, and we give those out. People are like, “Oh, I got more.” You go to a party, and they’re like, “Oh, I got more chocolates,” and so I said, “No, no. Actually, these don’t have any sugar in them. They’re sweetened with dates, and there’s raw cacao and coconut and nuts in there.” Then, they’re so yummy, and they do freeze well. You just keep them as long as you want in the freezer, and then bring them out and take them to a party with you. I think it’s been great for us. I think the guests, I mean the host of whatever party we’re going to usually appreciate having something other than the typical chocolate desert, everything sweet, lots of sugar and all that.

Allison:                   Yes, yes. No, they’re great to have. I mean I just keep them in my freezer. If I’m traveling, I can just put a few in a baggy, and I know that I at least have something, a better option.

Trevor:                    They’re a great snack because they’re very filling, satisfying. They don’t cause you to have the ups and downs on your blood sugar. I do like that. I’m glad you brought that up. That’s great. Okay. Any other tips on just planning ahead as far as lists, grocery lists, meal planning? Any of that stuff because I’m sure you’re probably one of those people that’s ultra-organized. Have all your lists planned out, your meals for the whole month. Anything that you can recommend for those of us, and me included. I’m not a big planner. I might just chop for a few days at a time, but not a big planner. Give us some help here.

Allison:                   The one thing I’m really pushing now, because I’ve seen it more and more is a lot of grocery stores have either curb-side pick-up or a delivery option. If you have that in your area, do that because not only it helps in so many ways. One, it forces you to put together a plan and a list because you have to send it into them. It also prevents all that going into the store and coming out. You’re like, “Wait. How did I end up spending $100 more than I thought I would?” It’s because you’re just grabbing things. It prevents that as well. That would be one. It’s like if you have a service like that because I know, even outside in Texas, I think most ATBs are implementing it in the next few months where even in smaller towns, they all have the curb-side pick up. That would be one, and so really utilize that.

Then, the second thing is to always batch as much as you can. If you buy vegetables that need to be chopped, just do them all at once. If you only have to set up your cutting board once, if you only have to … Even once you’re set up, batch that. Wash everything at once. Bring it to your cutting board. Have the trash full. Get it all done just right away. That way, you’re not just doing it in these little bits and pieces and having to rewash your cutting board 20 times a week. The more you can get in that mindset, it will help speed things along.

Trevor:                    Yes, that’s great. I know sometimes, it’s hard to make that step to do that, but it really does pay off. When I’m doing that, I always … My kids are usually around.they’re doing homework or they’re doing different things. They’re around with their friends or whatever. I usually set aside some of what I’ve just chopped up, and I put it out there because they’re always circulating around. They’ll see something they could just start snacking on. It’s not that they came to me and said, “Hey, mom. Will you chop up some vegetables for me?” If they’re sitting right there, then, they will eat those chopped carrots or zucchini, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers. Those things, radishes, those things, they will definitely pick them up and just start munching on them. It’s a good way to get vegetables in your kids. Yes.

Allison:                   Yes. One thing I say is like as you’re doing it, focus on when it happens, we’re like, “Oh, this is so awesome.” Then, you have to go back to of like, it’s not like, “Oh, I should be doing this.” It’s like, “Oh, I’m doing this because I like the outcome. I know I’ll be happier later.” It’s good to remember those moments so that way, you’ll want to go in and have it be this thing like, “Oh, I have to do this. It’s so miserable.” It should be something you can enjoy. The more you remember it as it’s happening that you enjoy it, you’ll be more motivated to do in the front-end, I guess.

Trevor:                    Yes, yes, absolutely. Fantastic. What about going to parties? If you’re not the one hosting, and I gave one tip of bringing those little chocolate balls that you make at home, but what are some other things, other tips going to parties, because that’s oftentimes an issue too because you get invited to something. Then, you go there, and all it is, is just everything loaded with dairy and sugar and gluten. All the things that maybe you’re trying to avoid.

Allison:                   Yes. If you know that’s going to be the situation like, “Hey, I have these things I’m trying to avoid, and I know there’s going to be a lot of them,” don’t go hungry. I don’t go stuffed because you’ll want to be able to eat a little, but go to where if the only thing you can eat is the thing you brought, you’re going to be okay. Then, you’re not tempted. You don’t have an empty stomach. Don’t make it about the food. Make it about talking to people and catching up. Try not to hover by the table all night. Try and arrange yourself so that you’re not sitting right by the food. I mean that alone is probably the best tip. It’s just don’t stand by the food and just focus on the conversation.

Trevor:                    I have to might as well ask the host if I can bring something. Most of the time, they appreciate that because they’re being bombarded with all the different stuff that they have to do to prepare meals for everybody. I just say, “Hey, can I bring a salad or just a vegetable plate for people to snack on?” They usually appreciate that, at least that I know. I’m going to have that. Just do your best. Just say, “I want to help you out,” rather than make them feel like they don’t know what they’re doing. There’s a better approach here where you can be not assuming.

Allison:                   Yes, that’s a great tip.

Trevor:                    Yes, okay, and then on the go. Like you said there, if you have the vegetables, you have the trail mix and things like that, you can be taking those with you, so you’re not tempted to stop at the coffee shop and get a muffin or something along those lines, right?

Allison:                   Yes. The more you can have that plan, then, the temptation’s not even there. It’s like the grocery store. If you just avoid going in, you’re not going to have the temptation to go in hungry and grab a bunch of stuff.

Trevor:                    Okay. Any other tips for the holidays? Anything else you could think of that’s really going to help support people to stick with their meal plan and not be tempted by some of the treats and things that are out there?

Allison:                   Yes. I mean I hate to keep repeating, but just take a step back and advance as much as possible, because the more it’s there, if you’ve already prepared this delicious Thai chicken soup, you’re going to want to eat that. You’re not going to be tempted to be like, “Oh, let’s just call in pizza. I’m exhausted from the holidays.” If it’s in the freezer and all you have to do is pull it out and heat it up, you’re going to want to do that because you put in the effort already. Try and think through ways where you can set yourself up to where the easy option is the healthy food. The easy option isn’t calling in take-put.

Trevor:                    Absolutely. Okay. Well, thank you. Great information. Tell me how they can learn more about you, what you’re up to. We’ll be sure to put up links that you talk about on my website too.

Allison:                   Well, I’m at PrepDish. My company is PrepDish, so on all the social media sites. I’m at PrepDish and would also love to offer your audience a free two-week trial of the meal plan. If they want to try those out, I can set up a code for you for that.

Trevor:                    Excellent, that’s great. Okay, good. We’ll have all that information up on the website. Allison, thank you so much. What are you doing for the holidays? Do you know what you’re going to be doing? You have big plans for travel, or you’re going to be with family, you’re going to stay home?

Allison:                   Yes, family, so we’ll go to my family, which is in Kansas. Then, my husband’s family, which is in LA. Then, we have a wedding in Detroit, so oh my gosh, wish us luck.

Trevor:                    You are going to be busy. What are you going to be doing to help set yourself up for success for all these?

Allison:                   I will be sending my mama grocery list. Then, I help her with the cooking.

Trevor:                    Lovely, lovely. I’m sure she really appreciates that.

Allison:                   Yes, yes.

Trevor:                    I’m sure what you make is delicious, so she appreciates not just the help but how tasty everything’s going to be.

Allison:                   Yes, if I don’t get her list, I’ll get an e-mail. “Do you have a list for me yet?”

Trevor:                    All right. Well, thank you, Allison. I appreciate your information today.

Allison:                   Yes, thank you for having me.

Trevor:                    I hope you enjoyed this interview today with Chef Allison. Got some great tips on how to eat healthier during the holidays. We want to certainly want to make it easier for you, so that you can have time and enjoy your friends and family and all the fun during the holidays and hopefully be a little less stressed during this time. To find out more about Allison and get the information that she talked about, as well as the recipe that she mentioned, just go to thespadr.com. Go to the podcast page with our interview, and you’ll find all the information and links there.

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