How to Plan for Thanksgiving for 2 This Season

Thanksgiving for Two Ideas

Families are getting smaller and many of us live far apart, so Thanksgiving for 2 or even Thanksgiving for one is becoming more common. So, I am excited to share a delicious Thanksgiving meal two and provide some ideas to make your small celebration beautiful, delicious and meaningful.

As you already know, the holiday season many of us to eat beyond the feeling of comfort and once the new year comes, we often wonder why we did it. So, between now and the new year, I will share some easy, tasty ideas and survival tips to help you enjoy your holidays and food just a little more!

Here are a few ways that you can make your holiday joyful, memorable, and full of gratitude!

Tips for Planning a Small Thanksgiving

1. Play Some Music to Set the Occasion.
   These tunes can be while you prepare the food or after. Some soft music in the background while you eat can also be nice as long as it is not distracting. You can find a number of Thanksgiving playlists or make your own.
   
2. Add fresh flowers, small pumpkins or another holiday decor.
   Some festive table decorations can set the mood whether it’s flowers, pumpkins and gourds or other holiday greenery. When you are missing special family members, your decor can lift your spirits!
   
3. Table Settings.
   If you want to use paper plates, that is up to you. I get out the real dishes and table linens even if it’s just me and my husband for dinner.
   
4. Plan for Fun.
   Add joy to your celebration with games, movies, a football game or a special craft project.
   
5. Get Moving.
   Take a walk after dinner or bring your music up a notch and have a house dance party for one or two.
   
6. Don’t Forget the Gratitude.
   Since Thanksgiving is the time, we express gratitude include some extra time for this. Here are a few ways that you can get started!

Easy Thanksgiving for Two

This Thanksgiving for two is a simple menu which includes a small number of items to prepare. But this menu could fit your family’s larger holiday gathering by increasing the portions. More people now are looking for smaller celebration ideas because families are smaller, their members are changing, and many families are spread further apart so many celebrations are smaller in size.

Thanksgiving Menu for a Small Gathering

Colorful Fall Salad with Creamy Dressing

Stuffed Red Kuri Squash with Vegan Sausage Cornbread

Steamed Green Beans

Mini Filo Apple Tarts Mini Apple Filo Tarts (vineripenutrition.com)

No matter how intimate the company or the amount of food served, the decorations, delicious food, people, and gratitude of the season make Thanksgiving special. If you are planning a bigger celebration; you might want to check out the previous posts that I have shared for Thanksgiving.

Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes

These recipes can be made either vegetarian or vegan.

http://www.vineripenutrition.com/holiday-survival-thanksgiving-recipe-menu-ideas/

Low Fodmap and Gluten-free Thanksgiving

Low Fodmap Thanksgiving Menu Ideas and Recipes (vineripenutrition.com)

And if you are looking for a Thanksgiving turkey

http://www.vineripenutrition.com/clean-eats-humanely-raised-chicken-and-turkey/

Thanksgiving for Two Recipes

Colorful Fall Salad with Creamy Dressing

Stuffed Red Kuri Squash with Vegan Sausage Cornbread

Steamed Green Beans

Mini Filo Apple Tarts Mini Apple Filo Tarts (vineripenutrition.com)

Thanksgiving for 2 Desserts

I love to make desserts that come in small packages to decorate and also come already portioned. Here are a few:

Mini Apple Filo Tarts

Sweet Potato Casserole

https://vineripenutrition.com/2-delicious-holiday-dessert-recipes/

Mini Pumpkin Chocolate Bundt Cake

I purchased a half sized bundt pan to make this cake for a smaller Thanksgiving celebration.

Low Fodmap Cake – Pumpkin Bundt Cake Vine Ripe Nutrition

Festive Thanksgiving Beverages

Here are several beverages that you might enjoy with your Thanksgiving for two recipes.

http://www.vineripenutrition.com/go-wild-this-holiday-season-festive-wild-blueberry-sangria/

http://www.vineripenutrition.com/happy-healthy-new-year-the-new-years-toast/

Thanksgiving Big Salad

My Thanksgiving salad can turn out to be all of my side dishes when preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for two!

Colorful Fall Salad with Creamy Parmesan Salad

This salad offers the best of the season with the purple of the cabbage, the orange of the carrots, and the green of the broccoli and the spinach. The toasted pecans and the Creamy Parmesan Dressing are just the icing on top!

Makes 6 servings

2 cups of finely chopped salad

2 cups of finely chopped broccoli

1 cup shredded spinach

Pecans

Creamy Vegan Parmesan Dressing

Makes one cruet.

1 cup plant milk yogurt

1/3 cup vegan Parmesan Cheese

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 clove fresh minced garlic

2 tablespoons milk plant milk

2 teaspoons ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, mix the ingredients and then carefully add to your cruet. (I used a funnel to keep my cruet looking neat).

You may also be interested in trying some of these festive salads with your holiday meals, check them out!

Brussel Sprout Salad with Blueberry Dressing

http://www.vineripenutrition.com/go-wild-this-holiday-season-wild-blueberry-holiday-salad-with-wild-blueberry-vinaigrette/

 Holiday Apple Salad

(http://www.vineripenutrition.com/3-delicious-ways-to-eat-fall-apples/

Three Scrumptious Fall Salads

https://vineripenutrition.com/3-seasonal-fall-salads

The Main Attraction Thanksgiving Main Dish

My main dish is a vegan/vegetarian option but if you want meat without the whole turkey, try a turkey breast, a turkey let, chicken, Cornish hen or something entirely different like salmon or ham.

Stuffed Red Kuri Squash with Vegetarian Sausage Cornbread

My goal for this recipe was to include the pumpkin, the stuffing, and the cranberries all into one recipe! Feel free to have it when you don’t have Thanksgiving. I used vegetarian sausage to stuff these to provide plenty of protein. I know that you may not have a large collection of red kuri squash recipes so here is one that I hope that you will bookmark!

Makes 2 servings

1 red kuri squash or other fall squash of your choice

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup packaged cornbread stuffing mix (or use fresh cornbread crumbled)

1 tablespoon tub of margarine or olive oil

6-ounce vegetarian sausage

1/2 cup broth

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the red kuri squash down the middle so there will be two pieces where it can be stuffed. Place on a cookie sheet face down and back for about 30 minutes. Take the squash out and let it cool for a few minutes then flip it over, so the inside of the squash is facing you.

Turn down the heat to 350 degrees. Cook sausage in a small amount of tub margarine or oil to brown and crumble. In a medium saucepan, heat margarine or oil in a saucepan and cook onions and celery until brown. Heat broth in a small cup in the microwave for 30 seconds and add cranberries to the cup to allow it to plump.

After the veggies have browned add stuffing mix, broth, and cranberries and allow to moisten. Add the sausage to the stuffing to fill the hollow of the squash and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.

Steamed Green Beans

Simple, easy, and elegant!

Makes 2 servings

2 cups fresh green beans

1 cup vegetable broth

1 teaspoon tub margarine

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs of your choice

Place everything in a medium saucepan and steam until desired texture. Sprinkle fresh herbs as desired.

Additional Thanksgiving Meals for Two

If these ideas for a Thanksgiving dinner for one or two calls to you but you would like additional recipe ideas, here are a few more ideas:

Best Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes for Two – Easy Small Thanksgiving Ideas

Thanksgiving for 2 is a perfect time for me to break tradition and have what I want. Sometimes it’s lasagna, veggie pot pie, stuffed squash or instead of mashed potatoes and gravy and sweet potatoes as a side dish, I do a big sheet pan of roasted root veggies.

Planning Ideas for Thanksgiving for 2 or More Dinner

Whether you are planning Thanksgiving for 2 or more, here are some planning ideas.

1. Plan Ahead                                                                                                                                                      Have an idea of what you are having ahead of time so you get a visual of what your plate will look like whether you prepare the meal, go to a friend’s or family member’s house, or go to a restaurant. What does a healthy balance of protein, vegetables, fruit, and grains look like?
   
2. Budget Ahead                                                                                                                                                   By eating a little less a few days before the big event and after, you can work on a bigger meal. You can also help budget by exercising a little more. But don’t overdo it on budgeting or the size of the “big meal”. Be reasonable and pay attention to your body’s hunger and fullness cues and don’t over-exercise.
   
3. Know the correct portion sizes for your meals  
   This can begin by knowing what a healthy portion size looks like for your energy needs. For example, here are some average portion sizes (yours may be different) a serving of meat is 3 ounces, a serving of potatoes or stuffing is 1/2 cup, a serving of gravy is about 1 tablespoon, a serving of dessert is a sliver.
   
4. Load Up the Veggies                                                                                                                                        Filling half the plate with vegetables can help fill you up and save calories depending on what has been added to them like nuts, oils, creams, or cheese.
   
5. Lighten-Up
   Traditional recipes can be modified to make them lighter without losing the flavor and texture. Take care not to make every change at once. Start slowly with one change at a time and remember some of your favorite baked goods may not be able to be modified from your home recipe but there may be some great versions out there to try.
   
   Here are a few suggestions: Try low-fat milk instead of a higher-fat option. Cut oil in cakes in half by adding applesauce in its place. Use Canadian bacon, turkey, or veggie bacon instead of pork version. Cut egg yolks in half and add two whites to one egg white. Try cheese made with 2 % milk. Cut nuts from a recipe in half. Try low-fat yogurt instead of sour cream. Try light mayonnaise instead of full fat.
   
6. Move About the House
   One of our favorite holiday traditions is taking a walk after our Thanksgiving meal. If you have folks in your family who like to sit and watch the football game, get in there and have them do little things to burn off that energy during the commercials and halftime!
   
7. Don’t Celebrate Thanksgiving for 6 more weeks!
   Remember the holidays are just a few days during the season not every day between now and January 1st! In between the special days move more and budget additional treats.

Thanksgiving Meal for 2

I hope that you love these Thanksgiving for two recipes! As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I love to make my client’s lives healthier and easier! I enjoyed creating this Thanksgiving main dish of stuffed winter squash and the other celebration dishes on this holiday menu. I hope you enjoy these holiday survival tips for the next few weeks. And if you would like additional ideas on plant-based eating, you may enjoy this post!

In addition to holiday eating tips, I am so excited to partner with Movement for Life ! This week, their personal trainer, Michelle Kuehn, has some words of wisdom on physical activity this holiday season with some stretching ideas that you can do before your after-Thanksgiving walk!

Planning to go walking this holiday season? Find a curb or small step to do this simple exercise to stretch and strengthen your lower legs.

Start with heels lowered and raise heels to end on your toes. Challenge yourself by balancing on your toes for a few seconds. Or to modify, hold onto a friend, family member, or railing for added stability. Repeat single or double leg 10-15 times.

Enjoy your celebration whether its Thanksgiving for 2 or more! I look forward to sharing more ideas to help make your holiday season its best!