In this post-Christmas edition of our What to Cook this Week recipe series we’re sharing healthy recipes if you over-indulged this Christmas. We’ve got everything from recipes with yoghurt and ginger, which reduce bloating, and turmeric, which contains curcumin, an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties, to peanuts and white beans, which help lower the risk of heart disease.
If you’re feeling sluggish and bloated after over-indulging on Christmas Day and making Christmas leftover recipes yesterday so all that delicious food didn’t go to waste, then now’s the time to consider these healthy recipes to cook this week.
For our final edition of our What to Cook this Week series for the year, we’re sharing some healthy recipes for those of you who might have over-indulged over Christmas – and don’t worry, I hear you.
If you’ve landed here for the first time, What to Cook this Week is a random-ish recipe series, where on occasional Mondays I poke around the Grantourismo recipes archives – which are bursting with hundreds of recipes from around the world – for easy midweek dinner suggestions for you.
For What to Cook this Week I share meal ideas for those evenings when you’re feeling like you don’t want to spend a whole night by the stove, as well as suggestions for dishes that might require a little more effort, when you’re happy to while away time in the kitchen with loved-ones, a bottle of wine, and good music in the background. This week, we’re doing things a little different.
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Now here are my suggestiongs for healthy recipes if you over-indulged this Christmas for our latest edition for What to Cook this Week.
What to Cook This Week – Healthy Recipes If You Over-Indulged this Christmas
Red Dragon Fruit Smoothie Recipe
We’re kicking off this edition of What to Cook this Week for healthy recipes if you over-indulged this Christmas, not with a recipe for a dish but for a drink – a smoothie recipe.
Because firstly I’m guessing that, like so many of us (we included!), you probably have Christmas leftovers in the fridge to eat (plenty of ideas for what to do with those on the link above), so the last thing you need on Monday night is more food to eat.
Secondly, because smoothies contain two things you need after a day of binging on Christmas food – yoghurt and fruit. Yoghurt’s probiotic powers can relieve stomach issues brought on by over-indulging, while bananas are packed with potassium, which help reduce blood pressure.
We add red dragon fruit, which is in peak season now, is affordable, and available in abundance. Red dragon fruit is like a superfood, rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, low in calories, and high in fibre, so it will kick-start your digestion again, as well as being fantastic for your gut health.
Our red dragon fruit smoothie recipe is as delicious as it is healthy and nutritious, but if you can’t source red dragon fruit where you are, bananas will do the trick, as will mango smoothies and avocado smoothies.
Easy Dragon Fruit Smoothie Recipe for a Healthy Smoothie That’s a Feast for the Eyes
Sweet Corn Soup Recipe With Ginger, Turmeric and Chilli Oil
If you’re still feeling bloated by Tuesday, then try one of our ginger recipes, which are some of our healthiest recipes if you over-indulged over Christmas. Fresh ginger contains loads of vitamins, minerals and plant compounds such as gingerol, which gives ginger its zingy flavours.
Ginger is an antioxidant, has anti-inflammatory properties, is high in gut-healthy fibre, and has antimicrobial properties, which helps in reducing bad gut microbes.
All of which explains why ginger has been used traditionally for stomach ailments and to promote healthy gut flora for over a thousand years.
My pick of our ginger recipes is this sweet corn soup recipe with ginger, garlic, turmeric, and chilli oil. It makes a gently-spiced, perfumed, Southeast Asian-style soup that can be eaten hot if you’re in the northern hemisphere or room temperature if you’re in the sultry south.
Gently Spiced Sweet Corn Soup Recipe With Ginger, Turmeric and Chilli Oil
Cambodian Spiced Peanuts Recipe
The kind of binge eating that we’re all guilty of over Christmas can increase the risk of heart disease. Peanuts contain loads of vitamin E, unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, which help protect your arteries.
Nibble on peanuts every day and they can help improve your heart health. While we have plenty of recipes with peanuts on the site, we love this Cambodian spicy roasted peanuts recipe, below, and this Vietnamese style roasted peanuts recipe, which are two of our best recipes if you over-indulged over Christmas.
These Cambodian spicy roasted peanuts are roasted with chillies, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and garlic. They’re aromatic, spicy, salty, and sweet, and are deliciously-addictive.
Cambodian Spicy Roasted Peanuts Recipe with Chilli, Kaffir Lime Leaves and Lemongrass
Turmeric Rice Porridge Recipe
Here in Southeast Asia, rice porridge or congee is not only a comfort food, it’s a restorative bowl of goodness that’s eaten when people are feeling sick or a bit down, and need a boost.
This gently spiced turmeric rice porridge recipe, brimming with flavour and texture, is another of our best healthy recipes if you over-indulged this Christmas. It’s also brilliant if you’re feeding a crowd staying for the holidays as you can make a big pot of the stuff.
The magic ingredient is turmeric, used in traditional medicine and cuisine in Asia for thousands of years. Turmeric is used in Southeast Asian spice pastes, soups, stews, and curries, and it’s the main ingredient of turmeric, called curcumin, that makes the rhizome so good for us.
Curcumin is an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory powers that have been proven to help fight inflammation. While medical professionals recommend supplements, which contain much higher levels of curcumin, you can’t go wrong by adding turmeric to your diet, starting with this rice porridge. We have more turmeric recipes here.
Turmeric Rice Porridge Recipe with Fried Eggs and Chilli Oil, Crunchy Shallots and Herbs
Turkish White Bean Salad Recipe
High-fibre foods such as nuts, whole grains and beans improve digestion if you’re really feeling bloated. The white bean family are all high in fibre and nutrients, and include beans such as haricot beans, butter beans and cannellini beans, which are some of our favourites.
Eggs are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, which help reduce the risk of heart disease, which can increase from binge-eating. Combine white beans and eggs, and you have a winning combination and a healthy meal that’s perfect for combating Christmas indulgence.
Our easy Antalya-style Turkish white bean salad recipe with jammy soft boiled eggs (see our guide to boiling perfect boiled eggs) is topped with a healthy salad of cherry tomatoes, purple shallots and fresh herbs.
It’s a fantastic, healthy dish for sharing on its own (scoop it up with these homemade pita chips) or eating with köfte. Try this Lebanese kofta or kafta recipe until we get a Turkish recipe up on the site. And if you’re ready to feast again, make hummus, baba ganoush and fatoush salad to go with it.
Antalya Style Turkish White Bean Salad Recipe with Jammy Soft Boiled Eggs for Antalya Piyaz
And that’s our best healthy recipes if you over-indulged over Christmas done and it’s also the final edition of What to Cook this Week for 2022. We hope you’ve enjoyed the series.
Please do let us know if you’ve make any of these What to Cook this Week ideas for healthy recipes if you over-indulged this Christmas, as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for you.
