Instructions: Portion control is the trick with diabetes. You might consider serving plates already filled or buffet style if your father will take small portions. Skip the dressing, sweet potatoes and rolls unless someone absolutely cant live without them. If you make dressing, use a boxed mix and substitute broth for butter and double the amount of celery and onion and other vegetables that you add precooked in broth. Serve at least 2 legal vegetables for your father. Cut small slices of turkey.

1. Cook a small turkey, un-stuffed but with a small, whole onion in the body cavity (gives it a good flavor).

2. Make Skinny Mashed Potatoes - recipe is on the Swansons Broth can but basically you dice potatoes small, barely cover with broth, simmer until tender, drain, reserving broth and mash potatoes, adding broth as needed for liquid.

3. Lightly steam broccoli or whole green beans until crisp tender or other free or close to free vegetables. Serve 2 vegetables. Vegetables can be LIGHTLY sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds (1/2 tablespoon over the top of the whole bowl).

4. Serve large green salad with dressing added individually. We do a big bowl of mixed greens then have the following on the side in small bowls to add as desired - cherry tomatoes, green onions, alfalfa sprouts, sliced or flower cut radishes, cucumber slices, pickled string beets (check the sugar content, it varies), finely sliced raw broccoli or cauliflower or broccoli, grated low fat cheese or anything else your family likes in salad but skip the olives.

5. Gravy - totally de-fat the liquid cooked out of the turkey. Cook the giblets from the turkey until tender adding the liver the last 10 minutes, de-fat the broth and reduce by half at least. Use the turkey liquid and the broth from cooking the giblets. Thicken slightly with cornstarch mixed with cold broth, stirring until broth thickens and clears.

6. Serve a clear soup as a first course topped with chives or minced green onion tops and a small dab of nonfat sour cream.

7. Hit the RF4RP archives for Thursdays for a diabetic recipe for dessert or buy a dessert from a bakery that specializes in low fat/low sugar desserts. Or serve a fruit salad made with kiwi, oranges, and frozen mixed berries. Top with a dab of low calorie or fat free/sugar free whipped toping.

8. Appetizers are the hardest so I am including a couple of recipes (which see).

9. If you cant find a sugar free cranberry sauce (and if your family likes cranberry sauce), make it at home a day or 2 before. Making it ahead gives the flavors time to meld and you time to adjust the sweetness. Grind 1 bag of fresh or frozen cranberries or chop finely. Grind 1 whole well scrubbed naval orange and 1 peeled naval orange. This will basically be very sour. Add artificial sweetener and refrigerate for several hours. Then taste again. Adjust sweetener.

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