Healthy recipes for dinner on Christmas Eve

On December 24 when the first star shines in the sky, the whole family sits around a festive table to meet Christmas. According to the custom, an odd number of meatless meals - 7, 9 or 12 - must be served on the table. Ritual bread, beans soup, stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers, dried fruits and pumpkin pie, are part of the traditional festive dishes for Christmas Eve.

In the past people used to set the festive table on the straw on the ground, in the southeast corner of the room under the iconostasis. Once the whole family took their sits around the table, the table and the house were put to incense. Nobody left the table, save for the housewife, until dinner was over. Salads, pickles, corn, rice with vegetables, various types of pastry, baked pumpkin, dried fruits, honey and nuts are prepared and served for the festive table in various parts of Bulgaria.

The Vita Rama health center offfers the following 7 healthy recipes for the festive table on Christmas Eve:

1. The ritual loaf of bread takes the central table spot on Christmas Eve. Vita Rama suggests you to prepare it according to our recipe from spelt.

2. The Vita Rama health center cashew milk salad is prepared with probiotic nut milk to affect favourably the digestive and intestinal tract function.

3. Beans soup is a must for the Christmas Eve table. Vita Rama offers you a very tasty and healthy recipe thoroughly without added fat - you can see it here.

4. For Christmas Eve, you can also prepare healthy cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and add some quinoa for more energy and stamina.

5. The Vita Rama recipe stuffed peppers are cooked with brown rice that has three times more nutrients than the white rice. Also, no fatt is added to our stuffed cabbage.

6. Risotto with brown rice, dried tomatoes and vegetables is a dish that makes the difference to your festive table. It can be prepared either with brown rice or brown basmati rice to give it a unique flavor and taste.

7. Dessert is also a must to the festive table. We suggest you prepare steamed pumpkin adding some coconut sugar to give it a superb caramel flavor.

The Vita Rama health center wishes you a healthy, tasty and merry Christmas!