and cooking methods, the traditional Christmas Dinner can be as much as 2,000 calories and contain 80 to 100 grams of fat -- 43 percent fat! Here are some tips to help you lessen the calories and fat in your Christmas Dinner.

Turkey is a low fat choice; however, fat is added to self basting turkeys! If you want a lower fat turkey, buy a fresh, unbasted one and trim away extra fat.

Baste your turkey with broth, wine or fruit juice instead of fat or drippings.

Make your stuffing low fat by replacing most of the butter with chicken broth or replace the butter with "Butter Buds'' liquid -- a fat free butter flavouring.

Defat your drippings before you make your gravy. You can do this with a fat separator cup or put broth in the freezer so fat can harden -- just skim the fat off the broth before making your gravy.

Make over your recipes with low-fat and fat-free ingredients such as fat-free cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt, salad dressing and mayonnaise.

Use skim evaporated milk and reduced fat soups in your casserole dishes, such as macaroni cheese.

Make your peas'n rice with turkey chourico, it contains half the fat of regular chourico.

Use our reduced fat recipe for your Cassava or Farina Pie. (See below) Replace part or all of the butter, margarine or oil in our baked goods with applesauce or prune puree. Start by just substituting half the amount of fat in your recipe and try even more the next time. Check before recommended cooking time as these baked goods tend to cook more quickly.

Use phyllo pastry when a pie calls for pastry. To make phyllo pastry more flaky, spray with nonstick cooking spray like PAM.

Enjoy the flavour of a reduced fat Christmas! LIGHT CASSAVA PIE Light m Cassava 3 lb or Farina (soak) 1 lb Skim Milk (overnight) 31 cups Egg substitute 2 cups Margarine 8 oz Sugar 1 1 cups Flour 1 cup Nutmeg 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Boneless chicken breast 2 1 lbs Extra Light Cassava 3lbs.

or Farina (soak) 1 lb Skim milk (overnight 31 cups Egg substitute 1 cup or 8 egg whites Margarine 4 oz Sugar 1 cup Flour 1 cup Nutmeg 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Boneless chicken breast 21 lbs Method: 1. Cook chicken in chicken broth.

2. Strain the broth and save.

3. Cut chicken into pieces.

4. Cream margarine and sugar together.

5. Add egg substitute, a bit at a time, to mixture.

6. Add drained cassava or farine, nutmeg, salt and baking powder.

7. Fold in flour.

8. Grease two loaf pans with non stick spray.

9. Pour half mixture into bottom of loaf pans.

10. Add chicken pieces 11. Pour remaining cassava mixture on top.

12. Make a hole on the top of the pie.

13. Bake at 350 degrees F for 2 - 3 hours.

14. After one hour pour chicken stock in pie hole 16 portions: 450 calories 15 grams fat Extra Light: 350 calories 9 grams fat Betsy Baillie, RD Nutrition Services