westchester

“Chopped” champ Chef Eric Levine has a healthy spin on the classics.

Say goodbye to boring sides – impress your guests with new and healthy versions of Thanksgiving classics. “Chopped” champ Eric Levine visited "be Well" to share a healthy spin on the classics.

THANKSGIVING SIDES

New Jersey

NJ Weather Stories

Weather stories

NJ | Weather

NJFORECAST

Today. What do we have tonight? We've got a little bit of a breeze and colder temperatures. So that means wind chills to start Tuesday morning and that's going to be on the cool side of seasonable. But I'm thinking, you know, by daybreak wind chills are going to be in the lower twenties and that's what you need to be prepared for daytime temperatures swell. We've only seen numbers peak earlier this morning in the forties and fifties and those temperatures have been dropping ever since because of those gusty winds, peak winds anywhere from 30 to 40 almost 45 miles an hour out of a north westerly direction that moved the snow and the rain away from the area. But now it's depositing more of a colder feel to our skies. So it's certainly feeling a little bit more in line with what December should look like for this time of year. Some lake and hand snow showers still showing up in western New York and northern sections of Pennsylvania out towards the Poconos, very little in the way of accumulations, but we are going to keep an eye on it. I don't think any of those flakes are going to make it into New Jersey drier weather is beginning to nose in from West Virginia. So that's going to be where our forecast is coming from. And we're already starting to see some of that drier weather peeling away some of the clouds. So we see the mainly cloudy skies that are out there now giving way to clear skies later tonight and into early tomorrow morning, we'll start off with temperatures in the twenties and thirties. Daytime highs making it into the mid forties, which is normal for this time of year. So a seasonable forecast for tomorrow, lots of sunshine Wednesday and Thursday even going into Friday, temperatures are warming back up, but we've got more rain and wind to potentially tell you about for the second half of the weekend. I'll have more details on that coming right up. All right.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/6603dcc3-1376-46af-848d-0e68b3e1e947/6603dcc3-1376-46af-848d-0e68b3e1e947.transcribe

Weather

Brooklyn

BK | Weather

BXFORECAST

All right, let's bring hope back. Now for another check of that hyper local forecast as we get farther and farther into December, hope we realize those sixties certainly. And even those 50 degree temperatures may be a thing of the past. Right. Well, I wouldn't say that yet because the long range forecasts actually show temperatures warmer than normal leading into Christmas. So, if you are a fan of the snow, unfortunately, you know, that may not be the case as we get through the next couple of weeks, but we did top out the day with temperatures in the upper forties, 49 degrees in class and for them in City Island, it was chilly, it was windy, it was a blustery feel and that is going to take us into tonight. And even over the next couple of days, this week will be dry and ch and chilly seasonable temperatures in the low to mid forties. So finally beginning to feel like December, lots of sunshine and then we start to warm up a little bit by the weekend. Wait until you see the exclusive 10 day. But again, we're talking about the chill, especially waking up tomorrow morning, 32 degrees in the Bronx feeling like 26 and it looks like we don't really recover much by the afternoon in the low to mid forties. And then we're seeing feel like temperatures in the mid to upper thirties. So we rs repeat four hour Wednesday, still expecting those brisk and blustery conditions with wind chills in the twenties. And then we start to see the coldest day this week being on Thursday where temperatures will be near freezing or slightly below freezing and feeling like the low twenties. So that's something that we need to prepare for as we get through the next couple of days. But at least those temperatures start to recover by Friday highs near 48 degree. And then we'll be seeing temperatures back in the low fifties by the weekend. So that's something that we can look forward to and guess what, Dan, it's dry, dry. I love it. The winds though is what you really feel. Right. I mean, it feels cold and then that wind comes and it feels kind of you in the face a lot more cold. Yes. 50 degrees. We didn't get there today though. Yeah. You know, today wasn't a bad day. You know, it did start off with some rain, but thankfully, you know, we ended off with some drier conditions but the winds really made it feel quite uncomfortable. Absolutely. All right. Hope. Thank you and be sure to down

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/02844c34-e81f-45de-a77d-7bd1bacda5c0/02844c34-e81f-45de-a77d-7bd1bacda5c0.transcribe

Westchester

WC | Weather

HVFORECAST

Another look at that hyper local forecast, Matt, we've gotten rid of the rain, but now we're dealing with some wind. Yeah. So, you know, we dealt with a bit of some wind last night with this and then we had a little bit of a lull with the winds. But through the rest of the afternoon and into early this evening, we have some gusty conditions back across the Hudson Valley and we expected this as the storm pulled away to get back into some of these wind gusts at the 20 to 30 mile per hour range. And that's exactly what we have right now and through the early part of this evening. So you'll notice those bless conditions. It's a wind out of the west northwest, which is a colder wind, every reason to dress warmly for the rest of the day today. And it will still be breezy overnight tonight with winds subsiding a little bit, but at times still gusting up to around 1520 MPH, at least repairing that now. Yeah, with the dry weather conditions and any clouds that are around right now will gradually continue to clear as we go throughout the rest of today. If anything, a Sprinkle or a flurry of one or two spots from here on out today. But for the most part dry with those clearing skies into this evening and then overnight tonight, those temperatures will drop back down to around 30 or so. But the problem is we still have a bit of that breeze around. So it will feel like the upper teens and low twenties really into tomorrow morning. So you'll want an extra layer tonight and into tomorrow for sure. In fact, the rest of the day, it wouldn't be an awful idea to have the hat, not the heavy coat and also the gloves, if not an extra layer as well, you just have to remember that high of around 44 feels close to 10 degrees colder than that new factor in that gusty wind at 20 to 30 MPH this evening and later on tonight, those lows close to around 30 or so. But again, it's breezy that wind out of the west 1520 MPH. If you isolated gusts around 25 MPH can't be ruled out. So that's why it can feel like 10 degrees colder tonight and into early tomorrow morning. So it will be every bit of a morning tomorrow to dress very warmly. In fact, it will stay chilly tomorrow afternoon. These highs in the lower forties, that's actually seasonable for this time of the year but you factor in still that breeze at 10 to 20 MPH and it will still feel like the mid thirties tomorrow afternoon. At least we pair that with a lot of sunshine. We get into a nice dry stretch of weather. In fact, from here on out really through Saturday and we'll have temperatures chilly through Thursday, but they'll actually rise to above average levels in the upper forties to near 50 Friday and through the upcoming weekend, if anything, another chance at some rain, late Sunday into Monday of next week again before we're right back to sunshine for next Tuesday and Wednesday.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/5f702011-85f2-4b67-aa62-bd13771c3868/5f702011-85f2-4b67-aa62-bd13771c3868.transcribe

Long Island

LI | Weather

LIFORECAST

Right. So that's gonna be the story. Really. For this week, we have a cold breeze the next couple of days but bright skies. So breezy and cold for much of the week, Friday is my pick of the week. We get close to 50 in some spots. So it is going to turn a little bit warmer. It will be very nice, less wind. We are dry through the weekend, temps near 50 some more clouds around and it's likely that we're not going to see rain until next Monday. So overnight tonight, 30 degrees, the breeze, it feels more like the twenties, it's dry tomorrow. 4544 degrees. It will be nice. And as we head into the next couple of days, we're looking at this dry pattern, high pressure is in place. We have a breeze out of the northwest and that will keep us looking just fine. So in the morning getting up 31 in Miller Place at 7 a.m. 28 in Hampton Bay is heavier jacket tomorrow. A little bit of a breeze from time to time out of the west southwest breeze, Tuesday night into west. You see we're in the thirties in the morning, low forties in the afternoon. So the next couple of days will be very similar 30 degrees tonight. With that West northwest breeze. Tomorrow, it looks nice. You'll get up to 45 in Riverhead, 43 Smithtown and 44 in Hempstead. Great to have the sunshine out there will finally warm us up a little bit by Friday at 49 nearing 50 for Saturday and Sunday. We have some showers early next week and it will turn chilly and dry again after.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/79fb4f5b-19cc-4a3b-bc72-fb7f8ecf8e11/79fb4f5b-19cc-4a3b-bc72-fb7f8ecf8e11.transcribe

Hudson Valley

HV | Weather

Bronx

BX | Weather

Connecticut

CT | Weather

CTFORECAST

I know it was a bit of a doozy to start off this morning, but we're really tapping into some colder weather over the next couple of days. So much. So it's gonna feel like winter stepping out the door for some of your mornings. But we got 10 more days until the official start. December 21st. It's expected to arrive at 448 in the afternoon. So again for today, that rain from earlier is out of our hair. We're still dealing with some puddles and ponding. So be careful as you're out there on those roads or even by foot for tonight. We're still working with some colder weather. Numbers are dropping off down into the twenties. We're not really looking at cold to the point where some standing order can turn into some black ice or anything like that. But again, we're really diving into some chillier numbers stepping out the door for your tomorrow. Numbers will be in the thirties. We're looking at forties for the afternoon, Wednesday morning, again, another 30 degree day to start, but we're really not gonna get out of the thirties and then Thursday, I really want to show you what it feels like as you're stepping out the door. But again, for your Wednesday out the door, it feels like the twenties head into your Wednesday night. It'll feel like the twenties again. But look at some of these numbers for the Thursday morning, wake up similar to what we had the just past two Thursdays. We're feeling like the teens for areas up north, lower to mid twenties, for areas south of 84. So do be sure to bundle up again. We did deal with that storm earlier on, but we're looking at improving conditions throughout the rest of today, chilly weather for the next couple of days before we bounce back Friday. Heading into what looks like to be a pretty decent seasonal weekend.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/9f6f2fc1-8c23-4b79-aa55-7e8429a088d1/9f6f2fc1-8c23-4b79-aa55-7e8429a088d1.transcribe

1115BeWellThanksgivingChef_2023-11-15-09-23-52

Live Life Better: Easy to prepare recipes to elevate your Thanksgiving side dishes

I'm sure you can all agree that it's not Thanksgiving without the side dishes. That's right. So I got to pay another visit to chop champ chef Eric Levine who showed me a new and healthy spin on those classics. The side dish can actually be spectacular, but it can also be healthy. We're making really the vegetables, the star of the show right now. Absolutely. So yeah, Thanksgiving is a great time to kind of explore new things, lighter things, things that have a lot of flavor profiles to them, things that are easy to make. Ok, I like the easy, easy. So here we have uh some roasted baby carrots with the Tahini glaze. So the glaze is really important because, and that's, that's right. So this is just made with a little bit of agave, a little bit of honey, a little bit of tahini paste. Now, Tahini is like a sesame paste. What it does is it adds another flavor level to it. It, it kind of creates a almost like a an earthiness to it. So I would just cook these regular, how I would normally pepper, right? And then what you do is in the last five minutes you take that glaze and all you do is you're just gonna drizzle it right, right over it. Right as you go back into the oven for an additional five minutes and that will create the caramelization. This is a salad but it's got more. Yes, 100%. So, it's, it's things that are not used as much as they should be. Uh, the Ridic on the end, which is one of my favorites because it a bit of flavored uh to it. And then I just add some roasted caramelized walnut and the sauce is actually made from yogurt and it's kind of like a yogurt ranch and then just a little Pecorino Romano on there because it gives that saltiness to it. The sweetness from the yogurt, I mean, from the uh sour cream. Uh but it builds, it builds a flavor and it's healthy and the good thing is, it looks so colorful. It looks, yeah, it's a great, a great time of the day. If you want to, to take it to another level, grill, it a little bit of oil, salt and pepper grill. It nice on an open grill. Now, with this one. Ok, obviously this is the stuffing, but in there there's all types of veggies. So in here we have roasted celery, carrot, onion mushroom, uh roasted onions, which is the base of it and just a little bit of uh yogurt and sour cream to fill in what I did was I took the actual onions, the roasted onions and pureed them with, with the vegetables. So it kind of makes it nice, like, like dressing if you will like a, like an old school dressing. But it creates another healthier flavor profile where there's no nothing added to it. That is gonna be bad for you. And the stuffing is actually made from a ground turkey sausage, which is a different variable because that has a totally different flavor, totally different flavor. Another way to approach it, you know, it's the turkey on turkey if you will. And who doesn't love turkey on Thanksgiving? Well, some people don't, but we do. Ok. And those of course, are Brussels sprouts. But, but what I did with this is, I actually took red currants and I soaked it, um, in a little bit of agave and pure it with a little bit of vegetable stock. And this created that sweetness to it, but it also gives it almost like a, a rustic vibe to it. That, that nuttiness almost like a plum flavor. So the Brussels sprouts are in that cooking. Yes, it's in the cooking. And then I use some that in the sauce as well as the currants and I puree it with a vegetable stock and just reg glaze it at the last second, uh, in the pan just to give it a nice finish to it. And I feel like, you know, if you had any one of these out on your table. It would be one of those things that, what is that? Yeah, all of them because then it makes you wanna eat some of the vegetables and, and actually are the star, in my opinion. I mean, turkey is great. You know, you could have your, your lamb, whatever it is that you're having protein wise. But the sides really, to me make the dish and you can actually do the same dish. Um, the same s style with sweet potato with that. There's another way to go with the, the tahini glaze it just, instead of using brown sugar and butter, you're using uh the tahini a little bit of that agave and honey. All right. So I'll be just a little bit healthier, but it'll still be the great happy Thanksgiving. Oh, that all looks so delicious. Now, when you make your plate. All right, obviously all of this looks so good. Doesn't look like it doesn't. No, you're not including the carrots or the salad. What's making it to your plate? Well, hopefully my wife will cook it, not me. And it'll be like sweet potatoes, collard greens, macaroni and cheese. And do you go for the gravy? I, I do on just the, the mashed potatoes, not on everything. I'm not a big gravy fan. Do you make like the little, you know, the center where you like, pour it in and then you have like the pool. What's your favorite? Yeah, I love potatoes. I love potatoes any time of year I like, I'm a super big fan of potatoes. So that's like, that's my thing. I, yeah, and I want some turkey soup. Let's go.

https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/945342c3-a0e3-49b6-81bd-93273d2d7948/945342c3-a0e3-49b6-81bd-93273d2d7948.transcribe