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“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

Weather conditions are gonna get pretty nasty for Sunday and that's something that I want to bring to your attention here. We still aren't too sure about the timing but we know what's coming. So let's start off with tonight's forecast, which is actually really good for Hanukkah. If you're celebrating Hanukkah, it is gonna be a beautiful evening here with a mixture of clouds as the sun sets in a cold evening tonight. So as you head over to family festivities or you're gonna have a Latke or a jelly doughnut or have a beautiful meal with family and friends. It's just going to be lovely as we head into tonight. Now, tomorrow, it's going to be a nice day, but we do have some interesting weather on the horizon for Sunday and I just want you to be aware that it will rain Sunday in the afternoon and evening, but I think a squall is most likely at night. What's the timing? We're not too sure yet. It's something that's to be determined and there will be downpours in addition to some strong gusts and those gusts that come in with those downpours could be upwards of 30 to 50 MPH. That's a problem. Right. So, here's the futurecast flurry is moving out of the way. We do clear up tonight into tomorrow morning where there will just be a few clouds to wake up with 31 degrees for Friday morning. But then into the fifties in Ocean County for Friday afternoon, 50 to 51 from Toms River to Jackson, 49 degrees in the northern areas of the state. 48 up in Morristown, a really nice and mostly sunny sky and you'll enjoy this lovely weather for Friday because it's not just Friday, you're going to see it, you're going to see it again on Saturday. So, hey, if you got to work on Friday, I gotta work. You're going to miss it, but it Saturday, you won't because it's going to be even much better. 53 in Newark, Belmar Monmouth County, 55 near 60 in Toms River, northern areas of the state too. Morris County and Warren County also upwards of about 53 along with 49 over in Sussex. It's just a beautiful day. It's just going to give way to this yuckiness as we get into Sunday. So Sunday, we have a front, the timing is uncertain and it's likely for the late evening and I want you to expect downpours when this front does arrive and a 15 minute window of time that's going to be with dangerous wind gusts of 30 to 50 MPH and torrential downpours. Now, there could be some showers before that squall gets to your neighborhood. And that's one of the caveats that we're kind of working out here with Sunday night's weather. It's not the worst storm ever, but it's something that is notable because if you have the inflatable outdoor decorations, you want them deflated in time for the strong wind gusts on Sunday. We're going to do our best to let you know at what time it comes. Here's the next couple of days, we'll talk more about the 10 day coming up.

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Weather

Brooklyn

BK | Weather

BKFORECAST

We are now turning back to this storm watch, Allen. Today, we saw some flurries in the air, but I understand we have quite literally a storm brewing. Oh, for sure. It's actually getting on to the Pacific coast of America. It has a pretty long way to get here, but we know it's coming and that's why we're on storm watch, make sure that you're prepared for the second half of the weekend and into the start of next week because this is one of the big changes that we have from this time. Yesterday, the time of the storm seems to be a little bit later. Let's take a look at that future cast. This is at six o'clock showing that rain six pm in the evening. Basically morning activities. You're fine. Actually doing a little bit of a brunch. You'll probably get away without needing the umbrella, in fact, but after lunchtime, that's when the rain will start to pick up and it will pick up pretty much in a hurry. By the time we get to midnight, it'll be pretty much, uh, a steady, if not heavier rain. And then what I'm worried about this is a very summer like storm. Actually, when you're starting to see this yellow showing up, it almost looks like a squall line. Remember today it's Thursday. We're talking about Sunday night to see this already showing up on future Cast. That's a good indication that we are going to see some, not just heavy rain but windswept rain. Take a look at these wind gusts 40 to 50 MPH that could cause some wind damage. That also includes not just the trash cans. It also includes of course, the holiday decorations, those lights, any sort of loose items, either secure them or bring them inside before Sunday afternoon because by the evening time already wind gusts approaching 40 MPH and then as the heaviest of the rain arrives at around midnight or just after this is at 1 a.m. right along the water. This is especially where I'm worried about south of the Belt Parkway along, let's say Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan, out to Surf Avenue, Coney Island, Bergen Beach as well. Mill Avenue, Mill Basin. Something to keep in mind because those winds could be over 50 MPH. Looking at the rest of the 10 day. It's the big temperature drop after the storm, we're going from 65 to 35. That is a drop. So I've got to get my rain boots, my umbrella maybe cancel my plans or move them to Saturday. We'll see. Thanks Alan

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Westchester

WC | Weather

HVFORECAST

For more on that. But right now, we have to focus on the weather because we got some nasty stuff heading our way. Meteorologist Matt Hammer with those details. I'm not talking about this afternoon, scattered snow showers and flurries. We're talking about the storm that we've been kind of highlighting for a few days now that we're getting growing confidence, moves in for late on Sunday and we could be looking at wind gusts with this in the 3040 mile per hour range, perhaps even a few isolated ones that are even a little bit higher than that. Again, that's later Sunday and into early on Monday. So that will pair with a good amount of rain. So here's the Stormont featurecast for Sunday. Sunday starts off dry in the morning as we go towards mid to late afternoon. On Sunday, the first showers are breaking out. It's noticeably breezy. It's not high impact weather until the evening hours though. It's just kind of nasty until that point after around eight or nine o'clock, Sunday night, moderate to heavy rains moving in temperatures surge all the way into the upper fifties to near 60 degrees. Pockets of heavy rain will be around overnight and through about say four or five o'clock in the morning on Monday, at least with the latest timing, this might adjust over the next couple of days. So stay with us for updates to this, but it's going to be a nasty day on Sunday, especially by mid afternoon. And with the higher impact weather, the heaviest of the rain, the strongest of those winds Sunday night into very, very early on Monday that could blow around the holiday decorations and leading some isolated ponding of water as well as far as today goes, not too much going on, but there are clouds. There are some spotty snow showers and flurries. A worst case scenario just like yesterday is that a few spots get a an isolated coating or so, especially on colder surfaces. So while there can be an isolated slick spot, most of the lower Hudson Valley, not seeing that we get some partial clearing overnight tonight, especially after midnight and tomorrow morning is just a cold and nice dry start to Friday where temperatures around the 30 degree mark early on tomorrow. But we actually get our most seasonable feeling day all week really tomorrow afternoon with those temperatures back in the middle forties, that's just the start of a warm up into the start of the upcoming weekend. So in terms of what to wear for the rest of today, dress warmly, have the heavy coat, the gloves and the hat all of that with highs only around 39 degrees and repairing that feel with a few of those festive snow showers around as well. Hanukkah beginning this evening, sunset forecast for 26 looking at 37 degrees for the temperature flurry chance still at that point as we go through the rest of the evening, partly cloudy skies overall and just temperatures that will drop to eventually the upper twenties and low thirties into early tomorrow morning under partly cloudy skies, highs tomorrow, much more seasonable. A bit more comfortable for sure. With highs around 45 to 48 degrees and a nice mix of sun and clouds. Saturday is going to be even warmer. So Saturday still the pick of the week 54 some limited sunshine. Sunday starts off dry high late in the day near 60 but just be prepared for a rough go Sunday night into the overnight hours ending before sunrise on Monday morning, that moderate to heavy rain winds that can gust between 3040 MPH. And that can lead to some isolated outages into Monday morning by Tuesday. And through the rest of next week, it's drying out with a mix of sun and clouds and highs mostly in the mid forties.

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Long Island

LI | Weather

LIFORECAST

I'm meteorologist Rich Hoffman. Your hyperlocal weather forecast. We're in storm watch for heavy rain and strong winds coming in towards Sunday. But with the start of Hanukkah starting this evening at 425 that's our sunset. You're gonna see the clouds around now out towards the east and you've seen a little bit more sunshine. We do have the cloudy skies giving way to partly cloudy skies overnight and it's gonna feel cold, bundle up heading out for this evening. There still is that flurry or a passing rain or snow shower this afternoon? Best chance of that western areas of Long Island as we go throughout the rest of our day. Now, if you're going to be on Rosslyn, uh, through this evening temperature at five o'clock near 38 degrees. Yeah, bundle up. Here's the cold weather then into midnight around 34 waking up tomorrow morning on the partly cloudy skies. Your Friday starts off with temperatures around 30 degrees and then Saturday, Friday, we're looking good. It's Sunday that we are tracking out wet weather. As of right now, the rain develops during Sunday afternoon and becomes steadier and heavier as we go to Sunday evening, here's 545 on Sunday. There's that heavy rain overnight into Monday morning, still raining during your morning rush hour and then the weather improves for Monday afternoon. But as the cold front comes through, it's gonna get warm and then the gusty winds are gonna be developing winds on Sunday afternoon, 40 to potentially 50 MPH. And there's a chance that we see some higher gusts along the south shore and the east end. So you want to secure your Christmas decorations on Saturday for the strong gusty winds on Sunday. So let's go through the rest of the day. You're looking at 41 for your high 30 tonight and then four, your Friday mostly sunny to a mixture of sun and clouds. Temperatures, mid and upper forties. So Friday's ok. Saturday is looking good sun and clouds at 55 and then Sunday afternoon, Sunday night into Monday, the threat of heavy rain, strong winds, some power outages and then chilly next week. But generally dry weather conditions happy Hanukkah from M 12.

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Hudson Valley

HV | Weather

Bronx

BX | Weather

Connecticut

CT | Weather

CTFORECAST

What is going on, Becky? Now, listen, as we get into our Sunday, what we do know is we're gonna deal with some rain. The only thing that's not concrete as of yet is the timing, but we really like it for at least the second half of the day into your Sunday night where we're gonna find things to be the worst, flooding concerns with downpours and when we're watching for strong damaging winds, that could also mean power outages. So futurecast takes us into the rest of this afternoon. We won't without a few flakes before we finish up today. Heading into here tonight, we're seeing those temperatures falling off down and around that freezing mark tomorrow morning won't be as bad of a start because we're gonna have some sunshine to kind of warm things up. So the bite won't be as bad. You still want to bundle up because it is gonna be a bit of a cold beginning. Numbers are gonna make their way into the upper thirties. Bridgeport got a good chance into the lower forties. 43 with some good sunshine for your tomorrow afternoon. We could certainly see that. So again, a little bit of some improvement. It's really, as we get into yours where it really starts to feel nice temperatures well into the fifties for your afternoon and forties if you got plans to hang out for your Saturday night, but then heading into your sun again first after your Sunday looks good. We'll see clouds fill in by your noon period and heading into the mid to late afternoon, you're talking steady and heavy rain and then that really does start to pick up as you head into your Sunday night. Here's a look at your nine o'clock hour you're watching for a good deal of some heavy rain. Ok, across the entire tri-state area. Really? So if you had some traveling that you're doing, heading back into the area, that is something that you're gonna have to brace for. We're gonna watch that heavy rain overnight into your Monday morning for the commute back to work and school. So again, with that said, we are looking at heavy amounts and I'll show you and pinpoint where and how much we're gonna see along with those strong gusty winds as you push forward into your early parts of your money. I'll have more of that in just a bit back.

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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.

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