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QUINCY, ILL. -- Thanksgiving is t-minus two days away. But you may want to think twice before you start popping your pies in the oven and buttering your turkey.

There's nothing more American then diving into a plate of turkey on Thanksgiving Day, but that second serving of stuffing could be costing you a lot of calories.

Kevin Minnick, executive chef and owner of The Maine Course in Quincy has a few tips to make your dinner a little more healthy and guilt free.

'A lot of Thanksgiving is spending time with family, a lot of quality time but there's food involved, a lot of over eating," Minnick said. "So when you can cut back the calories on certain things in certain ways, it's healthier for you."

First start off with the star of the show, your turkey.

"A lot of people start putting butter all over the turkey," Minnick said. "That's not to healthy, so what we did is we seasoned the turkey by putting it in the brine and it's going to absorb these flavors and make it nice and juicy."

Minnick's simple brine consisted of brown sugar, salt, black pepper corn, ginger and chicken stock.

Next move on to the classic side dishes like mashed potatoes.

"To make it a little healthy all we did was cut cauliflower really really thin, boil it off about one minute," Minnick said. "Then cauliflower puree."

Add that puree to your mashed potatoes and viola, half the calories! But there's another starch that could use a slim down, the sweet potato.

Minnick recommends roasting them and then sautéing them with some white wine and spices.

'A little cumin, just a little cayenne pepper to warm it up a little bit," Minnick said. "Sugar in marshmallows is delicious but on a healthier kick we do a little bit of brown sugar."

Simple changes that will keep your stomach and waistline happy.

"You don't feel so heavy you won't feel so down," Minnick said. "So eat a little bit lighter and enjoy the holiday."

And with this menu you can enjoy seconds, too.