Blog / RAW thanksgiving

"Pumpkin" Pudding a friend gave me this recipe a few years ago. I've never made it but it looks DELICIOUS. If you make it, let me know how you liked it. 2 cups fresh peeled and pureed butternut squash 25 pitted dates* (yikes) 1/2 cup double strength freshly made almond milk (blend 1 C. nuts to 2 C. water) 1/2 cup raw almond butter 1 tablespoon allspice 1 teaspoon cinnamon 3 teaspoons Pomona apple Place all ingredients except almond butter and apple in blender. Blend until smooth then add the almond butter and blend and finally the apple and then blend. Pour into dessert dishes and let stand in fridge. Optional garnishes: sprinkle some shredded coconut and/or sprinkle some cinnamon on top. *YIKES: This looks like a LOT of dates for the amount of squash being used. Please feel free to adjust that. Start with 1/2 cup of dates and go from there. Maybe the author of this recipe has a big sweet tooth. :-)

Pumpkin Bread - this is a dehydrated recipe. * 1 cup almond pulp * 1/2 cup golden flax seeds, ground into a meal * 1 cup pumpkin puree (or butternut squash) * 1/2 cup dates, pureed into a paste * good pinch nutmeg * 1 tsp cinnamon * good pinch allspice * good pinch clove * good pinch of celtic sea salt To make almond pulp, make 3 cups of almond milk and strain out the pulp and put into a good size bowl. As you drink the almond milk, make the rest of the recipe! :-) To make the flax meal, put in a clean coffee grinder to grind into a meal OR put in a dry VitaMix pitcher and blend until it turns into a powder. Add the flax powder to the bowl of almond pulp. To make the pumpkin puree, peel and de-seed a small pie pumpkin. Chop and put into a food processor along with a bit of water to keep the processor moving. Process until smooth. Add the puree into the almond pulp and flax meal. To make date paste, put pitted dates into a blender or food processor and blend with a little water to keep the motor running. Blend until smooth. TIP: to make this job easier, feel free to soak the dates in a bit of water to soften them up more and add some of the soak water to the food processor/blender. Add this to the above mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and stir to mix until well mixed. Spread about 3/4 thick onto a teflex sheet and dehydrate at 105º until dry enough to flip over. Remove the teflex sheet and continue drying until desired moistness of bread is achieved. TIP: Feel free to set the dehydrator to 135º for the first hour and then put the temperature back to 105º for the remaining time. This is a tip given to us from many of Gabriel Cousen's books. He feels this is good to get the dehydrator up to the right temperature as well as to ensure that there is no way for molds to grow (although I've never had that experience with molds in the dehydrator but it does help to get the dehydrator up to temp more quickly.)

Parsnip-Pine Nut Whip This is SOOOOOO yummy. I love this even more than the raw mashed "potatoes" that can be found everywhere. * 2 cups parsnip, washed and cubed * 1/2 cup pine nuts * 1 1/2 cups water * 1/3 cup lemon juice * 2 cloves garlic, minced * 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt * 1 teaspoon olive oil Blend all ingredients until creamy. Serve with a drizzle of flax oil or make a simple gravy, such as: 1/2 cup chickpea miso and 1/2 cup water whisked with some seasoning, such as drop of cumin or pepper or chopped mushrooms. OR just eat as is. It's delicious and very creamy.

Cranberry Relish Here is a simple one but very delicious. PERFECT alternative to opening the can of cranberry sauce... * 1 bag fresh cranberries * 1 oranges * 1 apple, cored * agave nectar, to taste Pulse chop the first 3 ingredients in a food processor until the consistency you desire. Add agave to sweeten if you find the taste is not sweet enough. ++++++++++++++++++++ Orange-Chipotle Cranberry Relish (an interesting twist on the original) * 2 cups fresh cranberries * 11/2 cups orange juice, strained * 1 cup pitted dates, or 2/3 cups agave nectar * 1 tablespoon orange zest * 1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil * 1/2 teaspoon dried chipotle Blend in a food processor until creamy, but slightly chunky.

I wrote this on the car ride down to NJ. Forgot to actually post it up though! :-) ~~~ Traveling to NJ I'm in the car typing as we listen to a book on tape. We're heading down to NJ to have Thanksgiving with family. I got a phone call this morning from someone placing an order and was wondering if we were having a RAW thanksgiving. I replied and said that we'll be going down to NJ this year - I said that I am bringing 2 raw desserts and plan to make a salad and will take Matt's miso dressing with me so that I'll have something to eat. She asked if I would have anything that other family members would bring and I said that I might have some veggies that will be on the table providing there is no cheese or dairy in them. (For me, dairy and cheese doesn't work well - not even raw dairy.) Later I asked what she planning on doing for thanksgiving and she said the same thing although she finds it rather hard to not eat what others have brought... then she feels bad later on... I hope with this thanksgiving, she will feel good about her day and her choices, no matter what they are. A little bit later in the day, I went to the store on our way out of town and I bumped into a person I know from when we homeschooled our son. Anyway, we got into a brief conversation and she mentioned that a year ago she was trying Doug Graham's 80/10/10 diet and was finding it working well with her. Although, she said, she didn't feel that she needed to follow it so religiously and she feels OK to eat things when she's at other people's houses that she might not at home. She called it "receiving a gift" and I totally agree. To me, it's much more important that things are made with love than whether or not they are 100% raw or not. I don't follow a purist's lifestyle and I never have. I do feel like if anything that I'm doing starts to feel like I'm practicing a dogmatic religion, then I'm probably getting too controlling over it. This is a journey of a life to live, and for me the important lesson is to be gentle with myself. If that means to eat some fruit or a juice or smoothie in this day, then great. If it means that someone wants to give me a gift of their homemade bread, for example, than I accept quite willingly. It *IS* a gift like my friend said at the store - a gift that was made with love and good thoughts and intentions for me or my family. Why on earth would I shun the gift and say it's not 100% raw? That's rather shaming to me although I do understand when a person feels so strongly that they are giving themselves a gift by being 100% raw... Anyway, I feel It is akin to a spiritual practice to be able to receive something with love and grace and gratitude. What a wonderful way to end this post as this is the time of year when we think most about our gratefuls. in love and gratitude, Linda