Holidays dinners can be fun, easy and most of all clean. Start with a large organic turkey, allowing for plenty of leftovers. If you at the mercy of others cooking, choose a vegetable side dish to bring and just eat the turkey.
Pumpkin Ginger Soup
3 cups roasted pumpkin
2 cups chicken stock or water
¾ cups coconut milk
¼ teaspoon liquid stevia
2 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• In a vita-mix, combine pumpkin, chicken stock and coconut milk and process on high until smooth
• Blend in stevia, lemon juice and ginger
• Place mixture in a pot and bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes
Raw Brussell Sprout Salad with Almonds
1 cup slivered almonds
2 pounds Brussels sprouts
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely sliced chives
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Place almonds on baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.
• Meanwhile, slice Brussels sprouts as thinly as possible.
• In large bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, chives, salt and pepper.
• Add Brussels sprouts, almonds and Parmesan cheese.
• Toss until combined.
Chestnut Stuffing
2 cups chopped apples
2 cups grated carrots
4 cups chopped celery
2 cups sliced water chestnuts
1 Tbsp coconut oil
¼ cup dried currants or raisins
5 chopped garlic cloves
3 cups chopped onions
3 cups chopped parsley
1 ½ cups rutabaga, cubes, raw
1 ½ cups turnip, cubes, raw
SPICES: 1 tbsp thyme, 2 tsp sage, 1 tsp rosemary
• In a large pot, melt 1 TBSP coconut oil.
• Add minced garlic and onions and sauté until translucent.
• Add celery, carrots, turnip, rutabaga and apple and sauté until everything starts to soften.
• Remove from heat. Add chopped parsley and water chestnuts, currants, herbs and black pepper to taste.
• Mix well. Stuff turkey. 1 serving is one cup.
Roasted Rosemary Potatoes
6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup pearl blanched and peeled
12 medium shallots, peeled
2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary
3 TBSP olive oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
24 large cloves garlic
• Preheat oven to 425°.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine potatoes, onions, shallots, rosemary, olive oil, and pepper.
• Transfer mixture to a large Pyrex glass dish and spread into one layer.
• Bake about 30 minutes.
• Remove pan from oven. Add garlic cloves and toss to combine.
• Return pan to oven and continue to bake until potatoes are crisp and fork-tender, 30 to 40 more minutes, turning vegetables twice during cooking. Serve warm.
Squash with Cherries
1 large butternut squash, peeled, cut into one-inch cubes
½ cup dried cherries
3 vanilla beans
3 cinnamon sticks
10 slivers lemon peel
1-cup apple juice
• Toss ingredients together in a 9 x 13 Pyrex baking dish
• Bake covered at 350° for one hour
• Remove cover and bake an additional 10 minutes to brown
• Serve
Cherry Cranberry Relish
½ cup honey
½ cup dried cherries
¼ tsp cinnamon
12 oz raw cranberries
¾ cup water
1/2 tsp nutmeg
½ cup port wine
• Heat the honey, water, port and spices to a boil.
• Add the cherries and boil one minute. Add the cranberries and simmer until they pop.
• Remove from the heat and add 1 tsp grated orange zest.
• Cool, and then chill. Makes about 3 cups.
Quinoa Stuffing
1 cup chopped apples
12 oz chopped celery
1 ½ oz coconut oil
1 cup chopped onion
4 oz dry quinoa
½ cup raisins
4 oz walnuts
• This is best after it’s roasted in the bird – recipe makes enough for a 17-20 lb turkey, or a couple larger chickens!
• Cover quinoa with water in pan; bring to boil and simmer 15 minutes, covered, until soft and drain. (Water ratio is 1:2 quinoa to water, and cook like rice.)
• Season with freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
• Sauté everything else in the oil, mix with the quinoa, and stuff the bird. Makes about 4 cups.
Gravy
1 TBSP Kudzu Root per cup of juices
or
2 TBSP Whole Wheat Pastry Flour per 2 cup of juices
or
1TBSP Potato Flour per cup of juices
Basic Pie Crust
1 cup walnuts, soaked
1 cup almonds, soaked
10-15 dates
2 TBSP orange juice
• Put the nuts in the food processor with the dates.
• Blend them while adding the orange juice. You should end up with a big ball of sticky nut mixture.
• Once you have the dough, press it inside the pie pan, wetting your fingers if you need to.
• Place the piecrust in the freezer while preparing the rest of the pie.
Pumpkin Pie
Put all of this in your VitaMix or blender:
3 cups freshly baked pumpkin
½ cup honey
1-2 TBSP pumpkin pie spices (cinnamon, allspice, clove, ginger)
3 eggs
2/3 cup milk (I use homemade hemp milk, try almond too)
• Give it a whirl until it’s thick and creamy.
• Pour into a glass pie plate greased with coconut oil or use basic piecrust.
• Bake in a preheated 375 oven for around 30-40 minutes – watch for it to get browned and firm in the middle.
Apple Pie
Crust: use basic piecrust.
Filling:
1 Cup shredded apples
1 cup soaked raisins
1 ½ cup soaked almonds
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup raisin soak water
2 Tbsp honey or 3-4 dates (optional)
Shred apples using a hand shredder or food processor. Place the 2 cups of shredded apples in a bowl. Mix in the raisins. The raisins have to be soaked in advance. Cover them with water in a bowl. They will almost double in size when soaked, and you can use the rest for another recipe or just to snack on. In the blender, make a sauce out of the almonds, nutmeg, cinnamon, raisin soak water and honey. Mix this sauce with the shredded apple mixture, pour the mixture into the piecrust. Decorate with slices of fruit (banana, apple, strawberry).