Happy healthy Thanksgiving

Healthy Thanksgiving feast!

This year for Thanksgiving, I hosted a small gathering of 'orphans,' or those that didn't have family to be with.  I just got back from a month long roadtrip through the southwest and was feeling ready to reconnect with my friends in Austin.  I had my dad and half a dozen good friends over for an exquisite vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free feast with a southwestern flair inspired by my recent travels.  More than half of it was raw vegan.  All the food was organic and most of it from local sources.  And as one of my friends is fond of saying, "No cans were harmed in the making of this dinner."  Except, I will admit, I did use a can of black beans as they were an afterthought and I didn't have time to soak dried beans.  Anyways, here's a look at our menu...

Appetizers - local goat cheese and sundried tomato pesto stuffed mushrooms, raw flax crackers with tomato basil almond pate and lemon dill hummus.


Entree - southwestern green chile quinoa and black bean stuffed sweet peppers topped with pepitas and cotija, organic mixed green salad with walnut and pear, with raw vegan creamy citrus dressing, steamed kale with creamy raw vegan chipotle hemp sauce, sweet potatoes with agave maca pecans, orange juice sweetened cranberries.




Dessert is all raw vegan and super delicious + nutritious - pumpkin cheesecake with cinnamon pecan crust, and raspberry ganache chocolate bliss superfood cake.

Raw vegan deliciousness!

Raw vegan raspberry ganache chocolate bliss cake

Me serving up my favorite part, dessert!

That chocolate cake is full of superfood nutrition!  I adapted it from Ani Phyo's recipe from her latest raw dessert book.  The cake part had walnuts, dates, and the chocolate bliss superfood mix I get from local raw food guru David Favor (radicalhealth.com) which has cacao, hemp, coconut, maca, MSM, tocotrienols, camu camu, rose hips, and lots of other nutritious goodness.  The homestyle frosting was made with dates, vanilla agave nectar, avocado, and cacao.  As you can see, it has two layers with frosting and raspberries in the middle.  Absolutely delicious + nutritious!  The pumpkin cheesecake was rockin too.  Everyone loved both, and the jury was split 50/50 as to which one was the best.  They both win!  

Everything from apps to dessert was absolutely delicious, if I do say so myself.  Everyone raved about the flavors and how fresh everything was.  I tried a bunch of new recipes, so there's always a little doubt about how everything will turn out, but in the end, everything was out of this world awesomely delicious.   The textures and colors were wonderful, the food was made with love, intention, and radiant health in mind and, best of all, enjoyed amongst friends.