Celebrating an all-natural lifestyle

Interview with Jessica Apple, Founder of A Sweet Life

Hi all!

Hope that your transition back into the work week has been relatively painless.

It seems that everywhere we turn these days, we’re reminded of mounting health epidemics: cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, HIV/AIDS. Very few of us can say that our lives have not been touched in some way or another by one of these afflictions. Most of us have also brushed paths with an equally life-altering disease: diabetes. Nearly 200 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes. It’s becoming increasingly rampant worldwide, and a number of troubling recent studies suggest that is is becoming particularly prevalent among children and teens.

Much of the literature, cookbooks, and information geared towards diabetes sufferers focuses on substitution and replacement. Naturally, sugars have to be watched assiduously in a diabetic diet, and so many recipes for diabetics feature artificial sweeteners. While these may prove less immediately harmful than regular sweeteners, they pose their own problems; artificial sweeteners are,by varying degrees, toxic, and they’re not ideal unless no other option is present.

For this reason, a number of enlightened educators and spokespeople are offering diabetes sufferers more natural and organic options than your typical oatmeal cookies baked with Splenda. Among them is Jessica Apple, founder of A Sweet Life (www.asweetlife.org).

A Sweet Life is a blog devoted to healthy living with diabetes. Jessica and her husband, Mike, live with Type 1 diabetes. Mike was diagnosed in 2002, four years after their marriage and just 18 months after the birth of the couple’s first son. Last year, while pregnant with their third son, Jessica was also diagnosed with Type 1.

Instead of letting diabetes depress them, Mike and Jessica took charge of their health as best they could. And as they worked together and saw how well they managed as a team, they decided to create A Sweet Life in order to reach others in the diabetic community. The website features articles, interviews, Q&As with experts, and a tally of diabetes in the news. Jessica’s panel of experts includes diabetes sufferers, MDs, RDs, and — to answer questions on raw foods and all natural eating — yours truly!

For, as a part of her interest in a natural, unprocessed diet, Jessica is a big fan of raw foods. In fact, she chooses to incorporate something raw into each and every meal or snack.

Today, I welcome Jessica to Choosing Raw to discuss her experience with raw foods, her thoughts on living with diabetes, and more about A Sweet Life.

What was your motivation to begin publishing A Sweet Life?

The idea for A Sweet Life came to me almost a year ago.  I was pregnant, exhausted, and a newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic. My husband, Mike, has been a type 1 for about eight years. Because of Mike, I already knew pretty much everything about living with type 1, still, having it in my own body made it different. Mike’s compassion and real understanding of what I was going through was more helpful than any doctor’s instructions or advice. Feeling that, and seeing the way Mike and I worked together as a team made me want to reach out to others in the diabetic community.

How do you feel that A Sweet Life differs from other online resources for diabetics—specifically, how do you feel your dietetic perspective may be different from others?

A Sweet Life is different from other online resources because we aren’t looking for a way around our diabetes. We’re living a healthy life with it. We think it’s wrong to try to replace regular cookies with artificially sweetened cookies. Our idea is about getting used to a new way of living—a way that is so much healthier. That’s why we appreciate raw food so much. It’s just plain old good for you! At A Sweet Life we believe in a natural diet, and we use only natural sweeteners that are diabetes-friendly, like Stevia and agave syrup.

Could you say a few words about your own journey as a Type 1 diabetic? I know that your husband has the condition as well, so feel free to share some of his experiences, too.

My journey as a type 1 is just beginning. Next month will be a year since my diagnosis. I was diagnosed while pregnant. Fortunately, I didn’t suffer any severe symptoms before diagnosis. Mike, however, was not as lucky. He was really sick for months before we knew what was wrong. By the time he was diagnosed he’d lost about 25 pounds, his feet were numb, and his vision was blurred.

This may feel rudimentary to you, but many people (at one point in time, this included me) don’t quite grasp the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Could you give us a quick primer?

Type 1 and type 2 are very different diseases with the same consequence—high blood sugar. In each disease, insulin plays a key role. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system destroys the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas.  Without insulin, the hormone that enables sugar to enter individual cells, the cells do not receive their ‘fuel’ and ultimately, they starve. In order to survive, type 1’s must inject themselves with insulin.

In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas produces insulin (even over-produces it sometimes) but the individual cells are unable to use it; they are insulin resistant. In later stages of type 2, the pancreas sometimes burns out from overwork and insulin secretion decreases. For more on this, check out the information on A Sweet Life.

You call your blog “The Natural Diabetic.” This is a provocative term – and it’s of particular interest to me, since so much of what I try to share at Choosing Raw is natural, unprocessed relationship to the things on our plate. Tell me more about the language you chose, and why you chose it.

The first reason I call my blog The Natural Diabetic is because I try to eat a natural diet that’s rich in vegetables, nuts, and some fruit. The name is also a play on words; given that my husband was a diabetic first, and I knew so much about it, diabetes came pretty naturally to me.

So Jessica, Let’s get to the real question. What are your thoughts on the raw diet with regards to managing diabetes?

I have a huge appreciation for raw foodists. I don’t have any statistics to quote you regarding raw food and diabetes, but I know that when Mike and I eat raw food, our blood sugar remains quite stable (though I don’t think this would be true if we ate large quantities of fruit). That’s one of the reasons we are so happy having raw recipes on ASweetLife.

How do you personally feel about raw food? Have you incorporated any raw foods into your life, and how? We want to hear all about your baby steps!

Personally, I think eating raw is healthy and admirable. I wish I could do it 100%, but I’m nowhere near ready to give up my morning cappuccino! My rule is that I aim to never eat anything, not even a snack, unless it has a raw component. Keeping to this rule ensures that I snack on fruit, veggies, and nuts. And my meals almost always include raw salads.

What are some of your very favorite raw recipes?

I love your recipe for zucchini hummus! Since I have a very busy household (I have three sons, 9, 6, and 7 months) I don’t have a lot of time to fuss over raw recipes. For me it’s usually just grabbing some nuts, a carrot, an apple…Lately I’ve been eating a lot of cucumbers. Also a lot of almond butter…I put a drop of agave in it and spread it on a thin slice of whole grain bread (not raw). My favorite juice these days is celery, zucchini, parsley, with a little bit of carrot.

In the popular DVD, Simply Raw, a number of Type 2 diabetes sufferers reverse their symptoms with raw diets (while a number of them abandon the diet in frustration). What are your thoughts on diabetics’ capacity to reverse that form of the disease? Do you think that DVDs like Simply Raw are inspiring, or do they put undo pressure on those who are afflicted? As you know, I welcome all perspectives on this site, so speak your mind.

I haven’t seen Simply Raw, but I have heard of diabetics who’ve had great blood glucose control while eating raw. I think, for most people, in order to succeed with any kind of diet there has to be genuine desire and drive behind it. Eating 100% raw really is difficult, and it requires a lot of time and thought. Not everyone can do it, and if you don’t really want to, it will never work. And to be honest…cooked food can be pretty great, so I understand why people wouldn’t want to give it up. Managing diabetes is kind of a full time job in itself, so it’s difficult to imagine anyone who works and has an active household being able to go completely raw. In my opinion, diabetics should aim to incorporate raw food into their diets as often as possible. But eating steamed or roasted vegetables is great too. And for those who enjoy chicken, fish, eggs, and cheeses, they can all be a big part of a healthy diabetic diet.

I strongly believe in staying away from packaged processed foods. Simple, natural eating is the best way to go.

In your mission statement, you say that life with diabetes can be sweet. I love your positive attitude! Many women who have suffered from disordered eating feel that the affliction, in spite of its misery and danger, did grant them a capacity to appreciate their bodies and nutrition more consciously than others do. I can’t help but see a parallel with your own statement. Do you feel that your condition has given you a heightened appreciation of health, and how?

I’m not someone who takes good health for granted. My mother had a very debilitating case of MS, and I grew up watching her deteriorate. Not a single day goes by where I don’t appreciate what my body can do. I’m still struggling with the issue of having an autoimmune disease, and the truth is that I probably haven’t completely come to terms with it yet, and there may be a rude awakening for me in the future.  For now, I am driven to make my diabetic life sweet. Diabetes might limit my diet, but that’s where it stops. I am not going to feel sorry for myself because I can’t eat pizza and cookies. No way!

As a tribute to Jessica and Mike–who are working to show us all that life with diabetes can still be sweet–I’m sharing a dessert recipe that has won my heart over this week. It’s an alternative to my chocomole recipe, which I know many of you have tried and loved. It’s slightly more labor intensive (it requires cracking open four young coconuts), but the result is slightly closer to authentic chocolate pudding, and it’s a great raw option for those of you who just can’t get down with using avocado as a dessert base. I’ve sweetened it with a combination of agave and Stevia, but the proportions can be altered for any diet (so if you shouldn’t or can’t touch sugar, use more Stevia and omit the agave altogether; if you’re fine in the sugar department, use all agave, or add some dates).

I used carob in this recipe, rather than chocolate. Raw cacao would be absolutely fine here, too, but I happen to love the taste of carob and admire its health properties (rich source of iron, among other things). Use whichever flavoring suits you.

The result is a smooth, creamy, rich treat that tastes way too good to be 100% raw and body-friendly. Enjoy!

Raw Chocolate Pudding (serves 4)

Ingredients:

Meat of four young coconuts
1/3 cup raw carob powder
2 tbsp coconut water
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 packet Stevia

Blend the ingredients on a low setting in your Vitamix. Continue to increase the speed very slowly, until the mix is quite creamy; then, turn the speed to high and let the mixture blend for a minute or more. See how long you can wait to devour it!

NB: if you don’t have a Vitamix, you can work with a food processor or conventional blender. You may need to be patient and add a bit more liquid to the mix, but you’ll get results.

Enjoy!

And a huge thank you to Jessica for her site and for sharing her story. Please support Mike and Jessica by visiting A Sweet Life and sharing it with anyone you know who battles diabetes — or simply with anyone who is health conscious.

Have a great night, guys.

Spotlight on cookbooks: THE RAW FOOD REVOLUTION DIET

Hey all!

Hope that your many Thanksgiving celebrations were absolutely lovely. Thanks for your comments on my thankful post — I should have added that I am terribly thankful for all of you!

One of the more frequent reader questions I get is which cookbooks or raw diet books I most recommend. It’s not always a question I love to answer, since I like to encourage those who are getting into raw to work intuitively, incorporating raw foods into preexisting routines and tastes, rather than relying on diet plans or recipes. Even so, I realize that cookbooks serve an important function for those who are transitioning into the raw lifestyle: they offer culinary inspiration, a sense of kinship with the cookbook authors, and they often include a lot of helpful how-to. So it’s only fair, I think, that I periodically share with you the cookbooks that have most inspired and helped me in my culinary journey.

My first selection is actually a new-ish one. I got my hands on a copy of The Raw Food Revolution Diet, co-authored by Cherie Soria, Brenda Davis, and Vesanto Melina, a few weeks ago, and I’ve been enjoying it ever since. It’s primarily a cookbook, but it’s also a primer on the raw lifestyle and (for those who wish) a dietary guide. I only skimmed the information on raw eating (which includes everything from an explanation of what enzymes are to daily meal plans), but my reaction to the material was both positive and occasionally critical. I think that it’s a fundamentally sound, well-rounded approach to eating raw. I was sorry to see that the authors’ dismiss of food combining, and–more importantly–their choice to include calorie counts with the daily meal plans. While I think that calorie counting can be a useful practice for those who are very overweight and not used to keeping any sort of tabs on their daily intake, I believe that it’s a fundamentally counterproductive habit that instills the wrong sorts of dietary priorities in people. Most raw foodists I know eschew it as much as I do, and I’m dissapointed when I see calorie tabulations in raw books.

This said, the counts and daily meal plans do serve as proof to newcomers that the raw diet is as sustaining and rich in fuel as any other way of eating. So if the authors included the counts solely to persuade doubters that they can meet their needs with raw foods, so be it.

But let’s get to the important stuff: the recipes. In this book you’ll find everything from simple soups and salad dressings to recipes for raw scones, burgers, and garden pizza. Impressive! The book clearly offers a range of difficulty, so that newcomers to the diet who don’t own many appliances can still take advantage of the food.

Whenever a client reports purchasing a new raw un-cookbook to me, I offer an important word of advice: don’t focus on recipes that you won’t have the energy to prepare on a regular basis. Just because a shiny new recipe for raw pizza sits in front of you, it doesn’t mean that you need to spend 11 hours dehydrating sprouted buckwheat crust. Focus on familiarizing yourself with recipes that you might actually make and make again. And choose the recipes that fit into your lifestyle; if you’re a soup lover, give a few new soups a shot; if you love to spiralize pasta, search for cool new zucchini noodle recipes. Later on, once you’ve taken advantage of recipes you’ll really return to, you can play with the toughies.

Me? I’ve so far tested out two staples in my own diet: nut pates and soups. My first excursion with The Raw Food Revolution Diet was a broccoli tahini pate. While I can’t reveal precisely what’s in the recipe or how it’s made, I can tell you that it’s a broccoli base with tahini, miso, lemon and some nutritional yeast, and it’s absolutely delicious! And while I don’t calculate protein or calcium counts for recipes–again, this is very alien to my approach–I will echo the authors’ reminder that broccoli and tahini are rich sources of both nutrients.

I served the pate over a big salad, along with some juice pulp crackers I’d made a few days earlier:

A delicious meal!

My next recipe was the book’s garden soup. This is not so different from any standard blended salad: kale, cucumber, apple, avocado or sunflower seeds, and seasonings. But the result was exceptionally thick and creamy (sort of a rarity for green soup) and the flavor had a lovely sweetness to it. Another winner!!

So far, then, I’m really enjoying the Raw Food Diet Revolution. Of course, I recommend that you approach the “diet” part with a big grain of salt: raw foods are about eating close to nature, and not about dieting! But if you can overcome the linguistics, this is a great source of information and a rich trove of easy to make recipes for anyone — expert or newbie.

Meanwhile, were you wondering about the Thanksgiving meal? I was, as I mentioned a few posts ago, dining in a restaurant with my mom and her boyfriend. So I’m afraid there’s no raw vegan spread to show you. But I can report overall dining success. We were eating at Cesca, an upscale Italian restaurant, and I feared that I’d be terribly limited in options (especially on a high-stress service day for the waitstaff, and with a pre-fixe menu in place). Not so! The restaurant’s manager, Todd, was more than sweet about accomodating me, as was our affable waiter. I began with a salad, and then the restaurant threw together a plate of raw and steamed veggies, including beets, zucchini and carrots, marinated portobellos, and brussels sprouts. Along with a nice vinaigrette on the side, it was simple and satisfying — just what I like!

Thanks, Cesca, for a great meal.

And now it’s your turn, guys: how was your Thanksgiving meal? Hope it exceeded expectations all around.

xo

I am thankful.

I am thankful…

1) For My Mom

2) For the biggies: friends, family, my job(s), my apartment

3) For New York City, for existing

4) For the sixty readers who told me how much they liked my Thanksgiving menu

5) For my clients, who inspire me with their honesty, hard work, and courage

6) For Melissa’s ultimate running playlist, which kept me moving this morning

7) For Pure Food and Wine, for serving the world’s greatest Thanksgiving menu, even if I’m not there to devour it today

8 ) For the Upper West Side of NYC — where else can you watch the Macy’s Day Parade from your rooftop?

9) For Top Chef marathons on Bravo — even if I swore I’d never watch again after Hosea won

10) For two solid, uninterrupted, and totally guiltless hours of pleasure reading (!)

11) For Leslie, who was the first reader to make my raw stuffing at home (thanks, girl!)

12) For The Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, who helped to shift my feelings about veganism in October

13) For the fact that book sales are finally, marginally, gloriously up this fall (keep it up, guys! buy a book, save an editor!)

14) For the foods that make my world go round: avocados, kale, carrots, tomatoes, fuji apples, and coconuts

15) For the kind folks at Liquiteria, who delivered green juice to my office yesterday when I couldn’t leave my desk

16) For Lady Gaga. My pop music cup runneth over.

17) For pre-holiday publishing. When else do we get new books by Lorrie Moore and Alice Munro in a single month?

18) To Gary Null’s Uptown Whole Foods for being open on a holiday. Cause sometimes, a girl’s just got to have a coconut.

19) For the childhood friends (you guys know who you are), who have been spending Thanksgiving with me for twenty happy years

20) For simple raw lunches.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Gena’s Mostly Raw, All Vegan Thanksgiving Menu

Hey all!

There’s nothing like an imminent holiday weekend to destroy one’s concentration. If today is any indication of my capacity for focus (it began with a half-terrifying, half-comical spill on the treadmill, and ended with my absentmindedly confusing vinegar and soy sauce in the kitchen), then Thanksgiving can’t come soon enough. What I have been able to focus on – finally! – is a high-raw, all vegan Thanksgiving menu for you to enjoy and share with loved ones!

As I was creating this menu (and the recipes on it) I had a few goals in mind:

•   Simplicity. There are some folks who like to spend four hours basting a bird or half a day freezing pastry dough. Let them. I prefer to spend no more than forty-five minutes working on a dish–and that’s a generous window in my world. Some marinating aside, each of the following dishes takes no more than forty-five minutes of active work.

•     Seasonal produce. From winter squash to fresh cranberries to carrots and celery from your local farmers’ market, it’s my hope that this menu showcases some of the best of seasonal flavors and tastes.

•   Familiarity. In my last post on Thanksgiving, I made clear that a positive attitude and open-minded approach is the best way to help your family adjust to the brave new world of vegan and raw dishes. There’s a culinary component to helping them adjust, too: make dishes that are familiar and comforting. This is not the occasion to experiment with a cacao-goji-avocado pudding, dusted with maca, or a nutloaf that you’re not certain won’t emerge from the dehydrator looking like a brick.

This is the day to make raw food that’s reminiscent of conventional dishes. And for you high-raw foodies out there, it’s a good day to experiment with an entrée or two that’s vegan and easy to digest, but not all raw. Bringing something warm to the table may actually help your family and friends gather up the courage to taste your other all-raw options; knowing that they aren’t limited to (read: forced into) eating raw will make them much more receptive to the idea.

To wit, a high-raw, all vegan, user friend Thanksgiving menu!

Beet “ravioli” with root vegetable filling

Arugula, radicchio, fennel and orange salad

Acorn squash stuffed with cinnamon-scented quinoa and dried cherries

The menu includes two semi-raw recipes (the ravioli and, if you don’t have a high-speed blender, the soup) and one cooked recipe (the squash). The rest is raw.

I love this menu for its tastiness, of course, but what I love most about it is the fact that these recipes are simple and hassle-free. And since they feature familiar flavors (cinnamon and nutmeg; parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) and textures (soup; mashed root veggies; dense and nutty stuffing) they’ll allow you to show the special people in your life that eating raw needn’t be a daring experience. Instead, it can be comforting and delicious.

With that, let’s get on to the recipes!

Arugula, Radicchio, Fennel, and Orange Salad (serves 4-6)

This is the perfect fall salad. The tart arugula and radicchio are balanced by the sweetness of fresh fennel and citrus, and the whole thing is brought together by a classic Dijon vinaigrette.

For the salad:

2 bunches fresh arugula (about 12 oz)
1 small head radicchio, chopped
1 medium head fennel, shaved thinly
1 large navel orange, supremed (ie, peel it, cut off the pith, and cut it into sections, being sure to remove all seeds)

For the vinaigrette:

6 tbsps olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white whine (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.

Toss the vinaigrette over the salad, mix, and enjoy!

Beet Ravioli with Root Vegetable Filling (makes 12 ravioli)

A few weeks ago, you guys saw these take a starring role in a dinner party. Here, they make terrific appetizers for any meal.

For the “ravioli”:

24 very thin slices of beet

For the filling:

At least 2 cups of a simple root vegetable mash. I suggest:

Sweet Potato and Turnip Mash

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 large turnips, peeled and chopped
1 heaping tbsp Dijon mustard
1 ½ tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsps agave
1 generous tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt (adjust to taste)
Pepper to taste

Steam the root vegetables for about twenty or thirty minutes, or until very fork tender. Put them in a food processor with the remaining ingredients and blend till very rich and smooth – you may have to stop often to scrape the sides of the bowl.

Top each round of beet with about 1-2 tbsps of the warm veggie mash. Put another beet on top, and voila: a sweet, savory, and sumptuous half-raw pasta creation that will leave your guests smiling.

Butternut squash and apple soup (serves 4-6)

Another guest from my autumn dinner party menu, this is by far my favorite recipe of the last few months. Sweet and gently spiced, it only tastes decadent. Enjoy it for your dinner, or at any time of year!

8 cups butternut squash (peeled, seeded, and chopped)
2 cups fresh apple juice or cider
2/3 cup orange juice
2/3 cup water (a bit less if you like a very thick soup)
4 large stalks celery
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
8 pitted and soaked dates (or 2 tbsps agave)
2 tsp salt
Dash of onion powder (or some fresh onion, if desired)

Blend all in a high speed blender till smooth and creamy.

If you don’t have a high speed blender, raw squash will be tough to blend, so I recommend steaming the squash and celery very gently first. Then, blend away. You can serve it cool, or reheat on the stove post-blending.

Raw Walnut and Mushroom Stuffing

Best. Stuffing. Ever.

This recipe is far richer than my standard fare – it’s heavy on the nuts and oils that so many of you send me fretful emails about! But Thanksgiving is all about indulgence, and indulging on healthy, natural, straight-from-the-earth foods is the way to do it!

Though you won’t pull this stuffing piping-hot from the oven, you will find that the flavor profiles are reminiscent of the standard dish. It’s spiced with thyme and rosemary, and walnuts (ground up in the trusty food processor) help to make the dish cohere in place of bread. Finally, portobello mushrooms, celery, and carrots give the filling substance and texture – way better than the beef that used to lurk in my family’s recipe!

To begin, soak 2 chopped portobello mushrooms in:

¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup braggs
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

It’s best to marinate the mushrooms overnight, but 2-4 hours will do.

Next, blend in a food processor:

3 cups walnuts
1 tsp salt
2 tsp chopped thyme
1 ½ tbsps fresh rosemary, chopped finely
2 tbsps fresh chopped parsley
½ tsp dried sage

When the mixture has taken on a fine texture, add to it:

3 tbsps olive oil

Pulse until it begins to come together, like a nut pate. Mix this with:

1 ½ cups grated carrot
1 cup chopped celery

Add the mushrooms, using or reserving liquid depending on how “wet” you want the stuffing to be.

Next, coarsely chop:

½ cup pecans
½ cup raisins

Add the chopped nuts and raisins to the stuffing, chopping in some additional parsley sprigs.

Enjoy!!

Raw Cranberry Sauce

1 cup apple juice (freshly squeezed)
1 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed)
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
Dash allspice
Dash cloves
½ cup agave
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1 cup cranberries, whole

1/2 cup cranberries, halved
1 cup pecans or walnuts (or a mix), chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1 tsp orange zest

First, blend together the apple and orange juices, the cinnamon, the nutmeg, the allspice, the cloves, and the whole cranberries. When mixture is thick, taste for sweetness and adjust as you like.

At this point, you can simply serve the sauce as is! It’s delicious. Keep in mind, though, that this is very much a sauce – it’ll be smooth and gravy-like in texture.

For a more textured cranberry sauce (in addition to the regular sauce), simply separate out one cup of the mixture. To this, add the half cup of halved cranberries, the chopped nuts, and the dried cranberries. Grate in the additional teaspoon orange zest. Let it soak overnight, until the cranberries sweeten and soften up. Top with additional cranberries and zest, and enjoy!

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Cinnamon-Scented Quinoa (serves 4)

When I was transitioning to veganism, stuffed squash quickly became a mainstay for me. I love winter squash of every variety, and I especially love it when it’s paired with a tasty, warm grain. Dishes like this one live little doubt that vegan entrees provide the heft and sustenance that critics claim are lacking in a vegan diet. And they prove that holiday entrees can be delicious, filling, healthy, environmentally conscious, and cruelty-free all at once. What could be better?

2 acorn squash, halved (with the seeds and pulp scooped out)
1 cup quinoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
1/3 cup pine nuts

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the acorn squash face down in a baking dish with enough water to reach 1 inch up the squash. Cook for thirty-five (or so) minutes, or until the squash is fork tender.

While squash is cooking, cook quinoa in water, according to the box instructions. When it’s ready, fluff it with a fork and add the cinnamon, agave, cherries, and pine nuts.

To serve, place one squash half on a plate, fill with a quarter of the quinoa mixture, and dust with more cinnamon if you like.

Note to food combining friends: this is, technically, a miscombined recipe (starches + nuts and dried fruits). This won’t affect some of you at all, and I think it’s quite delicious enough not to trouble even those among you who practice food combining. This said, it’s no problem to leave out the nuts and dried fruit if you like!

Holy yum!

Wondering about dessert? Well, truth be told, I failed you guys in this department. The week has simply been too nutty for me to experiment with a dessert recipe. I may yet manage to concoct something spectacular before the special day. If not, I leave you with these fun ideas for inspiration:

Kristen’s Holiday Chia Pudding

Michelle and Lori’s Gluten-Free, Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Julie’s Vanilla Bean Mousse

VeggieGirl’s famous fig-almond blondies

Susan’s Cinnamon Ginger Truffles

Or, you can simply whip out the food processors and a giant bag of frozen ‘naners, and make some banana soft serve. Show your family how great raw, vegan ice cream can be!

May you all try one – or a few of these treats for yourselves, and enjoy a perfect holiday.

And if you plan to get a headstart on your holiday shopping this weekend, my dear friend Sarma is having a buy one, get one free deal on gift cards this weekend over at the One Lucky Duck website. Go check it out!!

xoxo

Next Page »