Have a Raw Food Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving can be a challenging time for raw food vegans as it is usually based around the traditional turkey and cooked foods. Putting together a fantastic raw food Thanksgiving dinner is not only possible, it may even convince your non-vegan friends to try making one meal a raw food meal every day and later maybe even adopting a completely all-raw food way of eating.
Instructions
1. Determine your Thanksgiving dinner goals. Decide what is important to you and your guests. You may wish to have replacements and substitutes for each of the traditional Thanksgiving foods or you may decide to go with completely new raw foods. Serving local and organic raw foods might be important to you. You might want to serve raw foods in a certain holiday color scheme. Defining your goals clearly will help guide the rest of the planning process.
2. Choose your turkey replacement. This will be the main dish, whether you purposely try to make a raw food "turkey" or not. One turkey substitute is Avocado-Celery Patties. In a food processor, combine one bunch of celery, one green onion and a handful of fresh parsley until finely chopped. Drain off the liquid, then add one cup finely chopped pecans or almonds, one mashed avocado and sage to taste. Form into patties.
3. Choose a potato replacement. Potatoes do not do well raw as they discolor from exposure to air and because of the starch present. You can replace them with cauliflower "mashed potatoes." In a , process a head of cauliflower cut into florets, 2 cloves garlic and 1/4 cup finely ground cashews. Add olive oil slowly until the cauliflower has the consistency of mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Add in other raw food dishes to complement the "meat and potatoes." Cranberry sauce can be made with raw cranberries and there are many options for raw vegetable salads.
5. Choose a dessert. Dessert can be as simple as mixed berries or other fruit. There are also many recipes online for raw food pumpkin or sweet potato pies. (See Resources.)
6. Design your decorations. If you're planning your raw food Thanksgiving dinner around colors, find design elements to match. Tablecloths, napkins, flowers, and invitations are easy to find in many coordinating colors. You can also set the Thanksgiving table with the raw foods you have used in the dishes. Set sweet potatoes, avocados, and cauliflower heads in the center of the table to create a harvest market look.
Tags: Thanksgiving dinner, finely chopped, food processor, food Thanksgiving dinner, Have Food, Have Food Thanksgiving, mashed potatoes