Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Favorite Holiday Recipes and a new Green Smoothie

It's been a while since I have posted any recipes, but life has gotten a bit hectic over the past few months! I promise these holiday favorites are well worth the wait!
The thought of never having my favorite thanksgiving recipe again, green bean casserole, was not acceptable to me! I sought out different recipes, and had to eventually make up my own to be happy with the results. My family agrees that this recipe rivals the cream of mushroom soup/cholesterol ridden one that we all know so well.
To begin, I clean and de-stem the fresh green beans and steam for 10 minutes (I have also made this with frozen julienne cut green beans and it was equally delicious!). While that is cooking, I whisk together the almond milk and the vegetable bullion cube until dissolved. I then add the cornstarch to thicken. Once the creamy and consistent, I coat the green beans in the mixture and mix in 1/2 cup of the crispy onion and put in an oven safe dish. This bakes for 25 minutes at 350, then topped with another 1/2 cup of the onions and cooked for 5 more minutes. This was the only picture I snagged of it, after it had been well enjoyed!
     1 lb fresh green beans
1 large vegetable bullion cube
1 tbsp cornstarch
1- 1 1/2 c. almond milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. french fried onions

Pumpkin pie was always one of my holiday favorites, and the past few thanksgivings I had used a recipe I found online, but I wanted to change it up this year. I began by buying a pre-made graham cracker crust (I know that this would be 10x better with a homemade crust!!), and spreading a thick chocolate mixture made out of dark chocolate chunks and almond milk just on top of the crust (heat the almond milk, then stir in chocolate until all combined evenly)- then I put this in the refrigerator to set for 10 minutes while I made the filling which was easy as mixing all the ingredients together at once and putting in the pie shell. Then into the oven at 350 F for 60 minutes. The chocolate added just a bit of extra sweetness and special flavor- perfect combination!
1 premade pie crust
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 tbsp almond milk for chocolate spread
2 c. pumpkin puree
1 c. almond milk
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch **sifted to avoid lumps**
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice or ground cloves

Lastly, a new green smoothie recipe! I put the spinach, coconut water, pineapple, peach, and strawberries along with the hemp proetein powder into the Vitamix and blended for 30 seconds on high....Delicious!
5-8 oz fresh spinach
4 chunks fresh pineapple
3 pieces frozen peaches
4 frozen strawberries
1 cup coconut water
2 tbsp raw hemp protein powder

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