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