if you’re here in the states than you very well may share my excitement about this holiday centered around friends, family, gratitude and an amazing meal. ahhh! i can’t wait! here are a few recipes from around the interwebs that are on my maybe-make list. any thanskgiving recipes that you think we would be mistaken to miss out on? i love the traditional dishes but this year i think i’m going to try to make all new-to-us recipes! and, as always, our thanksgiving will be equally vegan, delicious and healthy!
butternut squash and farro with honey-harissa dressing via happyolks
*really, my maybe-make list is ridiculous, you would think i was single-handedly trying to feed all of palm springs… oh i’m getting even more excited just typing this! yay for the holidays!!
lately i’ve been re-focusing on my health. when we were in europe i didn’t worry too much about what i was eating, i wanted to be present in the experience, enjoy the local foods, forget for a minute that i have crohn’s disease and feel totally normal. which was brilliant, while we were there. but when we came home i had a hard time transitioning back to eating really clean, so the new less-healthy habits i picked up on vacation started to infiltrate my regular life. but i payed the price- i didn’t feel that great for a big part of october and towards the end i decided that i needed to do a cleanse and give myself a fresh start.
for the first week i started every day with a green juice, ate enough raw veggies and fruit to keep me going through lunch and finished with another juice around late afternoon. almost immediately i saw my health improve dramatically. (have you seen fat, sick and nearly dead? it’s amazing and you can watch it for free here). so, i kept it up for another week- doing three and a half days of just fresh juice in the middle. this is my third week and i’m enjoying lots of fresh juice, veggies and fruits. i’m also starting to slowly incorporate other things into my diet so that by the end of this weekend i’ll be done cutting out foods and back to my normal, healthy eating!
at the beginning of the cleanse i also started drinking a glass of warm water with half a lemon squeezed in it first thing every morning. it’s supposed to help flush toxins out of your system. whether it works or not i have no idea, but the routine of it and the intention behind it are good enough for me! and i will definitely keep both the lemon water and the green juice breakfast as part of my daily life even after i’ve finished the cleanse. it’s so helpful to start the day off with really healthy intentions, it makes it so easier to make good decisions later in the day. so tell me, do you have any new healthy habits i should know about?!
yeah, i wrote that. no shame. these oat balls have me all riled up, they’re so good! and i’m not going to advise you to dip them in melted chocolate (DO IT!) because that would transform them from a healthy breakfast / snack to dessert. but if you did, you probably wouldn’t be disappointed. recipe after the jump.
i’ve never had jetlag before, at least not like i have it this time around. i’ve been walking around since we got home like a dazed puppy dog. it’s made me crave really hearty, healthy meals that require little to no effort. which brings me to this meal…. a bowl of quinoa, black beans, cilantro and avocado with a stack of corn tortillas at the ready and a bottle of cholula to add some kick. so simple to prepare- just heat/mix some (preferably leftover) black beans and quinoa. serve with a sliced avocado half and some cilantro alongside a stack or pre-made tortillas. as with all really simple meals like this- the key to the deliciousness is using high quality, fresh ingredients. i recently started cooking my black beans- it’s really not too much work! (read here about the nutritional punch that black beans pack as well as instructions on how to cook them!) this dish has become my jetlag survival meal. do you have any other recovery tips?
so you remember when i said that NOTHING IS BETTER THAN HOMEMADE PESTO? i was totally lying. what is totally and unequivocally better than homemade pesto, is homemade pesto with bread, tomato and a high quality sweet balsamic vinegar. THAT is to die for. you have options where this is concerned. you can chop up some fine heirloom tomatoes, chunks of fresh sourdough bread and combine in a bowl with a generous amount of pesto (recipe here), and serve on a plate with splashes of balsamic. it’s not the prettiest, but as lou said “it made me do a dance”. it made ME eat a ridiculous amount of tomatoes and bread. or, if you prefer a prettier presentation, an open faced sandwich will do the trick. either way, you positively cannot go wrong. i would eat this every day if i could. and the best part- it takes just minutes to whip up. i hope you try it!
you know what’s better than homemade pesto? NOTHING! i want to eat it by the spoonful it’s just so damn yummy! it’s also brilliantly simple- you’ll kick yourself for not making it before. there are a million and one things to do with it once you’ve got it, and tomorrow i’ll post my first suggestion. as with all simple recipes- use the highest quality and freshest ingredients you can get your mitts on. and lastly: anyone who thinks you need parmesan cheese to make an incredible pesto is dead wrong. save money, your arteries and cows- try it vegan!
the what:
3 cups fresh basil, sans stems
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
4 small/medium cloves of garlic
sea salt
the how: throw it all in a food processor and blend. add salt to taste. show no restraint.
