Whole and Plant-based Holiday Menu

We are grateful for the plant-based lifestyle everyday. We rejoice with you at this time of family and gratitude to thank every amazing individual who has shown us the way here. We are thankful for those who found the power of plants today, and for those who will discover it tomorrow. Welcome! We are grateful for you, and for the beautiful journey we’ve started together.

We are also hopeful for a kinder and more enlightened world. One where no animals are ever harmed and one where we thrive in harmony with planet Earth.

Thanksgiving is yet another chance to show our gratitude for our magnificent planet and to show the world that living in harmony with our bodies and the planet around us, is not a dream, but a very much attainable reality. Here are some great recipe options for a fantastic holiday menu. Enjoy!

~  A Naked and Delicious Thanksgiving Feast  ~

(Whole Food, Plant-based, Vegan, and free of Oil, Salt, Sugar, GMOs, Gluten, Toxins, Chemicals, Additives, Colorants)

Holiday Eggless Eggnog

Enjoy the holiday spirit with this sweet and healthy option. This holiday eggnog is completely plant-based, vegan, and super easy to make!

Naked & Festive Apple Cider

There’s nothing like warm, spicy apple cider on a crisp autumn or winter day. This naked version serves it up in edible apple cups.

Butternut Squash Soup with Cashew Cream

You can go wrong with butternut squash… and when flavored with cashews and spices you’ll enjoy a nice and warming soup that is as healthful as it is delicious.

Roasted Chestnut, Carrot, & Turmeric Bisque

Velouté de Châtaignes, or creamy chestnut soup, is traditionally made with chicken stock and heavy cream. This Naked version of the holiday soup ditches the animal fat and cholesterol and adds the superfood healing properties of turmeric and beta carotene.

Holiday Stuffed Acorn Squash

This gorgeous stuffed squash is filled with protein-packed quinoa to make it extra hearty and satisfying. It is a great recipe for any day, but especially festive during the holidays.

Naked Creamed Kale

All the amazing benefits of superfood kale in a rich and creamy sauce.

Ming’s Roasted Cauliflower

This extraordinary method of roasting cauliflower- the entire head as a whole- will make a remarkable and memorable debut on your holiday table. Golden-brown and aromatic, this tasty roast makes a delicious entree.

Holiday Squash & Berry Salad

This seasonal salad is both savory and sweet, and bursting with autumnal color. It will make a beautiful presentation on your holiday table.

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

Because they are in season late in the year, Brussels sprouts grace many holiday tables, especially in Great Britain, where they have a ubiquitous presence at Holiday dinners.

5-Minute Cranberry Relish

Save time on your holiday food prep with this super-quick, raw cranberry relish. Naturally sweet yet tart with a bright citrus twist, this is a wonderfully naked alternative to the traditional syrupy or jellied relishes.

Fabulous Mushroom Stuffing

Traditional stuffing gets the naked treatment by sautéing the vegetables in water instead of oil and moistening the bread with vegetable broth instead of melted butter.

Holiday Gravy

Not only is this gravy plant-based, but we take the Naked up a notch by the absence of margarine and flour, which are used in many vegan gravy recipes. Simmering this gravy slowly until it reduces volume is the trick to making it the perfect consistency for complementing your holiday dishes.

Naked & Raw Apple Tart

This raw tart is quick and easy to make and has a taste of home in every bite.

Quinoa Truffles

When you’re craving something sweet and chocolatey, these easy four ingredient truffles will do the trick, with the added bonus of nutritious whole foods like quinoa, almonds, dates, and cacao.

Cooking without salt.

The ideal, most sustainable, and most economic way to replace salt while cooking is by using home-made vegetable broth.  Here is the advice by Chef Ramses Bravo on preparing Veggie Broth:
Vegetable broth can be made with the left over pieces of the vegetables used for cooking and preparing meals such as stems, trimmings, peelings, tops and bottoms of vegetables (except for eggplant, artichoke and outer layers of onions). To make broth, simply boil all ingredients in filtered water and simmer for 30 minutes, strain, and store in a sealed container.  To add flavor, add spices such as turmeric, celery, peppercorn, and cumin seeds, as well as bay, parsley, cilantro, or sage leaves while cooking it. Vegetable broth will keep in the refrigerator for 7-10 days or 6 months in the freezer.

Real food is grown, not born.

This week leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday roughly 46 million turkeys are slaughtered every year in the U.S.  Help us build awareness around the plight of turkeys, as well as to celebrate their unique and fascinating personalities.

The turkey industry would have you believe that all emotion and intelligence have been bred right out of domestic turkeys. This four minute clip quickly dispels these pernicious myths by focusing on the powerful friendships of rescued factory farm turkeys. Please don’t miss it.

The contemporary vegan movement is founded on loving-kindness and mindfulness of our effects on others. It is revolutionary because it transcends and renounces the violent core of the herding culture in which we live. It is founded on living the truth of interconnectedness and thereby consciously minimizing the suffering we impose on animals, humans, and biosystems; it frees us all from the slavery of becoming mere commodities. It signifies the birth of a new consciousness, the resurrection of intelligence and compassion, and the basic rejection of cruelty and domination. It is our only real hope for the future of our species because it addresses the cause rather than being concerned merely with effects. – Will Tuttle, PhD.

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison, by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. – Albert Einstein

Make This Thanksgiving Memorable. Adopt a Turkey.

Since 1986, Farm Sanctuary’s annual Adopt a Turkey Project has led to the rescue of more than one thousand turkeys from a brutal death and given thousands of people an opportunity to honor the spirit of the holiday by helping animals in need. Do your part by sponsoring one of the following rescued turkeys at Farm Sanctuary.

Get some more delicious recipes from the Fall Issue of Naked Food!  Here is a glimpse of what is in store for a fantastic holiday menu.

Every choice you make can change the world. Have an authentic, kind, and enlightened Thanksgiving day!