Thinking about thanksgiving

I know it will be a while until we have Thanksgiving, but this is our family's first vegan/raw thanksgiving and I am already practicing some recipe's so I can make some great food come holiday season. Tonight I used the recipe below as a guide and made some raw pumpkin pie only I changed it a lot (and used squash instead of pumpkin) it was sooooo delicious!

Autumn pumpkin pie
(From "Ani's raw food kitchen" cook book)

Crust:

1/4 C sunflower seeds
1 3/4 C pumpkin seeds
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 C pitted dates

(You can make a raw pie crust with dates and almost any nut/seed combination.
I used dates and cashews/Brazil nuts for my pie)

Syrup:

1 C pitted dates
1 1/4 C water

Filling:

4 Cups pumpkin peeled seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes ( about 1 1/4 whole before peeled)
2 t ground cinn.
1 T psyllium powder

To make crust, process sunflower seeds into a fine powder in your food processor. Use this to "flour" the bottom of your pie dish

Next process pumpkin seeds and salt into course meal. Slowly add 1 C dates to make dough. press in pie dish. Set aside.
To make syrup, blend 1 cup dates with water until smooth. Set aside.

To make filling, process small batches of cubed pumpkin and cinn into a puree. Slowly add in the syrup. Process until completely smooth. Place pumpkin filling in bowl and hand mix in psyllium powder really well. ( I placed mine in the freezer for a little while and it helped thicken it and it was really good!)

To serve, scoop filling into pie crust.

Will keep for 4 days in fridge.



Some things to remember:

*Organic food tastes better ( and is healthier) than non-organic. Some foods I thought I hated -I realized I actually enjoyed when I ate them organic.

*Organic food is more expensive. I used to believe that we just couldn't afford it. Then I started doing some research and I was horrified! Food has come along way when how it used to be and how God intended it to be. (I really recommend seeing the movie "King Corn" to learn a little more about conventionally grown food) We decided as a family being healthy is important and than it was something we wanted to invest in. A cost effective way to eat organic is to shop at farmers markets or grow some veggies yourself! I grow organic tomato's in a pot in my side yard and it was like $3-!

* Investing in the right equipment makes a big difference! Having a really good food processor, blender, and juicer make all the difference. Also having really good knives's that you can sharpen and a good space for chopping can make a HUGE difference. (especially with raw foods) Obviously you work with what you have. I have a nice food processor I got for a good price at Costco, an inexpensive blender ( although I am planning on getting a vita mix!) and a good juicer I am borrowing from my mom. When ever I make a green smoothie ( which I try to do everyday) my blender never really blends it all the way, because it's just not the best quality. I am mentioning this because some recipe's might not turn out right if you have really cheap equipment.