November, 2022 | Issue 19
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Physician's Perspective
A Plant Based Thanksgiving
By Niki Davis, MD
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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. My husband and son love to tease me by saying that it IS my favorite holiday... and maybe they are right. There are many reasons to love Thanksgiving - spending time with loved ones, eating delicious food, and taking time to be grateful for all that we have.
Eating plant based for Thanksgiving can be tricky though! If you are new to this way of eating, it can feel isolating and overwhelming. Thanksgiving wasn’t always a lovely plant-filled affair in my home. I had to navigate my own family’s traditions for a long time. I would bring a dish I wanted to eat and others would do their best to accommodate me.
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Luckily, over the years, we evolved our traditions. Instead of a turkey on the table, our family “adopts” a turkey from the Farm Sanctuary ( https://www.farmsanctuary.org/adopt-a-turkey/). My 9 year old son loves to scroll through the turkey profiles to find the perfect turkey to support. This year he chose Roberto. In addition, we have found new foods to enjoy and have even “veganized” some old favorites. I’m thrilled to be showing what my family enjoys on Thanksgiving on Chef AJ’s YouTube show on Friday, November 4th at 11am PT ( watch the replay here) - so please join in if you can! If you miss it, be sure to catch the replay since I use a lot of Dr. McDougall’s recipes with my own little tweaks.
Here is what I usually make for our Davis Family Plant Based Thanksgiving:
And finally, I want to tell you what I am grateful for this year. I’m grateful for my health and the health of my family. I’m grateful to my patients for allowing me to be a part of their own health journeys. I’m grateful for the time that I have on this planet, however long that may be. I’m grateful for the people who stood up and made their voices heard about the benefits of a plant based diet, not only for everyone’s health but for our planet and the animals we share it with. These people were (and in many ways still are) outcasts, rebels, and revolutionaries. It is because of them I get to enjoy my own good health and help to improve the health of others. I wish all of you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!
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Don’t get left out this holiday season, make yourself a truly healthy pumpkin pie and share it with your friends and family. You are going to love it!!
The recipe is largely inspired by Cathy Fisher at Straight Up Food. Make sure to check out her web site, she has tons of delicious healthy recipes at Straight Up Food
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I love pumpkin pie!!
It’s delicious! I like that it’s a little spicy, not too sweet, and has a nice firm texture. However, since I don’t consider traditional pumpkin pie a healthy food, I haven’t had it in years, and then…. A friend shared this recipe with us, and now I can enjoy this delicious holiday treat once again!! I think it's perfect, and I believe you will enjoy it too! - Anthony
Pecan Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups rolled oats
- ½ cup pecan halves (2 ounces)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 5 Medjool dates (2½ ounces), chopped
- 1½ tablespoons non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375
- Put oats, pecans, and cinnamon in a food processor and blend until ground almost into a flour It takes about about 40 seconds.
- Add chopped dates and blend for about a minute, until it begins to clump
- Add the non-dairy milk until it balls up, almost like dough
- You can either roll the dough on parchment paper, about ⅛th inch thick, and then transfer to the pie pan and push into the corners. OR, if you have a glass or heavy metal pie pan you can place the ball of dough in the pan and just push it into shape with your hands. It gets a little sticky, so kitchen gloves may be helpful if you go this way.
- Cover the pan with foil, and make for 10 minutes
- Remove from oven and the crust is ready to fill!
Pumpkin Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 8 Medjool dates (4 ounces), pitted and chopped
- ¾ cup non-dairy milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup rolled oats, ground into flour
- 1½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground clove
- 1 can (15 ounces) cooked pumpkin - not "pumpkin pie mix"
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place the dates, the non-dairy milk, and the vanilla extract into a blender. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- In a medium-large mixing bowl, add the oat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove and mix with a fork. Add the pumpkin
- Blend the dates, non-dairy milk and vanilla on high speed until smooth. Add this to the bowl of pumpkin and spices and blend until smooth, using an electric beater
- Put the mixture into the pre-baked pie crust and smooth out evenly
- Cover the edges of the pie crust with foil, to prevent it from burning. You can re-use the foil that was used to cover the pie crust
- Cook for 20 minutes at 350, then remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes until the edges start to brown
- Remove and cool before serving
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