Thursday, November 15, 2012

Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie


As a much requested follow up to my last blog, here is the recipe for the Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie! Note:  this is not my recipe!! I got this from some great chiropractors in Florida who got it off the internet. It's way too good not to keep sharing though! 

Have a Happy, Healthy Thanksgiving!



Four Ingredient Pumpkin Pie
vegan, makes one pie


1 1/4 cups raw soaked cashews

1 cup maple syrup

1 can organic pumpkin puree (16 ounces) (or use fresh puree)

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice


optional: 1/2 tsp sea salt to taste (depends how much salt you soaked your cashews in)


ingredients notes: using high quality spice is helpful. Also, I prefer grade B maple syrup for its rich amber tones and caramelized flavor - but grade A works too.


One standard vegan pie crust - or make your own.


To Make:


1. Soak about one cup of raw cashews in about 2 ½ cups of water in a large bowl. Add about  ½ - 1 tsp of salt to the bowl - mix to dissolve. The salt allows the water to absorb more efficiently into the cashews and also adds some salt for your recipe. Note: you may want to soak more cashews than needed and make two pies.


2. Soak this cashew bowl overnight in the fridge. You want well-soaked cashews so that your pie mix blends up perfectly creamy. I soaked my cashews for about 18 hours. At least 8 is optimal. Don't soak for more than two days or the cashews can get grimy in my opinion.


3. The day of your actual pie making allow at least 3 hours from the time you start to the time you wish to serve the pie. I like a cool time of at least 2 hours.


4. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.


5. Drain the water from your cashews. They should be very soft to bite and a slight purplish dark hue. This is normal. Add 1¼ cups of cashews to your food processor - or even better, a Vitamix or high speed blender.


6. Add pumpkin to blender. Next, add in the maple syrup and pumpkin pie spice. Blend on low -> high for about 3-5 minutes until the mixture is completely creamy. If your mixture is a bit thick for some reason - you can add in a few teaspoons of either water, maple syrup or even non-dairy milk. After blending, do a taste test and add a ½ teaspoon of salt if needed. I added in about 1
tsp extra salt. But taste before adding.

7. Pour your mix into a par-baked vegan pie shell (I toast my raw pie shell in the 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes). You can buy a frozen crust or make your own.


8. Bake pie at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Then reduce to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes - or until the edges look fluffy and a darker caramel orange tone. Use a toothpick in center if unsure. The tooth-picked filling should come out slightly wet - but very thick and dark. It is important to remember that your pie will firm up significantly upon cooling and chilling in the fridge.


9. Remove pie from oven. Cool on counter for at least 30 minutes. Then place in fridge until ready to serve. At least 2 hours cooling and/or chilling time is my preference. A warm pie will be tasty, but still a bit "wet" to slice.


10. Serve chilled!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

A Little Bit Bah-Humbug




It all starts with Halloween. It was fun to dress up with Laramie and see other little kids and their parents dressed up, but I guess I just have a hard time with a holiday centered around going to stranger’s houses and getting candy. LOTS OF CANDY.  It doesn’t end with Halloween either. Then we move on to Thanksgiving, a holiday which revolves around food and utter over-indulgence. Then comes Christmas.  More like Stress-mas. Traveling, gift giving, MORE EATING. And then eating some MORE. Top it off with too much alcohol on New Year’s Eve and you’ve got a recipe for a serious health crisis. No wonder more than 80% of this country is dying from preventable chronic illness. We spend 10 months out of the year trying to repair the damage done in a short 4 months. 

I’m trying really hard to break this time-honored tragedy. 

For Halloween we don’t hand out candy. We hand out little toys or some fruit. I’m willing to be “that house” for the sake of our children. I cannot consciously, or in good conscience, contribute to childhood obesity and chronic illness. Laramie didn’t go trick-or-treating this year since she’s still too young to understand, but when the time comes for her to participate in the festivities, I’m going to have to get creative in finding ways to get around the candy. 

We’re hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. I’m preparing a traditional meal without preservatives or casseroles. Organic as much as possible. My family has already begun to make fun of us, but again I cannot consciously perpetuate the tradition of eating highly processed foods.  Our menu will consist of oven-roasted turkey (free-range if I can find it), mashed cauliflower, sautéed fresh green beans, homemade cranberry sauce, oven-roasted broccoli with pine nuts, and a gluten-free bread. I also found this amazing recipe for pumpkin pie made of pumpkin, pumpkin spice, cashews, and maple syrup. I’m also not going to make too much food, I’d rather run out than eat too much. 

My goal for Christmas is to take the focus off gift giving.  I don’t NEED presents. I NEED my family. I want to spend Christmas having fun with my family. I LOVE playing games with family. I want to create a new family tradition this year. I’m hoping that it’s wildly successful. I would also love the focus to be on helping others, whether it is people from your church, your community, or a complete stranger. There are so many things that can bring a wonderful feeling of wellbeing and peace during the holidays. I’d rather focus on those things than spend money I don’t have on gifts people don’t need. 

Here’s to having a happy, healthy holiday season this year!

Dr. Emily :-)