This Thanksgiving I wanted to give you a number of healthy recipes that are easy to make and create for yourself and your family.
I made the mashed potatoes, cornbread, pumpkin pie balls and vegetable gravy from scratch but I used a Gardein turkey roast. It was pretty tasty and including some homemade recipes will keep you on track with your weight loss goals.
Are you hungry yet? Lets get started!
Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 large gold or russet potatoes chopped into chunks
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Put the chopped potatoes in a saucepan filled with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook until soft which is about 10 minutes.
- When the potatoes are done, reserve about 1/4 cup of the cooking water and use to mash the potatoes, add in garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
Pumpkin Pie Balls
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups instant oats
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla powder
- roll in nuts/coconut flakes
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine pumpkin, cinnamon, vanilla and sugar and stir together.
- Slowly add in oats until you get a cookie like dough consistency.
- Roll in coconut flakes or chopped nuts.
Healthy Cornbread Loaf
Cornbread Ingredients
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 1 cup oat milk
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Whisk cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
- Add in your oat milk, and maple syrup.
- Pour batter into a nonstick loaf pan dish. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Vegetable Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 cups kale
- 1/2 cup onion, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups mushrooms (or sub beans)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp better than boullion
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Instructions
- Add 1 tbsp of water to a sauce pan and add in mushrooms and onions. Cook 5 minutes until fragrant.
- Add in the rest of your ingredients and sauce another 10 minutes.
- Blend and serve.
- If you don’t want your gravy to be green, skip the kale.
Ooooh, the healthy loaf looks absolutely amazing! It almost looked like a Tofurky! It probably doesn’t taste healthy too!
Hi Hannah,
I am inspired by your story and your journey. You made realized to change my lifestyle too. Actually I decided to start my own journey for about a three weeks ago already. I have watched tons of videos in the youtube for the recipes I needed but everytime I personally cooked them I always fail to get the right taste. I even bought tons of things for my vegan diet. I feel stucked up right now and somehow makes me feel that I cannot do it anymore. I don’t know if this is the right place for me to say this but I just want to get some help.
Please don’t give up being vegan! Learning how to cook can be hard, but being vegan is the single best thing you can do for your health.
I eat very simply because I am busy. You can get rice that steams in the microwave, ditto veggies, frozen potatoes in the bag, canned beans, hummus, guacamole, and salsa in the container…you’ll get a lot of salt but not more than the standard american diet. Of course pick up some pasta and jarred sauce, bread, fruit, etc.
In the meantime you can practice cooking until you get better!! Don’t give up.
I will definitely try that loaf for Christmas! It looks so good!? Thank you Hannah 🙂