20 Nov Whole Food Plant-Based Thanksgiving Dishes are Easy
With the festivity season slowly closing in and Thanksgiving already on the corner, it’s almost that time of the year when people throw caution to the wind and eat whatever is at the table. While there’s no denying it can be tempting to splurge, it’s still possible to enjoy that whole food plant-based diet you’ve been following all year during Thanksgiving and still have fun. Have no idea how? Then fret not. The whole food plant-based dish from Desert Hot Springs spa below will give you an idea
A Brief Overview of the Whole Food Plant-Based Diet
Just as the name implies, a WFPB diet centers, on the whole, unrefined, and unprocessed foods, limits animal products, and emphasizes locally sourced, organic foods. It’s often confused with a vegetarian diet, but the two have distinct differences as outlined below
- A vegan dish excludes animal products or by-products wholly while a whole food plant-based diet does not. That means on a WFPB diet; you can choose to avoid or limit your animal product intake.
- A WFPB consists of whole, unrefined foods while on a vegetarian diet, you can munch on anything as long as it’s not an animal product.
Therefore, based on the above, a whole food plant-based diet is quite healthy as it eliminates refined and processed foods. Some of its benefits include
- Weight Loss
- It is more Eco-Friendly
- It reduces your risks to diabetes, cognitive decline, obesity, and heart-related problems.
Whole-Food Plant-Based Thanksgiving Dishes are Easy
Other than being super-healthy, WFPB Thanksgiving dishes are also quite easy to make. This is because the diet allows you to use animal products. You can still have your turkey as long as you ensure it was organically-bred and watch your portions. So you and your guests can enjoy your favorite Thanksgiving recipes only that they’ll be healthier. Here is an example of a WFPB recipe we came up with to get you started!
Wild Rice Stuffed Squash
Ingredients
- 12 small carnival squashes
- ½ cup wild rice
- 2 cups long-grain brown rice
- A tsp. of dried sage and a pinch of dried thyme
- ½ cup raw, toasted pumpkin seeds
- 2/3 cup currants
- 4 stalks diced celery stalks
- 5 cups of water
- Two medium-sized diced onions
- 2 ½ tbsp. regular tamari
- 2 tsp. dried basil
- A pinch of dried or fresh rosemary
- A cup of raw walnuts, toasted and chopped
- A bunch of minced parsley
Making It
- Wash and cut your squash in half, leave the seeds in and place on a baking pan with the inside facing downwards
- Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt, add ¼ and inch of water and bake the squash at 350-degrees for about 1 ½ hour.
- Wash the wild rice and the brown rice separately, then combine, add water, and a pinch of sea salt. Boil on low heat for 50 minutes
- Move it to a different bowl, sauté’ the onions in water until translucent, then add sage, rosemary, basil, and thyme. Sauté for three minutes and add the mixture to the rice.
- Stir the toasted pumpkin seeds and walnuts as well as currants, parsley, and celery together then add tamari and vinegar
- Remove squash from oven, scoop the seeds out, and add a heap of the rice mixture.
- The place it back on the baking dish or pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes and voila! Thanksgiving dinner will be ready to serve.