It's time to break free from limiting beliefs about what is necessary for food to taste good and satisfy your appetite. The first step - try something different and give it a fair chance! If removing certain types of food from your diet (meat, dairy, sugar, flour, salt, etc.) is necessary for your healing process right now, then keep trying recipes that meet those standards until you have a selection of dishes that you really like and that serve your health goals. If you consider the dishes you currently eat, think about how it took your whole life of eating to ingrain them into your habits and your palette. If you're going to try and make some change, be patient and don't give up because the first few weeks are hard. We'll try to make it easier for you by sharing the recipes that we already love. We're focusing on recipes that satisfy the mood of the holidays, which are special occasions, so not all these recipes are health-promoting, they may just exclude meat or dairy.

Dr. Guy's Favorites

These are delicious vegetable dishes that Dr. Guy whips up frequently at home without a recipe. For the sake of passing it onto you, she found some recipes online that replicate her concoctions pretty accurately.

Mashed Cauliflower by Detoxinista

Recipe: https://detoxinista.com/mashed-cauliflower-vegan-paleo/ Dr. Guy likes to add two ingredients to make this recipe as creamy and buttery as possible. If you're healthy and on a maintenance diet, your body can tolerate a couple of processed ingredients. If you're on a healing diet, make the recipe as is. 1 TBSP - Vegan Butter (Earth Balance is a good option) It also comes in a soy-free option if your NuSpecies program restricts soy. 1/4 CUP - Almond Creamer (Califia Better Half is a good option)

Roasted Green Vegetable Medley

Recipe: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/roasted-green-vegetable-medley/

Jillian & Olivia's Selections from Thanksgiving 2019

Meatless Roast Options

We were gluttonous and bought both roasts at Whole Foods that are made by the brand Field Roast and we made the Lentil Loaf from scratch in case we didn't like the roasts! FYI, we loved it all. Lentil Loaf by Angela Liddon from her book, "The Oh She Glows Cookbook". Here is her picture and recipe. Below is the picture of the one we made. It's also above on the serving plate with the greens and the other two roasts.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Toasted Vegan Marshmallows

Sweet Potato Soul - Her Vegan Youtube Channel has a lot of great ideas. At 6:41 in this video below she shows how to make the mashed potato puree. https://youtu.be/z6WM2Ngi-TE?t=401 Here is her recipe: EASY MASHED SWEET POTATOES 3 sweet potatoes 1 teaspoon oil ¼ cup Califia Farms pumpkin spice almond milk creamer (We couldn't find this flavor of the product, so we used the plain almond milk creamer and added our "pumpkin spice" mix from our spice rack to create the same flavor.) ¼ -½ teaspoon sea salt Pomegranate seeds for garnish Preheat oven to 400°. Poke holes in the sweet potatoes with a fork. Coat each potato with oil, then set them onto a baking sheet or cast-iron skillet. Roast for about 1 hour, or until the sweet potatoes are super tender. Once cool enough to handle, scoop the flesh of the potatoes into a bowl. Add the pumpkin spice creamer and salt, and mash. Season with more salt to taste if needed. I then added the vegan marshmallows on top and right before we were ready to serve it, I put the oven on broil, put it on the rack at the highest position in the oven. I should've taken it out slightly before 3 minutes so they didn't toast so much, but they still tasted great and my family actually prefers them a little on the burnt side.

Other Sides

These are other sides that simply require you to find the recipe that sounds best to you. I've provided general instructions.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

• Slice them in half.
• Rub them down with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Roast them in the oven for about 45 minutes.

There are tricks to get them crispy on the outside and crunchy on the inside. I don't remember them all but one of the biggies is not to crowd the pan! They need space for air to flow otherwise as their moisture escapes, they'll just steam and end up soggy. I tried to make a balsamic glaze, but I burnt the heck out of it and almost had to evacuate the house! Thankfully I have an awesome air purifier. If this topping had worked out, it would've paired excellently with the sprouts.

Sauteed String Beans

• Warm olive oil in the pan.
• Toss in some diced garlic and cook until aromatic.
• Throw in the beans and they'll steam up just enough to still be crunchy!

Roasted Asparagus

I thought I took a picture of this dish, but who knows...

• Cut off the tough, white bottoms of the asparagus.
• Rub them down with some olive oil and salt.
• Roast them in the oven until a fork will pierce them, but don't let them get soggy!
• Sprinkle vegan parmesan cheese on top.

This is the one that I have tried and liked enough to not try anything else.

Stuffing

I bought bagged organic stuffing and used vegetable broth to cook it. I also like to by roasted chestnuts and cut them up and mix them into the stuffing. Because we have so many other vegetables on the table, I don't bother chopping veggies into the stuffing. Of course, do what you like best! I popped this back into the oven to toast the top and heat it up before serving.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

I have to admit, when it comes to flavor, I'm actually fine with canned cranberry sauce. When it comes to health, I'd rather it be homemade. This truly comes down to whatever you'd like in it, so honestly just google some recipes and pick one! This is the one that I wanted to make, but we accidentally bought apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider. Below is the recipe I actually made and is in my picture above. It tasted really good, it just wasn't as healthy as the first one.

Vegan Drop Biscuits

I've made these biscuits many times since because they're so fast and such a special homemade touch to any breakfast or dinner. I've since scooped a heaping tablespoon of the dough rather than a teaspoon to make each biscuit larger and just cooked them for a couple minutes longer (until golden brown). This recipe is from "The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Coleen Patrick-Goudreau.