For us, Thanksgiving is for giving thanks for things that we are thankful for. For family, friends, and passions that make us feel alive.

Not for taking another’s life, not for contributing to the pain and suffering of another just for a habitual tradition.

Every year, I like to do a kind Thanksgiving even before we fully gave up eating meat. It just always seemed like the right thing to do, to celebrate thankfulness without causing harm to another.

This is one of my new favorite fall recipes that serves perfectly as a Thanksgiving meal centerpiece. The inside of this is warm and soft, while the outside of the quinoa stuffing crisps up nicely.

You get all sorts of veggie and protein goodness with this one, and the nutritional yeast really adds that extra kick of flavor.

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)
1 acorn squash washed and sliced horizontally into 1/4th inch thick slices, seeds removed
1 tablespoon avocado oil
1 pinch sea salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

For the Quinoa Stuffing:
2 teaspoons avocado oil
1 shallot, diced
1/2 sweet red bell pepper, diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
2/3 cup uncooked quinoa
2/3 cups canned chickpeas, drained
1 cup sliced fresh baby kale
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon dried oregano
sea salt, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425˚F
2. In a medium bowl toss the acorn squash slices in the avocado oil so that they are well coated. Place the slices on a baking sheet (I like to like with parchment paper), then sprinkle the squash slices with the sea salt and black pepper. Set aside
3. In a shallow skillet, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Then add the shallots, red bell pepper, and a pinch of sea salt. Saute until the shallots turn transparent and the bell pepper softens, about 1 minute.
4. Add sweet potato, quinoa and 1 cup of water to the skillet. Mix to combine, add another small pinch of sea salt, then wait for the mixture to start bubbling.
5. Turn the heat down, cover the skillet, and let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes until all of the water has been absorbed.
6. Uncover the skillet, turn off the heat, add the chickpeas, kale, nutritional yeast, and dried oregono.
7. Carefully spoon about 1/2 cup of quinoa stuffing onto each squash ring slice. Leave a bit of space around the edge of each ring.
8. Place the stuffed acorn squash rings into the oven and let bake for 16-18 minutes, until the squash is tender.
9. Serve immediately and enjoy!

One thing I really, really love about fall is turning on the oven and roasting vegetables for dinner. The weather is chilly and all you want is something warm in your belly. Spring and summer are for salads, fall and winter is for roasted veggies.

So check this out: Vegetable prep!

Lots of beautiful colors for our bellies. Roasted veggies are some of the easiest ways to prep- sometimes raw vegetables are hard to digest so cooking and adding healthy fats makes them much more digestible and allow your body to more easily absorb their amazing nutrients.

Fall Vegetable Roasting Time cheat sheet

Sweet potatoes: 35-40 min
Butternut Squash: 30-35 min
Red Cabbage: 15-20 min
Brussels Sprouts: 15-20 min

Roasted Fall Vegetables

Ingredients (makes 4 servings)
2 sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups butternut squash, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Half of a red cabbage, cut into large chunks
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Sea salt, to taste
4-5 tbsp, avocado oil, divided

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425°F
2. Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl, add 1/4 of the minced garlic, a large pinch of sea salt, and 1 tbsp.  avocado oil. Use a spoon to toss so that the sweet potatoes are well coated.
3. Place sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and place in oven to bake.
4. Prep the butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and red cabbage in the same way as the sweet potatoes.
5. Add the vegetables to the baking sheet in order so that the vegetables all end up done at the same time (math, y’all!)
6. Remove vegetables from the oven, and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Korean rice cakes are a favorite in our house. We tend to cook a lot of Asian inspired dishes, it’s what I grew up eating and it’s my comfort food. Plus, it’s super easy to make dishes naturally gluten and dairy free.

This is my quick and light take on the Korean street food: “tteok” or rice cakes. It’s vegan & gluten free and comes together very quickly. The crispy vegetables, bok choy, carrots and bean sprouts provide a refreshing contrast to the chewy rice cakes.

Korean Stir-fried Rice Cakes – 30 min prep & cook time

Ingredients (4 servings)
1 1/2 cups Korean Rice Cakes
3 tbsp avocado oil, divided
1 16oz packaged organic tofu, firm (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
1 clove garlic, minced
1, 1 inch piece of ginger
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 bunches baby boy choy
1 carrot, julienned
1 cup bean sprouts
1 tbsp tamari
sea salt, to taste
black or white pepper, to taste
1 tsp toasted sesame oil

Directions:
1. Heat a pot of water to boil. Once the water is boiling, add the rice cakes and boil for 2-3 minutes until the rice cakes are soft. Drain water and set aside.
2. Heat 1 tbsp avocado oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the tofu to the frying pan. Let fry for 2-3 minutes, then stir up the tofu so that sides that weren’t fried are face down in the oil. Let fry another 2-3 minutes until some sides of the tofu are fried golden brown. Remove tofu from heat and set aside.
3. In a wok, heat 2 tbsp avocado oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, ginger and onion. Saute for 1-2 minutes until the onion turns translucent.
4. Add the carrots  to the wok, season with a pinch of sea salt, and saute the mixture for 2 minutes until the carrots soften.
5. Add the bok choy to the wok, season with a pinch of sea salt, and saute the mixture for 1-2 minutes until the bok choy starts to soften.
6. Add the bean sprouts to the wok and saute for 30 seconds.
7. Add the rice cakes to the wok and mix
8. Add the tamari to the rice cakes and veggies and mix to combine well.
9. Add about 1 tsp pepper and mix to combine well.
10. Drizzle the sesame oil over the veggies & rice cakes and toss.
11. Remove from heat, plate and enjoy!

Veggie fried rice: this is my ultimate way to get veggie, protein, essentially… all the healthy stuff into my kids without having to turn to begging, pleading or bargaining with them.

Fried rice is known as the Chinese version of the casserole. It is the absolute best way to use up extra veggies and you can put almost anything in fried rice and it’ll come out delicious. And as an added bonus, it’s a great way to make sure the kids get their veggies in.

More traditional versions of fried rice don’t include the turmeric, but I like to toss it in for a a touch of extra flavor and a ton of added health benefits.

Veggie Turmeric Fried Rice – 30 min prep & cook time

Ingredients (4-6 servings)
1 1/2 cups Jasmine Rice (cooked)
3 tbsp avocado oil, divided
3 Eggs
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 organic carrots, peeled and cubed
1 organic medium zucchini, cubed
1 yellow onion, diced
turmeric (organic, optional)
2-3 tbsp coconut amnios, to taste
sea salt
white pepper, optional
1 tsp, sesame oil

Directions:
1. Heat 1 tbsp avocado oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. Crack eggs into heated avocado oil and lightly scramble. Remove from heat when eggs have just stiffened.
3. Heat 1 tbsp avocado oil in a wok (a large skillet will work as well) over medium high heat.
4. Add the garlic to the heated oil and sauté for about 30 seconds until fragrant.
5. Add the carrots to the wok, toss with the garlic and sprinkle with some sea salt. Sauté for 3-4 minutes until the carrots start to soften.
6. Add the zucchini to the wok, toss with the garlic and carrots and sprinkle with sea salt. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, until the zucchini starts to soften.
7. Remove the carrot & zucchini mixture from the wok, into a medium bowl and set aside.
8. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp avocado oil in the wok over medium high heat.
9. Add the onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the onion starts to turn transparent.
10. Add the cooked rice to the wok with the onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes, making to sure dry all parts of the rice in the oil.
11. Add the cooked egg to the rice and mix to combine well.
12. Add the turmeric to the rice, mix to combine well. Then add the cooked carrots & zucchini, mix to combine well.
13. Add the coconut amnios to the rice mixture and mix to combine well.
14. Add white pepper to taste (optional)
15. Finally, drizzle the sesame oil over the fried rice and mix to combine the flavors.
16. Remove the fried rice from heat, plate for serving, and enjoy!