Creamy Pumpkin Coconut Sauce

I love the fall for all the cooking/food making inspiration!!! It’s my favorite season when it comes to kitchen time 🙂 My very first seasonal recipe was this Salted Caramel Chai tea infused concoction I made. The kids and I have been devouring that one with sliced apples, soooo tasty!!!

And now I am looking forward to all the pumpkin and squash recipes I will be coming up with and getting inspired by!! This was another semi-accident. It was late and I needed to get dinner ready fast. I had this leftover baked pumpkin and it only took a few moments for me to realize that the fastest way to eat that (other than straight out of the skin with a fork), was to throw it in the blender with a few other ingredients to create a soup. No wait! I’ll make it a sauce so we can have it over pasta 🙂 And there it was, minutes later, our tasty family dinner.

I topped my bowl off with some homemade spicy seeds.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup fresh raw pumpkin seeds, not dried or cooked (I just keep the seeds after taking them out of the raw pumpkin)
• 3/4 cup almond milk or coconut milk
• 3/4 cup cooked pumpkin or squash
• 1/4 cup coconut cream (from a can, organic toxic free if possible)
• 1/4 tsp real salt
• 2 TBS fresh parsley minced
• 1/4 tsp dried sage

Steps:

• if you dont have left over squash, then bake it in the oven for about 45 minutes
• put first 3 ingredients in blender and blend on high until nice and smooth
• add other ingredients and blend until the herbs are nicely incorporated but not fully blended
• serve how ever you like!
• we did it over zucchini pasta for a light yet satisfying dinner

Check out my other zucchini pasta recipes here:

With tomato sauce

With sesame peanut sauce

With rawlfredo sauce

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Raw Persimmon Pie

I never liked persimmons. Several people got me to try them at several times, and I just could never get on board with this fruit for some reason. It kinda bummed me out because as a vegetarian I eat mainly fruits and veggies, so I don’t like coming across one of those that I don’t want to eat. I’ve been even more bummed lately because persimmons are the IN fruit right now. Full on fall fruit. They are all over the farmers markets and every time I shop I feel like I should buy some, but I just don’t want to “waste” my money on them. Last week a friend made a salad with them in it. I just ate around them and eventually decided to stop being such a pries and just eat them. What came next was such a surprise. I actually liked it!! I ate them all! And then I had more salad! I have no idea what changed. I even looked up the nutritional content of persimmons and wondered if maybe my body was craving so much the nutrients and vitamins persimmons have that it changed my taste buds. Whatever the reason, I was so excited!!! A new ingredient to play with!!! I could not wait to go to the farmers market so I could buy some and eat them and make raw treats with them 🙂

So I decided to make a raw fall flavored pie to bring to our friends house warming party today. After a little hiccup in the kitchen, I made this beauty.

Ingredients for pie crust:

• 1 cup raw pecans
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup soft medjool dates
• zest of 1 orange

Steps:

• put all ingredients in food processor and blend until everything sticks together but not so much as it forms a ball

• put in pie dish a using the back of a spoon flatten it out to form a crust.
• set aside

Here I used a spring form pan as it is easier to travel with, but normally I would use a regular pie dish. And I always put wax paper on the bottom of my raw pies or cakes to make it easier to get out of the dish as they can be sticky.

Ingredients for filling:

• 1 1/2 cups persimmon
• 1 1/2 cups butternut squash ( I would have used persimmons here but ran out because of my kitchen hiccup)
• 1 1/4 cups coconut milk
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 5 medjool dates, pitted
• 2 TBS soy lecithin
• 1/2 cup coconut oil

Steps:

• put all ingredients in the blender minus the lecithin and oil
• blend until smooth
• add the lecithin and oil
• blend until well incorporated
• pour in pie crust
• put in fridge to set for a couple hours
• decorate with sliced persimmon, pecans and a drizzle of raw chocolate sauce
• eat up!!

Mother Nature Provides!

This season right now is my favorite of seasons at the farmers market for the abundance of fruit. Bitting into the perfectly ripe peach so that it’s juices run the long of my pinky down to my elbow tells me that summer is here. Seeing my son’s face stained red from all the berries shows that their sweetness is hard to resist. The bing cherries are making an appearance and it’s hard to make it home with a full bag, my red fingers and tongue giving away my secret indulgence of the drive home. I love summer fruits. I love the juicy, sweet nectars and happiness it brings me, my body and my family. That’s why after going to the market yesterday morning, this was our lunch.

I grew up on an organic “farm” in the country side in France. Whatever could grow in my region, my parents grew. We had an abundance of fruit trees and berry bushes, as well as a field of strawberries and nut trees. Several times my siblings and I would come home from school for lunch to find a table filled with fruit and nuts freshly picked from our garden. We were always happy to find such a treat. I told myself that when I grow up, I would treat my family to meals made of delicious seasonal fruit like my parents did. Although my table today is not nearly as abundant as it was when I was a kid, since all we had to do as kids is walk outside and eat our hearts desire, whereas today I have to spend a pretty penny to get the most decadent, pesticide free fruit (totally worth it), we still get to fill our bellies up and be fully satisfied and blissed out. This is just a momentary solution until we own a piece of land big enough for me to grow all this deliciousness myself. In the meantime, I feel VERY fortunate to live in a city where local farmers share their most precious foods and where I get to support their efforts while feeding my family well. Mother nature always provides. No need to look very far to feel amazing with what we put in our bodies.