Saturday, November 3, 2012

Simple Sweet Potato Pie--Paleo and Vegan


I like to bring separate worlds together. Twilight and Harry potter? I love both! Christian and Feminist? Right here, baby. Paleo and Vegan? We can make it work!  I’m on the hunt for recipes that fit in both worlds. I’ve come up with a few simple ones myself and found a couple of others. I am excited to share them on this blog! Here is one to startJ.

Simple Paleo Vegan Sweet Potato Pie



Crust
1/3 cup raw macadamia nuts and raw cashews
4 dates

Filling

½ can of sweet potato puree
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger

Directions

1.       To make the crust put the nuts and dates in a food processor and process until the mixture is sticky and clumps together.

2.       Press mixture into small pie pan ( I used a  2 cup circular Pyrex container  b/c I didn’t have pie pans)

3.       Whisk sweet potato pie puree with spices, scoop onto crust, and spread evenly.

4.       Bake at 350 degrees until sweet potato starts to brown (about 15 minutes?)

5.       Let cool and stick in the fridge for about half an hour so that it’ll be nice and firm.

6.       EAT IT!!

 

I decided to make this because I used half a can of sweet potato puree to make salmon cakes and didn’t know what to do with the remaining bit. Pie seemed like a good choice! I definitely broke a Whole30 rule—they tell you not to recreate desserts using Paleo approved ingredients—but ah well. I think this was basically a meal. It had fruit (dates), a vegetable (sweet potato), healthy fats (raw nuts), and spices!  AND it was tiny and it still took me 3 days to eat.  So even though dates are high sugar and nuts are high fat, I used small amounts and ate small servings so it was definitely healthy. Let me know if you try to make this. I’ve only attempted this once so these might not be the best instructions. But it’s so simple I really don’t think you can go wrong!

Paleo Trial: Days 16-18

So....

Things have fallen apart. The collapse started slowly with the popcorn and Hot Tamales, peaked on Halloween when my roommates and I had a huge bucket of candy and no trick-or-treaters (you figure out what happened), and is now tapering off. Sigh. Now, I definitely don't think I'll be able to tell just how beneficial the Paleo diet was or could have been for me. I'm going to post what I ate on Days 16, 17, and 18. I'm currently on day 22. We will call days 19-21 the "lost days" and I won't talk about them. The shame is too great.  We'll see if I can at least finish strong and do Paleo really well from days 23-30. I think I am over it though. This was exciting at first but I really don't think it's something that I can do all day every day. Quality, cruelty free meat is just too much for my budget! It really stresses me out--buying pricey meat and worrying about not having enough of it when I have so many different kinds of beans sitting in my pantry (I have a post coming up about this)!! AND it's also kind of boring. Beef, chicken, fish, beef chicken fish, beefchickenfish, maybe lamb, sometimes goat, a little pork, beefchickenfish, turkey. Boiled egg, scrambled egg, poached egg, omlette. Repeat.  LOL. OK...I am being completely unfair. There are tons of ways to get creative with your meat (and I absolutely love ground beef, pork, and salmon--grass fed, wild). But I just don't like preparing meat as much as I like making plant-based meals. I think a big part of that is that I'm still battling with how I feel about eating meat regularly.  On a good note though, one of my main fears has been put to rest--eating a lot of meat will not automatically make you constipated! The fiber from the fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds has proven to be sufficient for my digestive system. Yay for being regular!


Day 16
Meal 1
I could do better
Green tea  (w/ a bit of honey and stevia!)
Banana
Apple
Almond pumpkin bars made by paleo friend at church
Meal 2

Bbq pork
Lettuce
Orange
Meal 3

Chicken leg and thigh
Roasted onions
Grapes
Day 17
Meal 1
I often end up eating breakfast at work b/c I'm always running late!
1 serving green smoothie- 2 cups chard, ¼ raw soaked almonds, 2 tbs ground flaxseed soaked overnight, 1 apple, 1 frozen banana, ½ avocado, water to blend. Yum.
Omlette-2 eggs, onions, nutritional yeast and a bit of sea salt
Snack
1 cup grapes
Meal 2

2 cups red leaf lettuce
Roasted Chicken breast
½ avocado
Snack
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup raw cashews
Peppermint tea
1 gala apple
Post work out meal
2nd serving green smoothie
Meal 3
I loved this meal so much!
6 oz wild Alaskan salmon: broiled with an amazing honey-mustard glaze!
1 baked acorn squash with coconut butter and sea salt (so good!)
2/3 cup steamed mixed veggies
Day 18
Meal 1
Green Smoothie- 2 cups tastoi, ½ avocado, 1 gala apple, 1 banana, ¼  cup raw almonds, soaked, water to blend.
Omlette from 3 eggs and ½ a large yellow onion
Snack
½ cup grapes
¼ cup raisins and handful of raw walnuts
Meal 2
Roasted chicken
1/5 cups red leaf lettuce
½ avocado
Snack
Banana
Meal 3
Second serving  green smoothie

I love ground beef. Made some  for tomorrow’s meals and I just love that kind of still raw bloody beef taste it has. Mm.


I decided to leave my thoughts about ground beef unedited. Gross right? But so true. Yum.