How to Make a Festive Raw Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Nathalie Lussier — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:13:06 +0000

[Editor's Note: This is a crowd pleaser for both Thanksgiving and Halloween, and I'm republishing it because I added a new ingredient so read till the end to find out what makes this whole pie jive even better!]

This week-end it was Canadian Thanksgiving. Our thanksgiving happens earlier because our harvest season is shorter, and we want to enjoy it when it’s fresh!

As it happens I had two social gatherings to attend, one all raw and the other not so much. What’s a girl to bring to please such different groups?

Luckily I have been immersing myself in the wonderful world of raw desserts for the past few weeks so it was just a matter of choosing one recipe from my new book “28 Desserts You Can Eat Every Day“.

I decided to go with the Raw Pumpkin Pie, using freshly cut pumpkin. Jack-o-lanterns are totally appropriate here at the Raw Foods Witch site.

How to Make a Raw Pumpkin Pie Video

Raw Pumpkin Pie Recipe

If itʼs not Autumn and you canʼt get your hands on a fresh pumpkin you can use a variety of replacements: from butternut squash to sweet potato.

Raw Pumpkin Pie Crust

2 cups pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup soaked dates
Dash of sea salt

Blend the crust ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor, then evenly distribute in the bottom of a pie plate.

Raw Pumpkin Pie Filling

2 cups shredded pumpkin, butternut squash, or sweet potato ﬂesh
1 cup soaked dates
1/2 cup soaked, washed Irish Moss
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. freshly diced ginger
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. coconut oil
Dash of vanilla
1/4 cup almond milk or water to help blend

What is Irish Moss?

Don’t worry if you don’t have Irish Moss, just skip this ingredient and put your pie in the freezer before serving. Irish Moss helps the whole pie gel together better, because it is a fibery seaweed product that blends well. Irish Moss is full of super gentle fiber, it’s got great mineral content because it’s seaweed and it makes for great looking pies!

Make sure to wash the Irish Moss thoroughly to remove any sand or salt. Otherwise you’ll get a crunchy salty pumpkin pie, which is not exactly what we’re going for here!

Making the Raw Pumpkin Pie

If you donʼt feel like shredding the pumpkin by hand, simply cube and place in a high speed blender or food processor until itʼs nicely chopped.

Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until nice and smooth. You might need to add more liquid to get it to blend well.

Pour into crust, then chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving. This dessert might not seem overly sweet, but trust me when I say it can rival even the most traditional of pumpkin pies.

Get More Delicious Free Dessert Recipes

If you liked this raw pumpkin pie recipe, you’ll find it and more great desserts in my new book!

I’ve put together free a downloadable ebook called “28 Desserts You Can Eat Every Day”. Yep, that’s right I’m giving it away for free!

Grab your free copy of the 28 Desserts You Can Eat Every Day ebook now.

Feel free to share this ebook with all of your friends and family. I really want as many people as possible to experience these healthy desserts.

Healthy Desserts: 28 Healthy Dessert Recipes in the Raw

Nathalie Lussier — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:30:37 +0000

In my article on healthy foods vs. unhealthy foods I mentioned that there are certain foods that we all agree to be healthy. Desserts tend to fall in the unhealthy food category.

Photo by Klaus Post

Somehow we inherently know that eating too many desserts and sweets is not good for us. Either we’ve been told this growing up, or we just don’t feel so good after we overindulge our sweet tooth.

Why do we crave sweets and desserts?

Since I’ve got a wicked sweet tooth, I thought it would be interesting to investigate why it is that we crave sweets and desserts. (Or at least some of us.)

Sweetness is an Indication that Food is Edible

I was speaking to my dad about this the other day and he mentioned reading an article about sweets that said sugar is an indication that food is not a poison.

This made sense to me, if something tastes sweet then it is probably safe to eat. Think of eating bitter unripe fruit, you immediately get a bad taste in your mouth and push it away. However if the fruit is ripe, it is sweet and edible.

I’m sure this doesn’t apply across the board, and that there are exceptions to this rule. But I can accept the fact that we use our taste-buds and the sweetness factor of a food to determine whether to eat it or not.

The Bacteria/Yeast Connection

Another reason I believe we are big on eating sugar and sweets is the connection between bacteria and yeast. I don’t want to get too deep into this topic, but I have observed it in my own body.

At one point the balance of beneficial bacteria in my gut had been broken and there was an overgrowth of yeast. I’m not talking about female yeast infections here, because anyone can have too much yeast and not enough beneficial bacteria.

I noticed that whenever I ate lots of sugar, I had a huge rash on my stomach. That was the yeast flourishing. Yuck much? Luckily, I knew there were alternatives to traditionally high sugar sweets and desserts.

Can Healthy Desserts Really Exist?

The short answer is yes! Why else would I “give up” my old favorites, if I couldn’t have something equally delicious?

Healthy Desserts That Taste Good

Healthy desserts get a bad rap. Think of desserts made without any sugar, and these seem bland, granola, a little boring.

But what if you could get the richest, most decadent of desserts without all the junk that most processed desserts come with? It’s totally possible with raw, naturally sweetened desserts.

A Healthy Dessert Doesn’t Mean Just Fruit

Okay, you might be thinking that the only thing raw foodies can eat for dessert is fruit. Fortunately, there’s a lot more to raw desserts than fruit.

Take a look at these:

raw chocolate puddings
raw apple pies
raw fudge
raw ice cream
raw cup cakes
raw brownies

28 Desserts You Can Eat Every Day