Thanksgiving Vegan Cranberry Sauce & Mashed Sweet Potatoes

And the Thanksgiving recipes just keep on rolling! Is anyone catching onto this weeks theme yet? Yesterday I shared with you a Vegan stuffed Spaghetti Squash recipe and today I bring to you two recipes I have found that will make excellent side dishes to your healthy Thanksgiving meal! 

Cranberry Sauce and Mashed Potatoes: two very popular holiday side dishes but are usually filled with refined sugars and simple carbohydrates that make your blood sugar spike and digestion pay for it later. Instead of not enjoying these dishes at all (because that would be very, very sinful), I have found a cranberry sauce that uses honey instead of sugar, and a mashed potato that uses sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes!

Why is this Vegan Cranberry Sauce healthier? 

• Cranberries on its own are not sweet. This recipe calls for a natural sweetener (honey) instead of refined sugars that most traditional recipes include. (Ex.100 grams of fresh cranberries are 46 calories whereas 100 grams of cranberry sauce can have 151 calories)
• This recipe also includes nuts, which help to slow the absorption of sugar into the blood (will help keep blood sugar levels from spiking and keep you fuller longer)

 Why is this Mashed Potato healthier?

• White potatoes/white flour are a no no in my book. White foods (potatoes, flour, rice, pasta, bread, table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup) are made by stripping away the nutrients and fiber in the processing stage. Not only are you left with a refined product , but these "bad carbs" lead to overeating and blood sugar spikes. (will address this in more detail in a later post!)
•  Benefits of sweet potatoes include: aids in weight loss, high levels of B6, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and potassium, contains iron, magnesium and Vitamin D, helps stabilize blood glucose levels and appetite, twice the amount of fiber than white potatoes.

Vegan Cranberry Sauce

Recipe and photograph through world lifestyle health.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

What you will need:

• 4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup honey (or agave syrup)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Boil water in saucepan
2. wash cranberries and add them to the water
3. reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes (or until berries burst!)
4. add honey and stir 
5. Mix in the pecans, raisins and coconut shreds
6. remove from heat
7. cool at room temperature and chill in refrigerator. Sauce will thicken.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Prep Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 4

What you will need:

• medium/large sweet potatoes
• brown sugar to taste (depending on how sweet you like it)
• cinnamon and shredded coconut (both optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
2. Wash the skins of potatoes but do not peel
3. Bake potatoes for 45-60 minutes
4. After removing the potatoes and letting them cool, cut potatoes open and scoop out insides into a standard mixer bowl
5. Add the brown sugar in and mix thouroughly
6. Top with cinnamon and/or shredded coconut

mhmm mhmm good! Enjoy these healthier alternative recipes and share below any other healthy mashed sweet potato or cranberry sauce recipes you've used in the past!