A traditional Thanksgiving dinner isn’t the epitome of health. In fact, it is the antithesis of health, and gorging oneself into a food coma is the ultimate goal. The giant spread usually consists of holiday pies and carb-centric sides that are loaded with sugar and fat. But if you want to lighten up the menu this year, we have some great Thanksgiving side dishes that will do the trick. 

It can be scary to divert from the familiar, but sometimes you need to jump into the deep end. You can search for new twists on green bean and sweet potato dishes, for example, and invite new flavors to the party. Feature seasonal produce items like Brussels sprouts or replace potatoes with celeriac, another seasonal produce item. One of the primary things that we encourage you to do is add more greens and refreshing dishes to your Thanksgiving spread. Not only does this increase your vegetable intake, but it also nourishes the body and makes the digestive system happier.

Ahead, you’ll find seven easy and healthy recipes that will go great with your Thanksgiving feast. Not only are they scrumptious, but they are a lot lighter than the traditional sides that accompany the big meal. They include more vegetables, some of which are seasonal, and aim to help you feel lighter on the day. 

Pomegranate, Avocado, & Citrus Brussels Sprouts Salad

Brussels sprouts make a great canvas for the color and flavor of fresh pomegranate arils, creamy avocado, and citrus dressing.

Click here to make the recipe. 

Orange Maple-Glazed Brussels Sprouts

Ready in just 30 minutes, these orange maple-glazed Brussels sprouts are the perfect fall-inspired side dish for. It’s like vegetable candy! It will be an absolute treat at your Thanksgiving table.

Click here to make the recipe. 

Vegan Scalloped Potatoes

Soft, tender, and smothered in a garlicky, creamy sauce, these vegan scalloped potatoes are the perfect sophisticated holiday side dish. These are incredibly creamy, garlicky, and sensationally delicious, especially when made from scratch. Yes, from scratch!

Click here to make the recipe. 

Rainbow Roasted Carrots

Are you ready to taste the rainbow? Far from Skittles, these herbaceous, roasted rainbow carrots are the perfect Thanksgiving side.

Click here to make the recipe.

Herb Roasted Acorn Squash

We don’t want to sound overconfident, but this is a near perfect recipe. Roasted to perfection, you just can’t get enough of this squash.

Click here to make the recipe. 

Mashed Rutabaga With Chives

Could this side dish be the new favorite menu item at your holiday feast? Mashed rutabaga is a peppery, fluffy, and low-carb treat!

Click here to make the recipe.

Roasted Peaches

Get ready for one of the best vegan treats you can have during summer. Roasted peaches celebrate the fruit in its natural state!

Click here to make the recipe.

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A more perfect fall salad may not exist. Since we don’t want to offend anyone, we don’t want to officially make that claim, but trust us when we tell you that this salad is on another level of deliciousness. The beautiful orange persimmon and vibrant red beet slices are carefully layered around the plate and topped with pomegranates, mint leaves, walnuts, and an addictive vinaigrette. It’s a delicate and gorgeous salad that will make any table festive. Use it as a side dish or bring it to your holiday feast!

For the beets, it is paramount that you thinly shave them with a mandoline slicer. That will ensure even slices that are thin enough to eat raw. Nobody wants to eat raw beets that are thick, as they can be quite difficult to chew. When you hold one of these slices up to the light, you should be able to see through it. That’s how you know it will be easy to eat! Beets have been extensively studied for their ability to lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. This is likely due to the high concentration of nitrates that the body converts to nitric oxide, a molecule that dilates blood vessels and causes blood pressure to drop.

Persimmons are only available for a limited time during fall, so we like to make the most of them while they are in grocery stores. Persimmons are naturally rich in carotenoid antioxidants like beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, a nutrient that supports immune function, healthy skin, and eye health. The anti-inflammatory compounds in persimmons may help manage inflammation and lower the risk fo asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and other conditions that stem from inflammation.

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Who needs Larabars when you can easily make your own with three simple ingredients? These are perfect if you have been looking to enjoy healthy snack options during your cleanse. They provide outstanding flavor and lots of fiber, healthy fats, and protein, all of which help keep you full between meals. The dates and cashews establish a great balance of nuttiness and sweetness, and the pinch of sea salt gives the bars a little extra pizzazz. It’s almost like a pinch of sea salt on a chocolate chip cookie or delectable caramel. You truly can’t go wrong with a pinch of sea salt in sweet treats.

For this recipe you will need Medjool dates, raw cashews, and sea salt. Dates are naturally sweet and sticky, providing the base for these bars. Make sure your dates are soft and fresh. Need assistance blending? Soak the dates in warm water for about 15 minutes prior to blending them in the food processor. Raw cashews also blend a little easier if you soak them for an hour or so. Just make sure that you discard the soaking water for both the dates and cashews if you decide to soak them. Not a fan of cashews? You can swap them for any raw nut in the same amount. Walnuts, pecans, pistachios, and more work great!

After you blend the ingredients and achieve a sticky, dough-like consistency, you will transfer the mixture to an 8″x8″ baking pan lined with parchment paper. Press the mixture into the pan until you have an even layer that is about 1/2-inch or so thick. Freeze for 30 minutes and then remove from the freezer. That will ensure that the bars are somewhat solidified to the point where you can cut them into 10 bars. Separate them and consider wrapping them individually in plastic wrap. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks.

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Did you know that in Morocco fresh seasonal fruits are more commonly eaten than cooked desserts. That’s not a bad way to live! Fresh seasonal produce is not only more delicious than out of season produce, but it is also more nutrient-dense. Plus, eating fresh fruit will help reduce your intake of the excess calories, refined carbs, and sugars that are in traditional desserts. To get back to Morocco, though, this recipe is a traditional Moroccan dish that is very easy to make. It is a great combination of fresh citrus flavors with nutty pecans and aromatic cinnamon.

Because the ingredient list is so short, it is your job to procure the best and freshest oranges you can find. Depending on where you live, certain oranges may or may not be available. If possible, do your best to get Cara Cara oranges, which have a mildly pink flesh that is extra sweet. Tangelos, navel oranges, and blood oranges are also great options, provided they are available at your local grocery store. Blood oranges are incredibly striking and make for a visually appealing dish, but using other oranges will not make this dish taste worse or anything like that.

Now, the last important ingredient to be particular about is the cinnamon. Some people prefer cinnamon sold by specific brands, while others prefer specific types of cinnamon. For example, Vietnamese and Ceylon are two varieties of cinnamon that have a well-balanced and complex flavor. Penzeys makes a cinnamon blend of Ceylon, Vietnamese, Korintje, and China cinnamons. Together, those four cinnamons create a beautifully aromatic blend that perfectly complements the sweet and tangy oranges.

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We love a kale salad, folks. That is especially true when pomegranate arils, pears, pecans, and and maple tahini dressing accompany nutritionally dense kale. You get a nice balance of sweet and tart flavors with varying textures. We are talking about sweet, tart, salty, nutty, and creamy and crunchy. And the maple tahini dressing ties everything together, making this the perfect kale salad for the holiday season.

This kale salad, as you can see in the picture, requires some serious chopping skills. Chopping the kale thinly helps break down the fibrous nature, which makes for a more enjoyable eating experience. Just make sure to remove the thick stems and massage the leaves prior to slicing the leaves thinly. That will really help to break down the fibrous texture. Additionally, the pears are cut into matchsticks, but you can cube them or slice them thinly. Whichever type of cut you prefer is the exactly the way to do it!

We love salads that have multiple textures and layers of flavor. What ties everything together, much like the rug in The Big Lebowski, is the creamy maple tahini dressing. The nutty tahini makes this dressing incredibly luxurious and you get a little zing from the apple cider vinegar and sweet hint of maple syrup. It is a dressing that you can enjoy not only on this salad, but on other salads also. If you find a salad that works with this dressing, be sure to reach out and lettuce (wink wink) know about it!

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With spring in full swing, you need recipes that make you feel lighter. Like we always say, it’s never too early to start getting your body ready for summer. Before you know it, summer will be over and those 15 pounds you wanted to lose haven’t gone anywhere. Get started on your summer health journey while it’s still spring! There is no better way to do that than with this kale, apple, and pomegranate salad.

Kale is somewhat bitter and offers a slightly peppery flavor, making it a great salad green to pair with tangy, sweet, and even zesty ingredients. In this recipe, you get to enjoy an assortment of flavors and textures. Offering creamy avocado, crunchy pecans, crisp apples, and pomegranate arils that burst with tartness, this salad is unbeatable. The key is to thinly slice the kale, which makes for a more enjoyable eating experience. It also helps to take some of that bitter intensity away. A pro tip: you can use larger pieces of kale and massage them with a little olive oil and lemon juice to break down the fibers and intensify the flavors.

Do you want to know the best part of this salad? If you don’t have all of the ingredients, you can customize it and use the ingredients you do have. Don’t have raw pecans? Swap them out for raw walnuts or almonds. Thought you had an apple, when you really have a pear? Use the pear instead! You can even swap the pomegranate arils for little mandarin segments. Be creative and follow your taste buds, but make sure those substitutions are raw vegan if you are cleansing!

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This salad has so many superfoods in it, you may just develop some super body capabilities, for example, better digestion, more energy, and a stronger immune system!

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Not only are homemade dressings like this pomegranate vinaigrette easy to make, but they are also much healthier and more tasty than bottled dressings. You can recreate any dressing you love with much healthier ingredients. No need for artificial dyes or flavors, processed ingredients, trans fats, or dairy products. This pomegranate vinaigrette comes together with just a handful of simple ingredients, so you only taste what you include in the recipe.

This dressing requires pomegranate juice, but most bottled pomegranate juice contains added sugars and is processed. You can easily make your own pomegranate juice by blending pomegranate arils. Pour the blended mixture through a fine mesh strainer and you have fresh pomegranate juice! You will need about one cup of pomegranate arils to achieve the amount of juice necessary for the vinaigrette. Pomegranates are rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, and offer a uniquely sweet-tart flavor. To enhance the sweetness, though, we included a touch of grade A maple syrup.

Pomegranate is a seasonal fruit during late fall and early winter. The sweet-tart flavor lends itself to salads that contain spinach, arugula, raw pecans, pears, berries, or raw walnuts. Even though this is a vinaigrette, there is no vinegar on the ingredient list. Freshly squeezed lemon juice and orange juice take the place of the vinegar, giving you that acidic not you crave from a vinaigrette dressing.

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How do you transform a classic candy into a much healthier treat? First off, you clicked on this recipe, so you are on the right path. Energy balls are the best snacks because they pack healthy fats, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and more into bite-sized balls. Think of them like little nuggets of deliciousness because they easily take on the flavors of any candy or cookie, only without all the processed sugar and fat.

All you need is a food processor, ingredients, and your energy balls are a few minutes of pulsing away from becoming a real life snack. The blending part is the easiest component to the recipe. When it comes time to shape them into bite-size balls, things can be clean or messy. You can use a tablespoon or cookie scooper to form little balls, or you can use your hands. If you really want to avoid a mess on your hands, you can wear disposable gloves, wet them with water, and form the energy balls. Or, you can simply wet your bare hands with water before forming the balls. That will help avoid sticking or clumping!

The only thing to be careful about with this turtle energy balls is how many you eat in one sitting. Because they contain raw almond butter, dates, raw pecans, and chia seeds, they are high in calories. Because they have contain healthy fats, fiber, and protein, you don’t need to eat a lot to get full. Enjoy one or two between meals and you will be golden!

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Is it too early to be talking about the holidays? Just visit any store, supermarket, or mall and you will see that holiday decorations are aplenty. The earworm holiday songs that play on loop can be a lot, but holidays aren’t all about shopping malls. One thing we love about the holidays is all the unique produce! From cranberries and apples to pomegranates and winter squash, there is not shortage of fresh, seasonal produce during this time of year.

This gorgeous holiday salad features crunchy pecans, juicy pomegranate seeds, crisp apple slices, and curly kale. To top it off, drizzle all of those ingredients with a sweet and tangy apple cider vinaigrette. You can enjoy this salad as an entree, serve it as a Thanksgiving side dish, or include it as part of your weeknight dinner. Because most meals during the fall and winter tend to be heavier, this salad provides a light and decadent relief. Fit it in somewhere between the roasted or mashed potatoes, stuffing, and the 12 dessert varieties.

Featuring Honeycrisp apples, which are both crispy and juicy, this salad is absolutely to die for. Because it includes a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, you can rest easy knowing that you’ll get a ton of antioxidant compounds. On top of the captivating colors, this salad offers contrasting textures and sweet, salty, and tangy flavors. We hope you love it as much as we do and that it brings a little lightness to your holiday season.

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