Raw Vegan Turkey Lettuce Cups with Cranberry Relish - A Great Main Entrée for a Raw Thanksgiving

A Great Raw Thanksgiving Entrée

I've been developing a raw Thanksgiving menu over the last few months (which I will publish shortly) and although it's easy to come up with appetizers, soups, salads and even desserts, it was really hard to think of something that would pass for an entrée. Since my favorite "meaty" raw meal is raw tacos, I thought I could get the same effect by using raw walnuts and poultry seasoning to simulate crumbled turkey. I put it in a lettuce cup with a dollop of raw cranberry relish and voila, a satisfying and meaty tasting Thanksgiving dish. OK, it's not baked turkey and gravy but I thought it made a better presentation than a pile of faux stuffing which was my second choice. And, unlike so many raw recipes, it takes minutes to prepare which is important on a day that you'll be preparing lots of dishes.

It's Not Just for Thanksgiving

These lettuce cups are also great for lunch or dinner. You can even put the mixture in endive and serve as an appetizer. This recipe provides large amounts of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids in a perfect 4:1 ratio as added bonus!

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Raw Vegan Turkey Lettuce Cups with Cranberry Relish [makes 4 lettuce cups]

For the Crumbled Turkey

1 cup raw English walnuts

3/4 teaspoons dried sage*

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped*

2 teaspoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce

pinch of black pepper

4 small leaves butter lettuce, cleaned

* 1 teaspoon of poultry seasoning can be substituted for the sage and thyme

For the relish [makes enough for 12 or more lettuce cups]

12 oz package of fresh cranberries, rinsed under cold water and drained

10 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped

Combine the walnuts, sage, thyme, Nama Shoyu and black pepper in a food processor with an S blade and process until it resembles crumbled ground turkey. Do not over process. Remove and set aside. Rinse out the food processor to make the relish.

Combine the cranberries and pitted dates in the food processor and process until it reaches the desired consistency. This will make more than needed.

To assemble the lettuce cups, divide the turkey crumble into the center of 4 leaves of butter lettuce. Put a heaping tablespoon of cranberry relish in each cup and serve. In a big Thanksgiving dinner with several courses, plan on making one lettuce cup per person. As a whole lunch or dinner, make 2 per person.

Per lettuce cup: 208.3 calories, 19 g fat, 1.8 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 4.5 g protein, 8.5 g carbohydrates, 2.7 g fiber, 2.7 g omega 3 and 11.1 g omega 6 fatty acids.