One of the best Thanksgiving dinners I ever had was two years ago, when I ordered Kacie Carter's insane Thanksgiving plates from Honey Hi. She is by far one of the best chefs in LA and I am honored to feature her today!

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring. It’s still possible to indulge in your favorite foods, while nourishing your body at the same time. Here we share clean versions of delicious recipes that will leave you feeling and looking incredible and not to mention, insanely satisfied!

Name: Kacie Carter 

Instagram: @kaciecarter @honeyhi

Job description: Chef, Holistic Nutritionist, and Restaurant Owner.

Favorite dish to serve at a dinner party: A beautiful spice-laden, brothy, sauce-y braised pasture raised meat, cooked low and slow until it’s falling apart, showered in fresh herbs.

Favorite skin food ingredient and why: The marine collagen from Agent Nateur. Between the pearl and the amino acids, it’s the perfect building block for healthy skin and hair.

Top three Instagram accounts for inspiration:

@drmarkhyman

@because_the_wind

@chezpanisse

Must-have cookbook: Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook and My Bombay Kitchen by Niloufer Ichaporia King

Top three kitchen supplies you can’t live without: Japanese knives, microplane, and a wooden spoon.

Three things you always keep in your refrigerator: Grass fed butter (Beurre de Baratte is the jam), grainy mustard, and kimchi.

Favorite online shop for kitchen supplies and / or specialty food items: Japanese Knife Imports, Burlap & Barrel and Toiro Kitchen.

Go-to quick, healthy meal: Sautéed greens, some leftover roasted chicken, kraut, a quick chopped herb & lemon sauce (gremolata), leftover roasted sweet potato or winter squash

Favorite healthy treat: Chocolate for sure :)

Skincare mantra: For the love of all things holy, get your face out of the sun lol.

Eat this recipe for: A cozy holiday celebration with your loved ones.

Recipe: Apple Rose Tartlets with Cashew Almond Mascarpone and Spiced Pecan Crust

Makes 4 Tartlets or 1 Large Tart

For the Tart:

4 medium red apples (like Honeycrisp, Fuji, etc)

2 tbsp lemon juice

For the Glaze:

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Cardamom
Pinch Sea Salt
2 Tbsp Butter

1 Tbsp Honey

For the Cashew Almond Mascarpone:

Yields: about 16oz 

1 cup raw almonds, soaked overnight, skins removed

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean pod, scraped

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cups cashew yogurt

Blend peeled almonds, lemon juice, water, vanilla, and salt in a Vitamix until SUPER smooth. You will need to use the tamper and blend on high to get all of the chunks out and the smoothest possible consistency. Mix with cashew yogurt and adjust seasonings to your liking. Option to add a bit of sweetness if you’d like.

For the Cinnamon Pecan Crust:

1 1/2 cups raw pecans

1 1/2 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pinch salt

2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

To make the tart:

Cut apples into quarters, remove core, and slice them as finely as you can on a microplane (or slice with a knife less than 1/8 inch thick). Add to a bowl of water with lemon juice. Microwave 3 minutes until apple slices are soft and super pliant. Dry well between paper towels.

While apples are drying, food process pecans to a medium fine texture and scrape into a bowl. Add honey, work in butter with your hands. Add this mixture to tart pans, pressing down and creating a curst about 1/4 inch thick. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 400 until browned. You may need to tent the top while baking to ensure it doesn’t burn! Let cool. 

Add cashew almond mascarpone to tart shells, leaving 1/4 inch of space from the top.

To make apple roses, begin laying an apple slice on a cutting board, and add slightly overlapping slices in the same direction. Once you have laid down about 7 overlapping apple slices, starting from one end, roll not too tightly to form a rose-shaped design. Place this rose in the center of the tart. Begin adding apple rose “petals” by tucking apple slices onto the outside edges of the apple rose in the center. Continue adding until pieces almost reach the end of the tart.

Now, tent the sides of your tart with tinfoil so the crust is covered (you will need to tear tinfoil into short thin strips and curl around the exposed crust). Brush with glaze and broil on low for 10 minutes, watching carefully that your apples do not burn. Let them develop a beautiful golden bubbly glaze and caramelize slightly.

Allow to cool and enjoy!