Day Ten

Aloha. I'm preparing for another monster toward-the-end-of-the-week post like last week mostly about the curative factor behind a lot of the foods L's eating these days, but I want to briefly share the Day Ten dinner entre recipe, adapted from a great vegan blog: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ Here's the recipe with my adaptations:

Down Home Green Bean Casserole_________________________________________________

Beans 2 quarts water, 1 tablespoon table salt, 1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces

Bring the water to boil in a large pot. While it’s heating, cut up the beans. Add the salt and beans to the boiling water. Cover and cook for 6 minutes. Drain beans in a colander, and then spray for a minute with cold water to stop the cooking. Let them drain in the colander, shaking every now and then to get off all the water.

Sauce

10 ounces mushrooms (I used cremini), 4 cloves garlic, Salt to taste, Fresh pepper to taste, 1 T corn starch, 3/4 cup vegetable broth (I used Imagine’s No-Chicken), 1 tablespoon cooking sherry, 3/4 cup cashew cream, 3 T nutritional yeast

Trim and discard the mushroom stems and chop the mushrooms into pieces. Spray a non-stick pan with canola oil and heat it. Add the mushrooms, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are very soft and exude their juices. Whisk the corn starch into the vegetable broth and add to the mushrooms along with the sherry and cashew cream. Simmer, stirring, until mixture thickens. Adjust the seasonings and stir in the beans.

Topping

1 1/2 slices gluten-free bread (I used Food for Life brand Millet bread, fruit-juice sweetened), 1 tablespoon Earth Balance or Smart Balance Lite margarine, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1/16 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 a large onion, cut into thin curly slivers.

Put the bread, margarine, salt, and pepper into a food processor and pulse until crumbly and set aside. Spray a pan and fry the onion on high heat until just soft and lightly browned edges.

To assemble:

Put the green beans into an oiled casserole dish and top with the bread crumbs and then design the onion on top. Bake at 425 F for about 15 minutes. If you are not serving this right away, refrigerate the topping separately; bring to room temperature before sprinkling the topping on the casserole and baking for about 20 minutes or until hot throughout."

From http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/11/best-vegan-green-bean-casserole.html

For Thanksgiving this year, G and I are totally going to make gluten-free french fried onions to top this dish and it's going to be one of my sides. I'll post that recipe when the time comes. L and V left a voicemail late last night when V finally got home from work and they baked and ate the casserole just to let me know they loved it. I loved the mushroominess on the tastes I sampled as I was making it.

Last night for the J/G dinner, they made a Mac and Cheese bake (vegan and gluten free, people) that was just about the most yummy thing my mouth has ever known. That's a recipe to look forward to.

XO,
JRW