Green Bean Casserole

While I didn't appreciate this tradition quite so much as a kid, in my adult life green bean casserole has always been the food I look forward to most during the holidays. My mom made it the way that I'm sure the majority of people remember their mothers making it--straight out of a can. A can a green beans, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and even jarred mushrooms all got dumped into dish together to bake. Definitely not vegan, and probably not as healthy as it otherwise could have been either. I was skeptical as I searched for a recipe that would even come close to inspiring the joy and comfort I remember from years past, and I was amazed to find that the fresh, home-made, healthy version of green bean casserole is actually even better than the original version!



Home-made Vegan Green Bean Casserole

I found this recipe on this blog.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

First, put a pot of salted water on to boil. Have 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of fresh green beans trimmed and ready to go in. While you are waiting, slice up a container of mushrooms (about 12 ounces) and start those sauteeing in a separate pan. Add in three cloves of garlic, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and freshly cracked salt and pepper. Sautee the mushrooms until soft. When the water is boiling add the beans, cover, and cook for 6 minutes. Drain and rinse the beans in cold water to stop the cooking process.

Sautee the mushroom mixture and cook the beans.

In a bowl, whisk together 2 tbsp of flour and 3/4 cup of vegetable broth. Add this to the mushrooms with 2 tbsp of sherry and 3/4 cup soy creamer (or unsweetned soy milk). Simmer, stirring, until mixture is thick. Taste the sauce here and adjust seasonings--the salt in this recipe is hard to get right, I find. Add the cooked beans, toss, and then pour the mixture into a casserole dish.

Toss the green beans, mushroom mixture, and then top and bake.

In a food processor, process 1 1/2 slices of whole wheat bread, 1 tbsp Earth Balance, salt, and pepper until crumbly. Mix this while one container of fried onions and spread over the casserole. Bake for 15 minutes.

I thought about going all out and making some yummy, healthy breaded onion straws, but in the end I decided that that was more work than I felt like getting in to. Besides, what are the holidays with a little bit of fatty food and indulgence involved? This would be a fun future experiment though!

Perfect Portobello Burger

This was my lunch for day six of the 21-Day Weight Loss Kickoff. Carla, Helen, and I are going out to dinner at supposedly very nice Asian food buffet tonight, so I decided to keep lunch light and skip the Sweet Potato Fries (again, argh!). This recipe was quick, easy, and small enough to be a nice sized portion snack, so it was the perfect choice.

While I did really like this sandwich, it didn't really photograph very well. The whole wheat bun was dark brown, the portobello was black, the caramelized onions were dark brown, and the lettuce was a very dark purple. Not to mention that the whole thing got kind of soggy and messy immediately. So, unfortunately, no pictures for this one.

I was a little nervous about that great big mushroom since I had never had one before. I love mushrooms, but I recently got a bag of shitakes that were infested with mushroom fly maggots (which you could not tell by looking, only breaking into) so I'm a little weird about the larger ones now--who knows what nasty surprises could be hiding inside! I ended up breaking this one in half once to inspect for any holes, and it turned out to be sound. In the end there was nothing to worry about at all, and I thoroughly enjoyed the mushroom.

The portobello went in a pan with a quarter inch of water, some halved garlic cloves, salt, and smoked paprika. It was done when the water had completely evaporated. I slapped that on a toasted whole wheat bun with the other ingredients and that puppy was good to go. The sandwich originally had roasted red pepper on it as well, but I picked that off half way through because it didn't really fit and it covered up the mushroom flavor too much. I thought I would miss some sort of condiment on mushroom burger as well, but it turned out just fine without it. I would most likely make this again.

This is what I imaged the Perfect Portobello Burger should look like.
Picture taken from http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/portobello_mushroom_burger/.

This morning's breakfast was alright. I made the scheduled pancakes with strawberries and Caribbean Passion Smoothie. The pancakes, being only whole wheat flour, soy milk, and baking powder, were not at all delicious. Last time the mango added some sweetness while the lime added flavor, whereas this time it was basically like cardboard. I ended up eating the strawberries off the top and drenching them in maple syrups, and even then I couldn't even finish the two of them. Next time the menu calls for plain pancakes, I think I'll add a tablespoon or two of cane sugar and some vanilla extract.

The smoothie was interesting. I almost didn't like it at first, but it grew on me over the course of the morning. I bought a smoothie blender yesterday with a travel lid so that all you have to do is blend, pop on the top, unscrew the base, and go. It was very convenient as I was rushing to get ready for my 8 am Organic Chemistry. The smoothie consisted of one banana, one orange, one mango, some pineapple, a cup of soy milk, and some cinnamon. I forgot to freeze the fruit last night so I had to blend some ice with it as well. Pretty tasty, and very filling!



This is actually the Mango Spice Smoothie, but the Caribbean Passion was almost the same except that it had cinnamon in place of serrano pepper.