Vegan MoFo Day 28: Green Bean Casserole

Green Bean Casserole is one of those quintessential Thanksgiving foods that I had never eaten in my life until last year's Pre-Thanksgiving Vegan Thanksgiving Potluck. In my family, you didn't cover vegetables in "sauces" or ever use cream of anything soup for anything. The exception to this, somehow, was creamed spinach... but I'm just going to chalk that up to an anomaly. Sure we ate green beans, sauteed, with butter or green beans with slivered almonds, but never, never, with a cream sauce and fried onions in a can. Which leads to the second reason I'd never eaten this -- the onion thing. I think it's well known by now that I don't *do* onions. It's not that I dislike them, but they have a burning searing hatred for my guts... literally, so I don't eat them. Third -- Green Bean Casserole always seems to be made with canned green beans. I don't do canned vegetables either, with the exception of corn, and tomatoes, and legume type beans (i.e. chickpeas, kidney beans). I don't like squishy veggies. After two years of potlucks eating green beans with yummy mushroom sauce I decided I'd give it a go myself this year. After perusing lots of omni recipes, I decided I'd just wing it, and here's what I came up with, in all its delicious glory!



Green Bean Casserole
1 1/2 lbs FRESH green beans, ends snapped off, cut into 1" pieces
1/4 cup diced shallots
10 oz crimini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups Creamy Portabello Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup non-dairy cream cheese (I used Follow Your Heart brand because I can't find Tofutti Nonhydrogenated here anymore!)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 can French Fried Onions

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat and add the shallots and mushrooms. Sautee until the mushrooms are all shrunk down and the shallots are soft and translucent.

2. Add the green beans to the skillet and continue to sautee until they are just fork tender. Keep in mind they will also be baked and you don't want soggy beans! Add a little of the mushroom soup if the pan needs some moisture.

3. Add the 2 tbsp of flour and sautee for a minute to get rid of the raw flour taste.

4. Add the soup and cream cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and stir often to dissolve all the cream cheese. Allow it to thicken slightly (just needs a few minutes) and remove from heat.

5. Pour your green bean gravy mixture into your baking pan of choice. Top with French Fried Onions, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

So now you may be wondering "But what about the onions?!? You don't eat ONIONS!!" This is true. I portioned out a small amount for myself in a single serve baking dish and topped it with Panko. Problem solved :)

Seitan Satay with Peanut Sauce

I don't know how I got it into my head that I wanted Seitan Satay this week, but there it was, and I could not ignore it. I read through a few of my cookbooks, and looked around on the web a while before I settled on a recipe. I used Robin Robertson's recipe from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. I used baked seitan with no extra fancy flavorings in it so the marinade and peanut sauce would be the stars. Served alongside it are Mango Summer Rolls from Vegan with a Vengeance and Sesame String Beans. The seitan had a meaty bite to it and was nice and chewy, and the summer rolls went great with the peanut sauce. It was a delicious meal with a bunch of interesting components.


Seitan Satay
1 shallot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp canola oil
2 tsp peeled and minced fresh ginger
2 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tbsp brown sugar, packed
12 oz seitan, cut into 1/4" strips

1. Heat the canola oil in a small skillet over low heat, and add the shallow and garlic. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Watch it carefully so it doesn't burn.

2. Put the shallot mixture, ginger, tamari, lime juice, sesame oil, and brown sugar into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Add a little water if it's too thick.

3. Pour the marinade into a shallow dish and coat each piece of seitan. Allow to marinate for at least an hour. (I put mine in the fridge for the day while I was in classes)

4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Soak enough wooden skewers for each slice of seitan in water for about 30 minutes. Thread the seitan onto the skewers and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet.

5. Bake the seitan for 10 minutes, turning halfway through, until lightly browned. Serve with peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup natural peanut butter (soften it in the microwave to make it easier to mix)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp tamari
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1. Mix all the ingredients together. Add more water if it's too thick. (I like putting it all in a jar and shaking until it's smooth)

Sesame Green Beans
8 oz green beans, ends snapped off
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp tamari
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame seeds

1. Heat the oil and garlic in a large sautee pan until the garlic begins to soften. Add the green beans, tamari, and vinegar and toss to coat.

2. Cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes or until green beans are tender-crisp. Toss with sesame seeds and serve.