Plant-based Diet Days 25-27: Green Bean Casserole (Thanksgiving Sides)

I only have three days left of the plant-based diet and since it's Sunday, this morning was my official weigh in, so today might as well be the last day. Today I weigh 7.3 lbs. less from when I started the PBD 30 (or 35, if you count my cheating week) days ago and I could not be more pleased with the results. I am amazed that I lost that weight without very much exercise and with all of the cheating I did! I cheated almost everyday, but significantly decreasing my intake of oil, meat and dairy still made a huge difference. So, I have decided that I am going to adopt this as a lifestyle. I will occasionally eat meat and dairy, but certainly not on a daily basis or a weekly basis. I have decided that any food I keep or cook at home will be oil-free, dairy-free and meat free (unless I have guests). I wouldn't call myself a vegetarian or a vegan, but someone who does not often eat meat, dairy, oil or processed flour. 

{Sidebar rant about vegans and vegetarians: I can't stand most vegans or vegetarians because they don't eat meat for really stupid reasons like they don't want to hurt animals or some hippie dippy sh*t. I was watching Iron Chef the other night and it was a vegetarian battle. The competitor was a vegetarian chef but she used like 5 lbs. of butter and deep fried everything. Obviously, she is not vegetarian for health reasons. She might as well eat bacon because it's so much more enjoyable than broccoli drenched in butter.}

Thanksgiving is coming up and my favorite part about the Thanksgiving meal are the sides. I don't get excited about the turkey, not even the ham. The side dishes for me are the star. Over the weekend, I wanted to try to make one of my favorite sides, the green bean casserole, but oil and dairy free. I am really pleased with the result. I have been having a lot of success in the kitchen lately. Either my palette is evolving to like this type of food better, or I am just getting better at cooking.

The Healthiest and Easiest Green Bean Casserole

What you need:

(Serves about 2-4 people depending how much you eat. If you eat it as a main dish like I do, this yields 2 large servings) 

1 or 1.5 14.5 oz cans of chopped green beans

A package of white mushrooms (sliced)

1/2 of an onion

3 Cloves of garlic (or 1.5 TBS of pre-minced garlic)

2 TBS of whole wheat flour (or pastry flour which would work better)

3/4 cup of soy creamer (or full-fat unsweetened soy milk)

3/4 cup (and some) of vegetable broth

1 TBS white whine (or sherry. I think red wine vinegar would also work here)

1 TBS of sage dry rub (or just dry sage, or herbs de provence)*

S&P

2 (or more depending how much you make) slices of sprouted whole wheat bread. I used the ends of old bread I had. 

Onion powder or Onion salt

*You can really take liberties with how you season the green beans. You can add cayenne pepper, use some type of pre-mixed seasoning like Emeril's special seasoning. I found that the sage dry rub gave the beans a really good earthy flavor and went well with the mushrooms. Also, remember to be liberal with the seasoning because since you aren't using any fat, you really want the dish to be full of flavor from the seasoning.

What to do:

Pre-heat the oven to 415 degrees.

THE TOPPING

Tear the pieces of bread and put in food processor to make bread crumbs. Add onion powder and salt (or just onion salt). This topping will give you that breaded deep fried onion flavor without the deep fried crunchy onions.

THE GREEN BEANS AND MUSHROOMS

1.) Chop the onions and sautee/braise in a little bit of vegetable broth along with the garlic and mushrooms. S&P and cook until onions and mushrooms are cooked. 

2.) In a small bowl, whisk the flour and vegetable broth so you don't get large lumps. 

3.) Pour the vegetable flour mixture into the pan with onions and mushrooms along with the tablespoon of sherry. Stir. The mixture gets very thick because of the wheat flour so you will likely need to add more vegetable broth. 

4.) Add green beans and soy creamer. Add sage or any other seasoning you like. Continue to stir and add more broth if the mixture gets too thick. The mixture looks a little weird and almost too thick but you will cook off the flour flavor in the oven.

5.) Pour the green bean mushroom mixture into a casserole dish and top with the bread crumbs. 

6.) Bake for about 15 minutes or until the bread crumbs are browned.

The bread crumbs brown without butter or oil and still gives a little bit of a crunchy texture to contrast with the creamy green beans.

You will end up eating a lot of this dish :)

Next I want to try:

Stuffing, Whole-wheat pizza dough and cupcakes (which is going to be a huge challenge!)