friendsgiving recap

Friendsgiving was a huge success.

Honestly, how can you go wrong when you combine good food, great people, a fridge and cooler stocked with beer and Franzia, an inappropriate game of Scategories and Justin Bieber's Christmas CD?! Exactly. You can't. 

I will definitely be hosting Friendsgiving next year. It's one of my new favorite traditions!

Thank you to everyone who came. Love you guys!

One of the dishes I decided I wanted to have on the menu for Friendsgiving, was this delicious vegan green bean casserole. Unfortunately, I did not read through the entire recipe (rookie mistake) and I thought it would be as easy to throw together as the out-of-the-can casserole I have been making for years (another rookie mistake). So I waited until all of the other food was done cooking before I decided to even start getting everything prepped for this dish. Big mistake. Thankfully, I have amazing girl friends who came to my rescue and we made it work! Thanks for being so awesome ladies. Next year I promise to read the entire recipe ahead of time. :)

Even though this dish requires a little more work than the traditional green bean casserole, I highly recommend giving it a chance! It was so delicious and so much fresher than the traditional casserole. It's just an added bonus that it's completely vegan!

 Vegan Green Bean Casserole

servings: 8

/Ingredients/

Beans:

-2 quarts water

-1 tablespoon table salt

-1 1/2 pounds FRESH green beans (trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces)

Sauce:

-10 ounces mushrooms (I used a combination of regular button mushrooms and shiitake)

-3 cloves garlic, minced

-generous pinch of cayenne pepper

-salt to taste

-freshly ground pepper to taste

-2 tablespoons flour

-3/4 cup vegetable broth

-1 tablespoon dry sherry

-3/4 cup soy creamer (I used full-fat unsweetened soy milk

Topping:

-1 1/2 slices whole grain bread

-1 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine (or any vegan margarine - Earth Balance is just my favorite!)

-1/8 teaspoon salt

-1/16 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

-1 3-ounce can of French fried onions

/Instructions/

Beans:

Bring water to a 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:

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, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms are very soft and exude their juices. Whisk the flour into the vegetable broth and then add to the mushrooms along with the sherry. Simmer, stirring until mixture thickens. Add the soy cream (or full-fat unsweetened soy milk) and simmer until thick, about 5 to 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings and stir in the beans. 

Topping:

Put the bread, margarine, salt, and pepper into a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Pour into a bowl and add the French fried onions. Stir to combine.

To assemble:

Put the green beans into an oiled casserole dish and top with the onion/breadcrumb mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes (keep an eye on it-topping will get pretty browned). If you are not serving 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.

Nutrition Facts: (per serving)

102 calories, 36 calories from fat, 3.8g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 1026.5mg sodium, 315.3mg potassium, 13.9g carbohydrates, 3.8g fiber, 3.7g sugar, 3.8g protein, 1.6 points

*recipe adapted from fatfreevegan

I hope everyone had an amazing weekend!

xo