Mushroom Gravy

I first made this mushroom gravy last year for Thanksgiving and also served a traditional turkey gravy for the meat eaters at my table.  However, the mushroom gravy was the first to disappear so this year I only made the mushroom gravy.  No turkey gravy at all.  Even still, I needed to make another batch for the leftovers, as it was gobbled up yet again and I had tripled the recipe!

Vegan Mushroom Gravy (doubled, which I usually have to do for my family of five)

4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
20 mushrooms, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 to 1 tsp poultry seasoning (or you could substitute whatever herbs you like - sage, thyme, etc)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup plain, unsweetened soy milk
4 cups vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste - throw some cayenne in there, too, while you are at it!

Heat oil until shimmering.  Saute' onions until clear; add garlic and saute' one minute more; add mushrooms and saute' until soft, about 3-4 minutes.  Add flour and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes.  Add soy milk and cook, stirring, until it is thick.  Add vegetable broth and seasonings.  Cook, stirring, until gravy is thickened.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

Vegan Pasta Alfredo

Before I was vegan, one of my favorite things to eat was pasta with Alfredo sauce. Oh, the creamy goodness of it! This was one thing I just knew I'd miss being vegan.

I did find a vegan Alfredo recipe in a cookbook but it fell far short of the original. It had NUTMEG in it, for goodness sakes! Ewww! I started removing ingredients and working on it and then....

One day while reading a new VegNews, there it was. Amazing Alfredo. It looked delicious! And it was but it still had that pesky nutmeg in the ingredient list. Yuck. I love nutmeg, but never I'm a savory dish. So here is my very simple adaptation of Amazing Alfredo.

Ginger's Vegan Alfredo Sauce

1 cup raw cashews
2 tbsp raw pine nuts
1 to 1 1/4 cups water
4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (heaping if you're like me or reduce the amount if you're just not that brave)

In a blender, grind the nuts. Add water and garlic and blend until completely smooth. Taste and add salt and cayenne pepper. Adjust seasonings.

Pour into a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring almost constantly, for 7 minutes.

Cook 1 pound of pasta. I used whole wheat penne. I prefer my Alfredo sauce served with a tube shaped pasta that holds all the yummy sauce. I had also cut up about 3 cups of broccoli florets and had them waiting in the colander. When I drained the pasta over the broccoli, it cooked it just enough to be bright green but it retained some of the crunch. If you like your broccoli softer, add it to the pasta water for about 2-3 minutes before the pasta is done.

Serve with the yummy sauce. Enjoy! I have to admit I love this even more than the "real" Alfredo sauce. So does my 17-year-old daughter.