Vegan Alfredo... with no SOY?!

One of the things about being allergic to so many things is missing out on some majorly delicious comfort foods. I was raised on pasta, and when I am upset, I often like to make pasta. I am not allergic to pasta, but when something bad happens and I want to make comfort food I like to share it with the other people who need comforting and/or the people who are comforting me. My go-to is Alfredo. Very fatty, salty, heavy, carb-rich dish. Now, many people would read that as a large "DO NOT CONSUME" sign. Please, don't think that way. When you are grieving or upset it's not okay to eat you feelings, that's true, but, if you are careful about how much you eat and how frequently such a dish can be really healthy. In the same vein, Vegan dishes aren't always healthier than their non-vegan alternatives, this recipe is pretty high in fat, so if you are eating vegan to eat healthy this recipe might not be for you. If you are eating vegan for allergies and/or moral reasons, please please add this dish to your repertoire!

ingredients:

1/3 or 2/3 cup Nutritional yeast. Essential for a vegan household in my opinion, makes this dish cheesy-tasty!

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup garlic and/or onions, thinly sliced or diced (optional) 

2-3 mushrooms sliced or diced (optional)

1 tsp vegemite mixed thoroughly with 1 tbsp hot water (optional) another vegetarian household staple, made from yeast also, its highly nutritious, but be careful, its very salty!

one can 13/14 oz (regular can size) coconut milk- make sure it doesn't have many additives, and make sure you aren't getting the beverage (which is usually packaged in a box/carton) be careful not to grab concentrate or coconut water either. Also, be sure to shake it up before opening it. Coconut milk should naturally separate a bit, so shake shake shake!

salt

pepper (white pepper if you really want to keep the color)

This recipe is pretty similar to the Vegan gravy one. Try out different amounts and add ins to suit your particular preference.

heat oil in a very large sauce-pan or wok over medium heat. 

add in any seasonings, spices, garlic, onions and saute till onions translucent not more than 4-5 minutes. 

if using mushrooms add them in after, saute just a little bit, 1-2 minutes. 

If you are adding garlic, onions and mushrooms, and you want a smooth sauce, at this stage you should either use an immersion blender or remove from heat, let cool a bit and use a regular blender. 

either way, return to heat and add about a pinch of salt and the nutritional yeast. stir well until you have something akin to a paste and then add the coconut milk slowly. we usually use the whole can, but you can choose not to use that much. Turn heat down, make sure not to boil the coconut milk! stir and cook on low for 10-15 minutes. Add more salt to taste, and pepper. 

This sauce will be sweeter than most traditional alfredos, adding in tomato puree, a dash of soy sauce, liquid aminos, nutritional yeast, or spices will help with this. 

serve the sauce over potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, mushed peas( ala creamed peas style, leave out the vegemite and salt for a more creamier/sweet version)

alternatives to the coconut milk would be any nut-based milk that you aren't allergic to, such as soy, almond, or rice.
Almond milk will be really sweet in this recipe, while Soy will bring in a different slightly bitter flavor. Rice milk is often too thin for this recipe and will likely not thicken up. Those of you who can have dairy could also use cream, if for some reason you are trying this out. 

a small note on Pasta!

if you are gluten free you already know the woes of gluten and pasta. Many gluten-free pastas are hard, chewy, tacky, or mushy, and not as satisfying :( 

I would recommend looking at small co-ops or specialty stores for pastas made from spinach, potatoes, or seaweed. 

My favorite pasta with this sauce was the spinach pasta, which I found at my local co-op. Good luck, and enjoy! 

About and Gluten-free vegan Gravy!

What is this all about?!
Well, I have always been a meat eater, I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, but I know some of how to cook like one. I am not medically allergic to anything. I get a scratchy throat when I eat pineapple or walnuts, but that is only an irritation. However, some of the people I care the most about in this world have allergies, severe ones. So I learned how to cook for them.

One of my closest friends was allergic everything for a while. That meant: no eggs, meat, dairy, corn, soy, gluten, peanuts, or potatoes. You might think that is a short list, but each of those ingredients takes out a whole plethora of foods that we could not have. No traditional or store-bought pasta, cookies, bread, cake, chili, ect. It would take me days to list all of the things we could not eat or buy.

When a person who is very allergic to so many things has any one of those things, the situation gets very bad very fast. I have watched my friend have three Epinephrine shots in less than four hours, I have seen the moon-face, so round and swollen that a smile hurts, and I have watched the pain of hives and discomfort.
While I cannot say that anyone will benefit from reading a blog about this, I would like to try. If you have allergies, or love someone that does, I hope my experiences will help you in some way.

I intend to post some anecdotes and recipes, in hopes of helping someone else on their journey to eating with allergies, eating healthy, eating morally, or helping a friend do whats best for them.

I'll start out with my favorite, to kick things off!

Vegan Gravy adapted from a Bob's Red Mill recipe (they are a great resource for gluten-free and allergen-sensitive products)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup of a savory flour. This can be regular flour if you eat gluten. My favorite gluten-free flour for this is white bean flour.
1/4 cup Nutritional yeast. This is a must-have for a vegan household in my opinion, delicious and very healthy!
1/4 cup Olive oil. your preferred kind, but I'd recommend keeping it savory.
3 tablespoons Soy sauce or Braggs amino liquids (optional) If you are gluten-free, make sure to get the gluten free kind. Most American soy sauce brands have gluten! I'll discuss replacements for this at the end of the recipe.
Water
3-5 cloves garlic. Sliced into tiny slices is best, but minced works fine too. Play around with the amount till you get what you like.
Sage 1-3 large pinches. (optional) Play around with the amount till you get what you like. That's the best part about cooking!
Rosemary 1-2 large pinches. (optional)
Mushrooms 4-5. (optional) Sliced or diced will do.
Salt to taste. Preferably sea salt because you can use less and it is less likely to have unlisted additives people can be allergic to.

First, it is essential to have most of the ingredients ready when you start to cook. Cooking usually takes 20-30 mins, but most of the active work is all in a row, and you don't have much time to prepare the next thing.
Heat 1/2 cup of oil over medium heat, not until it's smoking, but until its hot. a good way to check is dropping one tiny piece of garlic, or a drop of water in to see if it sizzles.
when oil is hot add in the flour and stir quickly, making a roux (just a fat/flour paste) it should be pretty thick, if you don't have enough liquid add just a little bit of water, but no more than a tablespoon.
heat this for a very short time, less than a minute, stirring almost constantly. This will brown the flour and add a little more flavor. (if you are using bean flour, garbanzo or fava, less time will be needed). Add the rest of the oil, the spices and garlic, let that heat a moment and then add the nutritional yeast. Stir this and quickly add the Soy sauce or alternative. Mix very well. This should also be very thick. Add water to get desired thickness, then add in the mushrooms. Once those are in, turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.

This is my favorite way of cooking it, but you can also add the spices, mushrooms and garlic in before the flour from the get-go. Other add-ins that have worked well for us are hot peppers (Jalapenos I think), tomatoes, peas, spinach, onions and carrots.

serve with: Mashed potatoes, corn, Mashed carrots&parsnips, peas mashed or not, sweet potatoes, roasted Brusselsprouts, cooked cabbage/kale/spinach/beet greens, toast or meat if you are the meat-eating sort.

soy sauce alternatives! well, the first alternative would be Braggs amino liquids, but it is also made of soy! Making the recipe without this will definitely change the flavor, but you can do that. Here are some other choices:

slice and dice an additional 2-3 mushrooms. saute them in some oil letting them burn just a little. puree and salt them, add to gravy at the appropriate time and enjoy with relish!

saute a tomato in one tablespoon olive oil, drain, mash up, salt and add to gravy.

Good luck in your endeavors and enjoy!