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Hearty Green Bean Casserole

November 16, 2011 by christine

Tonight dinner was a team effort as hubby and I prepared the meaty green bean casserole recipe from Peas and Thank You.

With Thanksgiving approaching at light speed, I admit that our plans are still up in the air. That’s a good thing because I’m not stressing about planning a menu, yet. I am looking forward to a few extra days off work and maybe a little black Friday madness. And I’ve been having fun trying vegan Thanksgiving recipes this week to start a little early celebration.

I have mixed feelings about the traditional green bean casserole, in the past I’ve have amazing ones made from scratch and not-so-amazing versions with a bulk of the mushy ingredients coming from a can. This recipe was a daring one to pull off on a week night because it’s pretty labor intensive and requires a hefty ingredient list. So hefty that I left a few out that I didn’t have – the canned water chestnuts and fresh breads crumbs prepared in a food processor. If I’m dirtying a pot, fry pan, Vitamix, cutting boards, and a casserole dish on a weeknight, I have to draw the line at the food processor too!

But I had help, hubby chopped the fresh green beans before adding to the pot of boiling water.

While I chopped the Tofurky vegan sausage and fresh mushrooms before sauteing together stove top.

The recipe called for 1 cup of unsweetened nut or seed milk, but I didn’t any on hand. Instead I blended 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of hemp seeds, and a tsp. of soy lecithin in the Vitamix with the rest of the sauce ingredients, including the vegan worcestershire sauce.

Assembling the casserole layers was kind of fun, first the green beans, then the mushroom sausage mixture, and I topped with nutritional yeast in place of the bread crumbs. Then we baked it for 20 minutes per the instructions.

And our hearty dinner is served!

One that looks a lot like a traditional green bean casserole, but smelled better!

The flavor was fantastic, the fresh sauce from the Vitamix and fresh chopped mushrooms made and amazing creamy sauce base while the vegan sausage added a hearty protein kick turning this traditional side into a Thanksgiving main dish for a vegan.

While it seems like a lot of work, the casserole was ready in about 30 minutes. I really appreciated this recipe for the fresh ingredients it used – fresh green beans instead of flavorless, canned mushy ones, and fresh mushrooms and hemp milk compared to cheap canned mushroom soup. It was more work and the ingredients were pricier, but very worth it for how perfectly the flavors and texture came together. The green beans were still crisp and the savory, rich flavor the mushrooms added to the sauce after being sauteed with the sausage was simply fabulous. And it’s a huge casserole that could serve eight as a side dish, I’ve stashed extra servings in the freezer to treat myself to a fast, but delicious dinner after a busy work day.

 

Filed Under: General Tagged With: green beans, hemp seeds, Tofurky

Comments

  1. Averie @ Love Veggies and Yoga says

    November 17, 2011 at 1:41 am

    Looks like you came up with a winner….in 30 mins you fed yourself, hubby, AND have planned leftovers stashed in the freezer. Gotta love that. And it looks like the perfect Thanksgiving dish, too…to impress the vegans and nonvegans alike!

    • christine says

      November 18, 2011 at 6:10 am

      Thanks, this was a fun recipe to throw together as a group effort, looking forward to trying more recipes from her book.

  2. JL goes Vegan says

    November 17, 2011 at 4:16 am

    Oh girl, that looks GOOD! (I want to get my hands on the Worcestershire sauce, too!)

    • christine says

      November 18, 2011 at 6:11 am

      That was my first time working with the sauce and took awhile to find in Whole Foods. :-)

  3. Lia says

    November 17, 2011 at 7:21 am

    That does look good! Very nice dinner for a weekday particularly, and a weekend or holiday! I always thought I would veganize a green bean casserole, but never took the time to actually do it. For some reason I guess I forgot that Peas & Thank You had that recipe.

    • christine says

      November 18, 2011 at 6:12 am

      It was a treat for a weekday dinner, next time I might use Trader Joe’s tempeh in placed of the vegan sausage to make it a little cheaper.

  4. Errign says

    November 17, 2011 at 8:36 am

    Looks pretty tasty. I tend to go for quick recipes but sometimes, a little work is worth it!

    • christine says

      November 18, 2011 at 6:13 am

      True on the extra effort, sometimes/ :-) Next time I might use Trader Joe’s tempeh in place of the sausage to make it cheaper.

  5. Christine @ Oatmeal in my Bowl says

    November 17, 2011 at 9:43 am

    Wow! looks great. making a classic Thanksgiving dish vegan. YUM.
    Fat Free Vegan has a great vegan sausage recipe I want to try.

    • christine says

      November 18, 2011 at 6:14 am

      Nice, I need to try that sausage recipe too because Tofurky isn’t cheap. I think Trader Joe’s tempeh could be used in place of the sausage in this recipe too.

  6. Amanda says

    November 18, 2011 at 10:55 am

    I actually still like the traditional green bean casserole mostly for nostalgia, but I dont eat it anymore. I really have never been a fan of fake meats, but yours looks so good. I want to run out and buy that cookbook. I would really like to try to make this maybe with some beans instead of the fake meat.

    • christine says

      November 18, 2011 at 9:27 pm

      Agreed on fake meats, but there’s something about the spices and texture I like in the Tofurky Italian sausage and it doesn’t seem like fake meat in this recipe. Next time I might try this recipe with tempeh cubes in place of the vegan sausage.

  7. Kelsey @ Snacking Squirrel says

    November 18, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    this totally looks like something I WOULD LOVE! i love making green bean casseroles but mine honestly never comes out as nice… mine is more of a sad mock version lol. dang, looks so tasty!

    xoxo <3

Hello! I'm Christine, an IT Professional in Northern California. I'm also passionate about a healthy, plant based lifestyle, running, fitness, and being eco-friendly. 40 (ack!), married, with furkids. Read More…

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