Thick Brown Mushroom Gravy

Even though Thanksgiving is over, here's a recipe for delicious gravy that is good all year round!

Story: I had Thanksgiving dinner with my meat eating family last night. I made a Tofurkey, mushroom gravy and garlic mashed potatoes, and my dad made a real turkey and some turkey gravy. Although more people indulged in the real turkey (as there was not much Tofurkey to go around) my special gravy went much faster than his. Here's why!


This recipe coordinates with a mashed potato dish containing two regular-sized russet potatoes. The more mashed potatoes and t[of]urkey you are serving it with, the more gravy you ought to make.

1/2 cup of nutritional yeast (flakes and powder both work fine)
1/2 unbleached flour
2 cups of vegetable broth
roughly 1 cup of water
small onion (yellow works best)
2 mushrooms (at least)
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
2 pans
wooden spoon (you can also use a whisk, but that could damage your pan)

Before you start cooking, put the nutritional yeast and flour in a bowl or large measuring cup. Mash out any lumps with a fork. Also cut up your mushrooms, and thinly slices your onion.

Put one pan over medium heat. You should pour some the broth into the pan first, then some of the dry ingredients. Stir it together, making sure there are little or few lumps. The mixture will be thin at first, but will thicken once it gets hotter, and you may need to smash some lumps with your wooden spoon. Continue doing this until you run out of the broth, then switch to water. You may not need the entire cup of water, or you may need more; it all depends on how thick you want your gravy. Once you reach the thickness you want, turn off the heat.

In your other pan, heat up your vegetable oil. Saute the onions and mushrooms until the mushrooms are soft and it smells really good. Then pour this into your gravy and mix it until the oil has dissipated in your gravy.

Serve right away! This gravy is best fresh and can be difficult to re-heat as it thickens after cooling. If you want to re-heat it, however, you can do so in a pan by adding some water or vegetable broth.

Introduction:

This is a compilation of all the delicious vegan recipes I've come across as I make my transition to a cruelty-free lifestyle. They are recipes that even meat lovers will enjoy!

Even if you do not want to give up meat altogether, here are just a few benefits of lowering your animal product intake:

1. 75% of poultry inspectors say they wouldn't eat chicken.

2. American men who eat meat have a 50% chance of having a heart attack. Vegan men have a 4% chance of having a heart attack.

3. Women who eat meat daily are 4 times more likely to develop breast cancer than women who eat meat once a week.

4. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in American. Cholesterol is the leading cause of heart disease. There is no cholesterol in fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, or seeds.

5. Right now, a child dies of malnutrition every 2.3 seconds. The land, water and energy used to grow feed for cattle could be used to feed 100,000,000 people if Americans cut their meat consumption by 10%.



My personal reasons for becoming vegan are the three most common: eating meat is detrimental to the environment, it promotes cruel treatment of living creature, and it is very unhealthy.

I have been vegan for several months now, and I feel healthier, I've lost weight, my skin has cleared up significantly (but that started when I became a vegetarian), and I have had so much more stamina that I have been able to give up caffeine altogether! My diet has also done good for my self-esteem in that I have dramatically lowered my carbon footprint, I am working to eliminate my contributions to animal cruelty, and I am treating my body much better than the average American does.

[I recently lost my camera so I won't be able to provide photos for my first few recipes.]

NOTE: I'm not forcing anyone to do anything

I want to make that perfectly clear.

I promote a plant-based diet just as I promote drinking 64 ounces of water each day and flossing regularly. But there is no debate over whether or not these things are good for you. No matter how much water you drink or how frequently you floss, I am sure that you know these are things you ought to do for your health.

Even smokers know that it is bad for them. But like eating meat, it is a personal choice.

The only difference is that we, as a nation of meat eaters, are unwilling to accept that meat is unhealthy and cruel because we were raised to think otherwise. If we were all raised to smoke cigars, we would be quite appalled if somebody suggested that we shouldn't.

So all I'm saying is that people would be better off cutting back on their meat intake. And if you want to stay very healthy and enjoy a long, cruelty-free life, you must cut out meat, and other animal products, altogether.

Protein

Here is the lamest excuse most vegans hear all too much: "I could never stop eating meat. How would I get enough protein?"

Yes, protein is important. Yes, meat contains a lot of protein. No, it is not the only source of protein.

Removing flesh from your diet will be detrimental to your health if you do not make the effort to get enough protein and vitamins, ESPECIALLY if you are an athlete! This is totally doable with a vegan diet, you just have to learn how.

To get you started, here is a link to a great site about vegan nutrition and getting enough protein in your diet [just ignore that picture of shirtless muscle man at the top of the site]: http://www.vegetarianteen.com/articles/robertcheekeprotein.shtml