Homemade Green Bean Casserole

You know that delicious (somewhat unhealthy) green bean casserole that is topped with the crunchy fried onions? It's always been a Thanksgiving favorite of mine, and yup! That's what we're making today. The traditional casserole is somewhat of a bummer if you're lactose or gluten intolerant, since the cream of mushroom soup contains both milk and wheat. Well, since I wanted to share with ALL of my friends, I went ahead and made my own cream of mushroom soup, which is free of cream. Now this dish is vegan and easy to make gluten free! The one thing you still have to watch out for, is that most of the crunchy fried onions are still made with gluten. If you can't find gluten free fried onions, you can fry up your own, or use a crunchy topping of broken up tortilla chips and nutritional yeast. If you happen to find gluten free fried onions though, let me know!

Homemade Green Bean Casserole

Cream of Mushroom Soup

2 white potatoes
1 12oz package sliced baby bella mushrooms
1 leek, sliced into coins, then cut in half
1 stalk of celery, sliced
3c water
1T Vegemite or vegetable boullion
garlic & black pepper to taste

1. Peel potatoes and cut into cubes. Boil until soft.
2. Meanwhile, dice leek and celery.
3. In a large soup pot, sautee mushrooms, leeks, celery, and spices in 1/2c broth until tender.
4. Once potatoes are soft, drain and food process into a paste. Add 2c water and Vegemite or bullion and continue to process until smooth.
5. Add the potato broth directly to the pot with the mushrooms.
6. Add the remaining water and bring to a boil.

Casserole

Cream of Mushroom Soup (above)
1 package french fried onions
(OR 1 3/4c crushed tortilla chips plus 1/4c nutritional yeast for the gluten free version)
1.5lb frozen green beans

Preheat oven to 350F. Add green beans into the pot with your soup, along with 1c french fried onions. Bake for 30 minutes. Top with remaining fried onions and return to oven for an additional 5 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!