Atlanta Macrobiotics

Our Southern Pecan Mushroom Gravy recipe for our Tofurkey is simply the talk-of-the-town! In my Macrobiotic Thanksgiving Cooking Classes someone always says they could just eat it with a spoon, all by itself! Repeaters love our Macrobiotic Thanksgiving Cooking Class because they enjoy the food so much – this gravy being one of the favorites!

As you enjoy this gravy and compliments of your delighted guests, you may have just found your all-time new favorite gravy too! And your bonus: it’s easy to make!

This recipe provides a very generous amount, easily serving 18-20. If you have less guests, please adjust the quantity to 1/2 or 3/4 amount. Of course, left-over it’s delightful on whatever you might be serving the next day!

All ingredients are organic. But here’s the secret: the special quality and flavors of the Hiraide Sesame Oil and Johsen Shoyu enhance this dish – and other Macrobiotic recipes immensly. We hope you will experience these delightful flavors by ordering these products from Natural Import Company. Just touch their link in the shopping column on this website, on the right side of this page.

And now, we are happy to feature the very delicious Southern Pecan Mushroom Gravy, inspired by Harriet McNear, from Winter Park, Florida.

2 Tablespoons Hiraide Sesame Oil, Natural Import Company
1 large organic onion, small diced
2 cups organic mushrooms, thinly sliced
3/4 cup organic pecans, toasted and chopped
4-5 cups filtered water
3 Tablespoons Johsen Shoyu, Natural Import Company
5 Tablespoons Kuzu, Natural Import Company, dissolved in 3 teaspoons cold water
teeny minced organic parsley

Heat oil in large skillet and sauté onions until just starting to brown.
Add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes over medium low flame
Add pecans, water and soy sauce and bring to a boil.
Cook 15-20 minutes over low flame.
Adjust flavors. Stir in kuzu and cook until thick and clear.
Add parsley and put into gravy bowl to serve.

We associate certain dishes with every holiday! The Green Bean Casserole was certainly a favorite on our family’s table, set in that exquisite silver covered dish! Topped with crispy onion rings! Can’t you taste it!! So how does this overcooked half-canned, half-frozen vegetable dish ever surface on a healthy Vegan Macrobiotic Thanksgiving Feast we love to share with family and friends today??

Since I served this dish to my children as they were growing up, our daughter has mentioned it to her daughters, who in fact tasted a not-so-healthy version, and of course loved the taste a year or two ago. Each Thanksgiving since, they’ve requested my old Green Bean Casserole. They may as well have asked for Green Eggs and Ham! It just wasn’t going to happen. Then, my daughter called, saying this last week Trader Joe’s featured a tasting station of  a healthier green bean casserole. And  at Whole Foods I spotted Lars Imported Crispy Onions, All Natural. Now I felt  challenged to reinvent this dish.

Just last week my Navy Bean soup surprised me and tasted just perfect for the base of this dish. Here’s what I did, and hope you get to enjoy also for the Thanksgiving Holidays. Maybe this recipe will guide your own adaptation down your family’s Memory Lane of Favorite Holiday Cuisine.

1 cup organic navy beans, rinsed & soaked over night in heavy Le Creuset pot       Recipe for about 4-5 persons
4-5 cups water
1 inch piece of kombu
Si Salt Sea Salt, from Kushi Institute Store
Shoyu, Sakurazawa from Natural Import Company or Kushi Institute Store

Discard soaking water, add kombu and add water to cover.
Bring to boil, skimming off foam, adding additional cold water to shock beans, and skim more foam,
for about 20 minutes. Cover beans and cook til soft.

1 cup sliced organic mushrooms
2 cups fresh string beans, sliced thin, sauteed in olive oil
1/2 cup sliced lotus root
1/4 cup sliced jerusalem artichokes
1/2 cup organic almonds, toasted, and chopped
1/4 cup Lars crispy onions to mix within vegetables
1/2 cup Lars crispy onions topping casserole dish

While beans cook, slice vegetables for casserole dish very finely.
Saute vetables in olive oil til soft.
Once bean dish is a soft creamy soup, add Si Salt Sea Salt, and Shoyu to your preferred taste.
Transfer to a casserole serving dish you can place in oven.
Stir in sauteed vegetables, almonds, and add 1/4 cup crispy onions for crunch.
Top with 1/2 cup Lars crispy onions, and bake just to meld flavors, about 20 minutes at 325 degrees.

And when you serve this dish, I hope you sit back & enjoy remembering the sweet times at your mother and grandmother’s tables this Thanksgiving, just like me.