Sequestration Meal #460

 

I was in the mood for some comfort food, plus I needed to distract myself from some personal stuff, so spending a long time in my kitchen appealed to me. Here we have carrots and snow peas (recipe veganized from Taste of Home), some homemade vegan Salisbury steak in tomato-mushroom-onion gravy, and shells and cheese (cheese recipe from Veganosity). This unquestionably did the trick. It's so nostalgic. It's much better than the cheap TV dinner version of this I used to buy, long ago (and also it's vegan), but still makes me feel all warm inside in the best way.

At some point, when I am fully satisfied with it, I will give you my recipe for vegan Salisbury steak. I don't think it's quite ready yet. But almost. This was my best effort yet! However, would you want a recipe that takes several hours start to finish and has an ingredient list a mile long? And includes such exoticisms as Marmite and gravy browning? You tell me. I will say at least that according to my calculations the steaks, even without the gravy, have more than 22 grams of protein, which is a bit more than your average hamburger patty made from beef, so take that, omnivores!

Meanwhile, I still think that recipe for cheese sauce from Veganosity is the best one I have ever found. When I was first vegan, I made a lot of disappointing cheese sauces, probably because the fad of the hour was that potato-carrot cheese, which looked great but was weirdly bland. This one makes me want to lick the blender clean. (I may have licked the lid clean. But I'll never tell.) And it goes super well with the rest of this meal.

I actually had a shallot on hand for the carrots and snow peas this time, so the only substitution I made in the recipe was to use vegan butter. It was delicious! I have also enjoyed it with caramelized onions, mind you, but the shallot is a delightful and neglected vegetable.

Here's to nostalgia. And mushrooms!