A bit of mushroom soup (homemade, of course).  Some green beans (home canned, if you have ’em).  And some hand-cut French fried onions.  (My kids call them onions from heaven.)  And Thanksgiving can proceed.  Right?  No cans needed!

If someone in your family needs to eliminate gluten, dairy, or preservatives, and they are very sad about giving up traditional Thanksgiving foods, then this recipe is for them.  It’s a little extra work, but love always is.  That’s what makes it special.

Take a look…

Does it look like you remember?

Traditional-Style Green Bean Casserole

Topping:

• 3 smallish onions, sliced very thinly
• ½ cup full-fat coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1½ teaspoon salt, divided use
• 1 ½ cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour
• Pepper to taste
• Oil for frying

Casserole:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1 cup of fresh, finely chopped Portabella mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon tapioca or arrowroot powder
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup full-fat coconut milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 4 cups cooked and drained green beans

French fried onion topping:

1. For the topping, mix together in a medium-sized bowl the coconut milk, apple cider vinegar, and ½ teaspoon salt.  Soak the onions in the mixture for an hour.  Stir occasionally.
2.  Mix together Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour and remaining 1 teaspoon salt in a large baggie.
3.  Drain the onions well in a strainer and place in the baggie and shake to coat well.  Try very hard to break up clumps so all the rings are mostly coated.
4.  Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium-sized saucepan until an onion dropped in sizzles and spatters.  If your oil isn’t hot enough, you’ll have goopy mess.  If it’s too hot, you’ll burn the delectable rings.  Use enough olive oil to come up to 1-2 inches high in the pan.  You may need to periodically add more, always waiting for the oil to return to the proper temperature.
5. When the oil is hot enough, fry the onions in single-layer batches until they are light golden- brown.  
6. Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions to a paper-towel lined plate.  Set aside.

For the casserole:

1. Saute the onion and mushrooms in olive oil over low heat for 15 minutes.
2. Sprinkle with tapioca starch (or arrowroot) and stir.
3. Add the chicken stock and stir until it just reaches a boil.  Remove from heat.
4. Add in the coconut milk, salt, and pepper.  The mixture should be thick like soup.
5. Place green beans in a large bowl, pour mushroom mixture over, and mix well.
6. Transfer to a casserole dish and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.
7. Cover with French fried onions and bake an additional 10 more minutes.  If using stored French fried onions (see below), you may need to bake longer, until the rings are just crisped up again.

Variations and information:

• Canned green beans work well here.  No worries!
• To save time: make the French fried onions ahead of time, storing them in a single-layer in the refrigerator on a paper-towel lined plate until needed for the casserole.
• Use more green beans if you like your green bean casserole less soupy and less moist.  Eyeball it.  Maybe 5 cups.
• I haven’t tried, but I’ll bet this will work with other gluten-free flours.  Mix up your own for 100% homemade!
• Add a little garlic and/or onion powder into the soup mixture if you’d like.
• Add a little cashew cream to the green bean mixture to make it richer.  (A recipe is in the Molly Green e-cookbook I worked on.)
• I haven’t tried it, but you could try using the GF flour to thicken the soup rather than arrowroot or tapioca–but no guarantees since I haven’t tried it!

Family “gustar” report:  It scores a 6 out of 6.  Even the baby gets in on the action!  My husband says the fresh mushrooms make it the best.  My kids love the onion rings.  But there’s NEVER green bean casserole left.

There’s more recipes like this in the Molly Green Bite-Sized guide (e-cookbook) I helped put together for Molly Green Magazine.  I’ll be bringing you two more recipes in this little Three Days of Thanksgiving!  Then, I won’t bother your in-box for a while.  I hope you have a great day!

Terri