Vegan Biscuits & Gravy + New Year's Food Reviews

Happy Monday! Today I'm linking up with  Confessions of a Mother Runner and Tina Muir for Meatless Monday.

I tried lots of great new recipes for New Year's Eve and Day from the Happy Herbivore Holidays & Gatherings cookbook by Lindsay Nixon. Like I said last week, I was a recipe tester for this book and several other Happy Herbivore cookbooks. I use the cookbooks all the time and love the recipes, which are all plant-based with no added fats or oils, making for light but delicious and filling meals that are simple and easy to make. I'll include two of the recipes from the book that Lindsay has on her website.

Happy Herbivore Biscuits and Gravy. Photo from HappyHerbivore.com

 New Year's Eve

Spinach-Artichoke Dip. Lindsay's version substitutes fat-laden mayo and cheese with pureed white beans. I really liked it, as did my husband, and would definitely make it again. I made whole-wheat bread to serve with it, along with fresh veggies.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Cowboy Caviar. Chunky, satisfying, and delicious, this salsa can be served hot or cold. It's ridiculously simple to make but looks impressive. My husband and I loved it. This is a great recipe to bring to a potluck or party. I also made guacamole, though not Lindsay's lower-fat version.

Cowboy Caviar and Guacamole

Artisan Pizza with Wild Mushrooms. I made the Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough recipe from the cookbook, brushed it with a little olive oil, and topped it with fresh minced garlic, wild mushrooms, and red onions. The crust was really good, but the mushrooms were just a little too earthy for me. Plus, with a base of oil and no cheese, everything kept falling off. I topped my leftovers with Daiya cheese.

Wild Mushroom Pizza

New Year's Day

Whole-Wheat Drop Biscuits and White Bean Gravy. I made the biscuits and gravy for brunch. My husband was very skeptical and was sure he wouldn't like them because they (obviously) don't have sausage. But he liked them! I have made these biscuits before and really like them, but this is the first time I've made this type of gravy. Lindsay has a lot of gravy recipes in her cookbooks, and I love them all. The Brown Gravy in the recipe below is the one I probably make the most. One of my go-to dishes in winter is steamed kale and gravy, though I love gravy over baked potatoes or biscuits. I really loved the White Bean Gravy over biscuits.

My photos of the biscuits unfortunately were blurry.

Black-Eyed Peas, Collard Greens, and Cornbread. This is a traditional Southern meal to eat on New Year's Day for prosperity and good luck. The black-eyed peas symbolize coins, and the greens and cornbread symbolize wealth (the colors of money and gold). Again, my husband was adamant that he wouldn't like this dish, and I wasn't sure he would either. But again, he ended up liking it! The peas and greens had a cajun flavor, and the cornbread was fantastic. I've never made cornbread before and have only ever really eaten it a few times, but I loved this cornbread!

Cornbread

Black-Eyed Peas, Collard Greens, and Cornbread

I've tried a lot of other recipes from the book when I was testing them, and I have loved them all. This was the perfect cookbook for fun New Year's Eve and Day menus, and I'll be using it again for other holidays and parties. Here are two of the recipes. Enjoy!

Recipes

Whole-Wheat Drop Biscuits
Recipe from the Happy Herbivore website (check it for nutritional info)

• ¼ cup nondairy milk
• ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt, and whisk to combine. Add applesauce and stir until the batter is lumpy with several small and medium chunks of dough. A light flour dusting is okay but make sure there are no pockets of flour on the bottom or sides of the mixing bowl. Also be careful not to overstir -- those lumps are important. Add nondairy milk, stirring until a wet, thick, doughy batter forms. Drop 5 spoonfuls on your cookie sheet, leaving a few inches between each so they can spread. For round biscuits, use clean fingers to smooth out each drop into a circular shape. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, or until the edges turn golden.

Brown Gravy
Recipe from the Happy Herbivore website (check it for nutritional info)

• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• ¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp garlic powder

In a small non-stick skillet, whisk nutritional yeast and flour together and toast over medium heat until it smells toasty, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium saucepan and whisk in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and allow to thicken as desired. Add salt and pepper to taste. For an even thicker gravy, mix 1 tbsp of cornstarch with 2 tbsp of water and pour it in to the gravy.

Can't wait to check out other Meatless Monday recipes!