Healthy Vegan Rutabaga Gratin

In honor of Oprah doing a show today on VEGANISM (woooot!) I am making this recipe for dinner (from one of my favorite magazines – Martha Stewart's Whole Living.) I was showing it to my students in my yoga class at Blissful Body Yoga this morning and they were all excited about it. Maybe you'll be inspired to give it a try too! I plan on putting a little shredded onion in mine as well...ummm...onions. Also, I don't have any nutritional yeast at the minute, so I am skipping that bit.

Are you saying..."What the HELL is a rutabaga?" Read up on them here. They are a delicious, nutritious and versatile root vegetable.

Happy eating and come back to see my follow up post on how my turned out complete with pictures!

Be blissful! Be happy!

Rutabaga Gratin

Amy Pennington, creator of GoGo Green Garden and Urban Garden Share and author of "Urban Pantry," made-over her favorite childhood recipe.

"Every Thanksgiving my mom made mashed rutabaga when we were kids, and no one ate it but my mom and me. I've tweaked the recipe a lot: I've made it vegan, and instead of mashing it together with a bunch of butter and bacon fat, as my mom did, I used a nut cream, which makes the rutabagas velvety in and of themselves. It's much healthier, but it still feels really filling and lush."

Ingredients

Serves 6 to 8

• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup raw cashews
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 2 slices rustic bread, torn into small pieces
• 2 small rutabagas (1 1/2 lb.), peeled and cut into about 1/8-inch-thick slices
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 4 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Make cashew cream: In a medium bowl, pour boiling water over cashews and let sit until they soften, at least 15 minutes and up to 30. Stir in yeast. Puree mixture in a blender on highest setting until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Season with salt to taste. Set aside.
2. Make breadcrumbs: Pulse bread in a food processor until coarsely ground. Set aside. (You should have 1 cup.)
3. Assemble gratin: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover bottom of an 8-inch-round baking dish with a single layer of rutabaga slices, overlapping edges and working in a circle. Season with salt, pepper, and some of the chopped herbs. Add another layer and season with salt, pepper, and herbs. Pour in about 1/3 of cashew cream -- enough to cover both layers. Continue until baking dish is full. Pour in remaining cashew cream. Sprinkle nutmeg over top layer. Toss breadcrumbs with oil in a small bowl. Top gratin with breadcrumbs.
4. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet until rutabagas are tender when pierced with a sharp knife and breadcrumbs are golden brown, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

From Whole Living, November 2010

Read more at Wholeliving.com: Rutabaga Gratin http://www.wholeliving.com/recipe/rutabaga-gratin