Vegan "Beef" and Mushroom French Dip

Comfort That's Almost Healthy

So I woke up on the day of my physical and a pipe had broken in the backyard.  Water poured down the terraced back yard, under the ground, and out the lower level garage.  I quickly called our plumber, (really a wonderful company that has always been fair to us) and he quickly came to save the day.  It all worked out and I got to the doctor's office on time but by the time I got there my blood pressure was way too high.   Still, I survived.  If I was a different person, I would go for a run to relieve my stress or maybe I would do yoga or meditate.  But I'm not that person, so I made a veganized version of a French Dip Sandwich for dinner.  And, I ate it on a lovely slice of fresh Ciabatta bread!  However, I didn't eat it with French Fries.  Small Steps - that's my motto this year.  So I ate every bite of this delicious sandwich and I enjoyed it completely.  And then I stopped.  I didn't snack after dinner or eat dessert or eat french fries with it.  So if you are having one of those days and need a little comfort but don't want to go too crazy, try this simple but very filling and satisfying sandwich.


Recipe makes enough for 6 good size sandwiches
Ingredients:
3 8-oz cartons of sliced mushrooms (Button, Crimini)
2 bags of Gardein Beef-less Tips
1 medium brown onion, sliced into strips
Cooking Spray
4 tsp olive oil, divided
1 32-oz carton Mushroom Broth (I used Pacific Natural Foods)
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 packet dry onion soup mix (make sure it doesn't contain beef)
        or homemade onion soup mix (recipe below)
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
Good French Bread or Ciabatta Rolls


Homemade Onion Soup Mix:
1/4 cup dried onion flakes
1 TB Bill's Best Beaf Flavoring (Optional)
1 TB onion powder
1/4 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp pepper


Directions:
1)  Brown mushrooms in large frying pan in 3 batches.  (If you try to cook all the mushrooms at once they will steam and get soggy.)  For each batch, spray pan and cook on medium high heat.  Don't stir until they are brown on one side.  Then add 1 teaspoon or oil and continue to sauté until mushrooms are brown and tender.
2)  While cooking the mushrooms, place the mushroom broth in a saucepan with the  crushed garlic cloves, and onion soup mix.  Bring to a simmer.  Add Gardein Beef-less Tips (frozen) and allow to simmer in broth.
3)  When mushrooms have been cooked and set aside, add onion slices to pan and last teaspoon of oil.  Reduce heat to medium and cook onions until soft and lightly browned.  Remove onions from pan.  Deglaze pan with 1/2 cup wine or mushroom broth.  Add deglazed liquid to broth in sauce pan.
4)  With a slotted spoon remove beef-less tips from broth and place in frying pan with mushrooms and onions.
5) Toast bread.  Top with "beef" and mushrooms.  Place mushroom broth in bowl for dipping.


*Honestly, trying to eat this sandwich and keep everything inside it was impossible.  We ended up pouring the "Au Jus" sauce over sandwich and eating it with a knife and fork.  It still tasted delicious!

Sharing another joy in my life besides cooking, bird watching.
Life seems brighter when you watch a bird in a bird bath.