Green bean casserole is a Holiday meal, a Thanksgiving dinner tradition. Green bean casserole is made traditionally with cream of mushroom soup, green beans, butter and topped with French's Fried Onions. We can make a healthier, low fat, low calorie delicious vegan variant of this dish. This recipe is great for people suffering of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, or for the ones that need to loose weight. Very rich in dietary fiber, very low GI and low calorie and tasting wonderful and light!

Health benefits: Green bean is low in Sodium, and very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Protein, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate and Manganese. This food is very rich in dietary fiber which makes it a great food for cholesterol lowering diets. Instead of regular mushrooms you can use medicinal mushrooms, like shiitake, maitake, chaga, which are great immune-stimulants, anti-carcinogenic, promote cardiovascular health. Onion and garlic have numerous health benefits as well and are especially good anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral plants. Garlic is rich in dietary Sulfur (as it contains Arsenic). Onion and garlic are well known for their cholesterol lowering and anti-inflammatory capabilities. Oil, nuts, seeds have various health benefits depending on the type we choose. Pumpkin seed oil is very powerful anti-parasitic. Flax seed oil is highly rich in omega-3. Hemp oil has a balanced omega 3: omega 6 ratio and it is great for cancer treatment.

Ingredients: serves 4 (should always be organic, if possible local, fresh)

1 lbs. raw fresh green beans: 139 calories, 14 g dietary fiber, 0 g fat, GI 3, weight watchers points 2

2 garlic cloves raw thin diced: 8 calories, 0 g dietary fiber, 0 g fat, GI 0, weight watchers points 0

1 cup (70 g)  diced fresh raw mushrooms: 26 calories, 2 g dietary fiber, 0 g fat, GI 0, weight watchers points 0

1 cup almond milk: 35 calories, 2 g dietary fiber, 2 g fat, GI 0, weight watchers points 1

1/2 thin sliced raw sweet onion (Vidalia is great): 53 calories, 2 g dietary fiber, 0 g fat, GI 4, weight watchers points 1

4 tbs. nutritional yeast powder: 9 calories, 1 g dietary fiber, 0 g fat, GI 0, weight watchers points 0

2 tbs. chia seeds flour: 137 calories, 11 g dietary fiber, 1 g fat, GI 0, weight watchers points 2

1 tbs. extra virgin cold pressed oil of choice (canola has no taste, olive oil has flavor but is OK with this dish, flax has a strong flavor, as well has hemp, you can also try pumpkin seed oil, or sunflower oil, but beware the taste could be overwhelming, which is OK if we like these flavors; for health benefits we recommend flax oil with DHA, as it is highly rich in omega-3's fatty acids -good for cardiovascular disease, asthma, neuro-degenerative disorders, eye and brain health-), oil is for coating a little bit the onion slices that will create the crispy topping and 1-2 tbs. oil will be used for the green bean marinate for the raw vegan dish variant: 171 calories, 3 g dietary fiber, 1 g fat, GI 0, weight watchers points 3

1 tbs. lemon (for raw vegan dish variant): 0 calories, 0 g dietary fiber, 0 g fat, GI 0, weight watchers points 0

Himalayan salt on taste, extra spices like pepper, hot paprika

Total caloric content: 578 calories, 8 weight watchers points; Caloric content per serving: 145 calories, 2 weight watchers points

Procedure: Prepare all the ingredients, chop both ends on the green beans, clean the garlic and onion, wash everything very well and chop the ingredients that we indicated are needed to be chopped. Steam the green beans until a little tender, but still bright green and snappy. A very fast and easy way to improvise a steamer is to start boiling water in a pan an put on top a metal sieve, and on the sieve put the vegetables that you wish to steam, cover. In the meantime, in another pot, bring almond milk to boiling point and put mushrooms and garlic in and boil for 5 min., add chia seeds flour and boil for 5 more min., it should thicken, if the consistency isn't like you desire you can add more chia flour, but if you are watching calories, then consider how much you are adding for the total, to thicken it more and get a better flavor, put the mix in a blender and blend until it reaches a creamy consistency. Add nutritional yeast and mix it well. Nutritional yeast will give a taste like cheese and it is rich in vitamin B12, a nutriment that usually lacks in vegan dishes. Pour this garlic, almond milk, mushroom, chia, nutritional yeast sauce on top of the beans in a casserole. The onion slices (lightly coated with oil and salt) you can dry crisp in the oven at a low temperature (ahead of time, one day before) or in a dehydrator, to obtain onion that resembles fried onions. If you like it spicy you can add pepper and hot paprika. The crispy onions go on top.

For a raw vegan recipe, marinate overnight the green beans and mushrooms in 2 tbs. lemon juice, 2-3 minced cloves of garlic, 1/4 raw minced onion, 1 tbs. oil of choice (we like sunflower oil) a little bit of salt. Mix the mushrooms, chia flour with garlic and almond milk in a blender, until smooth and creamy, pour this over the green beans, mix. The crispy onions are prepared as previously described. Seeds crumbs (like almond, sunflower) can be sprinkled on top together with the crispy onions. The dish can be warmed in a dehydrator or oven at the low temperature (140 F) for two hours. Enjoy!

Tip: you don't have to use all the almond milk/mushroom sauce, use as much as you like on the beans! alternatively instead of chia flour you can use 1/2 cup almond or cashew butter.

GI = glycemic index