With the sudden proliferation of diets, preparing for holiday meals has gotten trickier.  Gone are the days where nearly everyone has the same diet.    Now we often have to prepare for a variety of diets, from vegan to paleo to gluten-free to ethical omnivore to pain-in-the-ass.  Even adolescents are increasingly using — as with music and clothing — food and diet to express their identity.  It’s no wonder preparing for Thanksgiving can be overwhelming for many.

The most important part of a Thanksgiving meal is the gravy.  Gravy, in most cases, is the primary seasoning.  It makes overcooked white meat palatable.  It improves the texture and taste of stuffing and potatoes.  It makes everything easier to eat, hides most mistakes.  Get the gravy right, and most everyone is happy.

Below is our vegan and gluten-free gravy recipe.  Probably 1/3 of calories of flour and animal fat based gravy.

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
Cauliflower
Carrot Juice
Garlic and Onion Juice
Water

For vegan events, we use cauliflower as our “creamer” and “flour.”  It’s ideal because it has a neutral taste, its off-white color makes it easy for you to create the final color you want, and its fibers are, once cooked, very soft.

Cook cauliflower in mixture of olive oil, water, carrot juice, and garlic and onion juice till soft.  Add desired seasoning, such as salt, pepper, etc.  Mix in blender till smooth.  Note that not all blenders can give you ideal smoothness.  Adjust color by adjusting amount of carrot juice.  I like my gravy to be yellow-orangeish in color.   Carrot juice adds a hint of sweetness to the gravy.

Can also turn this into a soup by adding more water.