Having a great Tuesday over here 🙂 Boss and I went for a long walk by the ocean, I was a guest on a Podcast (so cool!), and in-between I fueled up on this awesome Vegan Gumbo. Lately, my body has been needing more than a salad and roasted vegetables for lunch, so I threw all of these ingredients in my slow cooker, came back to it three hours later, and had my lunch prepped for the week. Try this one out, I am loving the flavor + topped with avocado and hot sauce of choice

Ingredients

-1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil

-1/4 Cup flour

-1 medium yellow onion, diced

-1 small green pepper, diced

-1 celery stalk, diced

-3 cloves garlic, minced

-2 Cups okra, sliced

-1 14 oz can crushed tomatoes

-2 1/2 – 3 1/2 Cups vegetable broth

-10 button mushrooms, quartered

-1/2 teaspoon thyme

-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper – I used 1 teaspoon, I wanted it to be on the spicier side!

-2 bay leaves

-2 Cups beans of choice

-1 Tablespoon dark miso paste

-Pink himalayan salt & black pepper to taste

-Brown rice to serve – I added 1 Cup quinoa to the jumbo instead, if you do that, you will need to add an extra Cup or two of water/vegetable broth

Directions

-Heat a wide saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil & sprinkle over the flour. Stir or whisk continuously until the roux reaches a dark caramel color, about 15 – 20 minutes

-Add the onions & continue stirring until soft. Add the green pepper, celery, garlic, & okra. Saute, stirring frequently for 10 – 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft & the okra slime has disappeared

-Add the tomato, 2 1/2 Cups of broth, mushrooms, beans, thyme, cayenne pepper, & bay leaves. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to medium – low & simmer gently for 30 minutes

-Turn off the heat & ladle a small amount of the gumbo into a small bowl & add the miso paste. Stir well to dissolve & add back to the saucepan. Mix well. Adjust seasonings as needed

-Serve the gumbo over brown rice (if you didn’t add quinoa) & sprinkle with some fresh parsley

xoxo