Creamy Mushroom & Spinach Gnocchi

Happy Meatless Monday everyone! While Mondays can be pretty easy to dislike after two glorious work-free days on the weekend, Mondays are also the perfect time to reset. Specifically, Meatless Mondays offer an opportunity to do something positive for yourself and the environment, which starts you off on the best note possible for the week ahead. Meatless Mondays (#meatlessmondays): you've definitely heard about them, and maybe you're already participating and are aware of all the positive benefits, but in case you're not, please allow me to recap the advantages for you:

1. Good for the environment: animal agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases and water usage (beef is among the worst culprits).

2. Good for your health: a diet focussed on vegetables, fruits and grains has been shown to reduce your risk of several major diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.

3. Good for your wallet: meals that are built around veggies, grains and legumes tend to be cheaper in cost, especially when you go a step further and buy your ingredients in bulk.

4. Good for the factory-farmed animals: a meat-free meal also means that you help to reduce the demand for meat, causing fewer animals to be born into a harsh life owned by the meat and dairy industries.

Often when I talk about meat-free eating with my friends, many are supportive but say they "could not imagine cutting out meat entirely." What about one meat-free day a week, does that seem more manageable? There are so many vegetarian and vegan recipes and variations on traditional meat-based meals, that it's never been easier to try meatless cooking and expand your culinary skills. This recipe for creamy gnocchi can be made vegetarian or vegan, so you have some room to play around with what's most comfortable for you. If you go the vegetarian route and use cow's milk, you likely won't need the tablespoon of tomato paste - I like to add that in to cut the sweetness of the almond milk.

Side note: my idea of a serving of gnocchi is not a standard serving size of gnocchi, (which is 100-125g, or 1 cup cooked). My serving size tends to be roughly double (200-250g), because I don't find 1 cup to be enough as a meal. 1 cup would likely be satisfactory if you were to serve this with a salad or soup. If you find this recipe to be too big you could definitely cut it in half and only make 1 500g pack of gnocchi, but I found two packages to be a good amount for 4 people. If you try this recipe, let me know! I love how creamy, savoury and filling it is.

Creamy Mushroom & Spinach Gnocchi

Vegan or Vegetarian Prep Time: 15-20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:​

• 2 500g packs of potato gnocchi

• 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth

• ​1 1/4 cups milk (i.e. original unsweetened almond milk)

• 8 ounce pack of mushrooms, chopped

• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 cups packed spinach, stems removed

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

• 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 3 heaping tablespoons of nutritional yeast

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• sea salt and black pepper

• parmesan cheese (for serving)

Directions:

1. Chop and prep all the veggies (garlic, mushrooms, spinach).

2. Whisk together vegetable broth, milk, tomato paste and corn starch in a mixing bowl to create the start of the cream sauce. Put aside.

3. In a large skillet warm up the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté mushrooms and garlic with salt and pepper for 4-5 minutes until mushrooms have released their juices.

4. Next, add the cream sauce base to the skillet with mushrooms. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer for about 5-10 minutes, continuing to whisk until sauce starts to thicken.

5. In a separate pot, put water on to boil to cook gnocchi.

6. When the water is boiling, add gnocchi and cook according to package directions and strain.

7. Once the cream sauce has thickened, add in the nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Stir, taste and adjust as needed (i.e. add in additional tablespoon lemon juice, more salt and pepper as needed).

8. Next throw the spinach and gnocchi into the sauce and simmer on low and stir until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat. Serve immediately with a bit of parmesan (vegan or not).

*if the sauce still doesn't seem thick enough, combine an extra tablespoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of water in a cup, then stir into the sauce to thicken.

#dinner #gnocchirecipe #dinnerrecipe #veganrecipe #veganeating #meatlessmonday #meatlessmeals #healthyeating