The holiday season is upon us and, for many, that means food, friends, family and more food. For those who are on a non-traditional or restricted diet, that can often mean eating at home first or going hungry. The folks over at Healthy Hippie Trading Co. want to reassure you that doesn't have to be the case. Owner, Sarah Rose, has been plant-based for almost 6 years. What that means is she, along with her husband John Nelson (aka John the Plumber), do not eat any foods that have animal products in them. That means no milk, cheese or eggs, along with no animal meats such as beef, chicken, pork, fish, etc. Sarah tells us that her first holiday season as a plant-based eater was the trickiest.

"While there are a lot of non-meat side dishes served during the holidays, many of them have dairy or eggs in them. My favorite green bean casserole dish is traditionally made with cream of mushroom soup. The mashed potatoes are made with whipping cream and butter. Those are easy things to change, but gravy was the hard one. The best gravy is made from the turkey drippings and milk or cream. Vegetable-based gravies just didn't have the same richness," she says. Until, that is, she found this recipe. "The nutritional yeast gives it the richness other gravies were missing. We like to add caramelized onions and mushrooms, as well, but that's optional."

Sarah has agreed to share the recipe they love so much so that all can enjoy one of the best parts of the meal: GRAVY!

Plant-Based Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup flour (can use almond flour or brown rice flour to make this gluten free)

• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

• 1.5 cups of vegetable broth (room temp)

• 1 cup of room temp plant milk (Sarah prefers oatmilk)

• A dash of liquid aminos

• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

• A pinch of crushed thyme, garlic powder and pepper.

Directions:

1. Add the oil to the pan; once it's hot add flour and whisk briskly for 1-2 minutes.

2. Whisk in spices and nutritional yeast.

3. Add liquid aminos.

4. Slowly add in vegetable broth and plant milk. Stir until clumps are gone. If your broth or milk are cold, it will clump.

5. Bring to a boil then quickly reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until it thickens, stirring constantly.

Healthy Hippie is located in the Pinecone Plaza, 20418 Brian Way, Ste. #2, Tehachapi, directly across the street from Valley Oaks Charter School and in the same plaza as Kelley's Chuckwagon Café. You can reach them at (661) 822-9797.