Southern Fried Chick-free.

     Saturday I went to the farmer's market and came home with a loot.  I got peaches, zuchinni, tomatoes, salsa, green peppers, pasta, and a giant bag of okra.  So Saturday night I set out to make some deliciousness. I really wanted to use the okra so I did some research and fired up the oven to roast it.   Next, we needed to figure out a main course, so we opened up the cookbooks.
    
     My favorite cookbook is Veganomicon... or really any of Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbooks.  Greg and I both use this cookbook regularly and have never had anything less than great results and a delicious dinner.  So we usually just pick something and go for it.  This time we picked the Chickpea Cutlets.  We're going southern here, so of course I had to add some country gravy.
  
To roast the okra:
Preheat oven to 425.
All you have to do is wash it and cut into pieces about 1/2 inch thick and toss it with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the okra in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes until carmelized and slightly crisp edges. (stir and turn every 10 minutes or so). I like to line my baking sheet with parchment paper or foil so there is less mess. I chopped a few fresh tomatoes up and roasted them on a different sheet at the same time (I recommend parchment paper for that one).

Here is my gravy recipe:
            1/4  C all purpose flour
            2 Cups unsweetened plain soy milk  (you could use oat milk too, but rice milk and almond  milk are a little too sweet)
            1/2 tsp onion powder
            1/4 tsp salt (more to taste)
            pepper to taste
            3 TB Earth Balance butter

Add the flour  to the "milk" in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and whisk until combined. Add onion powder, salt, and any other variations, and keep whisking over medium heat until gravy thickens.  Once gravy begins to thicken, add the Earth Balance and pepper, and whisk in. I like lots of pepper.  Remove from heat when desire thickness is reached.

variations: add 1/2 tsp or more of sage, or thyme.
 

Note: Greg reccomends that we cut a little bit of the vital wheat gluten out of this recipe. So we might try a little less of it next time!

           

I should also add that I made sage and dill biscuits the next morning and we had this all over again as leftovers!