Yam Au Gratin

I love potatoes au gratin, but I had some yams that needed eating.  Usually with potatoes I make a gravy-like sauce with herbs and veg broth and flour, but I wanted a creamy au gratin this time.  I looked up some recipes and of course they called for heavy cream, like I make heavy cream with my dismal mammaries.  Luckily, I had a little box of Mimiccream that I've been looking for a use for.  It says it can be used in the place of heavy cream.  The nice thing about this is that it doesn't have any sweetener or flavoring like soymilk, and it's made from cashews and almonds.  I love making sauces with almonds, so I figured it should work fine.

This is all that survived to be photographed

Ingredients:
2 medium sized yams sliced thinly
1 1/2 cups unsweetened Mimiccream
1 Tbsp tapioca powder (I hadn't used this before, but it says to use in place of cornstarch, so I gave it a try)
1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt (or less if you aren't a salt fiend)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or less- it turned out good and spicy)

cooking spray and salt and pepper
Nutritional yeast for topping

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray an 8X8 inch pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with yam slices season your layer of yams with salt and pepper.  Combine mimiccream, tapioca powder, and seasonings in a bowl and pour half the mixture over your yams.  Add another layer of yams, salt and pepper and the remaining sauce. Cover with a thin layer of nutritional yeast and spray with cooking spray to get a browned top. Bake for 30-40 minutes (until yams are soft).

This turned out so delicious and creamy.  My husband said it was the texture of a cheese sauce.  I loved it and will use Mimiccream for this again.  I used Let's Do... Organic Tapioca Powder from Edward and Sons and it didn't leave an odd aftertaste like cornstarch sometimes does.