I made this recipe gluten and egg free through substitutions, and it STILL worked well. I was generous with the spices, added some ground cloves and cardamom as well. Didn't have the chips so I chopped candied ginger and added walnuts and pecans. Very good combo with the pumpkin spices.

Nice sweet tangy flavor which doesn't cover the flavor of the cukes. I use Baggs Apple Cider Vinegar which tends to be sweeter.

As it stands it was average. Nice. It's 3 star and that is the rating I gave it here. The changes I made which make it a 5 star for us was simple. First I used good quality portabellos. Next I used House brand Steak Tofu which I froze and pressed well before browning. I lost the oil and pammed the skillet very well. I did add a couple tsp of water when I added the onion and garlic together to the tofu. Softened then added the mushrooms. I did not remove the tofu at any time. I also didn't have to add any more water. Oil would work just fine with this. I added 2 tbsp nutritional yeast [NOT Brewers yeast no matter what anyone tells you ok?] and I used Braggs which is a 'soy sauce' that is very low in sodium which allowed me to up the amount of soy. Without Bragg it would have been way too salty with the increase. I used 2 tbsp in the mushroom part. I used another 2 tbsp mixed in with the cottage cheese mix to which I also added the nutritional yeast. I also added several turns of fresh ground melenge pepper. Oh and I used Tofu noodles instead of Egg Noodles because the other half can't have eggs unless it is whites. I added the tofu noodles well drained and rinsed several times with the cottage cheese mix and folded gently.