Veggie & Cheese Casserole

 

OK, so I have leaped off the deep end (or so my husband says), I have decided to try out the whole vegan thang. No, I'm not one of those vegans, you know the ones that hate you for eating animals. I mean I was already not eating any form of dairy and egg so I thought "hey, I might as well try out cutting out meat". So for the past week and a half I've been vegan! and so I have been trying out some recipes and I like this one! It's pretty quick and full of flavor! And I had everything on hand. My husband's garden is busting out of the seems with a hole bunch of veggies so this recipe was perfect to use up some of those that have been sitting on the counter for a while.

Here's the recipe (adapted from This recipe):

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 cups zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 cup baby carrots, chopped
• 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/5 cup shredded cheese (I used Daiya mozzarella style "cheese")
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• salt and pepper to taste
• cheese for sprinkling on top

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat.

Microwave baby carrots for about 2 minutes, to soften slightly. This way they will take less time to saute.

Add zucchini and carrots to the pan, add the onion and garlic, until softened.

Add nutmeg, salt, and pepper and mix in well. Remove pan from the heat and place contents into a medium oven safe bowl. Preheat oven to 375F

Stir in cheese (save some to sprinkle on top) and mix in the bread crumbs (save some to sprinkle on top too) until well combined.

Sprinkle with the cheese and bread crumbs on top that you set aside.

Bake for about 15 minutes.

Turn on the broiler and broil (watching carefully) an additional 3-4 minutes until slightly browned on top.

Remove from the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Garnish with the tomatoes!

Serves about 2.

It took about 45 minutes from start to finish.

Variations:

Next time I am going to add some broccoli and maybe even some bell peppers! The possibilities are nearly endless with this dish, just replace the veggies with whatever veggies you have on hand or are in season! And of course you can always switch out the vegan cheese for the real stuff. You could even add some chicken or turkey!

This is definitely a quick and easy dish that could be dressed up in a billion different ways.