Creamy Vegan Casserole




I originally got this recipe from www.vegweb.com maybe a little over a year ago. Since then, I have been making this recipe about once a week with some adaptations and variations of my own. I finally have it pretty close to perfect so I thought I'd share this week-night favorite.




Ingredients
Serves about 6


1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
10 0z. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
4 tbsp. Earth Balance
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth OR 1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes* + 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup soy milk
1 cup frozen peas
4 tbsp. nutritional yeast
2 tbsp. marsala or red cooking wine
1 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. herbes de provence
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
Dash of black pepper
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 14.5 oz. can of chickpeas, rinsed and mashed with the back of a fork
1 cup French Fried Onions
8 oz. pasta of your choice (I like to use little shells)

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Spray a 9x13" glass baking dish with oil.

2. Boil water and cook pasta until al dente.

3. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp. Earth Balance in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, celery, and mushrooms and saute for a few minutes. Add the soy sauce and saute for a few more minutes, until vegetables are tender. Set aside.

4. In a large stock pot, heat remaining 3 tbsp. of Earth Balance over medium-high heat. Add the flour, soy milk, and vegetable broth or can of tomatoes. Whisk for about 7 minutes, or until sauce begins to thicken. Add the nutritional yeast, marsala, lemon juice, garlic powder, herbes de provence, basil, salt, and pepper. Continue to whisk to combine.

5. Add the chickpeas, sauteed vegetables, peas, and cooked pasta. Combine.

6. Pour mixture into the prepared baking dish. Tightly cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes.

7. Uncover and sprinkle the French Fried Onions over the top. Bake for 5 minutes, or until the top of the casserole is golden brown.

* I think the can of tomatoes is great in this recipe. It creates a light tomato-cream sauce for the casserole. However, the casserole tastes great with just the plain ol' vegetable broth as well. I just go by what I happen to have in my pantry. I've also used vegetable broth and then thrown in a chopped up tomato which is just as good. This recipe is very easy to adapt!


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, this is my first visit to your site - I was looking for vegan omlettes (looks yum). I've looked at all your posts and can see you only started blogging a few months ago. There are hundreds of blogs but only a few stand out. You have got so much potential (it's fantastic already) so please carry on! Your food looks wonderful, your writing style is excellent and your blog looks really good. I would visit all the time just to see what you were up to and get new ideas, so please please please keep going! Hope you will- you're doing a great job.
Love Siobhan

Jaclyn said...

Siobhan,
THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for your comment!!!! I never know if anyone is reading this and I think I was starting to lose my motivation but now I can't wait for my next post!! You are so sweet and I can't thank you enough for taking the time to write such a thoughtful comment. Anyway, please keep checking back and I promise to have some new and exciting posts up ASAP! Thanks again! (And you should definitely try the omelets with the cheese sauce... they are soooooo good).
Jaclyn

ashley said...

I tried this for dinner tonight. Delicious!

Elizabeth Bond said...

I'm going to be making this tonight...my husband & I are both SO busy with work and school and plays...I'm really looking forward to finding a good casserole that makes great leftovers. Your sight is awesome! Keep up the good work!

Jaclyn said...

Thank you so much for your comments, Elizabeth!! I can't wait to check out your blog! I hope that you like the casserole. We have it every week and we love it!!! Thanks again! :)

Elizabeth Bond said...

Ok, so this was to DIE for. I'm so excited to eat leftovers for lunch today! One small thing...in the instructions is says to add the soy milk but there's no soy milk in the ingredients. I added some after I added all the veggies just until I got a consistancy that I thought was good and it was perfect. How much do you usually use?