My Mother's Broccoli Casserole
Casserole:
1/2 cup (dry) rice, brown or white
1 cup water
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons cold water
6 to 8 ounces mushrooms, chopped (I use baby portobellos)
salt and pepper, to taste
splash Bragg's, optional
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon oregano
16 ounces broccoli (frozen or fresh)
4 to 5 ounces vegan cheddar, cubed (I use almost 1/2 block Follow Your Heart)
1/4 cup nondairy milk
2 to 3 tablespoons vegan butter Breadcrumbs (can also use Pepperidge Farm stuffing):
2-3 pieces bread
olive oil, as needed
oregano, to taste
basil, to taste
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare rice with the water according to package directions, and set aside. Dissolve veggie cube in nondairy milk. Dissolve cornstarch into cold water and add to milk mixture. Whisk until it thickens. Add more cornstarch, if necessary.
2. Stir in mushrooms, and add salt and pepper. Add Bragg's, if desired. (Sometimes I add it to cut the salt amount.) Set this mixture to the side. Saute celery and onion until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the garlic and oregano. While the celery and onion saute, steam the broccoli until it is slightly undercooked (it will cook more in the oven). Drain well. In a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish, combine the mushroom mixture, celery/onion mixture, rice, and broccoli.
4. Melt cheese in a saucepan with nondairy milk and butter. When it reaches a "cheez whiz" like consistency, pour and stir it into the casserole. If making bread topping, drizzle bread with olive oil and herbs, then toast. Crumble into chunks or crumbs.
5. Sprinkle the breading on top of casserole and bake, covered, for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20-25 minutes, or until topping has browned and the casserole feels firm. Enjoy!
Source of recipe: My mother got this recipe from a church cookbook and modified it. Then I veganized it.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Do you think one could use quinoa instead of the rice? If so how much? Precook it or no?? (I don't like rice)
I have done that before and it works just fine.
Do you think one could use quinoa instead of the rice? If so how much? Precook it or no?? (I don't like rice)
Yay! I'm so happy people are enjoying this recipe (or variations of)! :)
This was so yummy! I can't wait to make it again. I did make a few changes. I sauteed the mushrooms with the celery and onion. I totally forgot the garlic until it was done sauteing so I added garlic powder. I also added Follow Your Heart Chicken to the onion and celery when they were cooking to make it a little harder. One last thing I did was heat the bouillon cube, milk, and cornstarch slurry. I added 3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast to that to get more of a cheesy flavor. I cooked that until it was nice and thick. It was out of this world delicious. I brought to a Chanukkah potluck and it was gone before I could get seconds. I'm seriously considering making it again tomorrow night because one serving was not enough. Thank your mom for me. Her recipe got 16 thumbs up at our party!! They were all kosher omnivores too and we're asking for the recipe. Thank you too!!
I'm going to be making this again for a pitch in at work Friday. We don't have an oven here so I was going to make it ahead of time and stick it in the crockpot and warm it up at work - do you think that would be ok? Or will it dry it out too much? I'm nervous...
Do you have access to a microwave at work? I have done that before. I just put the entire casserole dish in the microwave for about 5 minutes or so. I don't know about the crockpot, would you just mix all the breadcrumbs in?
We do have a microwave - so you think that would be better? I hadn't really thought about the bread crumbs - I used stuffing last time and it was awesome....but the crunchiness is part of why it was so good...
thanks, lotus!
I kinda misunderstood you...I thought you meant you were going to cook it in the oven ahead of time and then dump it into the crockpot to warm it up. But still, I think you should just warm it in the microwave. I hope it goes well!
:flower:
I'm going to be making this again for a pitch in at work Friday. We don't have an oven here so I was going to make it ahead of time and stick it in the crockpot and warm it up at work - do you think that would be ok? Or will it dry it out too much? I'm nervous...
Do you have access to a microwave at work? I have done that before. I just put the entire casserole dish in the microwave for about 5 minutes or so. I don't know about the crockpot, would you just mix all the breadcrumbs in?
We do have a microwave - so you think that would be better? I hadn't really thought about the bread crumbs - I used stuffing last time and it was awesome....but the crunchiness is part of why it was so good...
thanks, lotus!
I'm going to be making this again for a pitch in at work Friday. We don't have an oven here so I was going to make it ahead of time and stick it in the crockpot and warm it up at work - do you think that would be ok? Or will it dry it out too much? I'm nervous...
Do you have access to a microwave at work? I have done that before. I just put the entire casserole dish in the microwave for about 5 minutes or so. I don't know about the crockpot, would you just mix all the breadcrumbs in?
I'm going to be making this again for a pitch in at work Friday. We don't have an oven here so I was going to make it ahead of time and stick it in the crockpot and warm it up at work - do you think that would be ok? Or will it dry it out too much? I'm nervous...
I ended up going a little extra rice because I usually like extra in my casseroles. I think that is where I went wrong because this came out a bit bland to me. I even put in extra "cheez" sauce but it seemed to be missing something. I think maybe a little extra garlic and salt could fix it though. Good dish, I probably just need to use half as much rice a bit more seasoning next time.
This dish was so great. ;)b I didn't get to use the onions because my daughter is allergic to onions but I'm sure it would have been even better with them. I will include my picture soon. Oh, and I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Savory Herb Stuffing on top.
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