Italian Veggie Casserole
1 medium zucchini
1 medium onion
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 rounded teaspoon basil
2 rounded teaspoon parsley
1 package rotini pasta
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
bread crumbs
follow your heart brand soy mozzarella-style cheese (grated)
salt and pepper to taste (if desired)
Slice zucchini into coins and chop onion however you'd like. Put water on to boil.
Add pasta to boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.
Saute herbs, zucchini, onion, and garlic in olive oil in a large saute pan. Cook until zucchini is slightly browned and onions are translucent.
Drain pasta in a colander, and place in a 9" x 13" baking dish. Pour veggies and diced tomatoes on top. Mix well.
Preheat oven to broil.
Sprinkle soy cheese over pasta/veggie mixture. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top.
Broil 10 to 15 minutes or until bread crumbs are browned and "cheese" is melted.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Easy. And I like easy, a lot (silly Staples buttons notwithstanding). I used store-bought breadcrumbs, though. Maybe not as good as the real McCoy diced and sautéed in butter (Mmm) . Also, I went with three cheeses on top -- cheddar, mozzarella, and Parmesan. That's what you call the "lasagna treatment." Finally, for an extra protein kick, I used the Barilla protein pasta brand (for whatever it's worth).
A good, weeknight quickie. Maybe two zukes next time??? Also, I'm wondering just how close (or far) these vegan "cheeses" are? I suppose, like people, they're not all equal...
This is so amazing and even better the next day! Quick and easy. :)
I only problem I has was putting the dish in the oven to broil on high for over 5 minutes, a little more toasted then I would have liked.
What a great addition to my "weekly regulars". I like to cook and as a result, i like recipes that I can riff on, you know what I mean. My girlfriend and I really love Italian food, so this was a delight.
With this one I made my own little sauce to go in between the diced tomato layer and the noodle layer. I threw stewed tomatoes, sugar, a few tablespoons of black beans, a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast, and oregano and basil into a blender and then poured it on. It was a very small amount of sauce, because I knew that the zucchini would add plenty of flavor. Since it wasn't a real liquidy sauce, it worked really well. I also layered in some crumbles to give it a little more zing. Turned out awesome!
This was very tasty. I turned it into a lasagne. I didn't know what rotini pasta was so cooked some lasagne sheets and used that instead.
I used half the amount of canned tomatoes and there was still too much juice left after cooking. I served it with brown rice that had had soy sauce, spices and olive oil added to the cooking water.
I drizzled the excess casserole/lasagne juice over the rice.
If you want a very good lasagne recipe without mucking around with tofu, then definitely try this one. Tops.
Very tasty recipe. I was afraid that it would be too dry, so I added pasta sauce. It did not need it b/c of all the juice from the zucchini. Oh, I added diced up mushrooms too. The meat eaters I made it for loved it.
This was really good, and lasted a couple of days between my boyfriend, my roommate, and I. I used a different brand of vegan cheese as well, and I added broccoli and cucumber. I plan to experiment with more vegetables in this dish! Wish I had taken a picture of it.
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