Baked Vegetables in White Sauce

Baked veggies in white sauce was a constant at Mom's dinner parties. As kids, when all the other "special" dishes were spicy and/or too fancy for us kids, we always looked forward to baked veggies. This dish is so simple and yet so wholesome. Sometimes, my uncle would add diced chicken to this recipe - making it a lot like a chicken pot pie, without the crust. I've adapted Mom's recipe here, which was rich in dairy, to a more vegan version.

 

I've also provided the dairy ingredients for those that  might be interested in an Ovo-lacto Vegetarian version.  

  

Prep Time: ~30 min from start to finish.

  

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups Mixed vegetables (I used corn, peas, asparagus, green beans & baby carrots)
2. 1 pack (12oz) Mori-Nu Silken Tofu (firm) Or: Paneer (fresh, un-aged, non-melting Indian cheese) Or: 2 hard boiled Eggs Or: Grilled Chicken - Diced or Crumbled. 
3. 1/4 cup Soy milk Or: Regular milk
4. 2 tbsp Whole wheat flour Or: all-purpose white flour. 
5. 1/8 cup Vegetable broth Or: butter
6. 1-2 tsp dried or fresh parsley
7. 1 tsp garlic salt, to taste.\
8. Freshly ground pepper, to taste. 
9. Salt and Pepper to taste. 
10. 1 tbsp Whole wheat bread crumbs Or: Bread crumbs, to sprinkle over the top.
11. 1-2 tbsp Daiya (mozza style) cheese Or: Mozzarella cheese (optional)

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375F. In a large skillet on medium heat, add vegetable broth (Or butter) and mix in vegetables. If using frozen vegetables, let the vegetables thaw before mixing in the Tofu (Or Paneer or Eggs or Chicken) and all other ingredients (except bread crumbs and cheese). Toss well.  In a small bowl, combine Soy milk (Or milk) and whole wheat (Or all-purpose) flour, making sure that  there are no clots of flour. Turn off the heat and slowly add this runny batter to the vegetables, mixing well.  Once well tossed, the mix should be just a tad runny. If not, add an eighth of a cup of vegetable broth and mix-in with a spatula (mine was a little dry today but tasted great). Transfer portions into oven-safe baking dishes. I like to use small individual sized dishes. Sprinkle bread-crumbs over the top. And top off with Daiya (Or Mozzarella) cheese (optional). I made the kids' batch up as an all-vegan version and sprinkled a good portion of Mozzarella on top (pictured above). I kept mine low-fat and held the cheese (pictured below). Bake at 375F for 16-20 min, until the top looks golden brown. Serve immediately.

No Cheese Version!

Nik's Reaction: Ma-ma, can I have more cheese?

Alex's Reaction: A clean plate!

Bryce's Reaction: Can I be done (with an untouched portion on his plate!)? In his defense, he did oblige us by eating 5 bites ;-)