This is a real favorite of mine... The flavor of the cheese in this dish and the crumbs that top it remind me of the macaroni and cheese I enjoyed as a kid.I didn't detect any of the cheese flavour unless I was eating the little bit sprinkled directly on the top of the dish. Since this makes a large dish, I wasn't about to toss it in the composter, I needed to find a way to make it more tasty for me. I'll give you the recipe as written and then I'll tell you how I dressed it up. I didn't take a picture of the dish as it is so 'one colour' I didn't think it would look good in a photo.
Cheesy Chick-Pea and Quinoa Bake
1 tbsp margarine
1 cup coarsely chopped zucchini
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped scallions
4 cups water
2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 cup canned chick-pears, rinsed and drained
1 cup shredded low-fat Cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 cup shredded low fat Swiss cheese, divided
1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a 2 quart casserole with non-stick spray.
- In a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, melt the margarine. Add the zucchini, celery and scallions; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until tender.
- Stir in the water, quinoa, chick-peas, 3/4 cup of the Cheddar and 1/4 cup of the Swiss. Spoon into the prepared casserole. Cover and bake for 45 minutes, or until the liquid has almost been absorbed.
- Sprinkle with the bread crumbs and the remaining 1/4 cup Cheddar and 1/4 cup Swiss. Bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed and the cheese has melted.
Still lots left. Dinner with daughter. Heated a carton of no-salt added Chicken broth from Campbells. Spooned some quinoa into a bowl, ladled in some broth and finished warming in the microwave. Great soup.
Still lots left in the casserole. Lunch the next day. Again, what to do. I spooned a cup or so into a bowl, cracked an egg and mixed it through. Into the microwave to warm and cook the egg. After cooking I added a dollop of Sweet Chili and sauce and ate. It was ok.
Still lots left. Lunch on day three.
There is still a bit left in the fridge, don't know if it will get eaten in any of the above fashions, but my imagination is up to the challenge.
Do you have any favourite 'saves' for when a recipe just doesn't work with your taste buds?
9 comments:
What a great post, I admire your persistence! We used to have 'New Recipe Week' where I would make five new recipes in a week. Invariably, at least two of them would be either tasteless or downright inedible, but I never had your ingenuity to create lemonade out of lemons.
You didn't give up, LOL! I have had that happen before and I can't stand throwing away food, but I don't know that I would have stuck with it for as long as you did.
I applaud your imagination for ways to extend this less than successful dish.
You are so right about bland food like this giving vegetarianism a bad name...I've had to convince more than one person that as a veggie I don't subsist on tasteless "health" food.
Yeah, the original didn't have salt or pepper or any spices or herbs what so ever. Ugh. Good job on doctoring it up. The base ingredients look good, but there isn't any real flavor there.
Very Creative. Don't know if I would have thought of all those different ways to use it up.
I think one of my saves are sauces, like a dash of soy, ketjap or BBQ depending on the dish.
Very good, Heather. I would never try to make it work like you did. I am glad it was not a total failure, but already from the recipe it sounds dead boring. No spices whatsoever!
I think a lot of people think vegetarian cuisine is bland, but there are tons of tasty, spicy or hot dishes out there.
I agree with Diane, this is a great post! Most people have no idea how to convert leftovers into other meals; they either just reheat them or toss them. I love seeing the creativity here.
Usually I either turn leftovers into a sandwich or a salad, fry them, or fold them into a fritata. It sounds like you've already done all that, though.
Your style of cooking sounds pretty much like mine. I tend to cook by the seat of my pants too. LOL...
This looks as though is should be a delicious recipe, however, as you've written it's bland... Like you I'd have reached for the chili sauce, LOL. I notice the recipe doesn't have any seasoning through it apart from the breadcrumbs. Also I would use butter and/or olive oil in place of the margarine, and a strong mature cheddar but less in amount.
This story reminds me of the time when I was about 8 and my mum went to visit my abuela in Spain. My dad had to take care of us kids so he started a large pan of stew and kept it on the stove and added different ingredients to it each day, LOL.. we lived.
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