Week 21: Southwestern Veggie Casserole

A busy weekend of friends visiting and not much cooking. This week we got sweet potatoes, mustard greens, kale, lettuce, green cabbage, bok choy, dill and cilantro. Maybe some green peppers...or maybe they were leftover from last week. We usually get green peppers!

Today I got to have Sunday brunch for the first time in many years. Took the day off and friends and I went to Great Sage, a vegan restaurant I've wanted to try that's gotten rave reviews from vegan and meat-eating friends. One of my visiting friends is a vegetarian, and the other had been on a bit of a "bacon bender" while here, so this seemed the logical choice. Their brunch was yummy. I had the "Baltimore Benedict:"

Artichoke "crabcake," tofu poached "egg," tomato and Hollandaise sauce with roasted potatoes. There were a lot of quotation marks on the menu! Really tasty; the "crabcake" had a nice Old Bay flavor and I think quinoa was involved. Curious about how they make vegan Hollandaise.

Anyway, not sure if I was inspired by that, but I made a vegetarian casserole for dinner (+ lots of leftovers). Not vegan--I wanted cheese in it--though it could have easily been.

Still had all the sweet potatoes from last week (a double portion as Sharif & Joanna were away), and those plus this week's were getting a little moldy. So I peeled them all, cut off the bad bits, boiled until soft and mashed them. Froze about half the mash and used the rest in the casserole. Went a little something like this:

- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup mashed sweet potato
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 small green peppers, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- chili powder, cumin, salt & pepper
- 1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
- 1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo, mashed
- 1 small bunch kale, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 2 cups grated cheese
- 1/2 cup sour cream

Saute the onion in olive oil until tender. Add green pepper & garlic; cook a few minutes & add spices. Add black beans, tomatoes & chipotle, simmer for a few minutes. Add kale & cook until wilted.

Preheat oven to 350. Combine rice, sweet potato & vegetable mixture in large bowl. Add cilantro, 1 cup of cheese & sour cream; mix well. Grease a 9 x 13" baking dish with a little olive oil; add mixture & spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes. Top with remaining cheese & broil until cheese is bubbly.

Very good. The sweet potato adds a creamy texture and balances the heat of the chipotle.