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"Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole"
Karchita 3533 desperate attention whore postings
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11-13-09, 02:08 AM (EST)
 
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"Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
LAST EDITED ON 11-13-09 AT 04:33 PM (EST)The last dish was elegant and exotic; this one is rustic and work-a-day. I have been making variations of this recipe for 30 years, and probably never the same way twice. It’s the sort of thing I make for DH and myself, and we eat it for the rest of the week, and it’s also a great potluck dish. Don’t worry if you don’t like cabbage; it isn’t all that noticeable here or you can use some other vegetable. The recipe is amazingly versatile, so let your creativity go wild. All quantities are flexible. I can’t wait to hear what all of you wonderful, innovative OT cooks do with it.
Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole
(Makes about 8 entrée servings.) Preheat oven to 350º Combine:
½ cup sour cream
2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup grated cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, or your choice)
1 red pepper, chopped Sauté in butter:
2-3 cups chopped cabbage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms (canned works ok, too)
1 large carrot, shredded
1 1/2 tsp whole caraway seeds Boil in water until just underdone, then drain well:
8 ounces macaroni or other pasta Combine everything. Add:
2 tbsp soy sauce
lots of black pepper Spread in a greased 2 quart casserole and garnish with paprika. Bake, covered, for 35 minutes, then uncovered for 10 minutes more. Here’s a few options just to get you started:
low fat versions of any or all of the dairy products
1-2 cups cubed ham
2 tbsp prepared mustard
1 cup mung bean sprouts
toasted sunflower seeds – as topping or mixed in
chopped fresh or frozen spinach – highly recommended in place of some or all of the cabbage
chopped tomatoes
whole wheat pasta
yogurt - in place of the sour cream Enjoy! ETA: Notes on liquid management: This dish can be a bit watery especially if you use low fat dairy products. I recommend letting it sit for 5-10 minutes after you take it out of the oven before you serve it. I also recommend:
• undercooking the pasta because it will absorb some water as it finishes cooking in the oven
• being careful to thoroughly drain tomatoes, spinach and other liquidy veggies before adding them
• perhaps salting and blotting off the water from zucchini
• perhaps adding breadcrumbs or a tablespoon or two of flour to the end of the sauté
• perhaps cooking it without the cover for longer than the last 10 minutes If it does come out watery, in my experience it’ll dry out a lot overnight in the fridge and the leftovers will be fine.
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qwertypie 7918 desperate attention whore postings
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11-13-09, 04:03 AM (EST)
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1. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
HMMMMM, looks like it has 'comfort food' written all over it. I think I will definitely try this with the ham and whole wheat pasta. I may do this, this weekend, or wait until Tuesday.
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Karchita 3533 desperate attention whore postings
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11-13-09, 04:42 PM (EST)
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17. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
LAST EDITED ON 11-13-09 AT 05:25 PM (EST)You could probably reduce or skip the cottage cheese all together, or just mash it with a potato masher a bit. I also like the breadcrumb topping idea or mix them in to help absorb any excess liquid. ETA: Or use small curd cottage cheese. I have never seen that in low-fat version, or I would use it everytime in this recipe.
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frodis 3796 desperate attention whore postings
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11-13-09, 12:35 PM (EST)
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11. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
Thanks, Karchita! I really look forward to OTCC Fridays and I'm excited to see the recipe posted already! Woo!I have made homemade mac and cheese before with varying success. I'm excited to try a new recipe. I think I'm going to have to think of this more as a veggie casserole than mac and cheese. It's entirely mental, but if I think of it as mac and cheese and I get something on my fork that is neither mac nor cheese I may have a texture issue. I get very squickey when I get a crunch or a chunk when I am expecting moosh and smooth. Like I said. Mental. I might have to put bacon in this. I am also carefully considering whether to do cabbage at all. I like cabbage, but the combo of cabbage and cheese could turn Mr. Fro into a WMD. So, you don't sautee the red pepper along with the other veggies, but add it raw to the casserole assembly? Is the cooking in the oven enough to soften it or is it intended to come out more toothsome? Any tips on buying good soy sauce? My soy sauce experience has been strictly in the realm of Kikkoman which I can take or leave. 
It's an agman!
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Karchita 3533 desperate attention whore postings
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11-13-09, 05:12 PM (EST)
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19. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
You’re right. It isn’t really mac & cheese at all, or at least it bears no resemblance to that neon orange food/plastic hybrid substance made by the Kraft Corporation and loved by so many, including Mr. Karchita (but not me). I debated what to call this recipe. The original came from the first Moosewood cookbook and is called Russian Macaroni and Cheese, but I never got the Russian connection and always called it Mac & Cheese casserole. It needs a better name. Any ideas, anyone? Bacon sounds terrific in this. Why didn’t I ever think of that? I don’t saute the pepper, but you are right that they do cook and soften a bit when baked. They stay more flavorful, firm and a bit crunchy that way, which I like, but you could easily cook them first. Sometimes I make it with red onions and I don’t saute them beforehand either. I use Kikkomen soy sauce. I figure, if it's good enough for millions of Japanese people, it's good enough for me.
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Ahtumbreez 10456 desperate attention whore postings
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11-13-09, 01:07 PM (EST)
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12. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
You know - I might have to add a dash of cream just to keep the theme going.  Well, except for Breezy - she's always been a rebel.
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samboohoo 15170 desperate attention whore postings
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11-13-09, 02:01 PM (EST)
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13. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
LOL. This thread is making me giggle, especially the ALERTs and the WMDs.This looks really good. I will make a cabbage decision at the store. I love cabbage, but one one else in my house does. The spinach options sounds good. I make varieties of Mac & Cheese all the time. I love the Kraft in the blue box with the powder. And I love Easy Mac. I make the Deluxe Kraft (with the pouch of cheese sauce) most often although DS doesn't like that because one time the noodles were textured. I pick up my local grocer's mac/cheese frequently, but I have lately swapped that for Stouffers because it's cheaper than the local grocer's. My most favorite is to boil the noodles, add butter and shredded cheddar (no real set amounts) and then I toss in a can of diced tomatoes with the juice and heat that on the stove for about 10 minutes until it's all melted and heated throughout. I have eaten tomatoes in my mac/cheese since I was a kid. Love it. Thanks Karchita. This is a good change and will be a welcome one during this crappy weather. 
Samboobree, brought to life by Arkie
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qwertypie 7918 desperate attention whore postings
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11-14-09, 03:10 PM (EST)
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27. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
just dropping by to pick up the recipe. Our internet connection is very fragile right now. I am going through withdrawl. WAHHHHHHHHH!
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IceCat 16886 desperate attention whore postings
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11-16-09, 02:34 PM (EST)
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41. "C.H.E.E.S.E." |
Computer Humanoid Electronically Enhanced Secret Enforcer
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Maroonclown 5430 desperate attention whore postings
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11-15-09, 08:12 PM (EST)
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30. "About to chow down" |
A couple of things - was kinda thrown about the 8 oz of pasta because it didn't seem like enough for 8 servings. But I did cut the recipe in half except for the cheese - because one can never have enough cheese. *waves to weltek*I'm very excited to have another veggie dish, because we do a week long menu and I always include one fish dish and one veggie dish, so this is good for the aresenal. Having said that I threw in cooked ham because we had some on hand. I used cottage instead of ricotta because I can eat the leftovers afterward. Ricotta seems to go bad after 24 hours. Used baby spinach instead of cabbage - see WMD above. And I must say - the OTCC has really pumped up my supply of fresh spuce seeds of everything. 
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Snidget 35571 desperate attention whore postings
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11-15-09, 08:41 PM (EST)
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31. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
Very nice.I used Ricotta rather than Cottage Cheese because I have a couple of things I can do with that (ricotta creme dessert) and I rarely eat up leftover cottage cheese. I used greek yogurt instead of sour cream. With both of those substitutions I think it could have used a tad more moisture, but it was still quite good. I cut the recipe in half and if I did it again I'd do like MC and put in the whole cup of shredded cheese, but all I had was 1/2 a cup anyways. I put breadcrumbs and some artificial bacon bits I have on the top and with the paprika that made a nice crust on the top.
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thndrkttn 3123 desperate attention whore postings
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11-16-09, 09:00 AM (EST)
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32. "Very, very good!" |
This was great and will be made often!We added zucchini and yellow squash and removed the mushrooms. I added a little extra cheddar about 10 minutes before it finished cooking. Everything else we kept the same. I liked the cottage cheese and am glad we didn't substitute the ricotta. The caraway seeds added a really nice flavor which was different for us since we never cook with them. We had no issues with too much or too little moisture. DH had two huge bowls of this last night and I brought some of the leftovers for lunch. Pics! Ingredients-
Prep-
Veggies cooking-
 All ready to go!
 Finished and ready to eat! Mmmmm!
 Thank you Karchita, that was excellent. And thank you Tummy! This has become something we really look forward to!
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CTgirl 5879 desperate attention whore postings
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11-16-09, 09:30 AM (EST)
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33. "RE: Very, very good!" |
And I look forward to your pictures!How prevalent is the cottage cheese in the taste/texture of this? I don't like cottage cheese and I'm trying to decide if I should switch it for ricotta. Also do you all who've made this think it would freeze well? Thanks! 
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Karchita 3533 desperate attention whore postings
DAW Level: "Thong Contest Judge"
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11-16-09, 12:14 PM (EST)
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40. "RE: Very, very good!" |
I agree that the cottage cheese is not very noticeable. When I eat this, I can see it, but I can't taste it or feel that squeaky texture it has when you eat it plain at all. I have never made it with ricotta, but you could try it or small curd cottage cheese. You could just halve the amount of cottage cheese you put in as well, and add a bit more sour cream or a bit of milk maybe. I have made this recipe many different ways and often use up bits of things I have in the fridge. I have never put zucchini in, but I have put cauliflower and broccoli in, as well as green beans. I am so glad that you liked this, tk. Thands for the pictures! I love caraway with cabbage in particular. I put it in cole slaw all the time. As for freezing, I have found that this recipe can grow in quantity when I make it. I used to have a problem every time because I would be adding more of this and that and putting in a whole pound of macaroni, etc. and then it wouldn't all fit in my casserole and at the last minute I had to get out a second one, grease it and put the rest in it. Then it was too much, so I would freeze it. I thought it was ok after freezing, but DH, who doesn't like frozen food very much in general, would complain. It did tend to get more watery after freezing. Now I try to restrain myself from making too much at a time and I don't freeze it anymore. Try it and let me know how it works for you.
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true 9681 desperate attention whore postings
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11-16-09, 04:15 PM (EST)
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44. "RE: Very, very good!" |
Nice colorful photos! And, hey! You have my counter tops! LOL
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samboohoo 15170 desperate attention whore postings
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11-16-09, 02:54 PM (EST)
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42. "My Version" |
Veggies:I went with spinach instead of cabbage. The bag indicated 3 cups, and I used almost all of it. There were no red bell peppers, so I had to use orange. I also used onions, mushrooms and carrots. Oh, and I used about 2 tbsp. of Land-O-Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil. 
Cheese Mixture:
I used lowfat cottage cheese, regular sour cream (because my other option was fat free, and I don't do fat free). I'm also a sour cream snob because I prefer Breakstones. I did not measure the shredded cheddar. 
Before and After the Oven: 
Whatever will I serve with it? Yeah, I know, how to bastardize a veggie meal. 
Dinner is served! 
In addition to guessing the cheddar (which was more than a cup), I had to guess the macaroni. We went to Kroger, which is not my normal store. They didn't have a lot of things I would normally buy. No 8 oz. pasta, only 16.
The only change I would make is to use less caraway seeds, maybe just stop at 1 tsp. It was great, and DH ate a second helping, so he liked it. He told me I should chop up the spinach next time. I had some for lunch yesterday and today and have more for a day or two more. Thanks Karchita. I definitely will make it again.
Samboobree, brought to life by Arkie
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weltek 16003 desperate attention whore postings
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11-16-09, 10:04 PM (EST)
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50. "Review and pic" |
I appreciated this recipe, as I've been trying to do one vegetarian dish per week for dinner and it's sometimes a chore to sneak it past Nolay. Cheese is a good way make him forgive my no-mniovore ways.Veggies: I used diced red pepper, 1 portabella cap diced, quartered brussels sprouts (frozen & thawed), and scallions. Dairy: I appreciated being able to use fat free cottage cheese and lowfat sour cream. I used half pepperjack and half cheddar for the cheese and used probably 1/4 c. more than the recipe called for due to overzealous grating. I forgot to add the caraway to the mixture, so sprinkled it on top about five minutes in. Worked fine. The verdict? Very good, though it was a little bland for my taste. I broke out the spicy seasoned salt in the cabinet and sprinkled it on liberally. Nolay really liked it. I loved the blend of veggies I used, but would use another portabella mushroom cap next time. Admittedly, this made the little green balls of death (brussels sprouts) tasty. This is such a versatile recipe and we'll make it a little different each time, just as you've done Karchita! 
-A Tribetastic Creation
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Ahtumbreez 10456 desperate attention whore postings
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11-19-09, 12:10 PM (EST)
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54. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
I added both cabbage and brussel sprouts. I would add more brussel sprouts next time as they were really good. I did use some horseradish cheddar in it but not enough as the horseradish flavor disappeared. I think it will be a tricky balancing act. Rob said to put in some water chestnuts next time to add some crunch. I was going to add sunflower seeds but was out, but I did add a can of tomatoes and am very glad I did. Oh, I did add extra caraway and some big chunks of cheddar. Got love those ooey, gooey, cheesy pockets of goodness! One thing I'm liking about OTCC is that it not only gets me out of a rut, but I like having Rob as my sous chef. Oh - and you can cook this longer if you forget to take it out. Now for the pics - Before chopping, grating and assembly - 
After cooking - 
Before eating - 
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CTgirl 5879 desperate attention whore postings
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11-21-09, 04:08 PM (EST)
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55. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
Made it last night, had some for lunch today and put some in the freezer for a night when DH isn't home. I loved it and my friend loved it (and asked for the recipe). DH had seconds but didn't love it (it was too bland for him).I made it with an entire box of whole wheat rotini (13.25 oz) so I used a cup of (full fat) sour cream and 2 cups of grated sharp cheddar plus 2 cups low-fat cottage cheese (the small curd cottage cheese was a good suggestion). As for veggies, I used spinach instead of cabbage, zucchini and summer squash instead of carrots, and baby portobello mushrooms and red pepper. I wasn't sure about the caraway seeds in my first bite, but the taste really grew on me. The moisture wasn't a problem. I had my husband put it in the oven because I was going to an exhibit with a friend. He probably took it out of the oven 10-15 minutes before we got home so it had time to sit. I thought the consistency was good. Thanks Karchita! This is a keeper.
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Starshine 3425 desperate attention whore postings
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11-22-09, 01:42 PM (EST)
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56. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
Yum, Yum, Yum. Thanks Karchita for a lovely meal Added some bacon and used spinach instead of cabbage. This is definitely a recipe I will use again, maybe with a touch more paprika!  Arrrr Cap'n!
Just another Sleeperbloke
Something or Other
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CTgirl 5879 desperate attention whore postings
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11-22-09, 11:45 PM (EST)
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58. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
I also forgot the paprika and I remembered that I forgot it just as I was sitting down at the table. I thought, oh well, next time, too!
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qwertypie 7918 desperate attention whore postings
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11-23-09, 01:02 AM (EST)
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59. "RE: Veggie Mac & Cheese Casserole" |
Count me in the "forgot the paprika" crowd
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thndrkttn 3123 desperate attention whore postings
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11-30-09, 11:34 AM (EST)
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69. "RE: Who is next?" |
Seriously! This and my recent obsession with meatballs. Sheesh!
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Ahtumbreez 10456 desperate attention whore postings
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11-30-09, 11:51 AM (EST)
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71. "RE: Who is next?" |
Oh - and I made this again last night. Well, a modified version. I added turkey. But I forgot the cottage cheese. It was still good. I did remember the paprika though.
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Ahtumbreez 10456 desperate attention whore postings
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11-30-09, 12:42 PM (EST)
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72. "RE: Who is next?" |
I've nudged Slice. Any volunteers if she doesn't show up? I'm thinking by tomorrow morning.
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p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e - p l a c e h o l d e r t e x t g o e s h e r e -
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Try thinking of it as a veggie casserole and you'll be fine. 
