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Colourful Veggie Casserole 🥦
A few months ago, a doll tried to force a vegan-vs-omnivore debate on me.
I made clear that, while I’m perfectly fine with veggies and vegans not being fond of my meat recipes, I would not be having any such debate. 
Next thing I knew was she had blocked me. Well, good riddance! 🤣
So, she will probably never know this vegetarian recipe I share with you today – so sad. 🙂
I do admit that “my kitchen” has been quite meat-heavy so far. But my husband and I are omnivores and we stand by our love of eating meat.
Nevertheless, I will try to share a vegetarian/vegan recipe every now and then in the future. It’s not like Harry and I eat meat every day, you know.
Let’s start with this lovely dish which not only tastes delicious but is also really nice to look at.
What we need:
- 700g (25oz) potatoes
- 1 head of broccoli
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 3 medium-sized mushrooms
- 30g (1oz) margarine
- 30g (1oz) flour
- 250ml (½pt) milk (or almond milk to go vegan)
- 250ml (½pt) vegetable stock
- 100g (3½oz) grated mozzarella (or vegan cheese)
- Breadcrumbs
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp paprika powder
How to do it:
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces.
- Cut the broccoli into florets.
- Cut the bell peppers into small pieces and the mushrooms into slices.
- Boil the potatoes for 10 minutes. After 6 minutes, add the broccoli.
- Melt the margarine in a saucepan and stir in the flour.
- Stir in the milk and the vegetable stock and allow to thicken.
- Season the sauce with salt, pepper and paprika powder.
- Put the vegetables and potatoes in a baking dish. Spread the mushroom slices on top.
- Sprinkle the grated mozzarella. In between, also sprinkle some breadcrumbs so you will get a nice crust.
- Put the dish into the preheated oven and bake it for 30 minutes at 200°C (390°C).
It is a pity that being vegetarian, or even worse veganist, turned into a kind of religion for some people. They are getting more rigid in it than one of the most orthodoc Christian, Jew or Moslim. Believe me, we found out here in the communities we have and had to deal with in the last 25 years.
I don’t eat, so for me it is easy, but both my companions do. For they are human. They always said, when asked what they ate at certain gatherings and if they were veggie, that they are omnivores. Just like you did. For evolution took care for it that our whole biology is that of an omnivore. And why should one want to handle against one’s own nature?
BUT, there is a but. Eating meat has become a kind of religion too, almost. For it is a way to show prosperity. Of wealth. When you were doing well, you showed it by eating meat, at least every day. or even more times a day.
It started like that in the middle of the last century and it continued and got worse. So it became a huge industry and animals started to suffer more as a result. They became ‘things’ instead of living creatures.
But there’s more. And my companion had to find that out the bad way.
That’s cholesterol. Meat may be an important source of quality protein, B vitamins (B1, B3, B6, and especially B12), and minerals like iron and zinc. You need these nutrients for growth, proper functioning, and maintenance of your body, but having too much of it or the wrong kind of meat can cause high cholesterol levels in people with an inherited predisposition to it.
Meat of pigs for example contains much cholesterol. It contains too much saturated fatty acids and that’s the kind that can raise the cholesterol levels skyhigh.
But there also exists unsaturated fatty acids and they are good. One can’t do without those. Unsaturated fatty acids can be found in fat fish and chicken ( and other birds) when it is concerning meat, and in fruits like avocado’s for example.
And than there’s of course lean beef such as steak, tartare, beef and brisket.
Anyhow, being wise with what to eat matters. My companion had to learn that after finding out the hard way he was having atherosclerosis.
So now he considers himself a pollotarian and pescotarian next to a bit of a vegitarian. Let’s call him a flexitarian. I am sure the real Veggies will get a stroke now and ban him for life ( if he would have been a part of their community, what he is NOT).
All I want to say with this elaborated answer is to be wise in all what you are doing. When it concerns meat, be like a bushman. When he is hunting and has seen his prey he first makes excuses and explains why he is hunting his prey. That he has to eat as well and has to feed his family, his tribe, to survive in the wild. At least that makes eating meat a little less obvious.