Friday, October 28, 2016

Eggplant and Rice Casserole Revisited

Again, not much cooking in the Tippens household this week! I went away for a couple of days with my college roommate. A nice girls getaway! So I'm doing a re-post from December 2012. I hope you enjoy. It's one of my favorite dishes! I usually make it with ground beef and leave out the tomatoes--just use basic beef, rice, eggplant and cheese. But I love this vegetarian version as well.


Missy, here. And last week, I promised Kav a vegetarian dish. :)

First, let me say this is a modified recipe from Sandra LeeSmith. She posted her Eggplant Casserole  for Speedbo last year. I LOVED that recipe! I've made it at least twice.


But for Thanksgiving, my sister was coming. And she's a vegetarian. So I decided to come up with a veggie version.

Here's Sandra's list of ingredients, updated for my purposes:

1 cup brown rice (3 cups cooked)

1 large eggplant pealed and cubed

1 onion chopped

1 package veggie or soy crumbles

½ cup dry sherry or dry wine

1 ¾ cup canned tomatoes, drained (14 oz can)

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I also used shredded Italian cheese on top)

1 ½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

First the prep:
Cook the rice. Yes, I use Boil-in-bag! :)




Put cubed eggplant in boiling salted water and boil for five minutes.





Brown onion in a little oil and add in the veggie crumbles. I really like the Morning Star Farms Grillers Recipe Crumbles. I just used them frozen.



Add tomatoes and sherry: bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.



Add drained eggplant, cooked rice and all remaining ingredients.

Transfer to a 3 quart buttered casserole dish.
NOTE from Missy: I always put in 2 dishes and freeze the smaller one so I can have it later for lunches.



Though it has cheese in it, I always sprinkle some (A LOT!) on top. Isn't everything better with cheese???


Sorry I didn't rotate the photo! Ran out of time.


Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour (Or just heat in microwave).


I actually put it in the oven while it was still pretty hot from cooking on the stove. I just baked about 30 minutes, long enough for the cheese to melt and the casserole to bubble.

Enjoy!


8 comments:

  1. I missed this in 2012 so I'm glad you reposted! Or I think I missed it. I certainly don't remember the recipe and I've never tried it, even though it looks delicious. But then again, I'll probably go look and find myself commenting on your post, hahaha!
    Anyway, I've never made a dish with eggplant. That's my confession for the day. :)

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  2. I found it and I DID comment! I said it looked yummy and I loved anything with cheese. Maybe this is the year I'll try it?

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    1. LOL, Virginia! I do that all the time.

      I love eggplant, so this is one of my favorites. I think you'll like it. I think eggplant is easy to work with. Just peel and chop.

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  3. Love revisiting vegetarian recipes. Especially ones with cheese. :-) Hope you had a great time on your girls getaway.

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    1. Kav, cheese is probably my favorite food. It's the last thing I would be able to give up. :)

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  4. A girls getaway! What a fun time!

    And I remember wanting to try this recipe, too, the last time you shared it. This time I'm pinning it to Pinterest!

    Perfect timing, too. We have a carry-in dinner at church on Sunday, and I know several people who will love to try this. :)

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  5. Oh this sounds so good. I don't know if I missed it the first time or just don't remember, but it sounds delicious so I'm glad you did it again. It's that kind of need a warm casserole day here.

    Hope you had a good girls getaway. Sounds like fun!

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  6. Yes, we had so much fun! We talked and talked and talked. And shopped. And ate. And talked some more. And she brought me some brownies from our bakery in my hometown! :)

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