Creamy Noodle Casserole

Creamy Noodle Casserole

Makes 8 servings  for just $1.50 per serving

Another winner

* Here is the original recipe - what I did afterwards

The vegan sour cream in this recipe gives it a rich, thick, and creamy sauce.

Ingredients:

4oz flat whole wheat noodles

1 tbsp vegetable oil (I used Olive oil)

1 pkg (12 oz) vegan burger crumbles

1 onion, chopped

1 container (12oz) vegan sour cream

1 1/2 cups water

3 carrots, thinly sliced

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsps vegetable broth powder

1 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram, or 1 tsp dried

1 tbsp chopped fresh sage, or 1 tsp dried

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup whole grain oat crackers

1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

2 tbsps nonhydrogenated vegan margarine, melted

Directions:

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Cook the noodles according to the package directions, drain in a colander, and set aside.  While the noodles are cooking, heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.   Add the vegan burger crumbles and onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes.  Stir in the vegan sour cream, water, carrots, tomatoes, vegetable broth powder, marjoram, sage, and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until the carrots are just tender.

Transfer the noodles to a 6-cup nonstick casserole (or a glass casserole lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray)  Stir in the vegan burger crumble mixture until well combined.  Cover the casserole with a lid or aluminum foild and bake for 30 minutes.

While the casserole bakes, crumble the crackers into small crumbs in a small bowl.  Add the pecans and vegan margarine and mix well.  Remove the casserole from the oven, remove the foild, and sprinkle the crumb mixtuer evenly over the top.  Bake, uncovered, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the topping looks crunchy and brown.

Tip:  Don't have vegan sour cream on hand?  No problem.  you can make this casserole without it, but the tomato flavor will be more prominent.

Now - for what I did.

I did not have any onions on hand - but I did have some dried Onions (from the spice rack) and so I just added a bunch of that.

for the vegetable broth powder - not sure what that is, could not find it in the grocery store, so I just used my vegetable bouillon cube.  I also used the dried spices, not the fresh.

I also did not have the whole grain oat crackers - so I used what I had on hand - I used my Ian's Panko Breadcrumbs  (A Japanese style bread crumb).  It still turned out really well - one thing I would liked to add in would be mushrooms - only because I think any kind of creamy noodle deserves to have some mushrooms mixed in :)

Enjoy!

xoxo

Recipe taken directly from Eat vegan on $4 a day

from Ellen Jaffe Jones