Broccolli, Rice, and Cheese Casserole

Today's dinner was SOOOO good!!!  It honestly tasted like the real thing.  Any meat eater would love this.  I found the recipe from my iPhone app, VegWeb.  It was submitted and created by Allychristine.  I made a few minor adjustments

3 Cups Water
1 Veggie Bouillon Cube
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups rice (the recipe called for white, but I used brown and it was fine, 3 cups is if you used brown, if using white the recipce calls for 2 3/4 cups)
1 Tablespoon of vegan butter
1 Cup of vegan cheese (the recipe called for cheddar daiya, but I had some left over mozzarella that I used)
1 1/2 cups unsweetened non dairy milk (I used rice)
3 bunches of broccoli (This is what the recipe called for, I used frozen and just threw in a few large handfuls)
Few dahses of onion powder (not in original recipe)
Few dahes of garlic powder (not in original recipe)
Few dashes of red chili flakes (not in original recipe)

1.  Preheat oven to 375*.  Grease an 8x8 glass dish.  Add rice, bouillon, water and pepper to pot and cover.  Bring to boil.  Stir then reduce to low and simmer for about 30 minutes until the rice has absorbed all of the water.  The rice might not be cooked all the way. 

2.  Meanwhile melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add the cheese and stir for about a minute.  Slowly add the milk until the cheese melts to desired consistency (you can add more milk if you think it needs it).  I added the onion and garlic powder and red chili flakes to taste.  I didn't really measure. 

3.  When the rice is almost done I added the broccoli to the sauce since it was frozen so it could defrost a bit.  Then add the sauce/broccoli mixture to the rice.  Transfer to the baking dish and bake for about 20-30 minutes until bubbly.  Turn to broil and cook for a few minutes until top is golden brown. 

This will definitely be a repeat in my house.  We served by itself with a dash of Louisiana Hot Sauce.  YUMMMMMM!!  I highly recommend you try this!!

For Lunch I had another tofurkey pizza.  Pepperoni this time.  It was good but I think I liked the roasted veggie one better.  I'm not a huge ranch eater, but pre vegan I loved it with my pizza.  I felt the pepperoni was lacking so I did a quick search for a vegan ranch recipe and found this.  Honestly it is SOOOOOO good!!!  It tastes just like ranch.  I highly reduced the recipe and didn't really measure.  I didn't want as much as the recipe called for.  This totally MADE the meal.  I'm sure I've said this before but my weak spot was pizza pre vegan and I feel I can finally indulge those cravings without any guilt!!! 

It feels good to be back in the kitchen and creating new things.  On a side note I bought an awesome bottle of riesling and it was quite tasty!!  If you like a sweet wine that isn't too strong, try it!!  

Yum!! 

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