One of the things I love to do when creating recipes is to take something I used to enjoy in my "pre-vegan" days and turn it into a delicious and healthy whole food, plant-based dish.
One such recipe that has been on my mind for awhile to remake is a ham casserole I created in high school. I remember creating this casserole for an assignment in my high school cooking class over 40 years ago. It was a hit then and I made it many times over the years in my "standard american diet" days. It contained canned ham, cheddar cheese, and a white sauce made with refined flour and was totally unhealthy - but very comforting.
So I hope you enjoy this redo of that 1978 favorite. It's creamy comfort food at its best!
Creamy Tofu Casserole
Makes 3 servings
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup Un-chicken Tofu (see Notes)
1 cup frozen peas
1 1/2 cups whole grain croutons (see notes)
1/4 cup sliced green olives
1 tablespoon dry Sherry
1 cup of your favorite healthy vegan "cheese" (see notes), as topping
First make the cashew cream sauce by placing cashews and water in a high-power blender and blend until creamy. If you do not have a high-power blender you will need to soak the cashews in water for a couple of hours before blending in a regular blender.
Combine all ingredients except the "cheese" in a large bowl. Stir in the cashew cream sauce and transfer to a casserole dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the "cheese" on top. Bake 10 more minutes.
Notes:
If you don't want to season the tofu using my "un-chicken" method, feel free to season it however you like or use store-bought, pre-seasoned tofu.
To make the whole grain croutons, I cut two slices of Ezekiel bread into cubes, spread them on a cookie sheet, and toasted them in a 350 oven for 8 minutes.
I do not buy commercial vegan cheeses because they all have oil. For this recipe I used the easy cashew cheese mozzarella from eatplant-based.com. Anja Cass from Cookingwithplants.com also has some delicious oil-free "cheese" recipes. Try her soy and nut-free vegan cheese.
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