We’re gearing up for the holidays with 2 vegan casseroles fit for your upcoming feasts!

This week we bring you… casseroles! I love casseroles because they are always perfect for sharing and are usually the ultimate comfort food. It’s piping hot out of the oven, usually bubbling, and just perfect for the colder seasons. The problem we found is that because casseroles encompass such a large variety of foods, it was very hard for our friends to compare the dishes we made because they were just comparing an apple and an orange! They simply didn’t have much to compare them against each other, so I guess you all will have to give it a shot!

Missed the last 2 challenges? Catch up on Pizza Week and Dessert Bar Week!

Cheesy Tomato Rice Casserole

Chew: Having had no previous thought of what I was going to make other than “some type of pasta casserole” cause I haven’t had pasta for probably a few months and just wanted my childhood comfort food in my belly, I searched high and low in my mom’s kitchen pantry hoping to find some sort of dry pasta lying around. But because mom no longer cooks for the family, there was no sign of pasta anywhere other than a few straggling lasagna pasta pieces in two different boxes, so I was left having to make some last minute change of plans… which led me to making this tomato-y cheesy rice casserole, and it turned out waay better than I thought it would be!

Full recipe HERE

Winter Veggie Gratin

Leung: When it comes to holiday feasts, I’m all about the sides. Especially sides that can be drowned in gravy. Even better if the gravy is already in the dish, like this one! When brainstorming for this casserole challenge, I started off with the idea of a savoury sweet potato casserole, swapping the marshmallows out for a herby oat topping. No hate for those that love the marshmallow-topped version, but I think it passes as a dessert far better than it does a side dish. But then I thought straight up sweet potato was kinda heavy and blah, so why not throw in some squash and beets. Last month I made a savoury puff pastry with butternut squash and beets for a party (where I was the only vegetarian) and it was such a hit! Taking inspiration from that, I ended up creating this Winter Veggie Gratin.

Layers of winter’s best veggies (i.e. butternut squash, sweet potato, and beets) are baked with my favourite miso gravy and topped with a thyme and walnut granola for a bit of crunch. Fanning out the slices of veggies makes this dish look effortlessly elegant. Your dinner guests will actually be excited to eat their vegetables!

Full recipe HERE

How to vote

Last week we did some non-baking and made 2 incredible dessert bars. Leung’s Maca Twix Bars earned her her first brownie point, bringing the current bake-off scoreboard to a tie since Chew won Pizza Week. If we’re tied at the end of the 4 weeks, I guess we will need a special tie-breaker episode!

This week: decide who’s casserole dish makes you salivate more, then go to our official Facebook poll and submit your virtual ballot there. The winning casserole will be announced in next week’s post.

Christmastime is here (almost)

The Great Vegan Bake-Off series will wrap up next week and mark the start of the holiday season (a.k.a. the most wonderful season) on the blog. Deck the halls and heat up some hot chocolate, week 4 is going to be all about Christmas Cookies. It’s a finale you cannot miss!