Colcannon Casserole

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, my google reader seems to be spitting out hundreds of recipes for Colcannon.

And for good reason. This Irish dish is not only easy to make, it is also quite tasty. It’s composed of two of my most favorite foods: kale and mashed potatoes. Sometimes the kale is replaced with cabbage (or is it the other way around?). It makes no difference to me… I am still smitten. Really, any cruciferous veggie mixed with mashed potatoes is sure to win my heart.

This recipe is just an elaboration on the popular dish. It’s basically colcannon topped with a whiskey marinated tofu, fragrant toasted walnuts, and a decadent mushroom gravy. Altogether, it makes a killer main course.

I’ve always been fairly indifferent to St. Patrick’s Day as celebrated here in the USA. I’ve never been much of a bar-hopper, and now that I have children, even if I had the urge to do so, I’d have to hassle with a sitter, and then we’d have a curfew–and well, it’s just much more fun for me to snuggle up next to my hubby and sip green beer in our cozy living room. Maybe watch Leprechaun or something.

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Anyways, the whole time I was making this, I kept thinking how wonderful this casserole would be for a holiday dinner… like Thanksgiving. Or any holiday where there’s some sort of feast involved.

St. Patty’s Day? Yep, that’ll do.

So this year, I’m declaring Colcannon Casserole as our family’s official St. Patrick’s day celebration meal… complete with a few (gluten free) green beers. Now that’s a tradition I can get behind 100%.

It takes a bit of elbow grease* and a whole lotta ingredients to get this thing put together, but it’s well worth the effort if you’re a fan of the green stuff + mashed potatoes like I am.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Veggie Mash-Up Casserole with Daiya

veggie casserole

Yay! I got some Daiya.  I’ve topped pizza, grilled “cheese” sandwiches, eaten it straight from the bag, and each time I have been thoroughly satisfied.  But, I wanted to test out its ‘casserole’ abilities -to see if the “cheese” could be crispy and melty at the same time.  It has been quite a while since anything remotely close to cheese graced the top of one of my casseroles.  It worked great!  The Daiya was crispy on top, and the “cheese” directly underneath was ooey and gooey. I am sold, this Daiya stuff rocks!

For those of you who can not, or choose not, to incorporate Daiya into your life,  this casserole is very yummy without it.  A little bit of nooch would be awesome sprinkled on top.  But like I said, I had to try it on a casserole.  And, I suggest if you get your hands on Daiya anytime soon, you should too.  This dish is perfect to make if you have some leftover mashed potatoes… but if not, whip up half a batch and treat yourself to something different.  I’ll give you a basic run-down of how to make mashed potatoes below, if you aren’t quite sure.

I also happened to have corn and peas in my freezer, so that is what this recipe calls for, but some yummy sautéed mushrooms, or any other veggie you can think of would go great mixed in too.  Ya know, it’s a casserole– anything goes.

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