Potato and Veggie Bake

I guess that's what I'll call it!! I didn't plan on cooking this week since I'm teaching every night and Jon won't be home for dinners. But I wanted to make something this afternoon to have when I got home from class. I had to work with what I had, and that wasn't much since I didn't do a big shopping on Sunday.

I started pulling things out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry, having NO idea where I was going with it. I ended up with something that is NOWHERE near gourmet, but really good AND easy (28 minutes from start to finish). It's not that pretty but believe me, it tasted great and it was creative given what I had on hand, and that's why I'm sharing it with you.

First I took a potato (baking potato) and threw it in the mic for 8 minutes, flipping it over halfway through. Once it was done I chopped it into bite-sized pieces and threw them into a small baking dish.

In the meantime I chopped a tomato, steamed some frozen broccoli and cauliflower, chopped just a little bit of onion, and got out some roasted garlic that I never used yesterday. I melted butter in a small pan, added the onions for a few min, then added flour. Once it became thick, I added some cream (about 1/3 of a cup) and let it come to a simmer. Once it did, I threw in some grated asiago, pecorino romano, and Parmesan cheeses as well as some red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. I put the veggies and roasted garlic into the cheese sauce, and then poured the entire thing over the potatoes.

To get some protein, I mixed in some MorningStar Farms Recipe Crumbles (fake ground meat). I think this would also work with browned ground beef, ground turkey, or even chunks of chicken. Otherwise it's just a nice side.

Once it was all assembled I baked it on 400 for about 15 minutes. The result - a tasty, easy, comfort-food dinner in one dish!