Wild Sweet Potato Hash with Tempeh Bac'un

Background: I’ve been in yoga teacher training for the past 3 months. I am so thrilled I decided to do this, because it’s been on my to-do list for about 3 years. As I got further into the program however, many other projects started to intersect with training: starting an employee wellness group at my job, project launches, employee cookbook, holidays. My desire to do household activities (i.e.. casual cleaning, laundry, showering) significantly decreased. This includes cooking. Yes, even cooking. Our takeout bill skyrocketed.

Some of these things have been completed by now: one whole Thanksgiving and half of Christmas, the cookbook, and an intense system implementation at work. And today I finally finished yoga teacher training. I wanted to celebrate! But still not cook.

This is the conversation that led up to this meal.

Me: What are we getting for dinner? Take out?

Partner in Crime: We don’t have anything at home?

Me: No… well we have a bunch of sweet potatoes.

PIC:  And tempeh. Can’t we do sweet potatoes and tempeh over rice.

Me: No. Item + item over rice does not a meal make. Plus that’s too many starches.

PIC: [Blank stare]

Me: Well maybe I can do something.

So in a moment of absolute hesitation I thought of this recipe in an awesome cookbook my father gave me 2 years ago. The recipe is for East African Wilderness Sweet Potato Patties, but I didn’t feel like doing all the work that goes into patties. Hash is easier; everything goes into one pan. This fabulously flavorful dish seems to have revived some semblance of my passion for cooking before life took over.

Wild Sweet Potato Hash with Tempeh Bac’un

Makes 2-3 servings

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45-50 minutes

Ingredients

1 T. coconut oil

½ medium onion, chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1 red chili pepper or jalapeno, minced

1 tsp. cumin seeds

2 inch cinnamon stick

4 whole cloves

½ tsp. paprika

¼ tsp. turmeric

¼ tsp. ground cardamom

1 medium russet potato, cubed (small)

1 medium sweet potato, cubed (small)

½ summer squash, diced

½ medium red pepper

½ c. fresh or frozen yellow corn (thawed)

Salt and cayenne pepper

¼ c. cilantro, chopped

2 T. chives, chopped

Tempeh Bac’un (recipe below)

Directions

Optional: Toast the cumin, cinnamon and cloves over dry heat until fragrant. Remove from heat and ground in a mortar and pestle. Or be lazy like me and just throw them in the dish as their beautiful selves come in the bottle.

In a medium cast iron pan, heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat and add onions. Sauté until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Lower heat to medium and add garlic and chili pepper. Stir and cook until garlic is fragrant, 30-60 seconds. Add remaining spices and stir for another 30 seconds and add potatoes. Cook until potatoes are al dente, about 20 minutes. Add remaining veggies plus a pinch of salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Cook until potatoes are tender and browned on all sides.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and chives. Serve with tempeh bac’un on top.

Tempeh Bac’un

Makes: 3-4 servings

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

After making this several times, I’ve found that the proportions can always change depending on your taste. If you like a sweeter flavor, opt for more maple syrup. If you like salt, add a dash more soy sauce. Taste this as you go and adjust accordingly.

Ingredients

1 pkg tempeh, thinly sliced into strips

2-3 T. soy sauce or tamari

½ -1 T. maple syrup.

½ tsp. liquid smoke (10 shakes or so)

Pinch of ground cumin

Directions

Lay tempeh flat in a baking dish or roasting pan. Mix marinade ingredients together and pour evenly over tempeh. Flip over to coat evenly on both sides. Let side for 5 minutes or so. When ready to cook, remove the tempeh reserving the marinade.

Heat a skillet over high heat and either coat with cooking spray or heat with a dash of canola oil or Earth Balance. Add tempeh in one layer (you may have to make 2 batches) and cook until brown, about 2-3 minutes. Flip over and cook on other side for another 2 minutes. Pour remaining marinade and cook just until marinade cooks through and evaporates. Remove and serve!

Braised Celery with Mustard Mash

Celery Heads - they grow so big. And though that's what we all want from a seedling, sometimes a whole head of celery is just...a lot. I get excited about the outer crunchy stalks for a few days, maybe dip them in hummus or use them to make jambalaya, then tuck the rest away for another day. Then another week goes by and the last few stalks call it quits. But it's almost a resentful kind of quits because my celery never gets soggy or brown, it just wilts. "See me? I'm green still. But I've lost my snap. Thanks to you." That's what my celery says to me when it passes its dipper or scooper prime. So what can be done with that limp, abandoned and seemingly hopeless last bit of celery hiding in the back of your "crisper" that hasn't done too well in keeping your green stalks crisp? Embrace it. Ah-hem, excuse me, em-braise it.

Braising is a lovely technique if you have a dose of patience and an eye for when to stop the heat. It can be perfect for yielding effortless sauces but a curse if you neglect your veggies to the point of mush. It really doesn't take that long, and the ingredient list is short. The method works well on almost every vegetable, particularly those that have already lost their oomph. While I don't typically think of celery as a main gig in any dish, it's a terrific star in this fabulously simple dish.

Now let's get to the potatoes. But more seriously, let's get to the mustard. I had some mustard mashed potatoes on, of all places, an airplane. Yes first class on a transatlantic flight has its benefits, one being meals that more closely resemble food. Ever since the flight back from Italy, I can't mash potatoes without mustard. Stone ground, semi-sharp. I use Annie's Horseradish Mustard in these potatoes because I love anything with horseradish in it. For those that don't care for it, you can use any other stone-ground mustard or maybe even get funky with a Sierra Nevada Stout or Porter variety.

As for the crunchy peas - so many braised celery recipes I found used some kind of bacon or pork fat to flavor the celery. While that makes me wanna hurl just a little bit, I appreciate what the smokiness of bacon might contribute. Personally, I though using vegetable bouillon was more than enough to keep the celery flavorful, but I was curious about the bacon. So I concocted a little something as a garnish of sorts to just throw on top for fun. It was fun. It tasted fun. And I think my poor neglected celery-turned-belle-of-the-ball felt extra special too.


Braised Celery with Mustard Mashed Potatoes
Makes: 3-4 Servings
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the celery
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 c. leeks or onion, sliced thinly
2 c. celery, chopped
1 1/2 c. vegetable broth
1/2 T. flour (chickpea or all purpose)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

For the mashed potatoes
2-3 medium russet potatoes, cubed
1 T. stone ground mustard
1/2 T. Earth Balance
1-2 T. nutritional yeast
Salt to taste

Optional Topping
1/2 c. peas (frozen or raw, thawed if using frozen)
1 T. Veggie bac'un bits 

Directions

To make the celery: Heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook 3-4 minutes more. Add bay leaves and broth, stirring to make sure celery is dispersed in an even layer throughout the pan. Sprinkle the flour over the top and cover. Cook 15-20 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until celery is tender to your liking.

To make the potatoes: In a large sauce pan, bring potatoes to a boil. When boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook at a low boil for 10-15 minutes or until a fork passes easily through the potatoes. Drain potatoes when done, reserving the cooking water for the mashing. Return the potatoes back to the warm pot and mash with a form or potato ricer. Add mustard, nutritional yeast, Earth Balance and 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the cooking water. Continue to mash until everything is incorporated and smooth. Add salt to taste.

Optional topping: Coat a small skillet with cooking spray and heat the peas until just warm and sizzling. Add bac'un bits and remove from heat. Stir until bac'un bits have warmed and use as garnish over potatoes and celery.

To assemble: Shape a big messy pile of potatoes into some kind of round volcano shape. Pour 1/2 cup of braised celery in the middle and top with a lil smokey scoop of green peas. Indulge.

Chunky Vegan Chili with Oven-Baked Fries

For about a week the blazing Arizona sun succumbed to a change in air pressure and brought a sense of relief just when I thought fall might abandon us this year. Translation: it chilled the hell down for a few days. Overwhelming illusions that it was time to break out the stockpot and possibly a cashmere sweater were brought into check eventually, but I did seize the small window to squeeze in a cool-weather dish. A comfort food craving came on with an itch for spice, so chili was the obvious choice.

I don’t have extensive chili experience, but it’s one of those dishes that give a certain flare to the reputations of real cooks. Do you recall ever hearing of someone who made a “decent” chili? Do you have a favorite cafe that makes a “pretty good” chili? Of course not. Mediocre chili does not invoke or enliven the soul in a blissful tango with taste. Those who make incredible chili leave a mark. That delectable memory gets to camp out in a special place reserved for things like Mom’s Chicken Noodle Soup and Grandma’s Swedish Kringle. Chili hits a spot that is best reached after raking leaves or building snowmen - a spot which is not as easily accessible in my current environment as it was when I was little. Therefore I have to seize every semblance of opportunity I get. Which means, when it drops below 90, I can pull out the crock pot.

Now that I’ve built up chili so much - it might be a let-down to learn that this is not the recipe that will make me an infamous vegan chef. It’s not my best, worst, or last attempt. But it was very exciting prancing around the kitchen throwing in spices Emeril-style...BAM! In fact, I based this off of one of his recipes and it turned out quite well. I think I need more onion next time, because soups never seem to have enough. Regardless of it’s small imperfections or opportunities for enhancement, the enthusiasm was doubled by the batch of french fries so perfectly prepared by my loving omnivore. Chili and fries! I can’t seem to pair the two together without an exclamation point!

Chunky Vegan Chili

Makes 4-6 servings
Total cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 T. Olive or Canola oil
1 1/2 c. Onion, chopped
2 T. Garlic, minced
1 Anaheim chili, chopped
1 Summer squash, chopped
1 c. Yellow corn (1-2 ears)
1 c. Brown or portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 c. Garbanzo beans, cooked or canned
4 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Chipotle chili in adobo sauce
2 T. Chili powder
1 T. Cumin, ground
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Cayenne or piquin pepper
1 tsp. Oregano, dried
1 can Tomato sauce
1 c. Vegetable broth
Pinch of sugar

6 oz Tempeh, chopped or sliced
Taco seasoning: 1 tsp each - chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder

Toppings

Shredded vegan cheese
Chopped red onion
Chopped avocado

Directions

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onions. Cook until the onions are soft and transparent, about 10-12 minutes. Add garlic and Anaheim pepper. Cook another minute and add squash, mushrooms and corn. Cook vegetables 4-5 minutes and add beans, tomatoes and spices. Stir well to coat veggies in seasoning and pour in tomato sauce. Bring chili to a boil. Add vegetable broth and reduce heat. Simmer chili on low for 20-25 minutes while you prepare the tempeh.

In a small sauce pan, bring 1 c. water and seasoning to a medium boil. Add tempeh and reduce heat to medium. Steam tempeh in seasoned water until tender, about 7-8 minutes. Pour entire contents of pan into food processor and pulse 5 times, scrape tempeh down and pulse another 5 times. Heat a skillet over medium high heat, coat with cooking spray and add ground tempeh. Cook until browned, another 10 minutes.

Returning to chili, turn heat off but leave pot on the stove. Add pinch of sugar and tempeh. Let sit on warm stove another 10 minutes to let the flavors blend and cool. Serve with assorted toppings and side of fries.


Perfect Oven-Baked Fries
Makes 4-6 servings
Cook time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients

2 medium russet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut potatoes into wedges about 4” long and 1/4” thick. Coat with olive oil and generous pinch of salt and pepper. Spread on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Turn fries and bake another 10-15 minutes. Remove fries when dark golden brown and crispy.

Polenta Hodgepodge Pie

Grits get a bad rap. I admit to having poor misconceptions about any kind of “meal” or mush growing up. I couldn’t do oatmeal and the mere sound of the name “grits” gave me a wide-eyed upchuck impulse. Then I discovered a much nicer name for corn grits that made the dish sound fancy and international….polenta. An Italian comfort food sounds more appetizing to me than something that sounds like the texture of sandy mud. I certainly don’t want to put sandy mud in my mouth, but I won’t judge others. Luckily, polenta has given me a whole new perspective on a widely cherished food in both Italy and the south.

My first experimentation with polenta, beyond just buying a tube at the food store, was highly fascinating: whisking boiling water vigorously as the cornmeal is poured in slowly to reduce chewy globs (it will happen to you at least once, I promise), then switching to a whole different cooking utensil as it takes on a completely new texture! It was an inspiring transformation and tasted delicious. In the end though, it was still a pile of mush. It took me a while to figure out how to play with it in order to get the fancy tube shapes sold at the market. After much exploration, I’m 100% convinced that there is no limit with what you can do with polenta.

As I’ve continued my journey through a more health-conscious, vegan life, polenta has been a fabulously satisfying grain: relatively low in calories for the volume you can get out of it. And because of its mystical morphing into a sticky but sturdy substance during the cooking process, it serves as a great source for brainstorming. Why not use it as a pizza crust? How about a pie base or shepherd’s pie-like topping? Or a pedestal for other delicious foods? While this recipe is labeled as a pie, it’s more like a platform. And the ingredients on top…well that’s where the hodgepodge part comes in.

Almost any roasted or sautéed vegetable(s) would work as the middle layer for this pie: eggplant, zucchini, pearl onions, or cruciferous crunchies, whatever you’d like. You could even play around with the coulis or sauce that you whip up to pour over it. As always, you can certainly toy with the seasonings, shapes or cooking methods of the tofu topping. There is plenty of freedom and room for creativity here. Unless you end up with the clumpy globs…then you’ll really have a hodgepodge to deal with.

Polenta Hodgepodge Pie

Serves: 2

Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Roasted Vegetables
½ T. Olive oil
4-5 Fingerling potatoes, cut into smaller chunks
½ c. Leeks, sliced
¾ c. Green beans, cut into ½ - 1” pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Polenta
½ T. Olive oil
¼ Medium onion, diced
1 Large garlic cloves, minced
5-6 Sun dried tomatoes, rehydrated (if not packed in oil) and chopped
½ tsp Rosemary, dried
½ tsp Salt
2 c. Water
½ c. Polenta
2 T. Nutritional Yeast
Salt and Pepper to taste

Tofu
6 oz. Tofu, cut into 2x2” squares
1 T. Cornstarch
½ tsp Basil, dried
½ tsp Tarragon, dried
½ tsp Salt
1 T. Canola Oil

Tomato Sauce
1 Medium tomato, chopped (about 1 c.)
2 tsp Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 425ºF. In a medium bowl, toss potatoes and leeks in olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper and roast for 20 minutes.

While the potatoes roast, make the polenta. Sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic, sun dried tomatoes, rosemary and salt. Stir and cook until garlic becomes fragrant, about 1 minute. Increase heat to high and add water. Bring to a boil and once the water is boiling, slowly pour in the polenta, stirring vigorously with a whisk to avoid clumps. Turn heat to low and let polenta cook at a slow simmer. Switching to a wood spoon or spatula, keep stirring the polenta until tender, about 8-10 minutes. When done the polenta will be slightly sticky and pull away from the pan. Remove from heat and stir in nutritional yeast, salt and pepper to taste. While still hot, pour polenta into a 6” spring form pan and spread evenly. Let cool at room temperature while you prepare the tofu.

Back to the potatoes: remove the potatoes from the oven and stir in the green beans. Put vegetables back in oven and roast an additional 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are brown and beans have a slight crisp. Remove from oven and set aside.

Drain, rinse and pat tofu dry. In a bowl, mix cornstarch, herbs and salt. Dredge tofu in cornstarch and set on a small plate. In a medium skillet, heat canola oil over medium-high heat in a skillet. Add tofu and fry until crispy on each side, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and return to plate.

To make the tomato sauce, puree the tomato and vinegar in a food processor until completely smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Assemble the pie: pour the roasted veggies on top of the polenta base. Spread the tomato sauce in dollops over the veggies and top with crispy tofu. Remove outside of spring form pan and voila! Hodgepodge pie.

Potato Poblano Hash with Tofu "Eggs"

This has been those “use-up-what-you-have” weeks. With 3 days away from home last weekend and a big move coming up this weekend, I had to seriously resist the urge to load up at the farmers market this week. Instead, I made every reasonable effort to use up all fresh foods in order to avoid packing a refrigerator full of produce. To get the creative juice flowing, I tallied my resources. A half potato, half rutabaga, and half onion were scattered around in my refrigerator. Hearing their calls from corners of the Kenmore, I was reminded of how round, firm and beautiful the roots were at the market when I bought them nearly 2 weeks prior. Now they are peeled, half-consumed, and left in the shadows – waiting for me to pull my mind out of my busy life and back into the kitchen for some improvisational cuisine.

Who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner? If there is one dish that really works both ways, it’s a good, hearty hash. While standard hash browns are truly suitable any time of day, I enjoy a nice hash out of its traditional brunch context. One of my favorite recipes as an omnivore was a spicy sweet potato hash with mustard greens and poached eggs. Though I did have a sweet potato at my disposal, it wasn’t sliced open yet like the white potato and rutabaga that were both looking pretty desperate. One confession: I did make a minor grocery run to pick up a few key ingredients that I thought would make this dish really pop. I wanted a spicy, roasted pepper to give the hash a kick and a fresh pepper for sweetness. I also love adding sturdy greens to potatoes for a texture twist and nutritional punch. I made it out of Whole Foods in about a 3rd of the normal cost, which made this still feel like a cleaning-out-the-fridge recipe sadly enough.

The poached egg replacement was tricky. While many breakfast-style eggs are easy to veganize, a poached egg or “over-easy” version is harder to replicate. I found an intriguing recipe on VegWeb that I adjusted based on reader reviews and my own personal preferences. I marinate and then pan-fried pressed tofu slices. There are times when I barely have the patience to really drain and press tofu, but this seemed necessary and worthwhile. If you have never pressed tofu before, it is incredible easy. It just takes a couple of cans and 10 minutes of waiting while the water seeps out. The original recipe says to bake the tofu, which I did for 10 minutes until I decided I wanted a crispier texture. I ended up pan-frying them the rest of the way and they came out beutifully. Next time I might try coating them with a touch of corn starch for added crunch.

Though the rutabaga admittedly did not stand out in this dish, you could use a combination of white and sweet potato with excellent results. You could also grate instead of cubing the potatoes, since we all have our geometric preferences. To make this spicier, if you end up with a weaker pepper like I did, add more cayenne and a dash of hot sauce to the hash. If this is too spicy, as some Poblanos end up being, whip up some vegan sour cream with that spare silken tofu lying around in your pantry.

Potato Poblano Hash with Tofu "Eggs"
Serves 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

Hash

1 Poblano, Anaheim or Pasilla pepper

2 c. Potatoes, russet or baking, rinsed and cut in ¼” cubes

1 c. Rutabaga, peeled and cut in ¼” cubes

2 T. Canola oil

1 Medium onion, chopped

4-5 Large garlic cloves, minced

1 c. Red bell pepper, chopped

½ lb Swiss chard, leaves and stems divided chopped

1 tsp. Salt (or to taste)

½ tsp. Cayenne

Tofu
1 14 oz package of extra firm tofu, drained
3 T. Canola Oil
3 T. Apple cider vinegar
1 ½ T. Soy sauce
2 tsp Garlic powder
½ tsp Turmeric
Hot pepper sauce to taste (Tabasco, Louisiana or other favorite brand)

Directions

Set oven to high broil setting. Broil whole pepper, turning occasionally, until blackened and blistered on all sides. Remove from oven and place in a paper bag to cool. When cool enough to handle, peel skin and remove stem and seeds. Chop and set aside.

While pepper broils, steam or parboil potatoes and rutabaga 3-4 minutes until barely tender. Set aside.

Heat oil in cast iron skillet and sauté onions over medium heat until starting to brown, about 10-15 minutes. Increase heat to high and add potatoes, rutabaga and garlic. Stir well to be sure vegetables don’t stick too much to the bottom of the pan, cook 10-15 minutes until vegetables start to brown.

While potatoes are browning, press liquid out of tofu by cutting the block into 6-8 slices. Place slices over a few paper towels on top of a cutting board. Place a pan or baking dish on top of slices and press down by putting a few cans of beans/tomato sauce/etc… in the dish. Let tofu press 10 minutes. When finished, place in a baking dish. Whisk together remaining ingredients (oil through hot sauce) and pour over tofu. Let tofu marinate while you finish the hash.

Add red pepper and chard stems to the hash, stir and sauté another 5 minutes or until pepper starts to brown. Add Chard leaves, roasted Poblano (or whichever roasted green pepper you chose), salt and cayenne. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Once chard is wilted and potatoes are sufficiently brown and crispy, remove from heat and set aside.

Coat the same pan in cooking spray and fry the marinated tofu until crispy and brown on each side, about 5-6 minutes per side. Remove and place over hash.

Comfort Food: Sweet Potato Parsnip Gratin

A classic French dish: layered potatoes oven-simmered in cream with a golden crust browning to a crunchy perfection…gratin. Whether you are familiar with the French, Southern or Midwest version, you most likely find the same console in a creamy potato casserole. Growing up, we often had scalloped potatoes thinly sliced with onions and ham, then baked in cream. Sounds like a real artery-clogger, because it is. It seems most dishes basking in cream with a sprinkling of cheese and breading on top cloud the naughtiness of their compositions by fogging our conscience with salty fat-laced goodness. It’s like a temporary anesthesia, but more importantly it’s like a time warp that brings me back to my Midwest innocence. My mother would argue with the innocence claim, but she could attest to my potato scarfing.

I had never made potatoes au gratin myself, even as an omnivore. Once I started paying attention to my health, I pretty much ruled out all things of such nature. Not realizing that a few simple adaptations could be made to restore the health and appeal many comfort foods, I long avoided recipes listing butter, cream and cheese as the key ingredients. After all, the only other ingredient in a gratin is potatoes! With what I know now, butter can be replaced with healthy alternatives like Earth Balance, there are a variety of other milks out there in this world, and bread crumbs or a bread crumb-nut combo are a good match for cheese to top off any baked dish. Most vegan parmesans consist of a finely ground blend of merely three (vegan) staples: nutritional yeast, walnuts and salt.

If it seems this dish would be lacking because it contains no cream or cheese, then the depth and creaminess of these root vegetables is highly underestimated. Sweet potatoes add a nice color and that omnipresent starchiness we love, while parsnips proved a nutty, earthy taste with a soft buttery texture. Maybe milk alternatives can suffice as the base, but I added a little sage and garlic to bring out the sweet flavors in the vegetables. You can try this with any herb combo like Herbes de Provence, thyme or marjoram. I found almond milk to be a good replacement, because it has more fat than soy milk but fewer calories overall. A little blend of Smart Balance and your oil of choice give it that slight fatty edge that mocks that happy quasi-coma aftweard.

Sweet Potato Parsnip Gratin

Serves 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45-55 minutes

Ingredients

2 Medium parsnip

2 Small sweet potato

1 Leek, leaves removed (white part and some green ok)

2 Large garlic clove, sliced

2 ½ T. Smart or Earth Balance, divided

1 tsp Coconut oil (or olive)

2 tsp Sage, dried

¼ tsp Nutmeg, ground

1 ¾ c. Almond milk

Salt and pepper
½ c. Bread crumbs, homemade or store bought

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Rinse, peel and slice vegetables into 1/8" think slices. Combine in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl, whip the garlic and 1 T plus 1 tsp margarine together. Add the coconut oil, sage, nutmeg and ¼ c. of almond milk. Heat marinade over low in a small sauce pan or microwave until just melted, 10-20 seconds. Slowly add another cup of almond milk to the marinade and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk together and pour over vegetables.

In a small casserole dish coated with cooking spray, alternate parsnip and sweet potato slices until bottom is covered. Top with half of leeks. Place another layer on top, alternating between parsnips and sweet potatoes. Top with remaining leeks and pour marinade over vegetables using any leftover milk if needed (milk mixture should come up to within a ½ “ from the top of the dish).

Cover and bake 35 minutes. While the vegetables bake, heat remaining margarine in a small pan and sauté bread crumbs over medium heat until brown, about 5 minutes.

Remove cover from casserole and bake another 10 minutes uncovered until the top starts to brown and vegetables caramelize. Top with prepared bread crumbs and bake an additional 5 minutes to let bread crumbs absorb into some of the liquid.