‘Clean Out The Fridge’ Casserole

We’ve got all the feels for the Autumn season over here!! Crisp mornings, spiced coffee, surrounded by ever changing colours, and beautiful warm sunsets. My mother in-law was just here for a week visit and we were going on about how great casseroles are! Honestly, you can throw anything and everything, but the kitchen sink in there. We were also discussing how her two sons despise casseroles.. and how that could ever be! The rich, creamy, hearty flavours just SCREAM Fall and well for me I just can’t get enough.

My husband left us this morning for the week to head out of town for work. And while I had a few minutes before Ben woke up from his nap, I thought best to scrummage through the fridge for something to prep for dinner. I found all these bits of vegetables I had from this past week, along with some shredded chicken and buns that had seen better days. I had made a breakfast casserole during the holidays with similar ingredients, so of course ding, ding, ding! CASSEROLE!! Daddy’s out of town so I can make whatever I want for dinner and cross my fingers the kids will eat it and bonus this should easily last us 2-3 dinners so less prep and mess for me!

My sous chef and ingredient model for today!

I chose to roast the vegetables just because I prefer the flavour, but sautéing your vegetables on this step will work perfectly fine as well.

‘Clean Out The Fridge’ Casserole

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 c. chopped raw/cooked vegetables (I used broccoli, butternut squash, onion, carrots)
4 c. cubed bread
1 c. of shredded or cubed leftover meat or lunch meat
5 large eggs
1 c. milk
2 tsp. dried/fresh herbs (I used fresh oregano, thyme, rosemary)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
2 c. shredded cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Celsius.
Lightly oil a 2 quart or 9×12 baking dish.
If using raw veggies, chop veggies into bite size pieces and roast for 15-20mins in a little olive oil, salt and pepper.
In the last 5 minutes of roasting, add choice of meat, and cubed bread to soak up all that goodness left in the pan.
After 20 minutes or until veggies have softened, transfer to the baking dish.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and choice of fresh/dried herbs.
Pour over bread mixture and with a spoon gently toss to allow egg to soak through.
Cover with shredded cheese and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese has browned.
Let stand for 5 minutes and serve.
Enjoy!

This last month or so we’ve really been trying to use up our leftovers and clean out the fridge before we stock up again as best we can by either reheating yesterday’s meal for dinner or creating something new out of it. Casseroles are so quick and easy, and your options are endless. Emma has also been going through a picky stage of not wanting to eat, when previously she’s been at least willing to try. So preparing dinner with vegetables I know she likes, providing variety within those few options she will eat and also trying to include her as much as possible in the process so that she will hopefully (fingers crossed) give it a go has been our tactic lately.. Any tips on picky eating!!? Help..

Little fun fact about me.. I hate measuring. I much prefer to cook than to bake. My family always gives me grief about rushing through the recipe and not following each instruction. I’d much rather come up with my own concoction, throw a little this, a dash of that and uusssually it turns out well! This recipe is everything I hoped it would be, the sweetness from the butternut squash, hint of savoury from the poultry seasoning, and crunchy cheesy topping reminds me of Thanksgiving dinner drool..

I would love to hear about how you use up your leftovers! Any of your little one’s favourite recipes please leave them in the comments for me!! And if you give this recipe a go, let me know what you think!

Andreana xo