I was victimized by the glamorous world of Facebook reels. If you have read this blog for a while, you've read my confession that I end up down those rabbit holes.  I especially like to watch cooking videos on Facebook and I really like reality TV cooking shows.

I'm a huge fan of the "Great British Baking Show" and if we had cable or live TV, I would be watching every Gordon Ramsay TV show live. Last week,  binged-watched the Korean cooking show on Netflix called "Culinary Class Wars." I found it very interesting because I had never been exposed to Korean food. I had no idea what those ingredients were and found it very interesting. I just loved the dramatic English translations of the Korean language.  I'm enthralled with how easy they make it look to cook those amazing dishes. 

In any case, I felt cooking-inspired since we arrived back from the Great White North. This is a very sad thing because I'm married to a man who is probably a tad neurodivergent, likes predictability and gets cranky with change. This is why our nightly meals for the week are pretty predictable. Monday night is big salad with baked chicken tossed in it. Tuesday is our 'fish' night where we have grilled Mahi-Mahi or seared Ahi Tuna with rice (maybe not rice for me) and asparagus. Wednesday is a weird day. It's burger night. We alternate burgers and steak for me every other week, because I love steak, and he does not (who is this guy???). So, when I have steak, hubby has a salmon burger (I hate salmon). On the alternate week, we have beef burgers or if I'm truly dieting, a turkey burger for me. Thursday is date night, so we go out to dinner somewhere. Friday through Sunday we will have a meal that I make which is usually either baked chicken or a pork tenderloin, a meal that hubby makes which could be anything, and one of those nights (usually Friday or Saturday) will be another big salad with baked chicken.  These weekend meals happen in any order. 

This meal predictability makes shopping and meal planning pretty easy. It drives my sister NUTS. She always exclaims "What if you don't feel like having fish on fish night? What if you want something else?"  I respond: "then I guess we will make something else?" It's not that complicated. Very rarely do I not feel like eating what we have planned for that night. Maybe I'm a tad neurodivergent too.....

So, when I saw a few Facebook reels of some meatless casseroles, I was intrigued. Would they have flavor? Would they be satiating? Would they be as filling as a meal with meat?  These were all questions I had but I wanted to try and make one. I told my husband that I wanted to add a meatless meal to our rotation. It didn't go over as enthusiastically as I'd hoped. Out came grumpy sourpuss. I knew that beans and lentils were going to be the key to helping the dish to be somewhat satiating. I found a zillion recipes, of course, for lentil casserole. I picked one that required only a few ingredients I didn't have and adapted it for our taste.  See the link below for the recipe I used. 

I did make a few adjustments, and technically it's not quite meatless because of the stock I used:

I used one red potato and one sweet potato (I didn't measure the amounts).

I substituted a package of organic frozen butternut squash cubes for the peas because my husband hates peas.

I went very easy on the onion, using half of a yellow onion.

I added two chopped up mini sweet peppers.

I opted for the fire roasted diced tomatoes.

I used jarred minced garlic instead of chopping cloves.

I used chicken stock because that's what I had in the cabinet (yeah, I know, not quite meatless).

I didn't use the parsley.

I went easy on the shredded cheddar cheese but sprinkled some grated parmesan cheese on top of the shredded cheese.

Preparation Notes:

I put all the vegetables that I chopped up in a large bowl and mixed them up before dumping them on top of the lentils that were already in the baking dish. I wanted to be sure they were evenly distributed in the baking dish. Then I poured the chicken stock over it all. 

It cooks for a long time, one and a half hours. You have to stir it halfway through. It will look very watery and soupy at this point, but the water eventually evaporates or gets absorbed by the end of the cooking time. 

This casserole, as I prepared it, was absolutely delicious. I could have eaten half the pan in one go. My husband thought it was really good as well, which is a huge win. He is not a fan of vegetables, choking them down because they are healthy. His only complaint was that it needed more protein. The sweetness from the sweet potato and butternut squash really added to the dish, I think.  However, I think leaving the peas out made it less filling because I didn't feel as satiated as I expected. I wanted to snack within an hour of that meal.  Going forward, I think I would have to add some beans, either white beans or chickpeas. I could also add a little rice to this or more potato, which is a very satiating food. I think I would also add some green vegetables to it next time, maybe some chopped spinach and some broccoli. I think keeping a sweet potato and/or butternut squash is a great adjustment to this dish so I will continue to do that. 

You can make it meatless by using vegetable broth or give it a protein boost by using bone broth or adding some beans and rice to it.  If you are calorie conscious, you will have to find ways to combat the high calorie items (cheese) in this dish.  I will probably try some bone broth.

According to the recipe, one serving is 406 calories. That's pretty good for a whole meal. I'm sure I ate more calories than that, but maybe not as I didn't use as much cheese as it called for.

I'd say that this dish is definitely worth trying and I'm going to make it again. My husband's sister is not a big meat eater, and I told her I would make it for dinner for us all one night next time she comes to visit. 

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we have as it is very calorie friendly and healthy.