A Healthier (Vegan) Tian de Courgettes au Riz (Zucchini Tian)

Today as I was about to start making  my normal lunch of sautéed zucchini and squash with roasted brussels sprouts I had a thought that had never crossed my mind before...

What would Julia Child do. 

I have always thought it would be fun to cook my way through her cookbook (like that one movie) but let's be honest it's not the most healthy option out there, even though it may be the tastiest so substituting quite a bit this is more of a zucchini, squash, asparagus, bell pepper tian. Which I love, the more diversity the better :) but if you'd rather not have something just omit it, but trust me it turned out delicious and I wouldn't change a thing. 

The reason I decided to have such a mix of veggies was because I was running out of squash and zucchini and needed around two pounds and I swapped the milk with almond milk for more calcium and fewer calories. The easiest change was brown rice rather than the normal white rice. Again if you don't want to run to the store feel free to just substitute with whatever you have on hand. 

The only problem I have with mixing veggies is it always seems that one over powers the rest. Not in this recipe. They all sing together perfectly to make the perfect side dish or (as I used it as) a meal. Not to mention it keeps perfectly and is just as yummy to eat cold. 

Ingredients

1/2 lb zucchini (1 zucchini 7-8"), grated

1/2 lb squash (1 squash 7-8"), grated

1 lb asparagus (around 24 spears), finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

2/3 cup brown rice (you cannot use minute rice) 

1 cup onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbs flour

2 1/2 cups liquid (drained vegetable juice and almond milk)

2/3 cup vegan parmesan cheese (I used GoVeggie!)

Salt & Pepper 

2 tps Olive oil

Recipe

 Preheat oven to 425

1) Place grated and chopped vegetable in a colander over a bowl and salt with 4 teaspoons of any type of salt and let sit for 5-10 minutes. While the veggies are draining boil salted water for the rice. When water is boiling pour in the rice and let boil for 10 minutes. Drain, set aside.

2) Place minced onion in a frying pan and cook until almost translucent and slightly browned. Then mix in the garlic.

3) Squeeze all the remaining liquid out of the veggies and mix the veggies in the frying pan with the onions and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle the flour on top of the veggies and mix. After two minutes take the veggies water and add milk to it until it is 2 1/2 cups and mix the milk mixture with the veggies. Let simmer for 5 minutes. 

4) Add the rice to the mixture and continue simmering until the mixture has a thicker texture, around 2 minutes. Fold in all but 2 tbs of the parmesan cheese. Pour the mixture into a well greased baking dish and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Drizzle the olive oil over the cheese and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until the cheese is browned and most of the liquid is absorbed into the rice. 

There you have it! A healthed up, easy Julia Child's kind of recipe! This makes the perfect side for six or dinner for three. Because it's under 200 calories it really does make an awesome accompaniment. I'm not going to lie though I made this when I was home with just Foster and I had a hard time not eating the whole thing.