Cooking for a toddler is the worst, amIright? Even for parents who, pre-child, looooooved to cook, the repetition and pressure of having to create 3 well rounded meals every day of the week (don’t get me started on the black hole that is “snacks”) for tiny humans who are world-renowned for being highly selective, shaky with utensils, and having limited palates, is joy-sucking to say the least. By Sunday night, I’m too tired and uninspired to even think about food let alone make it.  But I do love sitting down to a comforting Sunday supper and, let’s be honest, also want to make sure that of the 6 meals my child ate this weekend, at least one had vegetables.

Enter my all time favorite, easy peasy dump-and-bake, life-changing casserole. It makes a solid four servings (in my two-person household that means Monday dinner is also covered), requires minimal chopping, minimal ingredients, is healthy, more delicious than it should be and always feels like a win. 

I adapted it from this recipe to suit my daughter’s taste and there’s been no looking back. And that’s the beauty of it. It’s highly adaptable. I’ve made it with green beans, corn, summer squash and peppers and it’s turned out great every time. The secret is to use a very flavorful veggie broth, something punchy that really shines. Then dump it all in a baking dish, forget about it, and 45 min later, dinner is served. If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turns out (and if it brings even the tiniest sliver of joy back to your kitchen on Sunday nights)!

Sunday Supper Chickpea Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1x 16oz can of chickpeas drained and rinsed (you could also work from dried, but who are we kidding?)
• 1x Medium or 2x Small Carrots, sliced into half moons
• 1x Small Zucchini, sliced into half moons 
• 1x large clove of garlic minced
• 1x cup of white Jasmine Rice 
• 2x cups of Veggie Broth
• 2x TBS of Nutritional Yeast, plus more to taste
• 1/3 cup of frozen peas, thawed
• To Taste: salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425F
2. Add the chickpeas, sliced vegetables, minced garlic and rice to a 9×13 baking dish
3. Bring the veggie broth to a boil. Once boiling, add in the nutritional yeast and stir.
4. Gently pour the broth into the casserole dish and make sure everything is evenly spread. 
5. Cover the casserole dish in aluminum foil and bake for 45 min or until the rice is tender.
6. Remove casserole from the oven and carefully peel back the foil, then sprinkle the peas on top. Recover the casserole and let it steam for about 5 min, until peas are warm and cooked through.
7. Enjoy!