Broccoli and Cauliflower Casserole

To make it easy to get my veggies in at every meal I wanted to make sure I had something yummy to eat.  I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com.  It includes rice so you get your starch and veggies all in one dish.  I decided to switch out the rice for quinoa because it's higher in protein and I like it better than brown rice.  All the recipes for quinoa tell you to rinse it thoroughly before you cook it.  I never had.  It's supposed to remove the bitterness.  I've never noticed the bitterness but I have noticed a kind of weird taste.  I figure the next time I use it I'll have to try rinsing it and see if the flavor is better. 

You make it just like you make rice (other than the rinsing).  So it's direct replacement.  I didn't use the full cube of butter the recipe calls for.  It seemed excessive.  I just melted a pat of it to cook the onion in. 

I think a pound of processed cheese food is excessive too at least in terms of a ratio to veggies.  If/when I make it again I'd either half the cheese (or more likely) up the veggies by half. 

I mixed the milk and cream of chicken soup in my mini blender before I mixed all the ingredients together in a 13x9" pan. 

I used about a tube and a half of Ritz crackers for the top.  Then it all went in the oven.  Thirty minutes later I had a yummy veggie casserole that I've been eating all week. 

Once it was in oven I realized I hadn't taken any picture...  Oh, well.  I figure the most important picture is the one of the finished product and I remembered that.

It's pretty cheesy - you can really taste the Velveeta.  So if you don't like it this isn't the dish for you, otherwise it's pretty delish.  You could mix and match the veggies to suit your tastes and what looks good the store.  My kind of recipe - flexible!