Facebook tends to go through phases of vegan crazes. Chickpea meringue, Betty Crocker & pop cake, potato-carrot cheese sauce and of course the good old “carrot hot dog”.

My feed is currently filled with pictures of buns containing what looks like an orange bratwurst. I’ve been dying to have a go myself, but since I wasn’t in a bread kind of mood, I decided to make a hot dog casserole – something I loved before I went veggie.

I followed this recipe by Clean Eating Veggie Girl to make my hot dogs. It was very easy to follow, you just need to remember to make well in advance. I was a bit dubious about the end result but I was amazed at just how hot-doggy this humble root vegetable could be!

This dish is an easy way to eat the rainbow and is packed full of vitamins, fibre and protein ♥

Carrot-hotdog casserole

Ingredients.

4 x carrot hot dogs (chopped – see above link for recipe)

200g back beans (cooked)1 x onion (diced)

½ x orange pepper (diced)

2 x medium potatoes (skins on, chopped into chunks)

1 x clove garlic (minced)

1 x courgette (chopped into chunks)

1 x cup aubergine (diced)

1 x cup cherry tomatoes (halved)

1 ½ x cups spring greens (sliced up)

500g x passata (i.e. 1 carton)

1 x cup water

2 x tsp dried thyme

2 x tsp sfv veg bouillon

2 x tsp smoked paprika

Salt and black pepper to taste.

Optional – coriander leaf to garnish.

Method:

Grease a baking tray (I used Frylight spray) and add the tomatoes and aubergine. Sprinkle with salt and pepper before roasting in the oven at 180 o C for 10 – 15 mins. In a pan, add the passata, water, bouillon, thyme, paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over a gentle heat. In the meantime, fry the onions until translucent (about 3 mins).

Add the potato and fry for a further 5 – 10 mins (until the edges of the potatoes start to brown). Add the pepper and garlic and fry for a further 5 mins. Add the fried and roasted ingredients to the passata along with the spring greens and pearl barley.

Stir well and cook over a medium heat until the potato and pearl barley are tender. Stir in the beans, courgette and chopped carrot-hot dogs and continue to heat until the carrots are piping hot all the way through (although don’t allow to go mushy).

I served on a small bed of rice with a not-so-small glass of prosecco on the side.

And as with most tomato based dishes, this one gets even better when left for a day and re-heated!

Flash-Gordonette…X