Taking Your Vegetables All At Once

This is roughly the oven equivalent of an Opportunity Knocks Stew. Like a stew, it offers the chance to use up a little of this and a little of that in a colorful, delicious dish. Prep the vegetables in the morning, then blend the eggy cheese sauce and bake while you grill or fry some meat.

On a hectic night, a vegetable bake turns hamburger patties into a full-blown dinner.

Please take advantage of the adaptability of these ingredients: add the vegetables you have on hand, use different herbs and spices, mix and match types of cheese. Olives, pimientos, capers, shallots, and colored sweet peppers all make the dish look festive. Then there’s bacon, ham, and leftover sausage…

Or have some fun and bake in the hollowed halves of hard-shell squash or in muffin cups.

Monterey Jack Vegetable Bake

Serves 6

Preheat oven to 350°F

Ingredients

1/2 pound broccoli
1 smallish onion, diced
1/2 pound carrots, diced, in coins, or in pencils
other vegetables hanging around and bothering your refrigerator
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
6 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
4 TBSP soy sauce
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dill weed
1 tsp celery seed
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, in cubes

Place vegetables in a 3-quart baking dish.

Grate cheese in a blender, using the milk and eggs. Add soy sauce, spices, and herbs. Pour this mixture over the vegetables.

Bake about 50 minutes at 350°F, until top is golden and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.