New Recipe: Turlu Turlu Turkish Vegetable Casserole (and Beauty Detox Blogger Recipe Mixup Assignment!)

 It’s been quite the Turkish-themed week on our blog, hasn’t it? I was so thrilled with all the fresh veggies and traditional dishes there, that I wanted to keep the Turkish party going with a recipe.

But first, I also want to congratulate all that participated in our Glowing Green Soup (GGSo) Recipe Mixup from last week! I was highly impressed with all the different ideas and beautiful pics of the different versions. Check out four of our faves here! 

Thank you Lijda de Koning (A), Laurene D Jones (B), Kati O’Brien (C) and Jill Hardt (D), for your beautiful versions and pictures!! Amazing and inspiring job.  And I can’t wait to see what you and everyone comes up with this week :).   
  

For this week’s recipe, I made it as soon as I woke up this morning. Isn’t it amazing how strong the sense of smell is? While it was baking and the scent of the casserole started wafting through the house, I immediately thought of our time in Turkey, walking through the café-lined streets and through the ancient squares and spice market.

There are many different ways to make Turkish dishes of course, like any type of cuisine. While some styles call for cooking some ingredients separately and combining them, I wanted to go for the easier/less time consuming mode of “toss it all together and bake it!”

To save time, sometimes I slice the zucchinis at the same time :).

Here is just some of our veggie bonanza to make this recipe. Gorgeous colors!

Traditional casseroles are served in Turkish restaurants guvec-style, which is steaming out of an earthenware baking dish. Unfortunately I do not have one (though I did make it out of Turkey with a pretty awesome pepper grinder!), so I just baked my casserole in a glass baking dish. You can use any kind of casserole dish you like.

Olive oil is pretty ubiquitous in Turkey and is in many of the dishes. But as you know if you are a long-term Beauty Detoxer, we prefer to bake and cook at higher temps with coconut oil rather than olive oil. With all the spices, I don’t think it changes the taste too much. I hope you feel the same!

Beauty Detox Bloggers! Your assignment is to create your own version of this recipe and post about it/take pics, by next Wednesday, June 11^th. Next Wednesday we’ll display some of the best participant photos from the assignment again. Try adding different veggies, your own favorite herbs and spices, or whatever you like. Just remember to keep it all plant-based/dairy-free, gluten-free, free of agave and artificial sweeteners! Please always link back to the original recipe here as a reference, and if you post on social, please use the hashtag #beautydetoxrecipe! 

Turlu Turlu Turkish Vegetable Casserole Recipe

Serves: 2-4 (sometimes one! I ate this whole thing between lunch and dinner. But hey, I was hungry, and what better to eat than a plate of veggies!)

• 2 courgettes/zucchini, sliced and quartered
• 2 cups tomato, chopped into 1” pieces
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 cup carrots, sliced into 1/4” pieces (in other words, pretty thinly so they cook about the same rate as the other veggies)
• 1 red pepper, cubed
• 2 cups of brown mushrooms, sliced into 1/2” thick slices
• 1 Tbs. fresh red chili, chopped
• 1-2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp. cumin
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• Black pepper to taste
• High quality sea salt, to taste
• 2 Tbs.coconut oil + enough to grease dish, if necessary
• ½ cup water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Chop all your veggies and throw them in a bowl- yippee! I just love throwing it all in there at once. Toss in the spices and coconut oil. Season the salt and pepper to your taste.

Grease your casserole dish or baking dish if necessary (depending on the material), and add all the veggies into it and spread evenly. Pour the half cup of water over the entire casserole.

Bake for about 1 hour, or a little longer depending on your oven- until the veggies have softened to your liking. Take a little taste and adjust to your seasoning, as necessary. Enjoy after and/or along with a big raw salad, and perhaps with some quinoa or brown rice.

In conclusion, here’s what to do: 

1) Prepare your own version of the recipe and take nice pictures of the process and final dish from multiple angles. Remember, lighting makes a big difference!

2) Put your recipe up on your blog and be sure to express your thoughts about the process, as well as linking back to this recipe post. 

3) Put your recipe post into the Facebook group and/or on our main Facebook page, so that others in the community can see it! 

4) Email the link to Katelyn, our community manager, at beautydetoxgirl (@) gmail dot com so she knows you completed it and can be recognized for your work. 

5) Share your post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram — and be sure to hashtag #beautydetoxrecipe so that others can find it. 

Hopefully that’s clear. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. 

Really excited that you’re going to be trying this recipe and can’t wait to see what you come up with! 

Talk again soon!

Love, 

Kimberly