Ham and Vegetable Casserole, Take 2

Since my veggie-ham casserole was such a big hit last time, and, other than the kohlrabi, I had all the same ingredients, I decided to do it again!

I did change it up a bit though. I had 5 small organic blue potatoes that we bought at the farm in September that were sprouting, so I cut off any sprouty-bits and cubed them up instead of the kohlrabi*. And we added** in 1/4th of an onion (for some reason we have 3 onions lying around.) Otherwise, it's mostly the same recipe.

some amount of blue potatoes (cubed)*

1 lb yellow potatoes (cubed)

2-3 carrots (cubed)

1 small head cauliflower (chopped into bite-sized pieces)

1/4 medium yellow onion (diced)**
2 cups diced ham
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tsp minced garlic (roughly 2-3 cloves. I used 3.)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp each salt and pepper (based on your taste. I left out the pepper.)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

I followed the same cooking directions as last time:
Mix the cut veggies in a large bowl; mix the oil, garlic and seasonings in a small bowl, then combine to coat the veggies.

Bake in a large casserole pan at 450 F for 30 minutes, stirring every 10. Sprinkle cheese on top and cook for 5 more minutes. Another change I made was that I only stirred the parmesan in a little bit. I mostly left it on top to brown this time. And I added closer to 1/4 cup, which is more than I used last time.

I chose to try and cube the carrots this time, since my husband didn't like all the different shapes last time (the carrots were coined, the kohlrabi was coined and cut into smaller bits, while everything else was cubed.) It doesn't really matter, except for how soft they get while cooking. And depends on your aesthetic views. But with all cubed, it was much easier to spoon (or fork) up a variety of tastes together.
While digging through the produce drawer to see what else I might want to add, an "Oooh! A zucchini!" quickly became "Ewwww. Moldy zucchini." So I won't know how that would have tasted unless I try this again. The purple pepper that my husband had promised he'd eat and one of my eggplants (from, like, 3 weeks ago) were also beyond salvaging. Ah well. At least I got to use the blue potatoes my sister and husband ridiculed me for not throwing out a few weeks ago! (I did chop off any section looking remotely sprouty, since I think I read somewhere that the parts where the sprouts come out are poisonous... something about being related to the deadly Nightshade family!)

The verdict:
I didn't really notice the onions, which is good, since I hate the taste of onions. The cauliflower was mushy, and the carrots were a little firm, but the taste was great.
Z told me about 50 times that she hated it and it was yucky and the worst ever, without actually having tried it yet. When she finally realized I was serious about her eating the dinner I made or nothing, she ate the ham and raved about how delicious it was. (We are trying out a new policy, starting tonight. Eat what we make and get dessert. Have us make something else instead and no dessert. We've all gotten into the habit of just making her a PBHoney sandwich or mac-n-cheese or something instead of having her eat what we're eating, which all the books/blogs/articles say is a bad habit to get into. We do have one exception, which is that if the food is really too spicy for her, then we'll make her something else upon request. And since she's more tolerant of spicy hotness than I am, I can gauge whether or not I think it's really too spicy for her or if she's just trying to work the system.)
My husband kept hollering from the other room that it was good and he really liked it. I know he had seconds, and probably thirds, since there's not enough left to make more than a snack for Unka Seesee when he gets home! (Sorry Seesee!)