With the weather starting to cool here in Australia, I thought I’d introduce you to one of my favourite winter meals, chicken and vegetable bake.

This meal is not only comforting in the cooler months, but it’s packed full of vitamins, fibre, protein and calcium. It’s also wonderful for your gut health thanks to the wide variety of vegetables. If you’ve read my post on gut health, you’ll know that eating a wide variety of plant foods each week results in a more diverse, and resilient, gut microbiome.

This recipe is a great base for getting creative by adding in different vegetables or even bits of bacon for flavour. I could imagine eggplant would be nice in this dish! I also often add in mixed frozen vegetables for added variety and to make it more affordable.

As always I like to make my recipes gluten free so those of us with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity or coeliac disease can join in on the fun. Almost all of the ingredients in this recipe is naturally gluten free, you’ll just need to pick up some gluten free cornflour. If you’re using store-bought grated cheese, I also encourage you to double check the allergen labels, as some grated cheeses will contain gluten.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! It’s my go-to meal for meal-prepping throughout the cooler months. If you make it and share it online, feel free to tag me (@chantelouisee).

Ingredients

2 zucchinis (cut into half moons)
3 medium carrots (sliced)
1 medium potato (cut into 1-2cm cubes)
1/2 medium sweet potato (cut into 1-2cm cubes)
3 cups pumpkin (cut into 1 inch cubes)
1.5 cups broccoli florets
1.5 cups cauliflower florets
2-3 chicken breasts (cut into cubes)
1 cup leek (chopped)
4 cups milk
4 tbsp cornflour (gluten free)
2 cups grated cheese
1 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried chives
garlic infused olive oil

Instructions

White Sauce

Add 4 cups of milk and 1 tbsp of butter to a sauce pan and place on high heat. Bring to the boil and then simmer.
Place 4 tbsp of cornflour in a bowl and slowly add milk until it becomes a paste. Add this to the saucepan and stir constantly.
Once the mixture has thickened, stir in 1 cup of grated cheese.

Chicken & Vegetables Bake

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius.
Cook the chicken with leek and olive oil.
Lightly steam all the vegetables.
Add the vegetables and chicken to a glass baking tray (mine was 33cm by 23cm).
Pour the white sauce over the vegetables and chicken.
Top with remaining cheese, salt, pepper and dried chives.
Bake until golden brown (approximately 25-30 mins).

Notes

You could also add some chopped bacon to this recipe for added flavour.

Chicken & Vegetable Bake [GF]