This Vegan Cheese and Bacon Mash Casserole (Jessica in the Kitchen) is as near to comfort food heaven as you can get. Made with a vegan creamy mash (along with garlic and onion powder), it’s mixed with breadcrumbs and grated vegan cheese, then baked in the oven until golden brown. Top with chopped onions and vegan bacon.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets. Leftover mash should not be fed to dogs (or garden birds or wildfowl) due to salt and butter – which can smear on feathers, affecting waterproofing and insulation). If you wish to give dogs an occasional mash potato treat, just mash potatoes with a little water (no butter or salt).
To save on food waste, you can make your own breadcrumbs from leftover bread using this Doves Farm recipe. Cut sliced bread into chunks, then pulse in a blender, and bake for around 10 minutes, then leave to cool on a tray. They should keep in an airtight tin or sterilised jar for a few weeks.
Vegan butter usually contains palm oil, but all Flora brands (along with Naturli and The Flower Farm) are widely sold in stores, and free from palm oil.
You can find good vegan bacon in most shops these days. La Vie is the most popular brand (it’s sold worldwide including in France, where it’s made). It really does look, smell and taste like the real thing. And know that even if you eat real bacon, we don’t have enough land in England for everyone to eat free-range. So even people who eat meat, help to reduce factory farming, by eating plant-based bacon for at least some of the time.
