Do you ever go to the farmer’s market or grocery store and purchase a boat load of fresh vegetables with all intentions of cooking them “all” in the next several days? And then real life happens. You have company come in town for the weekend, the grandsons really want you go to the driving range to watch them hit golf balls, there are five loads of laundry that you really need to do or summer is ending and you really want to go to the pool as much as possible? Well that is what happened to me this week. I went to the farmers market on Monday and was overzealous in my vegetable purchases. Today is Friday and I still have only used half of the vegetables I purchased. I open the fridge and looked at four absolutely stunning yellow squash and two bright yellow zucchini. Now the question of the week – what am I going to do with all this squash? I remember when I was little, we would go to our church picnics and several of the women would make this delicious squash casserole with cheese and Ritz crackers. I had never made it but why not right? So I pull out my laptop and look up squash casserole with Ritz crackers. And lord of mercy there were hundreds of versions of this recipe. So the decision has been made we will have squash casserole for dinner. Well that was until I opened the fridge and pantry. We did not have sour cream, we did not have cream cheese, and we did not have shredded cheddar. I asked myself in my usual self-conversation mode – “well what ingredients do we have?”. So my everything but the kitchen sink squash casserole began. I did have squash, a Vidalia onion, shaved Parmesan cheese, bacon and some left-over French-fried onions. (You will find that many of my recipes are pulled together from whatever I have in the fridge or pantry.) I pulled down my favorite extra-large stainless-steel frying pan and began creating a squash casserole. After it was cooked and I was finally able to sit down and enjoy the casserole I was delighted in how good it was. Don’t you just love when your attempt to make a new recipe and it really works out. Because yes there have been many recipes I have created that I told myself “yep, I will never make that again”. Honestly it was so good that we ate the entire pan.
Savory and Cheesy Squash Casserole
Course: Sides, VeggiesCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy30
minutes40
minutesThis was a recipe I put together in a pinch when I had way too many squash in the refrigerator. And it was oh so good.
Ingredients
5 yellow squash and/r zucchini cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 pieces of bacon
One finely sliced Vidalia onion (or sweet onion)
One teaspoon of roasted garlic or granulated garlic
One tablespoon of fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
One cup of finely shredded Parmesan cheese
One cup of French fried onions (you know the ones we add to every green bean casserole that we make)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
- Cut the ends off squash and slice into ¼ inch slices. If they are large squash, cut then down the middle before slicing.
- Take large stainless steel or cast iron skillet something that can go straight from the range top into oven and sauté six slices of bacon.
- Remove bacon but leave the bacon drippings in pan.
- Add finely sliced onions and sauté until tender about seven minutes. Remove onion.
- Add the sliced squash, garlic powder, salt and pepper and sauté until they are just beginning to soften.
- Remove from heat and layer the onion and bacon on top of the squash.
- Add parmesan cheese and fresh thyme.
- Bake in preheated over for 20-25 minutes. Until cheese is melted and gooey.
- Top with French fried onions and bake an additional 5 minutes
- Serve hot.
