Vegetable Casserole

We have summer squash & zucchini coming out of our ears over here, even though none of my plants have even though about growing. I guess I'm thankful for that now as I can't keep up with what I have.

One night, I started 2 recipes the same way- sauteing onions, squash and zucchini. To this pan I added some canned tomatoes, then pureed it all for a delicious sauce.

I put it over some frozen gnocchi- the sauce was delicious, the gnocchi were terrible (although the kids liked them). It did go thru my mind "I bet these would be so good homemade" then I imaginearly kicked myself and said to "cut it out!"

Then I started over again for the vegetable casserole. Yesterday, I was on Joanne's blog, Eats Well With Others, drooling about Caprice salad- a favorite summertime dish. This is another of my favorite dishes. This is a recipe I got from a friend years ago that was a recipe from her mom I believe. They always have it at their parties, and now I make it every summer myself. When I first made this recipe, it was the most labor intensive recipe I had made. I remember thinking how many dishes it used, how much of a mess it made, how long it took to cut everything, and was it really worth it. Yes, I have come a long way!

Vegetable Casserole

2 lbs each (3 med) summer squash & zucchini sliced diagonally

1 cup grated carrot

1 onion chopped

1/2 red pepper chopped

1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup

1 vegetable/chicken bullion cube

sliced mushrooms

1/2 pint sour cream

7 oz pepperidge farm herbed seasoned stuffing mix

1/2- 1 stick butter, melted

Directions

1. Saute squash, zucchini, onions & peppers. Drain off water. Add carrots & mushrooms, keep warm.

2. Warm soup, mix with bullion cube and sour cream.

3. Mix stuffing with butter.

4. Mix vegetables, soup & 1/2 of stuffing mix and put into 13x9 inch baking pan.

5. Top with remainder if stuffing mix and bake at 375 degree oven for 25-35 minutes or until browned on the top and bubbly.

This really is one of my all time favorite recipes. I usually leave the mushrooms out because the kids don't like them and I usually don't have them here. I will also skip the pepper if I don't have any and the carrots if I'm short on time. Because really, its all about using up the squash & zucchini. I usually use a whole stick of butter, because why not? It's veggies right- there for healthy. And I have used other stuffing mixes- sometimes you have to crush them up a bit with a rolling pin first if the pieces are really big. Last night I made it with breadcrumbs because I had no stuffing mix and that was pretty good. What wouldn't be good when mixed with a whole stick of butter?