Recipe of the Week

Every summer, it happens here in Southern Indiana. People harvest their gardens and find that they have grown a bumper crop of tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and zuchinni. After the joy of eating the first few home grown meals has worn off, the panic sets in... what to do with all these vegetables?!? Around here, people give away squash and zuchinni like crazy to anyone who will take them. Everywhere you go, someone has brought in a plethora of vegetables waiting for hungry bellies. After receiving a bunch of squash from my mom, who got it from our church's food bank, which is overloaded with said vegetables that are threatening to go bad before they are given away, I decided to try out a new recipe.

Squash Casserole

6 cups of diced yellow squash (it took about 3 medium sized ones)
Vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
4 T butter
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup crushed Club crackers
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Saute the squash in vegetable oil over medium-low heat in a skillet until the squash has broken down (about 15-20 minutes). After it looks pretty mushy, pour the squash into a colander lined with paper towels. Squeeze all of the water out of the squash and set aside (I used the bottom of a cup to squeeze it out. I don't think I got all of it out, but it didn't really matter, just try your best!) While squeezing, saute the diced onion in 4 T of butter for about 5 minutes, until soft and transparent. Put the squash and onion into a greased casserole dish and add 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 cup cheddar cheese and salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste (I probably used about 1/2 T of each). Mix it all together, then top it with 1 cup of crushed cracker crumbs. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the crackers are a goldeny-brown color.

Mmmm, delicious! It's my new favorite casserole recipe. It's not too cheesey, not too creamy, not too squashy... just right. So if you too have had the squash (blessing? curse?) bestowed on you, give this a try! Yum yum!