So Long Summertime!

  Is it really September??? Say it ain't so!  We hope this means cooler weather...at some point.  But before those garden zucchini or the last of your tomatoes disappear, you need to make this delicious eassssssy little dish.  We call it Zucchini Casserole - although I believe it originally called for yellow squash, we've never tried it any other way. A friend of ours gave us this recipe more than 15 years ago and we've been making it ever since.  Thank you Renee!!!!  This recipe can be made with store bought zucchini and even canned tomatoes - sliced or diced - we have tried it every way and it's always just as good.  Zucchini, tomatoes, shredded cheddar and a few basic spices - that's it - that's all you need and it is A.mazing!

WHAT YOU NEED:

(for a 9x13 pan)
5-6 medium zucchini

2 cans sliced or diced tomatoes
OR
5-6 medium fresh tomatoes

garlic powder

salt and pepper

non-stick spray

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray.

Wash and slice zucchini and tomatoes if need be.
Begin layering ingredients in the casserole dish.

You really can't mess this up.

Begin with tomatoes - cover the bottom of your dish

sprinkle lightly with salt pepper and garlic powder.

Next, cover tomatoes completely with sliced zucchini
and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle completely with shredded cheddar
and continue layering until you've used
the remainder of your ingredients
or your dish fills up - whichever comes first.
We usually end up with 2-3 layers.
Cover with foil and bake for
45 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove foil at the end of baking
and continue baking a few more minutes.

This will be lava hot for a good 20 minutes or so!

Let it cool a bit before consuming.

THIS IS SO YUMMY!

Our kids have always loved it as well
zucchini and all!

ENJOY!

Free Recipe Friday...it's CRUNCH time!

Have your side dishes gone to sleep?!

Are you tired of baking that routine chicken breast

and plopping open a can of plain ol' green beans to go with it?!

......snore, yawn, zzzz........

Does your meal need a little ZING or a little POW added to it?!?

Well, if you like beans and corn 

then you're gonna LOVE this weeks Free Recipe!!!!

It's not just ANY bean and corn casserole...

this one reigns SUPREME!
It's got great crunch to it and a GREAT alternative
to the old green bean/mushroom soup/fried onion casserole standby!!!!!

(do I like all caps, the ... pauses and exclamation marks much?!???
sorry, it's a SICKNESS............!!! ahhh)

Here's all you'll need!

1 can french style green beans, drained

1 can shoepeg corn, drained

1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 onion, diced

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

- - - - -

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup almonds, sliced or slivered

(ours were whole that we ran thru the food processor)

Spray a 9x13 pan and dump the first 5 ingredients in.

In a separate bowl, melt butter, then add

a crumbled sleeve of Ritz crackers - stir to combine.

Add cracker mixture to bean/corn mixture and stir.

Lastly, sprinkle the mixture with almonds and bake at 350

until golden - appx 45 minutes or longer.

Let cool for 10-15 minutes to avoid lava hotness :)

(Side note - for a family of 6, we doubled this so we could have leftovers!)

ENjoy!!!!!!!

Free Recipe Friday. . .It's Breakfast Time!

If you've ever been to any kind of large family function, potluck, etc.

you have most assuredly had some form of a breakfast/sausage casserole.

There are as many variations of this casserole as there are

bread types!  If you have never attempted to make one,

this one is a pretty good and easy start.

Ellen Watson of Kilgore gave me this recipe

(along with many others) more than 20 years ago.

I don't believe I ever attempted to make it until about 5 or more years later.

It's funny how it has since become

a Christmas tradition in our household.

Even though we have since acquired other favorite breakfast foods....

we just can't stop making THIS one for Christmas!

It's just tradition.

You will only need a few basic ingredients,

and you can most certainly add to these...

such as throwing in a few hashbrowns, etc...

half this recipe or double it. 

It is VERY forgiving...you can easily fudge

the quantities of any of the ingredients!

1 lb. ground pork sausage, cooked

10-12 large eggs, beaten

3 cups milk

2 tsp. dry mustard (or a few squirts of reg. mustard)

2 tsp. salt

1-2 tsp. black pepper

8-10 slices of bread, cubed or torn (any kind or a mixture)

2 -3 cups shredded cheddar

Brown sausage, crumble while cooking and drain.

In a separate, medium size bowl, whisk eggs.

Add milk and remaining ingredients.

Stir well.  Toss in cooked sausage and pour all into 

a Pam sprayed 9x13 casserole dish.

Bake in a 350 oven for 45-60 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit at least 15 minutes.

The original recipe says to prepare the casserole the night before...

and bake the next morning.

That was actually what enticed us to make this for

an early Christmas morning breakfast to begin with!

We have since learned we can whip it up quickly

in the wee hours of Christmas morning

AFTER viewing Santa's bounty.

We toss it into the oven while everyone

oogles over their gifts and while we wait for it to cook,

James cuts open boxes, adds batteries to toys

and we both slurp down our coffee.

The deliciousness comes out of the oven about 45 minutes to an hour later.

We traditionally (as if the casserole was not enough),

heat up some flour tortillas, get out the Albert's Hot Sauce

and turn our servings of this casserole into a breakfast burrito...

along with a few slices of good naval oranges or clementines!

Mmmm...I can smell that orange peel NOW!

We can't wait to have this on Christmas morning...

we hope you will be enjoying something yummy as well!

Merry Christmas!

Free Recipe Friday. . .A Taste of the Gulf!

Even though I am married to a 'Taylor', 

it also means I am married into a long line of Zimmerman's
on my mother in laws side.

Without giving you the whole family tree,

that side of the family is being represented here today

as we go back in time on this Free Recipe Friday.

I was given this recipe wayyy back in the early days of our marriage.

One day, back in the mid 80's, my sweet hubby and I

had driven his Granny and Grandad Zimmerman

down to Beaumont to visit their son Stanley, wife Arlene and their family.

We stayed only for the day...but had a great time
watching Uncle Stanley sit in his chair and smoke his pipe,
catching up on family news and happenings...but before leaving,

Aunt Arlene cooked us the most fabulous lunch...

a meal I had never, ever had before.

I asked for the recipe and am forever grateful that she obliged!

We have been making this for years!!!
(The oleo listed below even shows the recipes age!)
I'm not sure if this was something Aunt Arlene concocted on her own,
if it was an old recipe or a common one - but oh so glad
it made its way to our taste buds!
It is basically a stuffing....although we have never 'stuffed' anything with it...
but I'm sure you could get really adventurous
and stuff a turkey or a chicken with this yumminess -
just be really careful about cooking it all the way through.

Our kids used to pick the shrimp out of it, grrrr.

There was nothing so aggravating as heading to the fridge

in anticipation of eating some leftover 'Aunt Arlene Special'

and you open the lid and someone has picked half of the shrimp out!

But surely no one in YOUR family would EVER do that!!!!

(Thankfully, our kids aren't so picky anymore!)

So, here you go...Aunt Arlene calls it Seafood Casserole...

our family has tried to rename it...but, to me it will always be

Aunt Arlene's Seafood Casserole...

you really need to make it nowwww!

INGREDIENTS

1 stick oleo - melted (butter or margarine)
1 small onion - diced
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon mustard

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8 oz. pkg - Pepperidge Farm Herb Stuffing Mix
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
1 can crab meat 
(we recently substituted half of a can of pink salmon
and is was just awesome!)
1 lb. medium size raw shrimp - peeled and deveined
(fresh or frozen)

Now here comes the really difficult part...
combine all ingredients in a medium size bowl.
Just dump 'em in there...all of it....and give it all a good ol' stir.
Now, spray a casserole dish (equivalent to a 9x13)
with non-stick cooking spray and dump the mixture right in.
That's it....that's all there is to it!
Bake in a 350 oven for 40-45 minutes.
If you overfill your dish as I did, you may want to make sure and
bake it on a cookie sheet to catch any dribbles.
Serve this up with a good green salad
and maybe some crunchy bread or good crackers.
This is even great made ahead!