Cheesy Zucchini Casserole

I woke up the other morning with a slight nagging feeling of what to do with the pile of zucchini in my fridge. I had been playing dodge ball with them all week. All the traditional methods of cooking zucchini didn't sound good. Therefore I didn't prepare them at all.

And then viola, Allrecipes sent a newsletter with a recipe video for yellow squash casserole. The recipe called for squash (or in my case zucchini), eggs, Cheddar cheese, bread crumbs, and milk. Done and done. I had all of those items. Although, I was going to have to 'make' bread crumbs with my saltine crackers. So I jumped out of bed ready to tackle the zucchini.

First on the agenda was to crush crackers with a rolling pin. I was so pleasantly surprised how easily they crumbled. Just a few rolls of the pin, and crackers transformed into crumbs. I sauteed the zucchini and onion, added a touch of bacon for a hint of salty, and and pulled out fresh figs as a sweet finish for the meal. Standing there sipping coffee while it baked for 20 minutes, I was quite pleased the universe answered my plea for a new way to cook zucchini.

Cheesy Zucchini Casserole
Inspired by Allrecipes.com
Makes about 4 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 zucchini, thinly sliced
1/4 onion, thinly sliced
salt and black pepper
1 slice cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup bread crumbs (or cracker crumbs)
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese
1 egg
1 egg white
1/4 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon melted butter


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter an 8x8-inch baking dish.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat; saute zucchini and onion until lightly browned and softened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer squash mixture to a medium bowl and mix in crumbled bacon.

Mix bread crumbs and Cheddar cheese together in a separate bowl. Whisk egg, egg white, and skim milk together in a third bowl; pour egg mixture into squash mixture and mix well. Pour about half the bread crumb-Cheddar mixture into squash mixture and stir until bread crumbs are evenly moistened.

Pour squash mixture into the prepared baking dish. Stir melted butter into the remaining bread crumb-Cheddar mixture until moistened; sprinkle over casserole.

Bake in the preheated oven until casserole is set and topping is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Cool in the baking dish for about 10 minutes before serving.