Double Squashy Casserole

Double Squashy Casserole
Dorcas Annette Walker

Yesterday I was cleaning my veggie garden spot to make it look a bit tidier where stalks of corn and vines have dried up. Time always flies when I work outside on a sunny day soaking up the warmth before autumn’s chilly blustery weather arrives. Harvesting seeds always gives me the same kind of thrill as canning produce for my pantry, but then I’ve been a pushover for saving seeds since the first year of marriage. I was fascinated to discover when the brilliant marigold flowers grown from a thin packet of seeds dried out that the pods were full of seeds. Little did I realize back then as I zealously broke off and saved each dead flower pod that not only was I keeping my window box looking tidy, but my efforts were a direct result in making the marigolds bloom like wild creating an eye-catching spot on the college campus.

Gathering seeds always brings back memories of all my other landscaping endeavors throughout the years where my husband pastored churches that I had to leave. Now that I’m living on my own piece of land I am a bit garden crazy. This year I grew gorgeous tall sunflowers that towered over everything else. After letting the birds eat a good portion of the seeds, I gathered seed pods to save while letting some fall to the ground to come back up- a rule I follow for every seed I harvest. If only humans patterned their lives after seeds what a better world we would live in. Once planted a tiny seed will produce lovely blooms, and then depending on the type of plant yield food to sustain human life and before dying give back seeds to reproduce their existence many times over in the cycle of plant life that the creator ordained.

So a kind deed given to someone else has a way of multiplying like seeds creating a circle of goodwill that eventually will find its way back to you in a bountiful measure. I love watching how a smile or considerate word changes an unfriendly atmosphere into pleasant conservation. We humans have the choice of leaving our fellow man feeling better for seeing us or letting our chance encounter in life become like a pesky weed.

For some reason growing squash reminds me of good deeds spreading everywhere. You never know where one will grow next. The yellow squash is like a ray of sunshine. This week I tried a new recipe I named Double Squashy Casserole to use up some yellow squash and zucchini. The Double Squashy Casserole tastes like a fresh summer garden with its colorful slices of squash with chopped onion in a creamy sauce topped by bread crumbs. Preparation time for my Double Squashy Casserole is around forty-five minutes and this recipe serves twelve.

Double Squashy Casserole

2 medium yellow squash
2 medium zucchini
1 small onion diced
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1 (10.5 oz) can of cream of mushroom soup
1 c milk
1 (6 oz) box of chicken stove top dressing

In a 9 x 13 oven dish thinly slice the yellow squash and zucchini alternating layers of each while sprinkling onion and cheese on each layer of squash. Mix together the soup and milk and pour over the top. Sprinkle the stove top dressing over the casserole. Cover with tinfoil and bake at 350º for thirty-five minutes. Serve hot!

Weekly tip: There are almost 100-150 varieties of squash classified in two categories of winter (hard skin) and summer (soft skin). Both have a good source of vitamin B1, C, folic acid, fiber, and potassium!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com