Zucchini Beef Casserole

Zucchini Beef Casserole

Zucchini is one of my favorite things to grow and eat. Some years the crop is a little too large and baking bread gets boring. This is a great way to use up all that extra zucchini! Yes, it calls for boxed and canned "stuff", but that's part of what makes it so easy to get together. 

Zucchini Beef Casserole

Zucchini Beef Casserole
Printable Recipe
Hands-On Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 1 hour 
Serves: 8

1 pound ground beef, pork, turkey or chicken
6 cups diced zucchini (about 3 medium)
10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom, celery or chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 package stuffing mix
1 1/2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Brown ground beef and drain well. Put into a large mixing bowl.
3. Cook zucchini in a little water until just tender - about 5 minutes. Add to beef.
4. Heat 1 1/2 cups water to boiling. Remove from heat and add stuffing mix. Stir and let stand until water is absorbed. Add to beef and zucchini.
5. Mix sour cream and cream of soup and pour over beef, stuffing and zucchini. Blend well.
6. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish and bake for 45 minutes until bubbly and browned on top.

More Fried Squash Blossoms

I shared these last year - and you can see that post here: http://cookingwithanne.blogspot.com/2008/07/fried-squash-blossoms.html , but here are a few photos from the ones made today.

Fried Squash Blossoms

Stuffed and Fried Squash Blossoms

I've been growing zucchini for several years now and I never really took the time to pay enough attention to determine which flowers were male and which were female. As a result I've missed out on many a fine dish of fried blossoms.

This year I went out and took photos as the buds, and then flowers, were growing and figured it out. Now I'm going to pass on this wealth of info to you - aren't you happy to have found my blog?

The male flowers are attached to longer and thin stems. It was fairly easy to figure this out once I took into account the fact that none of those stems was sturdy enough to support a growing zucchini. Then I found the zucchini that were growing and not only are the female flowers smaller, they are attached directly to the tip of the growing zucchini, which grow from the base of the plant.

So, there you have it. Leave the girls behind and pick the boys as soon as they open. Rinse them off, make sure there are no bugs inside and remove the stamens. Now they're ready to be used.



I mixed up a bowl of 4 ounces goat cheese with chives and 4 ounces cream cheese along with a tablespoon of snipped chive from the garden. I filled a decorating bag fitted with a large star tip with the goat cheese mixture and then piped it into the blossoms.



I closed up the petals and dipped into a loose batter before frying in a half inch of hot oil for several minutes on each side until golden brown.


Drain well and try to eat just one!

Veggie Wednesday

A single photo should do it for today ~ this is that zucchini flower from last week, opened. How pretty is that?



For anyone keeping up with my husband's health saga, there is an update HERE.

Veggie Wednesday: Grow Your Own IV

Part four! Yes, I'm going to continue this until I can effectively convince at least one person to attempt to grow his or her own veggies. I mean really, this is definitely one of those, 'if I can do it, you can do it' deals.

I'm no farmer Brown, and yet I've managed to grow my own vegetables and herbs in a very small plot for 5 years (non-consecutive). I've done it completely organically, as well, and I am of the mind that anyone can achieve the same.

I don't get bumper crops, but I do get enough to extend our food stores for several months in the summer, and that's good enough for me. Everyone should grow some type of food whether it's in a container, the ground or hydroponically. If we all did it, there would be quite an impact on our not-so-happy-at-the-moment earth.

So, here's what is going on in my backyard:

Lovely mint. It grows all by itself with very little need for me at all. I make the most killer Mint Pesto from this and dunk it in almost everything I drink.

A zucchini flower...
...and another. Beautiful.
Flowering cucumber vines - and dirt under my nails! It's actually one of my favorite things.

Remember those week-old bean plants? Look at them now! Flowers galore means beans galore.

Our lettuce is all eaten up - by us! It made a delicious salad. The radishes didn't fare so well. I hadn't turned over the ground deep enough and they didn't get very big. Live and learn; I'll definitely try them again next year.

Now, stop sitting in front of that computer and go out and grow something!

Veggie Wednesday

Zucchini Frittata

6 large eggs
6-8 fresh basil leaves, cut into strips
1/2 t fresh oregano, minced
1/2 c cottage or ricotta cheese
5 Ta grated Parmesan cheese
2 T olive oil
1 medium tomato, sliced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Beat eggs with salt, pepper, basil & oregano. Stir in
cottage cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese.
Saute the zucchini in the olive oil until lightly browned.
Pour in egg mixture, top with tomato slices and sprinkle with
remaining Parmesan.
Cook over medium heat until eggs are set in bottom of pan, about 10 minutes.
Place under broiler until lightly browned. Serve in wedges.

***********************************
NOTE: If you have been so kind as to visit my Disney blog at Family.com, (in my sidebar--Cookies to Caviar)--give a thought to registering and leaving a comment or two, would you? (Pretty please!) Registering takes just a few seconds and once you're done, you're good to go and can share your view and rate articles and sites. It's worth the look!

And now...back to our show. Thank you :O)

Veggie Wednesday

Lebanese Zucchini
From The Frugal Gourmet
Jeff Smith

Serves 8

4 medium zucchini
1 cup long-grain rice
1 yellow onion, peeled, chopped, and browned
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon dried dill
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups tomato sauce, canned

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.
Cook the rice. Mix the rice with the yellow onion, salt, pepper,
lemon juice, allspice, cinnamon, and dill.
Use to stuff the zucchini shells. Lay them, face up,
in a baking dish, and add tomato sauce to the bottom of the pan.
Do not cover the squash with the sauce.
Cover, and bake in a 350° F oven until tender but firm, about 1 hour.
Serve with a little of the tomato sauce on top.

Veggie Wednesday

Vegetable Strudel

I made this last week and it was so delicious. I don't really have a recipe so I'll just try to lay it out for you.

I had one sheet of puff pastry left from my Salmon Napoleons and, since it was thawed, needed to be used. I chopped up tri-color peppers, a medium zucchini and a small onion into a small dice. I sauteed these in some olive oil. I added a bit of veggie broth and about a tablespoon of Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb. I let it cook down until everything was soft and all the liquid was gone. I then cooled the whole thing and spooned it in a strip down the center of the puff pastry. I closed up the sides and baked in until it was golden brown.

I think mushrooms would be fabulous in this and I wish I'd had some!

Veggie Wednesday

I feel like I'm cheating since I have blogged this before, but it's such a wonderful and warm dish that it would be perfect on a day like today (read: now sleeting on top of several inches of snow). Even if the weather is fine where you're at, this is perfect~I think ratatouille works no matter what the weather is.

Anne's Ratatouille

1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 T olive oil
1 small eggplant cubed
1 medium zucchini cubed
1 medium green pepper seeded and diced
1 can (15 oz.) tomatoes, chopped and undrained
10 mushrooms (white button) sliced
1 t each basil and oregano
1 t salt
1 T parsley chopped
1/3 c parmesan

In a large skillet cook onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent.
Add remaining ingredients except cheese and stir well. Cook on low, stirring once in awhile, about 25 minutes until tender and liquid has evaporated.
Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Serve warm or cold.