Zucchini Rice Casserole

This recipe is my spin on Spicy Mexican Style Zucchini Casserole from AllRecipes. It turned out really, really well in my opinion! The funny thing is that I used a lot more rice than the recipe called for but my husband still thought it needed more. He loves rice though and would just as soon eat a big bowl of rice with nothing else for dinner every night :)

Quick note: I use Spice Island chili powder. There are a few herbs and spices that we use a lot of so buy in the jumbo container from Sam's. It's about $5 for a big container. I really like Spice Island chili powder but all brands are different since chili powder is a blend of spices. Spice Island chili powder is pretty spicy and seems to have a lot of cumin in it so I didn't add any pepper to the dish and used just a little cumin. The 2 teaspoons in the recipe may be too much or not enough depending on what kind you have.

Also to make this recipe more efficient, I suggest using either leftover rice or cooking enough rice for you to have with another meal. I plan to make Japanese Zucchini and Onions the day after tomorrow so will use the rest of the rice I cooked then.


Zucchini Rice Casserole

1 lb zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch thick half moons
2 T olive oil
1 can pinto beans, drained
16 oz can tomato sauce
2 C cooked rice
2 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t salt
1 C shredded cheese (cheddar, pepper jack, whatever)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 2 quart baking dish. In a large skillet, saute the zucchini in the olive oil over medium-high heat until tender. This will take 5-10 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients except the cheese. Spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish and top with the cheese. Bake 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly.

Yield: 6 servings

Pineapple Zucchini Bread

I'd never had, much less made, zucchini bread until last night when I made this. It turned out wonderfully though! We liked it hot from the oven and I had some for breakfast and as a snack later on. When I make other quick breads it tends to languish for a long time until we finally finish it but the first loaf is already half gone after one day in a house with two people. Usually we're not big fans of "things" in our bread but the pineapple and raisins are good. I like golden raisins a lot more than regular ones because they taste better to me but you can use regular ones and add in a cup of nuts if you feel so inclined. Before I made it (altered from this recipe) I was concerned there'd be too much going on what with the zucchini, pineapple, raisins and cinnamon- why not add in coconut and chocolate chips while we're at it?- but it's very yummy with great flavor and texture. The original plan was to give one of the loaves away but I cut the second one in half and froze it so we can enjoy it ourselves later ~muahaha~

A note on preparation: The original recipe says to mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, then to mix them together and stir in the raisins. I pondered that for a couple seconds and then just stirred it all up. Maybe the bread would have risen more if I'd done everything separately, but I can't imagine it turning out any better than it did! The original also had some cockamamie method for preparing the loaf pans and removing the bread. I skipped that completely and just greased nonstick pans and the bread came out fine after cooling in the pans.

I do have to admit that I accidentally left out one of the eggs. The recipe called for 3 and I only used 2. You can go either way. My bread ended up more cakelike in texture. You'd have a hard time holding a slice of it in your hand and eating it. The third egg may give it a more bread like texture. We like it a lot the way it turned out (who doesn't like cake?) but next time I'll toss in the extra egg to see what happens!

Behold the ugliest delicious bread ever:


Pineapple Zucchini Bread

2 C grated zucchini, squeezed dry (measure after squeezing!)
8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained
2 C sugar
1 C vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
3 C flour
1 C golden raisins
1 T cinnamon
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/4 t baking powder

Preheat oven to 325 and grease two nonstick 9 by 5 loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the first 6 ingredients until well combined. Add remaining ingredients and stir just until it comes together. Do not over mix! Divide batter between the two prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaves comes out clean, about 1 hour. Cover with foil partway through baking time if the loaves are getting too brown. Remove from oven and allow bread to cool in the pans.

Zucchini Patties

My little garden is officially done for the year. Here are the last of my tomatoes, I think they're so pretty:

But I'm not sharing any tomato recipes right now. We're eating the red ones raw and the green ones are going in the freezer. But prepare for zucchini week, my friends! Yesterday my mother-in-law and I saved the last of my zucchini from the threat of frost. Here's what we got:


That's 6 pounds! I insisted that my mother-in-law take one of the smaller ones home with her but we still have a lot to use on our own before it goes bad. This summer I didn't cook a single thing that came from my garden (except green tomatoes) because everything was so good raw, but this is a lot of zucchini for two people so simply nibbling on it raw isn't going to cut it. To kick off the zucchini extravaganza, I made zucchini patties. They turned out quite yummy. Very cheesy and the zucchini flavor is mild so they'd be great if you're burned out on zucchini or cooking for someone who doesn't usually like it. We had ours with pizza sauce, buttered orzo, raw zucchini with ranch, and the last of the red tomatoes on the side and it was a pretty fun dinner for some reason.

The zucchini patties are my version of this recipe from AllRecipes.


Zucchini Patties

2 C grated zucchini, squeezed dry (measure after squeezing!)
1/2 C freshly grated parmesan
1/2 C grated mozzarella
2 eggs
1/3 C Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
3 T flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
olive oil

Stir together everything but the olive oil. Grease a large nonstick skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium. When the skillet is hot, make 4 mounds of the zucchini mixture and flatten to about 1/2 inch thick. Cook until browned, about 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook on the other side. Serve with pizza sauce or sour cream.

Yield: 4 servings