I'm famous!

Well, almost.

In some tiny circles.

Maybe.

Okay, so not really at ALL, but I FELT famous!!

We'd been invited to a church-and-community get-together and potluck supper at the home of some friends on Sunday afternoon, and I was tempted to make a standard fall potluck dish I often bring to our church Thanksgiving dinner. I ran out of time, however (translate: mismanaged my time), and ended up doing something a little simpler.

Which turned out to be a good thing, too, because two other women brought "my" casserole!!

One was a woman from church to whom I'd given the recipe after she'd requested it when I brought it to a church meal the first time. The other was a community woman I didn't really know, who had gotten the recipe from the first woman, who had obviously brought it to a community function in the past where it had been enjoyed! I felt so important!!

They'd both personalized it a bit ~ one had added a pork chop layer at the bottom, which was really tasty, and the other had added pre-cooked shrimp, which I didn't care for quite as much, but wasn't bad.

I don't know if I've ever shared a recipe on my blog here before, but this one seems to be a hit, so if you're like me and always on the look-out for ways to use up the produce of one excessively prolific zucchini plant (or FIVE of them!!), you might want to give this a try.

 Zucchini Carrot Casserole

Photo Credit HERE

• 1/2 cup margarine (or butter)
• 4 cups zucchini, unpeeled and chopped and thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces)
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 10 ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup uncooked bread stuffing mix
• 2 tablespoons margarine (or butter)
• 1/2 cup uncooked bread stuffing mix

Melt first amount of margarine in frying pan. Saute zucchini, carrot and onion until tender. (This may have to be done in batches) Add more margarine if necessary.

Stir in soup, milk, bouillon, first amount of stuffing mix and salt. Transfer to 2 quart casserole dish.

Melt remaining margarine in small saucepan and stir in remaining stuffing mix. Scatter over top of casserole.

Bake uncovered at 350F for about 25 minutes.


Unfortunately, no photos of this EXACT dish exist in my files and I couldn't find any online.  The photo I used is from a virtually identical recipe that calls for 1/2 c. sour cream instead of milk (and celery soup instead of mushroom; I've also seen cream of chicken ~ those three are pretty interchangeable).  I have never tried the sour cream thing; might have to give it a shot this year.

But believe me, even sworn zucchini-haters have been known to change their tune after sampling this dish! For serious.

After the first church potluck I brought it to, another woman asked me for the recipe, and then casually asked what was in it. When I told her the main ingredients, her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"But I don't eat zucchini, Tammi." she said. "I don't LIKE zucchini!"

Well, I hated to break it to her, but that obviously wasn't completely true anymore.  She still often asks me in fall if I have an extra zucchini or two so she can make this casserole a few times.

And I ALWAYS have extra zucchini.

It's the one thing that consistently grows very successfully in my garden!