Recipe of the Week; OH MY GOSH! SQUASH!

I think Pennsylvanians should rename August "Squashugust". Seriously, the zucchini and squash are plentiful... the Amish are selling them six for one dollar! (In January, we'll be paying six dollars for one squash.)

I really do love it, however, and when my baskets runneth over, it's time to crank the creative wheel in the kitchen (or hop onto the internet) and find a good way to use 'em up; something other than zucchini bread. Or zucchini lasagna. Or kabobs. Or...

You get the picture. When my Mom sent me home with a bunch of the big yellow and green vegetables (or are they fruit?) a couple weekends ago, I had two recipes in particular that caught my fancy. Today you get two recipes, instead of only one. I hope you enjoy them, as I certainly have!

This first recipe is a staple for squash and zucchini user-uppers. It's good for both, and I actually prefer to mix the two. It's a combination of a few recipes that I've gathered through the years.

SQUASH AND ZUCCHINI CASSEROLE

aka "Squasherole"

Ingredients

6 cups squash and zucchini, diced or sliced into rounds
Vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup dried bread crumbs, or crushed butter crackers

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sauté the squash and zucchini in a little vegetable oil over medium-low heat until it has completely broken down, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain in a colander, pressing out the excess moisture. Set aside.

In a medium size skillet, sauté the onion in butter for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from pan and mix all ingredients together except bread crumbs. Pour mixture into a buttered casserole dish and top with bread crumbs. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
Top with additional cheese before serving.

This next recipe was something I happened to catch Ellie Krieger of Food Network's Healthy Appetite grill up one Saturday morning. Genius idea... delicious results. This is a great recipe for summer too, as I had plenty of spinach, parsley and basil from the garden on hand.

GRILLED ZUCCHINI ROLLS WITH HERBS AND CHEESE

Ingredients

3 zucchini (about ½ pound each), sliced lengthwise into ¼-inch slices
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pinch ground black pepper
1 ½ oz. soft goat cheese
1 tablespoon freshly minced parsley leaves
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup baby spinach leaves
1/3 cup basil leaves

Discard the outermost slices of zucchini and brush the rest of the slices with the oil on both sides. Season with salt and pepper. Place on a preheated grill or grill pan for about 4 minutes on each side, or until tender.

In a small bowl, combine the goat cheese, parsley leaves and lemon juice, mashing with a fork.

Put ½ teaspoon of the cheese mixture about ½-inch from the end of a zucchini slice. Top with a few spinach leaves and 1 small, or half a large, basil leaf. Roll up and place seam side down on a platter. Repeat with the rest of the zucchini slices.

*To appease my carnivore husband and take the extra step to ensure that they're not too good for you, I sprinkled some cut up cooked bacon in with the cheese. I much preferred it without.

Now, what to do with all these acorn squash...