now...thanks to a few early-Fun-Monday-checker-inners, my post for Lisa's theme--
"I want to see your favorite recipe, be it either because your grandmother wrote it, it's the easiest thing you can slap together that everyone likes, it makes you feel healthy, it's cheap, etc. You don't have to make it (although you could if you want) but let us see the index card, cookbook, printed paper from the web, and why it's a favorite in your house. If you have a lot, just pick one, I know I'll have to!"
--shall be for the BEST SQUASH CASSEROLE known to man and beast! I expected one of my chocolate choices to "win"; but to be honest? Sometimes I load up on this and pass up dessert--no matter what dessert may be!
The first time I met the Super Woman who would eventually become my mother-in-law, she included this dish with Sunday lunch. Oh!My!Word!--although I spooned just a smidgen on my plate to be polite and suck up to my boyfriend's mother (up until that point, lawsy me, I wouldn't have touched squash, for goodness sakes!), I had to go back for seconds...and then thirds. Squash became my New Favorite Vegetable, and to this day, it still is (with Silver Queen corn in hot pursuit).
Was it a compliment she said to me, "I'm so glad you EAT...so many girls your age pick like a bird..."? Yes, coming from my MIL, it most certainly WAS a compliment, but I kinda felt like a heifer after that...I was in college...on the "meal plan"... home-cooked food was not only rarity, it was delicacy.
This is a simple, easy side dish for which friends of mine always request the recipe after I serve it...let me know how you like it if you try it :).
First, the essentials--the ingredients.
The only thing I forgot to include in the "before" photograph is about three tablespoons of butter--HOW COULD I FORGET THE BUTTER?! I'll be posting "during" and "after" shots after I actually cook this in a little while; for now I wanted to get the recipe up since many of us surf early in the day.
Oh....I included a shot of the recipe book that holds all my hand-written recipes (including the one for Supreme Squash Casserole and the first cookbook I bought myself--the "Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook"--it's hardly "new" anymore, but it has been a faithful companion for over two decades. Apparently I started cooking in my tween years ;).
Supreme Squash Casserole
About 6 yellow crook-necked squash, scrubbed and sliced
1 Vidalia Onion, diced (any onion will do, but I'm partial to the sweet ones)
1 egg
1+ cups grated SHARP cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt & pepper to taste (whatever that means)
3 Tbl. butter
1/2 Sleeve of Ritz Crackers, smashed to obliteron
Pre-heat oven to 400°.
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Place sliced squash and diced onion in pot. Almost cover squash with water, add salt and pepper, and bring to a boil on stove. Then, cover with a lid and simmer for about 20 minutes (until tender), stirring occasionally.
Drain squash.
Mix together egg and milk. Put 1/2 the squash in a greased casserole dish. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheese over this layer and pour 1/2 of the egg/milk mixture over it. Add remaining squash, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and pour remainder of egg/milk mixture over it (if you pour the entire egg/milk mixture over the top layer, it doesn't seep well enough into the squash and you get an eggy soufflé thing poufing out the top, which may sound good, but trust me...it isn't :/). Did I really just use the word "remain" or some derivative of it three times in one sentence? What a wordsmith....!
Cover top of casserole with smashed Ritz Crackers and dot generously with butter. The more buttah the bettah if you ask me!
Cook at 400° for 30-40 minutes, uncovered, until bubbly and browned (I have cooked this at a lower temperature when other things have been in the oven...)
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1) I'm off to a meeting, but then I'll put this dish together and post pictures a bit later on.
2) Please visit Lisa for the rest of the Fun Monday players (and if you'd like to add your name to the list, it's NEVER too late to do so!).
3) I'll post links to the recipes I've posted before later on today (thanks to those of you who asked).
4) Because I LURVE all the dishes mentioned in the previous post, for each recipe that was requested via comments, I'll be posting those in coming days weeks month soon (I'll try to let you know :) ).
5) PLEASE CHECK BACK TOMORROW--I have the privilege of hosting Fun Monday next week and it'll take me that long to come up with a theme. :)
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More picchas and cookin' chit chat:
Squash cooks down a good bit; this time I used about 8 cups of squash, but it cooked down to much less than th
at. Look at the before and after:
This is a fun little kitchen gadget--I call it my "Smash-crackers-into-obliteron-er"-- although it actually grinds them into their de-constructed crumbly state. 
I suppose you could simply put the crackers in a zip-loc bag and smash 'em with your fist, but where's the fun in that?
I'm done...the recipe is done...I don't think it's ever taken me so long to complete a post or to stop and start as many times as I have for this one...off to finally visit some other Fun Monday posts!
