Duke of Zuke

A very wise woman once told me “if you have to buy a zucchini at the store, it probably means you don’t have many friends”. HA I think she may have been a little biased as she was from a very small town in a rural area which also happens to be home to the Vermont State Zucchini Festival. Yes, Christa, you’v been outed so to speak.

After a Facebook discussion with my very dear friend about gluten free and casein free recipes, I looked at my recipe boxes in a whole new light. I’ve never had to deal with any kind of food allergy for myself, but know plenty of people with those kind of restrictions. I found plenty of chicken with x sauce or fish with x vegetables recipes. However, most casseroles I make either have wheat, dairy or both. It was so much easier dealing with these types of issues at our work functions when I was just making sure the kitchen knew of a restriction. It’s a lot different when I have to suggest recipes for home use. What’s a girl to do?

I settled on zucchini cornbread casserole, partly due to knowing that Ludlow Vermont is home to the Zucchini festival and partly because it seemed like a good recipe to adapt.  After all, I would say most grocery stores have a gluten free option for the corn muffin mix. As for the dairy items, eggs do not have gluten or casein and the cheese could easily be substituted with a vegan cheese that you like.

Zucchini Cornbread Casserole

Ingredients:

4 c. shredded zucchini     1 onion, chopped     2 eggs, beaten

1 8.5 oz. pkg. corn muffin mix     1/2 tsp. salt     1/4 tsp. black pepper

8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350.
2. Grease a 2 qt. casserole dish.
3. Mix together the zucchini, onion, eggs, muffin mix, salt and pepper.
4. Stir in 1/2 the cheese.
5. Spread in your greased casserole dish.
6. Top with the remaining 4 oz. of cheese.
7. Bake for 60 minutes.

I realize after writing out the instructions to this recipe, it also qualifies under some of my other objectives for this blog. It’s relatively simple and not time consuming to put together. It’s a vegetarian dish, so you can make it relatively quickly, without worrying about defrosting meat before heading out for a jam packed day. Finally, for those who have kids, it’s a pretty kid friendly in the kitchen dish. You may have to shred the zucchini and chop the onion but they can do the rest of the measurements and the mixing. You’ll slide it in the oven for them and in an hour, you’ll be able to enjoy a meal together that everyone helped with!

As always, have fun!