Grandma's Veggie Casserole by Wegmans

The main ingredient in Grandma's Veggie Casserole is zucchini. Zucchini is just a variety of summer squash that's another name for this variety of summer squash. The difference between summer squash and winter squash basically is that summer squash is tender on the outside, you eat the whole veggie, whereas winter squash are usually harder and the outside has to be peeled off before you can enjoy the inside flesh. When I shop for zucchini, what I'm looking for and what I prefer are the zucchini that are small to medium size because I feel that they're more tender and flavorful that way, and then the inside seeds haven't had a chance to develop yet. So this one is my preference. I need some breadcrumbs, and our Italian Classics Seasoned Breadcrumbs have herbs and cheese in them already, and it's a lot easier than doing it yourself. So the last thing I need to make this recipe is a jar of Grandma's Pomodoro Sauce. This is a great pantry item to have on hand at all times because you can use it for so many different things. It's pomodoro, or tomatoes, some basil and some onions. So, let's get busy cookin'. Making this recipe is like building the layers of a lasagna without the pasta. I'm starting out by spraying the bottom of my baking pan with some cooking spray. That'll just help the veggies from sticking to the bottom of the pan. And to that, I'm adding about a cup and a half of Grandma's Pomodoro Sauce. And once I get that out, what I'm gonna do is shake the pan a little bit, just move it around a little bit like this just to evenly distribute it all over the place. There we go. All right. And then we're layering the zucchini, overlapping them a little until all of the zucchini is used up and the bottom of the pan is covered. I'm putting on the last two here. And on top of that, sprinkle evenly with bread crumbs. All right. Adding some seasoned salt to this. Very, very lightly. Some fresh ground black pepper. Our fried peppers go on top of that. And a pair of tongs works real easily to evenly distribute them on top. Then on go the mushrooms. And a little bit of dried basil. And finally the rest of the jar of Grandma's Pomodoro Sauce. And I'm covering this with aluminum foil and I'm gonna pop this in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for about 45 minutes until the zucchini is tender. Now that this has been in the oven about 45 minutes, very, very carefully remove the foil away from you because you might have some steam escaping there. Now I'm adding about eight ounces of shredded mozzarella cheese and I'm gonna pop that back in the oven for a couple minutes just until the cheese melts. So if you're looking for more ways to use zucchini, give Grandma's Veggie Casserole a try.