Aunt Peggy's Italian Zucchini Bake

This recipe can be found on page 141 of "Paula Deen's: The Deen Family Cookbook". Jason prepared this dish with a prep time of about 15 minutes and a cook time of 45-50 minutes (it took about 10 minutes longer to bake than called for in the recipe). It was VERY good, there was enough left over for lunch the next day and it was just as good then as it was for dinner the previous night.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons of butter or 1/2 a stick
1/2 a cup of chopped yellow onion
1/2 a cup of chopped green bell pepper
One 4 ounce can of sliced mushrooms, drained
One 1 ounce package Italian seasoning mix (it cost about $3.00 for a 4 pack at WalMart)
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
One 6 ounce can of tomato paste
2 1/2 pounds zucchini, trimmed and cubed
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Dice and chop all your veggies.





 Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and saute the onions and green peppers for about 5 minutes or until softened.

Stir in mushrooms, seasoning mix and salt.

Take the skillet off the heat and add the tomato paste and add 1/4 cup of water.

Stir till all the paste is dissolved.

Stir in the zucchini and transfer the mixture to an 11 by 7-inch baking dish.

 
Top with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the zucchini is tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.

 
Serve hot. and ENJOY.

This was a very easy recipe. Jason gives it a 1 it was so easy. This is another great way to use up some of the extra zucchini you probably have hanging around. You can also add squash to this dish if you don't have enough zucchini. Let us know if you try it out :)