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Cool casserole during hot weather

Recipe: Zippy Zappy Zucchini can be made in microwave

Casserole dish with baked casserole
Zippy Zappy Zucchini can be made in the oven, above, or in the microwave. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)
Zucchini, the butt of countless squash jokes, microwaves well. That's an important attribute when it's too hot to turn on the gas. Steamed in the microwave, zucchini retains its shape and a little of its crunch.
(Boiled, it becomes super-soft "squish.")
I started making this recipe when I got my first microwave -- circa 1978. The original came in a cookbook with that durable Hotpoint, which lasted more than 20 years.
Tweaked through the decades, Zippy Zappy Zucchini outlived the appliance, and sometimes gets made in the gas oven, too. Baked in a conventional oven, this eggy side dish or breakfast casserole develops a golden brown "crust" and top. Zapped in the microwave, the eggs and squash retain their original light yellow and green color.
Either way, it's simple and delicious. And unlike many squash jokes, this dish with a funny name always makes me smile.
Zippy Zappy Zucchini
Makes 4 side-dish servings
Ingredients:
3 cups zucchini, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup water
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco or similar hot sauce
1/4 cup peppers, seeded and chopped
1-1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
Butter for baking dish
Slice of casserole
In the oven, the casserole develops a golden brown top.


Instructions:
In a large microwave-safe bowl, put zucchini, onion and water. Cover with plastic wrap, vent on one side. Microwave on HIGH for 7 minutes. Drain.
Beat eggs together with hot sauce. Add chopped peppers to zucchini and onions. Then add veggies to egg mixture. Fold in shredded cheese.
Butter an 8-inch round baking dish. Pour mixture into prepared dish. Cover loosely with a paper towel. Microwave on MEDIUM HIGH for 8 to 10 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife inserted near the middle comes out clean.
Conventional oven method: Steam zucchini and onion together on top of the stove until fork tender. Combine ingredients as directed. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake casserole uncovered for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

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* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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