Ode to summer squash

John will be very happy when he doesn't have to come up with a suggestion for dinner for the rest of this week and next week and possibly the next. Tonight I set out making summer squash casserole. For those of you not familiar with it, here goes. You see my mom and dad don't like to waste much. Especially something that grows in the garden. It's hard work and you should use it all. Even if that means creating a casserole that gives you left overs (meaning breakfast, lunch and dinner) for weeks. The only thing you have to add is cream of soup and stove top. Both of which can be found in the food storage supply at any given time. There you have it. The birth of summer squash casserole. When I was a teenager that was a great "diet" for me. I would eat it for dinner on the first night. I may even have it for lunch the next day based on the schools choices but that was the line. My mom and dad would eat it for every meal until the pan was empty. Not so bad if there would have been 15 of us living at home but with only 3 of us that could go on for weeks. By the time that pan was done there was so much squash growing in the garden that mom would make another casserole. Most people never run out of milk in their fridge. We never ran out of casserole.
So tonight I donned the apron and did it. I used everything fresh from farmers market or Tim and Leslies garden. I even made breadcrumbs because my food storage is not up to par and I didn't have stove top. I changed the rest of the recipe because, well you guessed it, I didn't have it either. Never fear, I usually do change recipes and they usually work. The down side is......the recipe calls for two cups of squash. Being the diligent daughter that I am I measured the squash. When I got the two cups I still had 1/3 of a squash and I know someone worked very hard to grow that stuff so I had better use it up. I made enough summer squash filling to make 3 casseroles. I guess we will have our menu planned for the next little while.