At this time of year everyone who has garden produce usually finds themselves with more zucchini, crookneck or yellow summer squash than they know what to do with. So my suggestion is to feed it to your company in a way that will will keep them coming back for more! This recipe is fairly simple and simply tasty even for those non-squash lovers. We just had this dish yesterday and I highly recommend it.
Ingredients
Cashew Cheese:
- 2/3 cup hot water
- 2/3 cup raw cashews
- 1 1/2 tbsp dried onion flakes
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 teas salt
- 1/4 teas garlic powder
- 1/4 teas celery salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
Croutons
- 4 cups cubed whole-wheat bread
- 1/2 teas onion granules
- 1/2 teas celery salt
- 1/4 teas garlic granules
- 1 teas Italian seasoning, crushed in palm of hand
To Prep:
- 2 lbs. summer squash
- 1/2 cup quartered and sliced onion
- 1 cup julliened carrots
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
Addidtional Ingredients:
Instructions
- The veggies, croutons and cashew cheese could be made 24 hours ahead to simplify things on the day you have company. Just place the veggies in a tightly sealed bag, and refrigerated for 24 hours. Also refrigerate the cheese.
- Take all the cashew cheese ingredients and combine in a blender. Set aside while making the croutons and prepping the vegetables.
- You may buy seasoned dry croutons, or you can cut whole-wheat bread into 4 cups of small cubes. Lay on a cookie sheet, mist lightly with water and sprinkle on seasonings. Put these into an oven and dry out at 200 degrees convention, and 250 degrees standard. Check after 20 minutes and then every 10 minutes until they are done.
- Lightly saute the dried bread cubes in a tablespoon of butter-like spread or olive oil and set aside. For those who want to be refined fat free, you can just leave plain.
- Prep the vegetables and set aside while blending the cashew cheese.
- Add the sour cream to the cheese and blend briefly just to mix.
- Place veggies in a very large non-stick skillet with a couple teaspoons of olive oil or a tablespoon of broth or water for sauteing. Cook lightly just until tender crisp, not even slightly too soft or mush.
- Add the cheese-sour cream mixture, fold into veggies and let simmer until thickened, folding gently to keep from sticking. OR, you can fold in the cheese mixture and place in a prepared casserole dish, top with croutons, and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until heated through, checking that croutons don't burn.
- As soon as the squash-sauce mixture has thickened (do not overcook), pour into a nice serving dish and top with the croutons and serve.