ZUCCHINI CREOLE

Mike left at 6:00 a.m. Thursday on his bright orange Triumph "Street Triple R," I think it's called, for destinations on the Washington coast. His goal was to continue his quest to obtain one geocache in every county of Washington state. He spent Thursday night in Raymond, where my dad lived for 14 years, and then he rode north to Seattle and spent Friday and Saturday nights with Hallie and Nick. He says they treated him like a king.

So, Nellie and I had a mini-vacation here at home. Well, I had the vacation. I don't think Nellie liked it too much. But it got worse for her instead of better because I went on a day trip to Richland, WA, on Saturday (Aug. 20). Everyone Nellie knows was unavailable to exercise her, so she just had to wait in her kennel. Boy! was she glad to see me upon my return! After greeting me, she fell to eating the food I left for her. When she feels insecure, she hoards her food.

Mike will be back before supper, so that meant dealing with a few things today, mainly the store of food in the kitchen. Hot though it is -- 100 at this writing -- I pre-heated the oven and made oat bran muffins, banana bread, and peach cobbler. (I inadvertently left the sugar out of the cobbler dough. How disappointed I am!) Then I had to decide how to use the zucchini I brought back from the farm. I grated enough for two batches of bread and decided to use the rest in a casserole.

This recipe for "squash creole" has languished in my recipe box since Mike and I were married. It had been his, so I was certain at one time he had liked it well enough to copy it from a neighbor. But the recipe was written in such fragmented style that for years I ignored it. Last year I worked with it and discovered it to be tasty indeed. But I still had questions, so today I asked my laptop if she had any knowledge of such a recipe. She did! And here is my new, improved recipe.

ZUCCHINI CREOLE
4-5 medium zucchini, unpeeled and sliced thin (about what you'd think, my grandmother would say)
3 T melted butter
3 T flour
1 T brown sugar 
1 t salt
1/2 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
3 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or 2 canned) -- I used a can of diced tomatoes, drained.
1 small green pepper
1 small onion (I use lots of green pepper and onion.)

Parboil the zucchini for 8 minutes, drain and set aside. Make a sauce of the flour, butter, brown sugar, salt, bay leaf and cloves. Add tomatoes, green pepper, and onion. Cook 5 minutes. In greased casserole dish layer zucchini with the sauce alternately. Then cover with monterey jack cheese and bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until bubbly.