Melt-In-Your-Mouth Zucchini Goodness

To all my friends who have been asking for vegetarian recipes...here is a winner!  It is easy, yummy and takes advantage of zucchini coming into season (at least here in SoCal).   Plus, this recipe is great to feed babies who are eating solids since it is easy to mash, or it makes great finger food for your toddler.

For lack of a better name, my family calls it Zucchini Casserole, but I also think it could also be called Melt-In-Your-Mouth Zucchini Goodness.  The recipe originates from my mom who probably got it from one of her million kazillion cookbooks and tweaked it to perfection.  Feel free to tweak it for your family.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
1/4-1/2 cup chopped onion
3-4 cups cubed zucchini
1 cup cubed Colby jack cheese
1 can mushroom soup
1 cup water
Herbed bread crumbs (I keep stale bread pieces in my freezer.  I cut up and add Italian bread crumbs to have a homemade casserole topping in seconds.)
Salt to taste

Directions:
Mix rice, onion, zucchini and cheese.  Mix soup, water and salt.  Add liquid mixture to rice mixture in an oiled casserole dish.  Top with herbed bread crumbs.  Bake 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees (30 minutes covered, 30 minutes uncovered).

 To make the dinner complete, I steamed some green beans in the microwave.  Another color vegetable would have been more fun but this is what I had on hand. 

 Since the oven was still hot, I threw in some frozen rolls and had fresh bread to accompany the meal.

  Hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!