Jourdan Leigh in the kitchen: Cheez-it Casserole

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Cheez-it Casserole

I have absolutely no idea where the name for this casserole came from. There are no cheez-its or anything resembling the flavor or texture of a cheez-it involved. But you must make it because it is so good. This is a recipe from Corey's mom. It is probably his favorite dinner ever. Its suprisingly healthy for a casseroleand it is so easy to make. There is nothing better than a passed down recipe that comes along with great memories in my opinion.

What you'll need:
3-5 summer squash & zucchini (just depends on the size)
1 medium onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound lean ground beef
Shredded Cheese (your choice of type - I used one with yellow and white cheeses)
1 large container of cottage cheese (I used fat free)
2 eggs
parmesean cheese (the grated stuff works just fine here)

Method:
1. Brown the ground beef with salt and pepper. This will be your first layer.
2. Boil chopped squash, zucchini, and onion in salted water until tender. Pour into a collander and sqeeze out as much excess liquid as possible. Mix with butter. You can leave out the butter if you feel like it - not too much taste difference. This will be your second layer in a 13 x 9 in casserole dish.
3. Sprinkle desired amount of shredded cheese over the top (layer three). You definitely do not need to go overboard here. The casserole will turn out creamy enough with the remaining layers.
4. Mix cottage cheese with eggs in a bowl. This is your forth layer.
5. Sprinkle the top with parmesean. This is your fifth layer.
6. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes or until top is no longer jiggily (egg mixture). I started checking every 15 minutes at 30 minutes and ended up cooking mine for 1 hour total. We usually serve this over rice or else just by itself.