Southwestern Squash Bake

Recently, I’ve gotten into the practice of making one casserole style dish that will last a full work week.  Not only is this cheap but to make it even more cost effective look for casseroles with lots of veggies with some pretty tasty results.

SOUTHWESTERN SQUASH BAKE

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I used a 6.5oz can of sliced mushrooms)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (I used the lime cilantro flavor)

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup salsa

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 pinch cayenne pepper

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 cup fresh spinach leaves, or to taste

4 yellow squash, cubed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or over medium heat; add onion, red bell pepper, mushrooms and garlic into hot oil until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  (I used a can of sliced mushroom since I don’t really use mushrooms too often and didn’t want to waste the fresh ones, and the results are still good.)

  

3. Mix tomatoes with green chile pepper, black beans, salsa, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper into onion mixture; Stir through thoroughly, let simmer about 5 minutes.  (Keep in mind how much heat you like when adding the chili powder and cayenne.)

4. Quarter the squash lengthwise, and chop into manageable chunks and place into baking dish (2 quart or larger).

5. Add spinach to top of mixture, cover allow to steam until spinach turns bright green. Stir spinach through mixture; allow to cook 1 to 2 minute more.

6. Spread the mixture evenly over the squash.  Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

The original recipe says to sprinkle the top with crushed saltine crackers and while I guess you could do that I don’t think it would hold up well if your serving it over time.  The recipe also says you can top it with cheese but again I chose to omit this.

This is the link to the original: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spicy-southwest-squash-casserole/