Vegetables are plentiful right now, so enjoy them from your garden or from your local farmer’s market. Young, tender yellow squash is very tasty. They are good to batter and fry and also to bake in a casserole.

Mama made very few casseroles, but she cooked squash in a frying pan on her stove. She would combine onions and squash and cook together with salt and pepper until they were reduced in size and very tender. Naturally, nothing would be cooked without bacon grease. That was a staple in our house; we used it season any and all vegetables we cooked.

Mama was born in 1902, and by the time I was born, her lifestyle had changed tremendously. Our family, as well as all other families during that time period, lived during what we now call the “good ole days.” Times were hard, but so much better for us than they were for our parents and their parents.

Although we did not have a lot of “things,” daddy took pride in his family. We never went hungry, and we always had clean clothes to wear. A high school education was mandatory, and church was always on Sunday (sometimes on Wednesday night, too). Daddy made sure we had food for the body, food for the mind and food for the soul.

This squash casserole is easy to prepare, and I promise — no bacon grease. 

Yellow Squash Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 pounds yellow squash, sliced
• 1 pound cubed American cheese
• 1 8-ounce can green chiles
• 1 10¾-ounce can cream of celery soup
• 1 8-ounce container sour cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Preparation

Melt ¼ stick butter in a skillet and saute onions. Melt ½ stick butter in another skillet and saute squash. Melt remaining ¼ stick butter in a 9-by 12-inch baking dish.

When onions are brown and squash is tender, combine the two in a large bowl. Add cheese, green chiles, soup and sour cream and stir together. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven, place crushed crackers on top and return to the oven. Bake another 20 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. 

From the scriptures

Spiritual food is essential for all of us, as well as physical food. We should nourish our mind and feed our spirit daily just as we feed our body. To memorize a weekly Bible verse is a fabulous spiritual food. Try it, and you will see how easy it is to memorize scripture.

Our memory verse for this week is Ephesians 4:32 NKJV: “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”