Zucchini Casserole {with bread cubes}

This recipe always seems to me the ultimate fresh-summer-garden-produce-make-it-work-with-what-you've-got meal.  It combines fresh zucchini, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and toasted bread cubes.

Zucchini Casserole
6 (6-inch) zucchini
1 pkg. spaghetti mix
1 tsp. oregano
2 Tb. parsley flakes
¼ cup butter
2 cups bread cubes
2 to 4 tomatoes, sliced
1 (8 oz.) pkg. mozzarella cheese, cubed
Parmesan cheese

Quarter squash lengthwise and parboil 15 minutes. Prepare spaghetti sauce according to directions. Add oregano and parsley. Melt butter in skillet and add bread cubes. Toss until golden brown. In casserole dish arrange squash and spoon part of sauce over. Sprinkle with Parmesan and half of the bread cubes. Top with mozzarella and tomatoes. Add remaining sauce, Parmesan, and bread cubes. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes at 375° until casserole is bubbly.

Tiffany's Notes: One very obvious substitution that I made was to substitute a jar of prepared spaghetti sauce for the spaghetti sauce mixture and spices.  I also used shredded cheese instead of cubed cheese.  A firmer bread works best for the bread cubes.  The bread gets soaked with sauce so if it is soft to begin with it will be overly soggy.  I did try to use some croutons once--that didn't work well (the spices clashed!).  You may be able to use some dried bread cubes, however.

I do like the combination of zucchini and spaghetti sauce or zucchini with Italian spices and herbs.  I have to be honest and say that this recipe is not my favorite Zucchini Casserole recipe.  That will always be the one with ground beef and rice--love that one and all my kids love that one!  Well, I am amazed--I just searched back through our posts to link up to that recipe and realized we haven't ever posted that one.  !!!  We'll put that on our list of posts to write!