Cheesy, warm delight on a cold Fall day...

When I am feeling adventurous and want to try out a new recipe, I usually turn to Big Girls, Small Kitchen for inspiration.  They always have fun recipes to try out.

I had some leftover zuchinis that my mom brought over from her garden and I have frozen a ton of zuchini bread so I needed another option!  I found a recipe for Zuchini and Rice Gratin.  It's a quite simple recipe.  Instead of arborio rice, I had brown rice on hand.  I didn't have arugula or onions either so skipped that as well.  Oh and I had yellow cheddar not white!  I also added red pepper flakes for a little spice.  So I fudged the recipe a little and it still came out great!

I chopped up some zuchini and sauteed it with a little olive oil, garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper and thyme.  I put in a pat of butter at the end.  Combined that mixture when the zuchini was softened to the cooked brown rice.  Then I added 2 beaten eggs and some cheddar cheese.  Turned that mixture out into an 8x8 baking dish, topped it with 1/4 bread crumbs and 40 minutes later I got this:

I let it cook for 15 minutes and mmm...  Great way to get your veggies!  (and cheese!)