Like everyone who has a vegetable garden, or even just one potted plant, we have an abundance of zucchini. I was asking AI language models for casserole cooking times & temperatures based on what I had around & could easily grab from the store, and I sort of picked a hybrid of all of them. I used ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, & CoPilot. Originally I had been asking about zucchini bread recipes, then asked about the casserole. It is interesting to bounce ideas off of them.

I had the idea for the lil’ zucchini things last time I made breaded zucchini & ran out of breadcrumbs before zucchini.

Zucchini Ditalini Chickpea Chikini

I hesitate to call this a casserole, because the kids are on a brainrot social media kick where they have been informed somehow that Crock⬩Pot meals & casseroles are bad. The best part is they both ate & loved it… one even went back for more. It was a hit with the wife too, and I’d eat it again.

I felt like making a casserole, but not making a mess by pre-cooking/par-cooking or measuring anything. So… I ended up making two 9″x13″ casseroles. Here it is to the best of my memory.

The ingredients:

• 1 ridiculously large zucchini from the garden.
• 1 Spanish onion
• 1 orange bell pepper
• 1 pack (1½ lbs.) of chicken breasts
• 2 large eggs
• 1 (16 oz./1 lb.) box of Ditalini pasta
• 1 (15.5 oz.) can of garbanzo beans
• 2 (8 oz.) blocks of cream cheese, softened (Leave it out for a bit, nuke it, or cradle it in your armpits.)
• 1 (2 cup) bag of shredded white cheddar cheese
• 1 (2 cup) bag of Havarti cheese
• 1 (1½ cup) bag of Gouda cheese (Same damn size bag – thanks, shrinkflation!)
• 1 (32 oz./4 cups) box of chicken stock
• 1 stick (4 oz./½ cup) butter.
• Breadcrumbs – Maybe 3 cups?
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic from a jar because elicits unwarranted hate.
• Seasonings to taste – I used Rotisserie Chicken seasoning, Mrs. Dash’s Table Blend, Black Pepper, White Pepper, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Paprika, & dried parsley. Ain’t nobody measuring all that.

I was going to include some “bacon pieces,” but I must have left them in the store, or they fell out in the car, or I put them in a weird place or threw them out, because they absolutely are in what may as well be a pocket dimension.

The Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°
2. Grease apparently two 9″x13″ glass baking dishes with a stick of butter.
3. Get two mixing bowls. In one, whisk the egg, then fold in the cream cheese, the chicken stock, the garlic, the (drained) chickpeas, about half of each of the shredded cheeses, the dry Ditalini, and spices in one mixing bowl.
4. Slice up the bell pepper, onion, zucchini, & chicken in consistently sized cubes. (If you left the zucchini in the garden too long like I did, cut out the spongy center.) Put all that in the other mixing bowl, toss it with some more of all the spices.
5. Mix the contents of the two bowls together as you string together new swear words and wish you have an even more ridiculously larger mixing bowl.
6. Put those into the baking dishes. Or one big one, or a casserole dish, or whatever you’ve got. Cover with foil, place in oven, & bake for 45 min.
7. Melt the remainder of the stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl. Or a microwave unsafe bowl if you’re an agent of chaos. Dump in some breadcrumbs and toss them in the butter, so the breadcrumbs are coated but not all gross. I used a mix of panko & regular. I did not measure.
8. Pull from the oven, but leave it on, remove foil.
9. Spread the remaining shredded cheese on the top of the casseroles, then the buttery breadcrumbs… and put it back in the oven. I swapped it to 350° on a convection setting at this point for 15 minutes… but you do you.

Notes:

• YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRE-COOK THE CHICKEN, PASTA, OR VEGETABLES. You certainly can, and it may deepen the flavors and reduce baking time, but I wanted to do this all in one go. I checked the chicken in a few sports with an instant-read and it was a bit over the USDA recommended 165°.
• I was going to mix the cheeses together at the end, but why dirty another bowl? I dumped them on almost somewhat evenly.
• Obviously, cut out what you don’t like, add what you do, skip stuff, or add stuff.
• I may try this again with bacon or ham… but there was a good bit of salt in all the cheeses already, and probably the chickpeas.
• I may try this with shredded zucchini and maybe leaving the chicken breast cutlets whole on top. Maybe.
• Ricotta instead of cream cheese may be good too.
• Use chicken broth, bone broth, vegetable broth, milk, water, or whatever… just give the pasta enough liquid to absorb.

Pizzucchini Teeny Mini

Again, this was a quick idea I had last tame I made air-fried breaded zucchini and ran out of bread crumbs because the zucchini multiplies as I sliced it. I did it in the oven quick after I yanked out the “let’s not call this casserole a casserole.”

Ingredients:

• 1 normal-sized zucchini.
• 1 (2 cup) bag of “pizza cheese”
• 1 (15 oz.) squeeze bottle of pizza sauce
• a bit of EVOO
• Maybe ½ cup of breadcrumbs

The Method:

1. Do you really need instructions here? I put the oven on 400° on the air-fryer setting. I didn’t pre-heat it because it was already running.
2. I sliced the zucchini about ¼-inch thick, and put it on the baking sheet over a bit of EVOO.
3. I dropped on some sauce, some cheese, and a tiny bit of breadcrumbs.
4. I put it the oven for 15 minutes.

Notes:

• What the hell is “pizza cheese?” It said that on the bag. I guess mozzarella & provolone? Please tell me in the comments that it is all plastic & slowly killing me. Maybe I should have read the bag.
• I will probably skip the EVOO or get a cooking rack for the air fryer setting.

~🧀~

OK, so that’s it. Hit me up with suggestions, questions, love, or hate in the comments! Share your zucchini recipes, too!