Recipe: Rice & Squash Casserole

Coming up with your own recipes is difficult. You, not only, need to be creative, but it's got to taste good. You can only read so many ways to make chicken noodle soup. I can guarantee that the recipes I will post on here will be Hailey approved. Kids are the most honest judges. My husband will tell me something is good, when in all reality - it's not. This one was Hailey approved. She actually had two helpings of it...

I apologize now but my camera needs to be charged and so does my tablet. I had to use my Blackberry to take the pictures, and anyone that has ever had a Blackberry knows that these aren't the clearest of pictures. The next time I make this (and I'm sure there will be a next time) I'll take better ones and maybe even think in advance and charge those devices.

Rice and Squash Casserole

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 medium squash, chopped

2 banana peppers, chopped

3 tablespoons of butter

3 cups of rice

~2 1/2 cups of tomato juice

~1 1/2 cups of water

Small container ricotta cheese

1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese

Salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder - to taste

1. First you take the onion, squash, banana peppers and butter and saute in a pan until onions start to brown. Season with salt and pepper while it is cooking.

2. Add your rice, tomato juice and water into the pot. (I suggest starting out slow by first adding all of the rice and then water/tomato juice as needed to moisten the rice.) Add garlic powder and Parmesan cheese to taste while rice is cooking. After the rice is done we will move it into a 9x12 pan to go into the oven.

3. Transfer the rice mixture into 9x12 pan. You will then top with ricotta cheese and then some mozzarella cheese.

4. Put in the oven and broil until the cheese starts to brown a little.

5. Serve and enjoy! :)