Zucchini Casserole

I had some zucchini in the fridge that needed to get used and I remembered a recipe for a creamy, cheesy summer squash casserole and thought, why not do that with zucchini? Summer squash and zucchini walk a fine line with me. I do not like them when they get mushy at all. Summer squash I find harder to cook just right, as the extra seediness in the center often leads to a dish with nothing left but rinds and scattered seeds. One of my favorite ways to do these vegetables together is in an aluminum foil packet with butter and fresh herbs on the grill. The colors get vibrant, the fragrance is amazing and they stay true to their form (I cut them in rounds or half moons, depending on the size of each vegetable). But I digress.
The recipe I have came from Wondertime magazine and was in a segment about getting kids to eat veggies. I'm not sure how much nutritional value is left when you start adding butter, cheese and cream, but it's awful tasty! The recipe calls for coriander seeds as a flavoring, which I did not have, and don't really love that much anyway. Instead, I had some fresh parsley and fresh thyme in my fridge, so I used those instead. The rest of the recipe includes sauteed onions, cream, Monterey Jack cheese and salt and pepper. Top the dish off with bread crumbs before baking, uncovered. I should have put some melted butter into the bread crumbs to moisten and help them brown, but I was trying to "be good." It didn't look quite as nice without it.
To go with this I was inspired by a Barefoot Contessa episode in which Ina made Chicken Piccata. I didn't use her exact recipe, merely watched her do it, and then did a version of it with what I had on hand. I pounded boneless chicken breast and breaded it with the standard flour, egg, breadcrumbs routine (and salted it as well). After they would beautifully browned and cooked through in a pan with some olive oil, I transfered them to plates and used the same pan to make the sauce. I deglazed with white wine and a freshly squeezed lemon. Then I added some chopped parsley and thyme (figuring it would be fragrant and tie in nicely with my casserole) plus some salt and pepper and let is reduce by half before pouring onto the chicken.
It was a very flavorful meal and not hard to get onto the table as I made the casserole in advance and then just put it in the oven a half hour before serving time. The chicken took only 15-20 minutes total. A great weekday meal that really hit the spot!