Squash and Egg Casserole

This morning, we are having a goodbye breakfast for our lab tech, Matt.  He has decided to leave us and head to the Big Apple to work at Sloan-Kettering while waiting for an answer on his medical school applications.  I decided that maybe it was time to do something a little different in saying goodbye to Matt.  So I asked him if he liked breakfast.  He responded with a resounding yes.  Instead of asking the boss to pay for lunch (and be limited to 3 restaurants because of the lab's allergies), I invited our colleague's lab to join us and asked everyone to bring a dish to pass.  My dish, because I am still trying to use up everything I got during the 2 weeks Renee was in Italy, is an egg casserole.  I decided on this because I knew I had turkey bacon and a summer squash in my refrigerator.  This morning, when I went to get ingredients together, I discovered a second summer squash.  So instead of making a strata type casserole (which is a bit of a problem for me and for my boss who is celiac), I decided to just use the squash and bacon.

Squash and Bacon Egg Casserole
Note: I used turkey bacon in this recipe because I had it in my refrigerator and it's easy because it's precooked.  If you prefer, you can use regular bacon (which we often get from the CSA), but you would need to cook it before adding it to the casserole.  And if you are cooking bacon, you might as well cook up some onions as well ;).  I didn't put onion in this casserole because it was sort of a dump and bake recipe today.  I would do it differently given the time and availability of ingredients.

•  1 lb smoked turkey bacon
• 2 medium yellow crookneck squash*, halved and sliced thin
• 4 cups cheese (I used sharp cheddar and Italian blend)
• 12 eggs*
• 2 1/4 cups milk* (I used skim)
• salt, pepper and dried basil, to taste

Dice the bacon; place bacon and squash into baking dish and mix well.  Sprinkle with cheese.  In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk and seasonings; beat until smooth.  Pour egg mixture over squash and bacon.  Bake 10 minutes at 400F and then reduce heat to 350F.  Bake and additional 15-20 minutes or until a knife, inserted into the center of the casserole, comes out clean.

*CSA ingredients.