It’s midsummer and the zucchini have arrived—in abundance!  What to do with all those beautiful green vegetables?  You know you don’t want to waste them after all the effort you put into growing them!

Did you know that zucchini are low in calories and contain useful amounts of folate, potassium and Vitamin A?  That’s all the more reason to try not to waste them.

Here are five recipes that call for zucchini.  I guarantee you will enjoy them.  They may send you back to the garden searching under those zucchini leaves for any you might have missed!

Zucchini Bread

This is an old recipe that I have had in my recipe box for many years.

3 eggs
1 1/2-2 cups of sugar
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 tbs. vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour
1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp, baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1. Beat eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla.
2. Stir in zucchini and flour with rest of dry ingredients.
3. Pour into greased, floured loaf pan.
4. Bake 350 for 60-80 minutes

Grilled Zucchini

Grilled Zucchini

1. Slice zucchini either cross wise or length wise about 1/4 inch thick.
2. Marinate in olive oil with your favorite herbs.
3. Grill on an outdoor gas grill, turning once, being careful not to burn them.

Enjoy!

Sliced Zucchini, Potatoes and Onions

zucchini
onions
potatoes
salt and pepper to taste

1. Slice onions and start to fry them in oil in a frying pan.
2. Slice zucchini and potatoes very thin and add to onions.
3. Stir occasionally and season with salt and pepper.
4. These can be served for dinner or breakfast.

Zucchini Pickles

This is a recipe from an old pickling cookbook that I have had for many years.

About 2 lbs. of zucchini
1 /2 cup coarse salt
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of white vinegar
3 tbs. dry mustard, 1 tbs. ground ginger, 1 tbs. curry powder, 6 peppercorns

1. Rinse unpeeled zucchini and cut into 1/2 inch slices.  Layer with salt in a large bowl.  Cover bowl with a towel, and let it stand overnight.
2. The next day, drain and rinse squash in cold water and place in a heavy kettle.
3. Combine sugar, vinegar and spices in a heavy saucepan.
4. Heat to boiling.  Boil for 5 minutes and pour over squash.
5. Heat to boiling and cook 5 minutes, or until tender but not mushy.
6. Spoon hot mixture into hot sterilized jars and seal.
7. Cook in a water bath for 15 minutes.

Zucchini Stir Fry

This is a dish that you can quickly prepare, when you don’t have a clue what you are going to have for dinner.  You can serve it as a side dish, or put it over rice or pasta.

zucchini
olive oil
garlic
onion
basil
tomatoes

1. Cook onions in olive oil.
2. Add garlic and cook slightly
3. Slice zucchinis and add them to the mixture.
4. Add cut up tomatoes and basil.
5. Cook until soft, but not mushy.

You can add cut up peppers or mushrooms to the mixture as well.  Be creative and enjoy!

Here’s an extra recipe for you that involves the squash blossoms.  You can harvest the flowers and remove the stamens and pistils.  Then dip them in egg and flour and fry them in a little bit of oil.  They are especially delicious when stuffed with mozzarella cheese.

Enjoy your zucchini this year.  With all these recipes, I bet you’ll be growing a few more plants next year!

Author Bio:  Stephanie Trementozzi has enjoyed gardening all her life and zucchini are one of the vegetables she always grows.  She has her own website, Always-Outdoors.com, where she talks about all things outdoors and provides a review for the best gas grill she has found. 

Two wonderful vegetables which go well together are zucchini and tomatoes.  You can use them in pasta recipes, in lasagnas, or even fry them in a pan of oil.

Today I tried a new recipe courtesy of my sister in law and after testing it, I decided it will make its way into my virtual recipe box which is available for anyone to see.

Instructions:

1. Ok, so to get started, peel the zucchini and cut off the ends.
2. Slice lengthwise.
3. Place a layer of tomatoes on top of the zucchini as shown.  You do not want the tomatoes to be too thick.  I’d say about 1/8th or 1/4 inch should be fine. I’d recommend using Roma tomatoes and if your zucchini are pretty small and narrow, try grape or cherry tomatoes.
4. Sprinkle plain bread crumbs on top of the tomatoes.
   

   zucchini-tomato bake

5. Next, sprinkle a nice layer of Romano cheese.
6. Drizzle olive oil over top with a dash of kosher salt.
7. Next, place in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees F. for 35 minutes.
8. The zucchini will still be firm, but not raw.   Serve warm.

When I made this today, I enjoyed them as they were, however my husband preferred his with some extra cheese added on.  So I suggest to make it available.

In regards to serving sizes, I’d suggest 1 small zucchini per person.  For medium zucchini sizes perhaps 1 per 2 people.  It really depends on who you are serving and if they like this type of recipe, and of course if it is just a side dish.

I used this recipe as a side dish to my chickpea soup recipe.

Enjoy!

Liz
Easy Italian Recipes

This week I posted another recipe in my recipebox.  It uses zucchini, basil, eggs, garlic, and olive oil, but really – the options are endless.  If you have Italian zucchini, use that for a more mild flavor.

My husband loves to cook up sliced zucchini for our brunches.   He’ll fry up some onion, add in the zucchini and then some eggs.  I prefer mine without the onion and including fresh basil from the garden.

But that is the cool thing about cooking – there are just so many variations.  And hence why sometimes it is so hard to write our recipes down because there isn’t really “one” way of preparing the dishes.

With this particular recipe, I cook the zucchini over high or medium high heat so there is some browning going on.  It takes about 5 minutes, unlike sauteing the zucchini over lower heat.  I like the zucchini a little firm – kinda like al dente, if you can even use that description for a vegetable.  Once the zucchini is a soggy mess – it is still good, but the texture is lost.

Cooking up some zucchini

I like to fry my egg on the side, but you can certainly use scrambled eggs as well.  My husband likes his scrambled, and we use only egg whites to help cut back on cholesterol.

Another variation, is to include some ground beef in with the mix – omit the basil and use onions.  I mean, there are just so many options.

Give my zucchini recipe a try.

Let me know if you have other ideas too.  Would love to hear them.

Liz

Easy Italian Recipes