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Zucchini Overload

>> Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Besides a couple of tomato plants, this is the first time I've had a garden since I was a kid. We just planted a few things - tomatoes, okra, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini. And right now, we have enough zucchini to feed the Duggar family.

Here is our row of zucchini in the garden:

Here's my cutie son with one zucchini:


I hate to waste things, but we can't possibly eat it all. So here are a few ways I've used it.  Click on the title for the link to the recipes I used.

Zucchini cupcakes with caramel frosting -- this frosting was so good!!! 
Frozen grated zucchini -  I grate it, freeze it on a cookie sheet and then put it in a big ziploc for permanent freezer storage.  My mom tells me that after thawing you need to get as much water out of it as you can before using it.  I am planning on using this for baked goods primarily.
Zucchini pizza casserole - this was my favorite new recipe I tried.  The whole family loved it, and it does taste just like pizza.  I made a few adjustments - I didn't use ground beef at all and I added lasagna noodles to it.  This is a great freezer meal.
Zucchini pizzas:  slice the zucchini and oil lightly on both sides.  Place under broiler on cookie sheet and flip.  Then top with pizza sauce and cheese and place back under the broiler until cheese is browned.   This is not nearly as good as the pizza casserole, but it's still good and healthy if you go easy on the cheese!

Zucchini bread (I love chocolate chips in zucchini bread.  This recipe is a good one!)
Zucchini lemon cookies:  My kids loved these and I liked them alot too.  I had a family member say she loved the bread, but the cookies were a little bland.  That's probably because they are healthier to begin with and I used half Splenda.  But we liked them alot and the reviews on allrecipes were good.

Steamed pureed zucchini: I cut the zucchini into slices/cubes and steamed them, then pureed with water in my magic bullet blender.  I froze them in ice cube trays and then popped them out and stored them in the freezer in a large ziploc.  I plan on sneaking these into every italian/tomato sauce dish I make.  I swear my son has an intense distaste for all things green and he had no idea I put a couple of these cubes in his spaghetti sauce.

I've made a few other recipes - a zucchini stuffing casserole that was pretty good and a quiche that wasn't!  Also, I used a spice cake mix and added zucchini to the batter.  I made cookies with that and then put cinnamon cream cheese frosting between 2 cookies to make little whoopie pies.  They were really good taste wise, but the zucchini made them soft and they left your fingers all sticky!

I think the zucchini is nearing the end of production but if anyone has a unique zucchini recipe or a favorite version of a classic I'd love to hear about it!!

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