Tag Archives: zucchini

Leftovers

Even in this time of harvest and abundance – summer, it is hard to cook just what is going to be eaten.  Then, try to convince a teenager or even a 20-something adult that leftovers are what dinner is going to be.

I knew there were plenty of leftovers that needed to be eaten when I decided, instead of grilling, I would make a stir-fry for dinner.  I have no set recipe for making stir-fry.  I just use this as a frequent way to not waste food.  Generally, this means that we will have stir-fry on Monday evening as the garbage goes out for the week on Monday nights.

I had some corn, cut fresh off the cob the day or so before.  I also had the ever present zucchini and a summer squash.  I had picked up some snow peas at the farmers’ market.  Also thrown in to go over some brown rice was carrots and sweet peppers – red and green.  Then, there was a ribeye that someone didn’t finish and was suddenly deemed a “leftover” and a chicken breast.  While not something I would normally serve together, they made for good protein in the stir-fry.


Zucchini

The time of year has come where everyone’s garden is overrun with zucchini and other summer squash.  Below are some of my favorite zucchini recipes.

Zucchini Brownies

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded zucchini

½ cup chopped walnuts

Icing:

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup margarine

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

¼ cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C).  Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended.
  3. Combine the flour, ½ cup cocoa, baking soda and salt.
  4. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture.
  5. Fold in zucchini and walnuts.
  6. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
  7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.
  8. To make frosting/icing, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool.
  9. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners’ sugar, milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla.  Stir in cocoa mixture.  Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

Zucchini Yogurt Multigrain Muffins

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup white sugar

¾ cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup shredded carrots

½ cup chopped pecans (optional)

½ cup raisins (optional)

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F (200C).  Lightly grease 24 muffin cups.
  2. In a bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, yogurt, sugar, honey and vanilla.
  4. Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
  5. Fold in zucchini, carrots, pecans, and raisins.
  6. Scoop into the prepared muffin cups.
  7. Bake 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Summer Squash Pizza Crust

4 cups finely shredded zucchini or yellow summer squash

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 eggs, beaten

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Salt to taste

  1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
  2. Once zucchini or summer squash has been shredded, lightly salt the squash and transfer it to a strainer.  Let stand for 15 to 30 minutes and press all remaining liquid out of squash.
  3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine squash, flour, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, eggs, pepper and salt.  Mix well.
  4. Spread the mixture into a greased and floured jelly roll pan.  Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven.
  5. Remove the crust from the oven and change the oven’s temperature to broil.  Brush the top of the crust with oil and then broil the crust for 3 to 5 minutes until lightly browned.
  6. Allow the crust to cool slightly and slide spatula underneath all the edges and under the middle.  Place a large baking sheet over the top of the crust and flip the crust over so that the bottom of the crust is now facing upwards.  Because it can be difficult to flip the crust smoothly, it may be necessary to cut the crust in half to facilitate the flipping of the crust.  If you want to omit the flipping, that is fine but crust will not be as crunchy.
  7. Brush the top of the crust with oil and broil for another 3 to 5 minutes until browned.  Cover with toppings as desired.

Creamy Zucchini with Linguine

½ cup olive oil

2 large zucchini, diced

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 (12 oz) package linguine pasta

1 cup whole milk

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

  1. Warm olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add zucchini and garlic to hot oil, and season with salt and red pepper flakes.  Cook, turning occasionally, until zucchini are well browned on all sides , about 20 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously salted water to boil.  Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
  3. Stir milk into zucchini and simmer until it is reduced by about half, about 10 minutes.  Add pasta to skillet and stir well.  Sprinkle parsley and ¼ cup Parmesan over top and toss.  Garnish with remaining Parmesan to serve.

Zucchini Dinner

Last night was a zucchini night at my house.  I had come into some zucchini and wanted to use it so that it did not go to waste.  I use zucchini – as can be seen in previous posts - a lot and in a varied number of ways so yesterday was no different. 

I started the day off with my ideas.  I then pulled out my Oscar Jr.  You see, for all the cooking and baking I do, I do not own a food processor.  I either process everything by hand with a knife or use my Oscar Jr which is simply a chopper.  I decided I wanted to chop up the zucchini as opposed to using a mandolin or dicing by hand.

Chopped Zucchini

Chopped Zucchini

I, then, also chopped up carrots in the Oscar Jr.  I went on to dice a Ginger Gold apple and toss it in a bit of lemon juice.  I made the “slaw sauce” in a cleaned out mayonnaise jar so I could shake it until it was well mixed.

Zucchini Apple Slaw

Zucchini Apple Slaw

Zucchini Apple Slaw

1 cup zucchini – diced, chopped, shredded – however you want it

½ cup carrot – prepared the same way as the zucchini

2 chopped apples

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

¼ cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon celery seed

2 teaspoon onion powder (You can opt to put diced onion in if you prefer.  I had no onion on hand.)

½ cup olive oil

¼ teaspoon salt

1.       Prepare the zucchini.  Set aside in colander to drain.

2.       Prepare carrots. 

3.       Place zucchini and carrots in medium size bowl and toss together.

4.       Chop apples.

5.       Toss apples with lemon juice and then remove from lemon juice.

6.       Toss apples in with zucchini and carrots.

7.       Find smaller bowl or bottle to make sauce in.

8.       Place red wine vinegar, brown sugar, celery seed, onion powder, salt and olive oil in container and mix or shake to blend.

9.       Pour sauce on zucchini/carrot/apple mixture.

10.   Refrigerate to allow flavors to blend.

I thought I would make zucchini brownies but opted instead to make zucchini patties to go with the slaw for dinner.  Knowing that my sons would both stick their noses up at the idea of a dinner with just zucchini in it, I planned on spiedies for them and the zucchini tastes would be their vegetables for dinner.

Zucchini Patty

Zucchini Patty

Zucchini Patties

2 cups zucchini

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon parsley

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Olive oil

1.       Dice or finely chop the zucchini to give 2 cups.

2.       Lightly beat eggs in mixing bowl.

3.       Add zucchini, parsley, flour and cheese.

4.       Salt and pepper to taste.  I tend to  use very little salt but lots of pepper.  I even put  a little cayenne in to give a bit of a kick.

5.       Pre-heat a sturdy frying pan with about three tablespoons of olive oil.

6.       Drop in mixture similar to making a pancake but will be thicker.

7.       When pan side is browned and top is not runny, flip.

8.       Remove from pan onto a plate covered with a paper towel to remove oil.

9.       Serve hot.


Zucchini Recipes

The “rabbit” of most gardens, zucchini is started to ripen and there has to be ways to use it.  Here are two of favs!  Both recipes are from allrecipes.com.

Zucchini Yogurt Multigrain Muffins

1 ½ cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

¾ cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup oat flour (I use 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour as I don’t normally have oat flour on hand)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (I use freshly ground nutmeg)

3 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil (I use canola oil)

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup white sugar

¾ cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup shredded carrots

½ cup chopped pecans (I substitute walnuts or almonds, whichever I have on hand)

½ cup raisins

 

  1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C).  Lightly grease 24 muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
  2. In a bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, vegetable oil, applesauce, yogurt, sugar, honey, and vanilla.  Mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture.  Fold in the zucchini, carrots, nuts and raisins.  Scoop into the prepared muffin cups.
  3. Back 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Zucchini Brownies

 

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups shredded zucchini

½ cup chopped walnuts

 

 

Frosting

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup margarine

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

¼ cup milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).  Grease and flour a 9×13 inch baking pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mix togheter the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended.  Combine the flour, ½ cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture.  Fold in the zucchini and walnuts.  Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
  3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.  To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool.  In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners’ sugar, milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla.  Stir into the cocoa mixture.  Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

 

If you want to see more zucchini recipes, go on over to KRoby’s blog at Pressconnects.com


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