Zucchini!

Everyone loves zucchini, right? So far, one of the best things about my garden is the quantity of fresh zucchini I'm getting. The plant grows like a weed! Thankfully, we have just the right amount (so far!)

This week, I've started to experiment with the delicious green veggie. Breaded and fried zucchini chips are the best. I've made them a couple different times but until now, I've yet to perfect it. I finally got the batter/frying right when I added loads of Parmesan/mozzarella cheese and salt. Healthy, right?

While frying these in oil turned out great, I prefer to bake them. It's much healthier and totally easier. So I tried to bake some, but I was without Panko bread crumbs, so they turned out just alright.

Tomorrow (unless I'm lazy), I plan to make this recipe instead:

Baked Zucchini and Sweet Onion Dip

There is a beautiful recipe and tutorial to go with it too! Can't wait.

Today, I tested out a new zucchini bread. I'm sad to say that I lost by bested, most trusted banana bread recipe. I wanted to use the same recipe and just substitute the zukes... And I totally don't remember any of the measurements (except lots of brown sugar!). So I traveled to Pinterest and found a decent recipe here. I would amend the recipe to add more sugar (of course!) and maybe a little more oil or less flour (something to make it a bit more moist...)

But it's delicious enough to nibble on all day!

Zucchini Bread

Yield: 1 Loaf

2 cups flour

3/4 cup Loosely packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

about 1 1/2 cups freshly grated zucchini (with skin)

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.     Grease a loaf pan (preferable a stone loaf pan but it is not necessary) with a little oil and butter and then bounce flour around in the pan to coat.

3.     In large mixing bowl beat together the oil and sugar.

4.     Add vanilla and the eggs (one at a time) and beat in between.

5.     In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together and then add to the wet mixture and beat until blended. Stir in zucchini until fully incorporated. Use spatula to pour evenly into pan.

6.     Bake for about 50-55 minutes. Test with a toothpick by sticking one in the top of the bread and making sure that it comes out dry.