Sunday, August 20, 2006

Zucchini Magic

Our garden is bursting with vegetables! Yesterday I harvested tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, eggplant, and zucchini. Several packages of green beans were prepared for the freezer. Tomatoes were made into sauce and frozen. The kitchen counter is full of still more vegetables!

Zucchinis grow so quickly that we can’t imagine what to do with them. There are the zucchini jokes about how to get rid of them, for example tossing them into open car windows.
Cathy suggests slicing the zucchini, dipping the slices in egg white, and frying in olive oil until browned.

Zucchini bread is a family favorite. Pictured you can see the zucchini freshly picked from our garden and the resulting zucchini bread. Tony likes chopped walnuts added; our children do not. I’m planning to make several loaves to keep in the freezer. Here’s my recipe:



Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
½ cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
2 cups zucchini, shredded

Mix all ingredients. Fill 2 regular sized bread pans or 4 small pans not more than 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour for regular sized pan or 50 minutes for small pans. I check the doneness by poking with a toothpick; if it comes out clean, they are done.

1 comment:

Sunita said...

great to hear that some*one* still freezes fresh vegetables for the winter! My parents (we got recruited as slave labour!) used to do this at home every year, with cauliflower, broccoli and green and red peppers. We would buy them at the city farmers market, blanch them and then have them all winter long.
Oh, and we had the same problem with giving away apples, as you have with your zucchini. It's good that Zucchini can be made into both savoury and sweet dishes! (I like the idea of tossing them into open car windows!)
I am thinking of trying your bread recipe... might pick up some zukes at the farmers market next weekend to make some Z-bread.