Zucchini Galore!

In case you haven't figured it out by now from tweets and other comments, we planted a lot of zucchini this year. I like it, DH has gotten used to my creative uses of it and loves zucchini bread, and we give some to friends. This year I am even selling some of our overstock at the roadside. (5 DKK each. sold 2 so far.)

Friday I prepared a few zucchini for freezing. I use the grater attachment to my mixer to grate it. Then I put a plastic bag in my pyrex measuring cup to measure 2C portions for freezing. 2C is the right amount for a single batch of zucchini bread (which makes 2 loaves unless I use a really big loaf pan). The portion is also great for other purposes. DH has to get the machine out and put it away, but without it I wouldn't be able to process near as much.

What do I do with all this zucchini? For one thing, I make a lot of zucchini bread. This is the recipe I use, which I got from my mother.

Zucchini Bread (Cake)

• 3 beaten eggs
• 1 C vegetable oil or apple sauce
• 2 C sugar
• 3 t vanilla
• 2 C grated zucchini
• 3 C flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 C soaked raisins, nuts, or coconut (optional)

Mix it all together and put into greased and floured loaf pans. Bake in a preheated over 350F or 175C for 1 hour.


I've done some experimenting with this recipe. For one thing, it is too sweet for danes. If using sweetened applesauce, I use HALF the called for sugar. Because we got a good deal on brown sugar and have lots of it (it is cheaper than white the way we got it), I use brown sugar.

Applesauce is preferred to oil for two reasons: it is healthier and the resulting bread is moister and tastes better. If you do use oil, be sure to use one that is a neutral taste. Neither olive oil or grapeseed oil is a good choice for this. Rapeseed (canola) and corn oil work fine.

Another healthiness improvement I often make is replacing part of the flour with oatmeal. This eliminates some of the wheat (I have an allergy but it isn't severe) and increases the fiber content of the cake. Replacing 1/3 of it is pretty much unnoticeable to the eater. Half works pretty well, if I remember right, but is more noticeable. I've also swapped portions out with whole wheat flour at times.

I have also baked these as cupcakes or muffins instead of loaves on several occasions. They take about 15-18 minutes in the oven that way. This is great for single portion servings, whether for visitors, a road trip, or freezing. It also eliminates the need to grease and flour, although my silicon loaf pan does that as well.

Speaking of freezing, these freeze really well. When I baked it Saturday, we kept a slightly larger loaf out for eating and froze the second smaller one. I wrapped the one to freeze in two layers of foil, labeled it with the contents and date, and put that into a plastic bag in the freezer.


Other Uses

At some point, I will be making stuffed zucchini boats for dinner. We usually use giant zucchini for this one. I will post the recipe for that at that time, because I have to make it up. I did this from memory in Danish the other day for my mother-in-law but I'd rather be making it at the time.

Zucchini and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper and optionally garlic, sauteed on a pan with olive oil is a GREAT side dish. We had that the other night with pork chops, oven-baked potato boat fries, and bernaise sauce. It is also good when you add mushrooms.

Pasta! Zucchini and other vegetables are great on pasta. I usually prefer fresh for this and will cut it into small pieces.

I add grated zucchini to all sorts of meat and one-dish meals. It is a great stretcher for the meat and a good way of getting more veggies into the diet. My burrito recipe recommends it. The thing with zucchini is that it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. So it is easily disguised. Want more substance in that meat and tomato sauce for spaghetti? Throw in a bag of grated zucchini! It will mix in with the meat and your man, even if he is grumpy about veggies, is unlikely to notice!

I also use zucchini (either sliced fresh or grated frozen) in my pork chop-rice-tomato casserole. I think that was the use of the first one out of the garden this year.

Cut into sticks, zucchini goes great with carrot and celery sticks for dipping into salad dressing. I make a homemade salad dressing sometimes with sour cream, chives, parsley, and other stuff. It is great for that. You can also use it in salads either sliced or cut into half-moons or chunks.

That's all I think of for now. Feel free to contribute your own zucchini favorites in the comments!