zucchini recipes

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ZUCCHINI PASTA SALAD: Fast & Easy!

I’m always looking for zucchini recipes ever since I’ve begun to grow them in my garden. Not only is this recipe delicious, it has the added bonus of being easy to prepare. It’s great to serve at holiday dinners, picnics, and pot-lucks.

ZUCCHINI PASTA SALAD – makes about 650g (5 cups)

  • 12g (2 T) diced shallots
  • 2 T extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 10g (1 T) red wine vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp salt 
  • 1/4 tsp black ground pepper
  • 114g (1/4 lb) small pasta
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
  • 15g (1 T) ketchup
  • 170g (1-2) zucchini, chopped into half-moons
  • 46g (1/2 cup) red pepper, chopped
  • 27g (1/4 cup) small carrot, sliced thin
  • 130g (1 cup) Feta cheese, crumbled into chunks
  • 63g (1/2 cup) Kalamata olives, chopped

In a small bowl, blend together 1 T olive, the shallots, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Set aside.

Bring about a quart of water to a full boil and add in the uncooked pasta. Cook for about 9 minutes, stirring now and then. Drain without shaking out the excess water in the sieve. Pour the cooked pasta into a large bowl.

Into the now empty pot, put the remaining 1 T olive oil, garlic, ketchup, zucchini, red pepper, and carrot. Over medium flame cook about 5 minutes, stirring often. You only want to par-cook the veggies so there’s still a slight bite to them, not make them soggy.

Pour the cooked veggies to the bowl of cooked pasta. Mix in the Feta, Kalamata olives, and vinegrette.

Serve at room temperature (or chilled, if you prefer).

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ZUCCHINI-DATE-APRICOT MUFFINS: No Added Sugar!

They say necessity is the mother of invention. With my bounty of zucchini from 2 plants, I needed to come up with ideas to use these growing beauties (one can eat only so much stir-fried zucchini!). I thought it would be nice to make something that could be made in bulk and frozen for future use. (I AM the self-proclaimed Queen Of Freeze, after all!)

Putting on my thinking cap, I decided to make a zucchini muffin that was tasty but with no added sugar or egg yolks. It took MANY tries until I finally came up with my Zucchini-Date-Apricot Muffin recipe. For the record, in my early trials, I added a mixture of brans and wheat germ to the dry ingredients. While these may have made the muffins healthier, they yielded a cardboard texture. NOT an enticement for adults, let alone children. I eventually whittled these add-ins down to zero – if no one eats them, what’s the point.

NOTE: Again as self-proclaimed Queen Of Freeze, I discovered you can successfully freeze shredded zucchini for these muffins. I’ve only tried freezing the shreds AFTER lightly squeezing out some of the water. I’m not sure if it would be successful simply freezing the shreds prior to squeezing and then squeezing after thawing. Freeze in portion sizes and make sure you mark how much is in the container.

ZUCCHINI-DATE -APRICOT MUFFINS – (Makes 6-9 muffins, depending on size.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL INGREDIENTS SHOULD BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE!!!!

Wet ingredients

  • 115g (about 19) pitted dried dates
  • 32g (5 dried) apricots
  • 2 egg whites, room temperature
  • 68g (1/4 cup) honey
  • 16g (2 T) olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 300g (2 cups) zucchini, shredded

Dry Ingredients

  • 102g (1/2 + 1/3 cups total) all-purpose (plain) flour
  • 29g (1/4 cup) whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda

PREHEAT OVEN TO 375°F (190°C)

You’ll need 2 bowls: a small cereal sized for the dry ingredients, and a medium mixing bowl for the wet.

Into the medium sized bowl, put the egg whites and beat with a fork to break them up and they become foamy.

Chop the dates and apricots into small pieces. Add them to the bowl with the egg whites.

Shred, then chop the zucchini. (I chop the shreds so the muffins don’t have long zucchini strings.)

Into a clean tea towel, place tennis ball sized bundles of the shredded-chopped zucchini, one at a time. Wrap the tea towel around the bundles and twist over a container to extrude the liquid. You don’t need to squeeze out every drop of liquid – just a firm twist. NOTE: If you want to be very precise, you will probably squeeze out about a total of 40g (3+ tablespoons). Discard this liquid. Place squeezed zucchini into the bowl with the egg whites.

Add in the honey, olive oil, and vanilla.

Into the smaller bowl, stir together the all-purpose (plain) flour, whole wheat flour, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and gently blend until the flour is just incorporated. Don’t over mix or you will produce a tougher muffin.

Into a very lightly oiled muffin tin, fill the cups. (If you have an ice cream scoop, use that – it makes the task much easier.)

The batter will make 6- 9 muffins, depending on size. I find making 9 produces shorter muffins which is more manageable for young children’s hands and mouths, or if you just want a small snack.

Bake in preheated 375°F (190°) for 18-21 minutes – until lightly browned and top springs back when pressed. Let set in tin for 15 minutes. Then run a rounded-tip knife around the sides, Go around again, gently lifting up the bottoms until muffin is freed. Remove to wire rack to completely cool.

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HEALTHIER ZUCCHINI BREAD!

zucchini bread textThey’re out there and they’re coming – those overzealous gardeners who plant way too much zucchini. You can hear the pleading in their voices – “You want some zucchini? We have lots!”

Or maybe you ARE the overzealous gardener. Either way, zucchini abounds and it needs to be dealt with. Yes, you can stir-fry, stuff, and spiralize it, but one can only eat so much zucchini.

My suggestion is to make a healthier ZUCCHINI BREAD and freeze the loaves so you can enjoy your bounty months from now.

This recipe is packed with zucchini, but let’s not get crazy – I said “healthier”, not “healthy”. Even though I swapped the vegetable oil for olive oil and the whole eggs for egg whites, there’s still sugar in the bread so bear that in mind when slicing out the portions.

Note:  This recipe makes 20 muffins.  While it’s a little more work to grease, fill, and remove the muffins from a muffin pan, the benefits are portion control, ease of grabbing however many you want from the freezer, and the whole muffin is basically an end piece (my favorite part of quick breads).zucchini bread3

2nd note:  I noted both weight and cup measurements. Weighing dry ingredients is a far more accurate way of measuring than using measuring cups, but I included cup measurements for those of you who don’t have a scale. (Put digital kitchen scale on your wish-list!)

HEALTHIER ZUCCHINI BREAD – make 1 loaf or 20 muffins

  • 7½ oz (1½ cups) all-purpose flour
  • 2¾ oz (1/2 cup) whole wheat flour
  • 1 T ground cinnamon
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1½ tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1½ pounds zucchini
  • 4 egg whites
  • 8¾ oz (1 + 1/3 cup) dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 T distilled vinegar
  • optional: 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped & lightly toasted

Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit. 

In a medium sized bowl, blend the flours, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and walnuts, if using. Set aside. zucchini bread13Using the large holes of your grater, shred the zucchini. (You can use your food processor or do it by hand.) You’ll have about 5 cups of zucchini. Take a handful of the zucchini and place it in the center of a clean tea towel. Gather the edges together and twist the ball firmly to extract as much liquid as you can. Do this with all the zucchini. (It’s better not to put too much zucchini in the towel at one time.) Discard the liquid, unless you can think of a use for it.zucchini bread15 In a large bowl, beat the egg whites, sugar, oil, vanilla, and vinegar by hand.zucchini bread14 Stir in zucchini.zucchini bread4 Pour in the dry ingredients and gently blend until the flour is incorporated – there can be some flour showing. (Over mixing quick breads can lead to a tough loaf.) zucchini bread5Pour batter into an oiled metal (or glass, if you don’t have metal) loaf pan and smooth top. zucchini bread6Bake 60-70 minutes (mine took 65 minutes), until a toothpick comes out clean.zucchini bread7 Let sit in the pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack. zucchini bread8The loaf needs to cool at least 1½ hours to firm up before slicing. Honestly, try and restrain yourself – you’ll get nicer slices if you wait.