A Zillion Zucchini?
So you have few zucchini left, huh? You’ve given bushel baskets full to all your friends and family. You’ve set buckets on the corner with a free sign. You’ve left anonymous "midnight deliveries" at all of your neighbor’s houses and they still aren’t gone. Now what do you do? Here are a few ideas of how to get rid of them without resorting to "Zucchini Baseball" (which is, by the way, an effective means of ridding yourself of these pesky but versatile garden items).
- Zucchini can easily be frozen for the winter. Simply shred and bag into 1 – 2 cup servings. Use in breads, cakes or meat loaves
- Substitute shredded zucchini for half of the ground beef in Mexican recipes, spaghetti sauces, meat loaves or meatballs.
Zucchini Saute
1 lb. small zucchini
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, cut thin
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp. thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Sauté zucchini in olive oil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add onion and garlic. Sauté 2 minutes. Add Zucchini to skillet and season with salt, pepper and thyme. Serve Warm.
2-3 lbs. chicken pieces
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cans (14 oz.) stewed tomatoes
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 cup zucchini, sliced
1 tsp. fresh basil, crushed or 1/4 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper, to taste
4 cups pasta, cooked
Brown chicken in oil, 10 minutes, turning occasionally; drain. Add the rest of the ingredients except pasta. Cover and simmer 25 minutes. Serve over pasta
Zucchini Cake
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 cups zucchini, grated
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cloves, ground
1 tsp. nutmeg, ground
1 tsp. cinnamon, ground
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350°. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and beat on low for 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into a greased 9×13 inch pan. Bake for about 45 minutes. Serves 18.
Fried Zucchini
zucchini, sliced or cut into sticks
flour
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk cracker crumbs
vegetable oil for frying
salt and pepper
Wash all the vegetables. Slice the zucchini, onions and squash into thin slices. Put some flour in a bowl. Put egg and milk in another bowl and mix. Place crackers crumbs into a bowl. Put the vegetable oil in a deep saucepan or fry pan and heat to 375° or until a few crumbs of cracker fry quickly. Dip vegetables into flour, then egg mixture, then cracker crumbs and fry until golden. Drain on paper towels. Salt and pepper to taste and serve hot with ranch dressing.
Photo By: See-ming Lee ??? SML
My sister-in-law made this zuchini recipe for dinner one night and we love it.
1 MED ZUCHINI SLICED
Other uses for zucchini:
Grill:
1) Brush with vegetable or canola oil and season as you wish and grill. This works especially well with forearm-sized zucchini that grew overnight. Slice 1/4″ thin lengthwise.
-or-
2) Slice vegetables and put in non-stick aluminum foil with a little butter, seasoning, in addition to zucchini, add bell peppers, carrots, and any other tasty vegetable
Microwave:
Use the Ziplock Zip-n-Steam bags. Slice 1/2 of a normal-sized zuccini 1/4″ thin along with 1/2 of a squash (or use a whole of either.) Slice one whole carrot, add broccoli, and sliced colorful bell pepper. Use 1 tbs butter, a little white pepper, garlic powder or 1 clove of freshly-pressed garlic, and a little salt or seasoned salt. Put in the microwave while the meat is resting. Cook for 4 minutes.
Pizza:
Add quarter slices of zucchini to homemade pizza. Even my husband who did not think he liked zucchini until he tried the above ways discovered that he really liked this. He would even ask for zucchini on his portion of the pizza. Great with slices of fresh tomato, onion, bell pepper, and pepperoni!
Zucchini and Tomatoes – canning:
A can of Del Monte Zucchini and Tomatoes at our store costs $2.29. That is about the same price as a large can of storebrand canned whole tomatoes. (I have not had enough tomatoes to can from our garden.)
Slice zucchini into 1/4″ slices, halved or less if you have forearm-sized zucchini. For larger zucchini, cut it in half lenghtwise and scrape out large seeds. If you have about 16 cups (roughly) of zucchini, use the following:
1-3 tbs of table salt over the zucchini. Let it set for 1 hour to soften. Drain water.
3 large cans of whole tomatoes. Crush into small bits with a potato masher or use your hands to make small.
Add 2 tsp salt, 3 tbs oregano, 2-3 tbs basil, 2-3 tbs garlic powder, pepper.
Bring to a boil
Add drained zucchini
Bring back to a boil + 30 seconds – 1 minute. Make sure to stir.
Put into sanitized canning jars.
Submerge in hot water bath for 15 minutes.
This recipe makes about 6 1/2 pints.
Zucchini and Squash Pickles – canning:
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8 cups of zucchini and squash (any combination you have) cut into 1/4″ half slices or smaller for jumbo zucchini and squash. (Scrape large seeds out of jumbo zucchini and squash. Small seeds are no problem.)
3/4 of an onion – diced (about 2 cups)
1-2 green bell pepper – diced
2 – 3 colorful bell peppers – diced
3 tbs table salt (add after above ingredients are ready)
Stir in the salt and mix the ingredients well. Let sit for 1 hour. Drain.
In large soup pot, mix:
1 c distilled vinegar
1 c cider vinegar (or 2 c total of distilled vinegar)
2 tsp mustard seed
2 tsp celery seed
3 c sugar
Bring ingredients in the pot to a boil. Stir to mix.
Add zucchini and squash mixture. Bring to a boil. Boil for 30 seconds – 1 minute.
Put mixture in sterilized canning jars.
Put jars in hot water bath for 15 minutes.
Best after a couple of days and then refrigerated. Great with sandwiches or on black-eyed peas. It is a beautiful, colorful addtion to the dinner table. Makes about 5 pints.
This recipe multiplies well for bumper crops. Great way to use those large squash and zucchini that appear overnight.
We had this over the weekend, and I loved it. Take a large zucchini, slice lengthwise. scoop out the seeds, making a “trench”. brown 1 lb. hamburger, put in 1 cup salsa, mexican cheese blend to taste. Bake at 350 til zuccini is tender, but not mushy. Put another layer of cheese just before removing from oven. slice to serve. we had buscuits, corn as a side. I think it would be great as a vegetarian dish, filled, with refried beans (with/or without chiles), whatever cheese you like, and maybe black olive slices, mushrooms, green pepper,etc.
This was a keeper for our family — Made more than enough for 6 -
I have become a big fan of zucchini over the last 2 years.
Try slicing the zucchini length wise, drizzle with olive oil, layer with fresh tomato slices and top with grated Romano cheese. Bake at 350F for 35 minutes or until tender but still a bit firm. Add some fresh basil at the last 10 minutes or top when removed. Yum!
I make a dish with pasta and zucchini. Grate Zucchini, fry some garlic in olive oil, add zucchini,cook for a few minutes, toss with pasta, add handful of parmesan cheese and serve
Zucchini Jam
6 cups shredded peeled zucchini
6 cups sugar
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 can (15 oz) crushed pineapple with juice
2 packages orange jello gelatin
In large pot combine zucchini, sugar, lemon juice, pineapple with juice. Bring to a boil, cook stirring often at a full boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in gelatin. Spoon into jelly jars. Process 10 minutes in hot water bath. Store in the refrigerator. 7 ½ pints
I have use also strawberry jello gelatin
This will not last long. Great gifts.
Polly: what size Jello package do you use: the large or the small, for your jam?
Sorry, I use the small packages of jello…Thanks