Zuchinni

Summer is here. That means Zucchini. I love Zucchini. I love how prolific it is. How reliable, how versatile. I was very sad to come home from our crazy month on the road and to see that both my zucchini plant and my yellow summer squash plants had been eaten to dust by squash bugs. Never fear, there is always zucchini to be had somewhere.

My parents took a motorcycle ride to Montana for a week and left me in charge of caring for their chickens and her garden while they were gone. Rick volunteered to check on the chickens on his way home from work every day, and not wanting to overwhelm him, I decided that I could go check on the garden a couple times during the week, well, I FORGOT. Saturday had arrived and I went to tend to my duties for the last time. As I was watching the chickens, my gaze landed upon my parents' lovely garden, and oh, how many red tomatoes there were. And then it hit me! So I spent the next hour harvesting tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers of every size, and 3 zucchini. 2 of them were large, but still edible, and the third? I don't know if I have ever seen a zucchini that big. I laid all of the fruits out on a table, put the large sized evidences of my neglect in a couple grocery bags, left the tomatoes, small cucumbers, and zucchini, and headed home.

With the zucchini the size of a small child in my fridge, I began to look for ways to cook it. We have tried 3 new zucchini recipes this summer that we've all liked that I thought I would share.

The first 2 recipes I tried on the same day. A main course and a dessert. Both were a hit. The main course was called Spaghetti Zucchini Bake. I actually doubled this recipe and froze the other half. I just unthawed it, topped it with cheese and cooked it. It worked out great!

Spaghetti Zucchini Bake (serves 8)

1 lb Penne or Macaroni Pasta

1 1/2 lb Italian Sausage, cooked and cut in to bite sized pieces or Meatballs (I used hamburger)

2 cans 14 oz Diced Tomatoes

1-2 cans mushrooms (optional. I opted OUT)

1 can Tomato Paste

1/4 C. Dehydrated onions, hydrated

1-2 cloves of Garlic

4-5 C Zucchini, cut into large chunks

1 t. Oregano

2 t. Basil

2 C. Mozzarella Cheese, grated (I used cheddar)

Salt to Taste

1. Cook your pasta in boiling water until tender.

2. combine diced tomatoes, mushrooms, tomato paste, hydrated onions, garlic, oregano, and basil in large pot. Heat to boiling and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

3. While the noodles are cooking, grill Italian sausage.

4. Place zucchini chunks in a bowl and microwave for 3 minutes (just to cook them slightly).

5. Add zucchini and meat to sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in noodles and 1 C of cheese and stir. If you don't want to heat up your oven just place remaining cheese on the table for people to top theirs with.

6. Place Spaghetti Zucchini Bake in a 9x13 casserole dish and top with remaining cheese. Place under broiler until cheese is melted. Make sure and watch it so the cheese doesn't burn.

The dessert we had that night was

Death by Chocolate, Zucchini Cake (one 8" pan)

1/2 C. Brown Sugar

1/4 C. White Sugar

1/4 C. Butter

1/4 C. Oil (or Applesauce)

2 Eggs (if you're doubling the recipe use 3 eggs)- 2 T. dehydrated eggs + 1/4 C. Water

1 t. Vanilla

1/4 C. Buttermilk-3/4 T. Dry powdered milk + 1/4 C. Water + 1/4 T. lemon juice or white vinegar, let stand for 5 minutes before adding to the recipe

1 1/4 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 t. allspice

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. salt

2 t. baking soda

3 T. cocoa

2 C. Zucchini, grated

1/2 C. Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325.

2. Cream brown sugar, white sugar, butter and oil together in large bowl.

3. Add eggs vanilla and buttermilk and stir well to mix.

4. In a separate bowl mix remaining dry ingredients together and add to mixture.

5. Fold in grated zucchini.

6. Pour into greased, floured 8 inch round cake pan or 8x8 pan.

7. Sprinkle the top of cake with chocolate chips and bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

The one we had last night was called

Zucchini Cakes

1 large zucchini

1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs

1 heaping Tbsp. minced garlic

1/2-3/4 c. Italian cheese blend (I used half queso fresco and half cheddar)

1-2 eggs

a pinch of kosher salt

olive oil

black pepper

Chop the ends off the zucchini and then use a cheese grater to shred it. Place the shredded zucchini in a clean towel and squeeze out the liquid (VERY IMPORTANT. I even ended up putting mine in a strainer as I was cooking to continue to let the moisture out). I was very surprised how much came out. Next place the semi-dry zucchini in a large bowl. Add the garlic, bread crumbs, cheese, 1 egg and salt and pepper then stir with a fork (I used 3 eggs. I liked a firmer texture). If mixture is to dry, add another egg. If it is too dry, the mixture will fall apart when you try to cook it. In a frying pan, heat olive oil on medium heat. Use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan by about 1/4". When the oil is hot, drop the zucchini batter by large spoonfuls into the pan and then flatten with the back of the spoon. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. The PW recommends serving these with Ranch dressing for dipping sauce, of which I had none last night, so we ate without and they were still fabulous on their own.

Carrot Harvest 2008

This year I am trying square foot gardening. I have 2 grow boxes that I've used for 2 years and just this year I decided to divide it into squares and try this new method. This is my carrot harvest I got out of 8 square feet (1/2 of one box). I was pretty pleased with the amount of carrots I got, but of course I couldn't enjoy all the fruits of my labors without ruining it somehow.

I picked about half of the carrots one day and then got so busy I wasn't able to do anything with them, so I just left them in a bucket with greens and dirt and all. By the next morning all of those carrots were like wet spaghetti noodles they were so soft. So, Carrot Lesson #1: CUT GREENS OFF IMMEDIATELY AFTER HARVESTING. That was quite disappointing, as I was hoping for a large one-time harvest to make one of my favorite carrot-treats to freeze.

I was still able to use about half of the carrots, but I didn't get nearly as much as I wanted, so I'm going to attempt to re-plant for a fall harvest. I've never done that before, but I've heard it can be done, so watch me! It may be too late already, and I just can't seem to get organized enough to get the seeds in the ground, but hopefully I'll get to it this week.

My favorite carrot treat is called "Carrot Stuff" (creative, I know. Any new-name suggestions are welcome. I've thought "Orange Delight" might sound a little more appealing). It is a recipe my not-famous-for-her-good-cooking Grandma Orton made up to feed my Grandpa when he got old. It is very simple to make, and my mom would make it for us occasionally growing up. I love it, but am aware it's weird, so I'm not offended if no one else likes it (I'm the only one in my family that likes it). But I'm sure I've made you curious by now, so I'll include the recipe.

Carrot Stuff

Carrots, peeled and chopped coarsely

pineapple juice

sugar to taste

Cut up the carrots in large chunks (1-2 inch pieces) and put in blender. Cover carrots with pineapple juice. Add sugar (I add about 1/4 cup of sugar per quart, but that might be too sweet for some). Blend till very small chunks (Do not puree). Eat chilled, or put in plastic containers to freeze and enjoy later.

Baby Burn

So we are finishing our basement and we just got a gas fireplace installed into our basement.  We have no chimney, so they installed an exhaust vent that comes out the back wall of our home.  It is the middle of the summer, but to burn off the factory oils, the technician told us to run the fireplace for a few hours, so we did.  The technician left and not long after, my 3 year old slipped out the back door while I was right there doing dishes and before I could even notice she wasn't there anymore she started screaming.  I ran over and she was at the base of the steps shaking her hands and head.  I asked her what happened, but she wouldn't tell me.  I looked around and suspected she may have touched the hot exhaust vent.  When I asked her if she touched it she wouldn't answer me. (I think she thought she might get in trouble).  I looked at her hands and they looked like they were burned.
I took her right inside and slathered Lavender Essential Oil on both her hands and let that sit as I got a bowl of cold water and ice for her to soak her hands in.  Her crying seemed to subside.  I sat right in front of her to keep the bowl from spilling and noticed she kept gently biting her top lip.  I looked closer and her top lip and nose looked white, with a little abrasion (which was probably a blister that had already popped) and a pink spot on her cheek as well.  I asked her about it, but once again she denied anything had happened to it.  I realized she probably had burned her face as well.  She wouldn't allow me to put lavender on it, as it was right under her nose and her top lip (lavender doesn't taste very good).  So I got her a wet rag with a piece of ice in it and held it on her lip.
About once an hour we took her hands out of the water, dried them off and re-applied the lavender oil.  By bedtime she had developed a blister on her top lip.  Her hands never blistered and felt better the next morning.  What didn't look better the next morning was the burn on her face.  It had all scabbed over and looked so painful!  My husband was worried about long-term scarring on her beautiful little face.  So that night after she was asleep, I snuck in her bedroom and applied Frankincense and Rose essential oils as best I could on her nose and top lip.  She slept through it, so this became our new routine for the next week.  Once a day after she was asleep.  We were so pleased with the results.  You can click on the picture to make it bigger.

Each day showed improvement, till after 7 days the scabs were completely gone.  I took a picture after 10 days.  There is still a bit of marking on the underside of her nose, but I just got the Immortelle blend which has Rose, Frankincense, Lavender, Myrrh, and Helichrysum in it and it smells divine.  I will finish the job with that.

What I thought was remarkable was the difference in how we treated her hands and face initially.  Her hands, which we slathered with Lavender oil probably within 2 minutes of the initial burn, and then hourly after that never blistered or scabbed over like her face did.  On her face, we were only able to use cold water and ice and what a contrast in the healing process!

And for future safety, we normally won't be running the fireplace in the summer, and in the winter, there aren't children playing in the back yard anyway.  I will have my husband build some sort of safety cage that still may get hot, but will protect little people from touching the vent directly.