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.

Basic Cheese

One of those things I've always wanted to try is to make home-made cheese. We found a Bare-Bones Recipe of the most basic of all cheese-making, and decided to try it on our Memorial Day Holiday last year. We made 1/4 of what the recipe called for because we just wanted to try it out.

First, we took one quart of 2% milk and warmed it to 190 degrees F.

Remove from heat and add 2 Tablespoons of Vinegar. This will make the milk curdle until you have curds and whey (like Little Miss Muffet food!). Let stand until cooled.

When cooled, pour through strainer to separate the curds from the whey. Gently stir the curds to release all the whey.

Then add 1/4 teaspoon of salt. This makes a ricotta-type cheese that you can use like you would use ricotta like in lasagna or salads. Did you ever know that making cheese was so EASY?

So my mom dished up everyone a bite-size taste. My mom was the bravest soul that tasted it first. My sisters were next to try it. They said it reminded them of yogurt. My dad said it needed more salt, so mom put more salt in it. THEN it was my turn.

TOO MUCH SALT! I don't recommend putting too much salt in your cheese. It wasn't good like that. I think next time I'll try it before anyone adjusts the recipe.   So, unfortunately, I can't give you an accurate account of how it is supposed to taste. 

All the kids wanted to try it. Some really loved it. Some wanted seconds, and one child had probably 10 bites of it...till there was no more. Others were good sports and had polite reactions to the too-salty cheese.

This cheese was so simple and easy to make. Now that we have the basics of cheese-making down, I'm going to try a more advanced type of cheese in the future.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

Enrichment last night was on Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness. This is a subject I am naturally interested in, and attended hoping to get some new ideas. I am always looking for new ways to use the food storage I have, and the lady that taught the class gave me a lot of good ideas. One of the things she mentioned is the different ways she flavors her cooked oatmeal for breakfast.

Honey Nut - add honey and almonds

French Toast- add cinnamon and vanilla

Choco - add chocolate chips

Very Berry - add frozen berries

Creme Brule - add a layer of vanilla pudding, then a layer of sugar, and broil or torch it

Apple Pie - add dehydrated apples and cinnamon

My kids love instant "creme" varieties of oatmeal, so I thought I'd try a few of these. This morning I tried the Apple Pie version. I am not a huge oatmeal fan, so I had to add some brown sugar to help it taste more apple pie-ish, but it was good! Rayna liked it and said she'd eat it again.

I like that oatmeal is inexpensive, it's healthy, and it helps my kids stay fuller longer than if they eat cold cereal. It was quick, only taking about 5 minutes to cook. I'm not a breakfast cooker, but Brynlee woke me up at 6:30 this morning and I couldn't go back to bed, so I took the opportunity to use my kids as guinea pigs. BUT, they know how to boil water in the microwave, so I could make up some "instant oatmeal" packets using my new flavors and they could make it themselves next time I'm refusing to get out of bed.

I am no gourmet cook, and I don't even claim to enjoy cooking. But I am one that gets excited about saving 70% on my grocery shopping trip. Don't look here for recipes to dazzle your guests with, but I may occasionally share a recipe of some new way I found to use my food storage or a yummy frugal meal.