Chocolate Chip Cardamom Zucchini Brownies

This blog post and recipe have been moved to my new blog home at Someplace That's Green (this link goes straight to the recipe).  Please visit me there! Thanks and enjoy! 

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies

These were especially fun to take photos of so here is another one.  Hmm looks like I have another plate of brownies to eat...

Brownies with coffee

Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins

Whole wheat zucchini muffins plus sunshine

It's zucchini time!  How best to savor the zucchini goodness?  There are SO many ways, so take advantage of your farmers markets and gardens!  Can't use it all at once?  Muffins and biscuits freeze well, and here is a link to freeze your fresh zucchini (you can blanch it or not, depending on what you're doing with it in the future).  I hear stories of overwhelmed gardeners who leave extra zucchini in vehicles with windows down or on random doorsteps and I hope to get the word out that my doorstep is zucchini-friendly.  :) 

Some previous excellent zucchini recipes:
Cheddar Zucchini Biscuits
Zucchini Fritters
October Chicken Soup and Stock

I have been looking forward to zucchini season to test out some bread and muffin recipes and the first one I tried is a winner, from 100 Days of Real Food.  This is a great blog with all sorts of information and ideas for cutting processed foods out of your diet.

Now, onward to the making!  If you're short on time, you can grate the zucchini a day or two before and refrigerate it so everything is ready to go.  Yellow squash would work well too, either in addition or in place of the zucchini, and next time I may add a handful of grated carrots for extra veggie goodness.  I used coconut oil instead of my usual olive oil or applesauce.  Did you know Costco sells this now?  I have also found it for a reasonable price at a local middle-eastern market, so if you don't want to pay the regular grocery store price keep an eye out, there are other options.  As always, look for ingredients at ethnic-focused stores, you might be amazed at how much money you can save, and a lot of these are small family owned places who I love to support. 

Local kudos go to the Wasatch Front Farmers Market for mountains of zucchini, Clifford Farm for the wildflower honey and fresh eggs, and Spoons 'n Spice Kitchenware for the beautiful plate/tray.

Zucchini Muffins, ready to eat!

Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins or Bread
From 100 Days of Real Food

INGREDIENTS
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup oil (or coconut oil)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped nuts or raisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees F for small loaf pans or 325 degrees F for large loaf pan or muffins.
2.  Blend the dry ingredients.
3.  Make a well (or hole) in the center and pour in the eggs, oil, honey and vanilla. Stir just until mixed – do not overmix.
4.  Fold in the grated zucchini and nuts or raisins.
5.  Pour batter into greased loaf pan(s) or muffin holders and bake until a toothpick comes clean in the top/center of the loaf or muffin.  (this is a thick heavy batter and it doesn't rise much in the muffin shape so go ahead and fill those babies!)
 - If using smaller pans bake for 30 – 40 minutes. (fills approx. four small loaf pans)
 - For one larger loaf pan bake for 50 – 60 minutes.
 - For muffins bake for 15 – 20 minutes. (mine were perfect at 20 minutes, makes about a dozen and a half)

6.  Serve warm with butter, cold for breakfast, or in lunch bags for afternoon pick-me-ups.  Enjoy and don’t forget to freeze the leftovers!

Cheesy Zucchini Biscuits

Cheddar Zucchini Biscuits

This weekend I had a baking spree!  One of the clear winners was these biscuits.  They remind me a little of the great cheese biscuits at Red Lobster, except of course those don't have zucchini and these are smaller.  Smaller means they last longer!  I can't taste the zucchini (maybe I should add more next time?) but I love the nice green color to keep them from looking like normal boring biscuits.  The flavor of sharp white cheddar comes through loud and clear and the texture is outstanding.

I put most of them into the freezer for future enjoyment when I am craving cheesy bready things.  This would be another easy and delicious recipe for autumn potlucks.  The original recipe was published in a magazine but I don't know which.


Cheesy Zucchini Biscuits
Makes 12-18 small biscuits

INGREDIENTS
        3/4 cup shredded zucchini
        1/2 tsp salt, divided
        1 cup shredded aged cheddar cheese (sharp white cheddar is excellent)
        1/4 cup sliced green onions (optional)
        2 cups plus 1 Tbsp flour, divided
        2 tsp baking powder
        6 Tbsp butter, chilled, cut up
        1 cup milk

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 450.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil (or spray with cooking spray).
Combine zucchini and 1/4 tsp salt in small bowl; let stand 20 minutes. Place zucchini in strainer; press on zucchini to drain any liquid.
Combine zucchini, cheese, green onions and 1 Tbsp flour in medium bowl.
Whisk remaining 2 cups flour, baking powder and remaining 1/4 tsp salt in medium bowl.
With pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles small peas.
Stir in zucchini mixture.
Stir in milk just until soft dough forms.
Drop dough by Tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet.
Bake 10-13 minutes or until light brown on top and bottom (13 minutes in my oven). Serve warm.

Make extra to wrap in plastic in the freezer, they are great re-heated.

October Chicken Soup and Stock

One autumn in Portland, I discovered a magic place.  I was taking a tax preparation class and needed a good place to study, and happened upon a little deli/restaurant downtown that played soft jazz music, had beautiful wooden tables, and made the best soup.  I never got around to trying the sandwiches, they looked great but I couldn't bear to trade the soup for anything else.  The combination of squash, cabbage, and turmeric stayed in my mind and I am pleased with my best duplication of it.  This brings to mind the dark stormy afternoons of bright wet yellow leaves, and of running in the rain with my books under my bright red raincoat, with the pleasing soft jingle of the bell on the door and reading the entire chalkboard menu before ordering my favorite soup. 

October Chicken Zucchini Soup

I am still enjoying the bounty of October vegetables and being sick this weekend (again! ugh!) was a perfect time for chicken soup. Using a pre-cooked game hen from the grocery store not only saves a ton of time, it makes a pot of chicken stock for future use.  If you make anything with veggies at other times, save the discards (peels, ends, etc) in a zip-lock bag in the freezer and throw them into the stock pot.  The more veggies, the better!  Onion peels are my favorite because they give the broth that nice brown color. 


October Chicken Soup

INGREDIENTS
*NOTE: Save all of the cuttings from the veggies for making stock!
1 Pre-cooked cornish game hen
4 cups chicken broth
1-2 yellow crookneck squash and/or zucchini, cut in half-slices
5 small white potatoes, cut to bite-size
3 handfuls of baby carrots, cut to bite-size (in thirds is a good size)
3 handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, washed
1 round slice of cabbage, broken into large bite-size pieces
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt & pepper to taste
Additional water to cover ingredients

DIRECTIONS
Strip the meat off the chicken bones and break or cut meat into bite-sized pieces.  Add meat, broth, all veggies, and bay leaf to large soup pot.  Add enough water to cover the ingredients and stir carefully.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until all veggies are cooked.  Add turmeric and salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with a big chunk of crusty bread. 


Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock

INGREDIENTS
1 poultry carcass, all good meat removed (obviously leave this out to make vegetable stock)
Veggie discards: This includes onion peel, garlic peel, ends of zucchini or carrots, stems from broccoli or kale, etc.  The more the merrier, this is all flavor! 
Enough water to cover everything, and as much as you want to make into broth
** Ingredient note: Don't use potatoes.

DIRECTIONS
Put everything into a large soup pot and cook on low to medium for several hours.  Do not add seasoning other than what may have been on the poultry skin.  Refrigerate or freeze until needed.
This can be used to make future chicken soup or anything else that calls for chicken stock - pumpkin soup, pot pies, risotto, etc.

(Photo by me)

Zucchini Fritters

Zucchini fritters are a great side dish for fall... or appetizer, or breakfast, or snack.  They are earthy and green, use in-season vegetables, and make a lovely colorful contrast with the pumpkin soup I posted. They are also pretty easy.  I don't have a serving size listed because I can't get a complete count of how many are made - before the last batch is done the first batch doesn't have many left.  I'd guess that it serves about three, so the official servings is probably close to six... but why would anyone discourage the eating of delicious vegetables?

This recipe is adapted from versions from both Martha Stewart (who is totally one of my idols) and Cooking Pleasures magazine.  I make it a little bit differently each time, mostly because I tend to have zucchini when I have misplaced my recipe book, but now I have it typed in on Pepperplate.com and can access it from my phone.  So much easier!  Someday maybe I'll get an iPad and use that for cooking instead. 

I find it easiest to put all of the ingredients into a 9x13 casserole dish after draining the zucchini and onions, draw a grid in the mixture, and scoop up one forkful-sized square for each fritter.  This keeps the scoops from getting bigger and bigger until the last ones I make are twice the size of the first ones.  This trick works for cookie dough too!

Zucchini Fritters
Serves 3-6 as a side dish, depending on how hungry you are

INGREDIENTS
        3 medium zucchini
        1/4 tsp coarse salt
        1/2 to 1 medium onion
        1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (1 oz) (optional)
        1/2 cup flour
        1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (optional)
        1 tsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
        Salt and pepper
        2 large eggs, lightly beaten
        Olive oil, for frying
        Plain yogurt or sour cream (for serving)
        Applesauce (for serving)


DIRECTIONS

1. Grate zucchini on the large holes of a box grater, then toss with 1/4 tsp coarse salt. Let rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, grate the onion.
2. Squeeze zucchini dry in a clean kitchen towel or press in a ricer. Repeat with onion.
3. Mix together zucchini, onion, cheese, flour, and herbs. Season with 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Stir in eggs just before frying.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, coat skillet with 1-2 Tbsp oil. Scoop mounds (2 Tbsp each) of the mixture into skillet; flatten slightly using a spatula. Cook until golden brown and cooked through, 2-3 minutes per side.
5. Transfer fritters to paper-towel-lines plates to drain. Serve with plain yogurt and apricot jam or sour cream and applesauce.
Enjoy!