The Mission of a Christian

We don’t grow zucchini ourselves, but we have some friends of ours that do, and they end up with QUITE a bit of it.  They were kind enough to give some to us (thanks Maureen!)  There are many uses for zucchini.  It can be shred and put into salads, can be cut into strips and be included in a veggie dip tray…I could go on, but here are a few of our favorites.

Here is a quick, last minute throw-together recipe that turned out very appetizing. 

We simply sauted Vidalia onions in extra virgin olive oil, added sliced zucchini, salt, and freshly ground pepper.  When done, topped it with shredded parmesan cheese. 

This cake was a hit!  Very rich, moist, and chocolatey… without all the guilt.

Ingredients:

• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour *
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup 1% buttermilk
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 cup (6 oz) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional)

* You can purchase your whole wheat from the store, or like us, we purchase our wheat berries in bulk and freshly grind them right before baking.  This time we used hard and soft white wheat berries, along with spelt berries and flaxseed.  We grind it all together and use this as our whole wheat flour.

In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil on medium speed for 1 minute.  Add the eggs, applesauce and vanilla; beat 1 minute longer.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating just until blended.  Stir in zucchini.  (We actually pureed it with the buttermilk so that little picky eaters couldn’t detect that zucchini was in it) 

Transfer to a 9 x 13 inch baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool on wire rack. 

Here is another zucchini recipe: our whole wheat zucchini bread – moist and delicious!

You can find the recipe to this bread in another one of my posts HERE.

If any of you know of some really good zucchini recipes, feel free to share!  I’d be interested in trying them!

Filed under: From the Kitchen, FYI's, Recipes Tagged: | fried zucchini, recipes, whole wheat, whole wheat chocolate cake, whole wheat zucchini bread, zucchini, zucchini recipes