How does your zucchini grow?

That's a good question, actually. It's only been 105 here most of the summer and yet we've grown mounds of the stuff, so we've gotten more creative beyond bread and shreds for the freezer.

Speaking of bread, the kids and I been perfecting our recipe since the garden started yielding boatloads of zucchini. Katie is always eager to help and everyone in the house (Konny included) is more than happy to eat it. We finally have it perfected and entered it in the Namaste Kids Recipe Contest.




Banana Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread Recipe

2 cups Namaste Perfect Flour Blend
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 cup light olive oil
1 cup sucanat
1 tsp vanilla
2 mashed ripe bananas
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Peel and mash bananas. Shred zucchini making sure to squeeze out excess liquid. Set aside

Mix together flour, baking powder, soda and spices. Set aside.

Mix together eggs, oil, and sucanat. Add dry ingredients a little at a time until well blended.

Stir in vanilla, bananas, zucchini and chocolate chips until just combined.

Pour into 1 large or 2 small greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-65 min or until toothpick comes out clean.




Zucchini is so easy to hide in baked goods. It's makes them super moist so it's easy to leave out some or all the oil.....chocolate chocolate chip zucchini muffins, anyone? :-)


One of the first new zucchini dishes of the summer was Stuffed Zucchini. They're like little zucchini boats stuffed with all kinds of goodness. I've linked some of Janna's recipes before and all have been amazing. I'm pretty confident she and I would be buds if they still lived in the area.


The other main dish I've made is Sausage Zucchini Bake. Super easy and fabulously delicious! Everyone loved it, although it was obviously not Konny friendly.


Probably Kelton's favorite (and mine too) is Cornmeal Crusted Zucchini. These can be fried or broiled. The first time we tried both methods, but frying is just so stinky and messy (although tasty), that we just stick to the broiling method. These are SO GOOD and so allergy friendly. We seriously cannot get enough of them and I'm thrilled to report even Konny ate some!


Next up is preserving zucchini. The first thing I made was Zucchini Jelly. Sounds odd doesn't it? Just a warning....prepare yourself for the amount of sugar this takes. I was seriously shocked. Completely. I wanted to use turbinado, but was out, so I went with regular old organic sugar. I have it admit, it's super delicious.


I like a good sweet relish, so when one of my friends posted on facebook about making Zucchini Relish, I was intrigued. With her guidance, I gave it a go. These still need to sit for about a month before I'll know if it's any good, but hopefully it will become another summer staple at our house!


And finally, if you can't think of anything else to do with your zucchini, they apparently make great toy telephones!