As I mentioned last week, we've been inundated with squash (yellow and green) for about a month now. We love it plain, but thought we should branch out and find some other ways to cook it up. (Plus my father-in-law looked very wary when we not so jokingly mentioned we ate it at least three times a week!)
Here's how we ate it all winter, when we paid $2/lb for it at the store and it was therefore more of a treat than a staple. Slice it up thin, sprinkle garlic salt and onion powder on, and bake it around 400-450 for some 30-40 minutes (flipping halfway through), 'til they're almost chip-like. This is my husband the scientist's favorite side dish:
The only other thing I knew how to do was make chocolate zucchini cake. THIS IS THE MOST DELICIOUS CAKE YOU WILL EVER EAT. It doesn't taste like zucchini - that just makes it really moist. Usually I take my Grandma Hendricks' method and just don't tell people there's zucchini in it until they've commented on how good it is and actually ask how it was made. This picture does not do it justice, mostly because I couldn't wait to eat it and so devoured it and was actually liking the frosting off the plate. Speaking of the frosting, the spots you might notice in it are because I didn't whisk it well enough. But who complains when they get an extra bit of powdered sugar? Not me!
Speaking of my grandma, she passed on to me a recipe for a zucchini pie "that tastes just like apple pie... on the first day. On the second day, just heat it up and put some ice cream on it." We have not mustered up the courage to try that recipe... yet.
You can also make zucchini bread, of course. Sorry - no pictures of that.
I don't own a mandoline, or even know how to spell that fancy thing that slices up food real thin for you. But I still managed to use a potato peeler to make beautiful long thin slices of carrots and squash. It's prettier when you use zucchini, because the colors contrast better, but tastes just as good with yellow squash. Just sautee with some oil and butter and garlic - yum!
That fancy contraption was also used to make these zucchini fries. I just cut them up into pencil-sized strips with a knife. It took a while - but boy was it worth it. This has leaped to the top of our list of ways to cook zucchini. It's like french fries with a hint of sweetness - and I can pretend they're healthy and scarf them down!
This was also good - a zucchini pizza from one of Rachel Ray's cookbooks. You might think it sounds weird, but I absolutely love it. I've really been taken by white pizza since I moved out to the northeast. It's a beautiful beautiful thing!
I went a little overboard taking zucchini meal pictures after awhile. This one is from a week night where I just cut it up in chunks, sprinkled on seasoning salt, and baked it. Look at the steam coming off those bad boys!
Ah, on to the last of my grandma's zucchini recipes (can you tell my grandpa is a big gardener?). Zucchini Mexicali. You basically throw a bunch of veggies together with some taco sauce and voila!
And finally, the night before last, I made stuffed zucchini. The recipe was just from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and to be honest I wasn't that impressed with the stuffing. But I think with a different stuffing (maybe one with mushrooms or, as my father-in-law suggested, sausage or crab!) it'd be great. Do not be deceived by these pictures - I am not showing you a cheesesteak. We just put a ton of cheese on top, because we all know cheese makes everything better.
If you're actually interested in any of these recipes, just let me know and I'm glad to share!