Zucchini Recipes

Blueberry Zucchini Bread
Submitted By: LAUJRA
Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 50 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour 45 Minutes
Servings: 12

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups white sugar
2 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 pint fresh blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in
the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries.
Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.
3. Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes
out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 8/28/2009

** I did 2 normal loaf size pans and baked for 1 hour 20 minutes and it was perfect!**

Much better plan

So, the powdery mildew has me completely bummed... the dwarfed peppers are a huge disappointment and the tomatoes are out of control. I need a better plan for next year. Here's what we are thinking.

Up high near the rain barrel and along the fence line, plant the squahes. So the top row would be 3 zucchini plants. The fence line would be home to the winter squashes. Between the squash and the peppers will be 2 rows of peas which will be done just as the squash is getting crazy. After that, 2 rows of peppers, 2 rows of green beans and then 2 rows of tomatoes. The bottom of the garden will be home to broccoli, cauliflower and other root veggies. The microgreens will live up in their own bed between the ac unit and the herb garden.

Why didn't I plant more squash?

Of course I didn't plant more squash... it is daunting. It takes up vast amounts of real estate, is easily susceptible to powdery mildew and cannot be eaten readily. However, as my food interests have increased, my desire for more varities of squash has kept pace. Note for next year, regardless of how tempting to over plant, **1** acorn squash plant is all one can eat! In it's place, plant a butternut sqaush plant... the Barefoot Contessa Recipe with butternut, cranberries, arugla and cider vinagrette makes our mouths sing! 2 Zucchini were nice... maybe one more... why didn't we plant ANY yellow summer squash plants?! (Oh yeah, because Greg doesn't care about them.... ) So... inventory for next year:

1 Yellow Squash Plant
2-3 Zucchini Plants
1 Acorn Squash
1 Butternut Squash

Oh yeah... and Watermelon. Duh. Only the best fruit on the planet. At least one of those please.

Co-Op Woes

I joined a local farm co-op this year... it has been a disaster. While some things have inconsistently been good, there has typically been very little each week and what was there was often of poor quality. For example, as of August 1st, we still have zero greenbeans. My green beans were ready the first week of July and I have already started extra plantings. Also, we have had only two weeks of very small, rubbery, small quantity carrots. What especially makes me angry is that I bought a full share and I often pick up a friend's half share - NEVER have I gotten double what she got - as a full share, I would have been better off to have bought 2 half shares.

That being said, I think that we might be able to come up with a modified co-op concept amongst ourselves. I personally like growing almost everything I intend to eat. I think that if we co-oped, I would be most interested in co-oping only the big stuff - machine rentals, sharing of labor and time, etc. So, for example, I know that I am going to make my garden half again as big. I am growing for myself and my dad. I need to rent a sod cutter and rent/borrow a tiller in the fall. I will also need to till in the spring. Amanda said that the tiller rental is really expensive. I agree. Amanda owns a small tiller and Sarah's inlaw grandparents have a machine shop where we can borrow a bigger one. Does someone have a trailer? What if we had a cutting and tilling party one weekend. Each one of us marks off what we want cut and tilled. We start at one house and made the circuit going to each house cutting on one day and tilling the next. We could co-op the babysitting and have our hubbies do the heavy lifting.

After the dirt is cut, flip the sod over and let the grass die into the ground (acting as compost). We would scatter compost on top and then till everything together. Finally, lay newspaper over the entire space with leaves/grass clippings/mulch on top. The newspaper will act as a composting blanket causing everything below it to decompose and enrich the soil. The newspaper will break down over the winter and when we till again in spring, we will have great dirt for the next planting.

Additionally, Greg and I own almost 2 acres on hwy 10 in Manitowoc County right off of Hwy 43. It is virgin farm land. We intend to plant winter squash, melons, sweet corn, pumpkins, potatoes and possibly onions. It isn't ideal, but the stuff we intend to plant is low maintenance and can basically be neglected. We would glady share planting space with anyone who wanted to do it as an experiment.

Poor pathetic radicchio

I had never grown arugula and radicchio before. I planted one of each this spring and was **delighted** by the results. So much so that salad has become blah, boring, unfufilling since they have bolted and are no longer available for harvest. I tried to plant more radicciho and arugula in June, but alas, I was too late. Both grew... sort of... but the heat made them bitter, wilted and bolting. Next year, I have to serious re-think my herb garden. I think from the ac unit to the chives, I am going to remove all perennials and re-plant them along the patio. Use that straight space instead as a salad garden... arugula, radicchio, sorrel and mesclun mix. Of course the spinach will stay in the main garden. I need to do successive plantings of all of it. I wish that there was a way to grow salad greens longer... in the shade perhaps? I will have to do some reading this winter.

Zucchini Like Candy

We all have one... that recipe that keeps you from going insane with the volume of zucchini we are going to harvest from our garden. Of course I planted two plants... couldn't possibly just plant one. So far, I am keeping pace. We are eating 2 zucchini's a day. For the first couple of days, Greg seasoned them with sea salt and pepper and then grilled them and then we drizzled them with EVOO and Balsamic vinegar. My favorite, however, is my mom's simple but delicious solution - coins coated in EVOO, salt, pepper and topped with good quality parmesean... broiled for 10 minutes unil golden brown. Yummy. I am eating them like candy. 2 plants were good. More would be too much. Only one would simply be not enough.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatotes everywhere!

Wow... I planted a lot of tomatoes. Four plants in the bottom of the garden. Four plants in the top. 1 plant in Michael's garden... ok, that one doesn't count since he has harvested nearly all of the cherry sized little "green balls" already. Seriously though, 8 plants. That's alot of tomatoes for our little family. Of course, I was anticipating that my little "helper" would help himself to plenty of those little green balls throughout the season. What a shame that he went for my bell peppers instead. Note to self for next year... the tomatoes plants really do get bigger than you ever think imaginable. If I leave the garden the same size, I should really only do three in a row. If we add a few more feet, four would be the maximum number of plants. The sun and warmth that destroyed my broccoli has blessed my tomatoes. Now, we just need cool nights to ripen those babies up. Not that I am asking for summer to come to an end... just anticipating my tomato harvest and the days I will spend canning.

Bitter Broccoli

Well, I tried and failed. The broccoli is bitter. I have been watching my plants grow and grow and grow. When two of the crowns were finally hinting that they were ready, Michael and I went into the garden, sharp tool in hand, and harvested our first attempt. Bitter. Not a little bitter... inedibly bitter. I am eating Nestle white chocoloate chips right now to neutralize the bitter after taste that has lingered for more than half an hour. (I think that the bitter taste may be receeding, but heck, the white chocolate is delicious... better be safe than sorry... keep eating!) I did some google searching and realized that in the heat, green cool weather veggies like broccoli will suffer into bitterness. I saw a great tip, however, take the first frost date of the year, subtract the number of days to maturity for the plant, subtract 1 more week for good measure and plant later in the season than otherwise inclined to do. This makes sense. Let the young plant dance in the heat and sun of July and August and mature in the cool relief of September. Live and learn. Too late for this year, but next year we will give it a go.