Zucchini Anyone?

Domenick fixed a computer for someone the other day and the guy wanted to know how much he owed Dom. Dom said “whatever is in your heart.” Well this guy’s heart is full of vegetables. He brought Dom a bunch of onions, some turnips (which I thought were really big radishes until my sister suggested they might be turnips), a couple heads of cabbage and some collard greens. I had no idea what to do with the collard greens since I am Yankee born and bred, and I had every intention to look up a recipe to find out what to do with collard greens, but they got tossed into my crisper drawer in my spare refrigerator and forgotten about. So now they are compost food (lazy man’s compost that is, just toss in garden and let nature do the rest). A couple of days ago, Dom brought these zucchinis home from the same guy (not sure when his heart will say "paid in full"), 30 of the biggest zucchinis that I had ever seen (make that 31, Dom found a loner in his truck yesterday). So what do I do with these enormous zucchinis? I process them. Just me and my food processor. Kelly Clarkson & Carrie Underwood joined in on the fun too. Of course they were in the CD player, but hey they helped me pass the time! (Do you see an American Idol theme going on?) The other CD’s in my five disk chamber didn’t get a chance to serenade me before I was done, but if I had given them a chance, Steven Curtis Chapman, Zoe Girl and Mercy Me would have joined in on the fun. (There’s my Christian theme, which is really all I ever listen too, but I do give other artists a chance. It’s only fair!) There are my finished products. All ready to go into the freezer to later become zucchini bread or stir fry. I left a couple of whole ones to become stir fry sooner rather than later. What’s in the measuring cup turned into this.

Zucchini Bread Anyone? Yum! Yum! Don’t you wish you were here?

My Zucchini Bread Recipe

This is a doubled recipe, (because with a family of six, why bother with less?) Only attempt if you are a trained professional (LOL), because this BARELY fits into the Kitchen Aide, although I make it work. So be careful, it’s messy.

Make 2 Loaves & 1 Mini

6 Eggs
1½ C. Milk
2 C. Oil
3 C. Sucanat w/Honey (or you can use reg. Sugar)
6¾ C. Soft White Flour (whole wheat pastry flour)
2¼ t. Baking Soda
1½ t. Baking Powder
1½ t. Salt
4½ t. Cinnamon
¾ t. Ground Cloves
4½ C. Shredded Zucchini
6 t. Vanilla

I beat the eggs first, then add the sucanat (this seems to help dissolve the sucanat better). Then add milk, oil & vanilla. In separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon, & cloves. Slowly, by tablespoon full, add flour mixture. Then add zucchini. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and 1 greased mini-loaf pan. Bake @ 350° for 55-60 minutes.

This was my breakfast this morning (with Anna's hand getting ready to dig in). Vegetables for breakfast? Yes, they are actually good with eggs. My MIL "taught" me how to cook zucchini with eggs and a little Parmesan. They're good. I stir-fried zucchini w/onions (a whole one, because in my book, you can never have enough), and corn (I like to add corn, gives a sweet crunch). I scrambled some eggs (from my chickens!), heated up some left-over homefries (BTW, left-over baked potatoes make awesome homefries) and toasted some BUNS? I grind my own flour (yes, that is strange for some) and I wasn't happy with the texture of my bread. I got tired of it, so until I can get myself a nice Bosch mixer that makes awesome loaves of bread (taste tested in my sister's kitchen), I have started using my bread machine to mix up my dough. Then I proceed to make that dough into rolls, let rise, then bake and now we eat everything on buns, even PB & J! It eliminates the crumbs from slicing, already is portioned controlled, and I no longer have to cut off the crusts off of slices of bread. My kiddos eat the whole portion (except sometimes, Quinn, who I have to remind that there are no longer "crusts" to avoid eating and you can eat the whole thing!).

Footnote:

For those who are not up on "texting lingo,"

MIL = Mother-n-Law

BTW = By The Way

LOL = Laugh out Loud