A four pound zucchini. Yes, you read that right. My friend gave me a four pound zucchini last
week. She said, “Can you do anything
with a really large zucchini?” I said
“of course!” I figured I could make some
roasted zucchini for dinner. And then I
saw it. I realized I could make roasted
zucchini, fried zucchini, zucchini frittata, zucchini pasta….pretty much everything
with zucchini.
The first thing I did with my extra-large
zucchini was grate half of it. Now I
have zucchini for quick breads, muffins, scrambled eggs, pasta sauce, etc. Quick tip, if adding it to bread….squeeze it
dry in paper towels to get rid of the excess moisture.
My favorite way to use up zucchini
is to make quick bread with it and then pass it out to friends and
neighbors. People always like to get
baked goods, right? I think so. And with a four pound zucchini, pretty much
everyone that knows me can be sure that they will receive a loaf of quick
bread.
I like to make quick breads
because quick breads don’t contain any yeast.
They are very cake like. There is no kneading, no rising, no hard stuff
basically. It is perfect for breakfast,
or a quick snack. You can make quick
breads sweet or savory. Today I am going
to show you my two favorite quick breads containing zucchini. That way, if you happen to have too much
zucchini laying around because your backyard just flat out produced too much….you
can give friends and neighbors bread.
You don’t have to sneak over to their house in the middle of the night
and leave zucchini on their porch (I swear I’ve known people that did that with
peaches)…..make bread.
My first bread is a savory bread. It is a cornbread actually but I bake it in a
loaf pan. I use a package of cornbread
mix to start. Yep, there I go using
packages again. But this won’t taste
anything but homemade, I promise. Beyond
the cornbread mix, I also use grated zucchini (duh), gruyere cheese, and
thyme. And whatever else the package
calls for.
The zucchini gives this bread a
fresh almost sweet flavor. The gruyere
is nutty and works perfectly with the sweet corn flavors. This bread is perfect with soup, salad, even
pasta. I’ve even caught my husband
making sandwiches with it.
My second quick bread happens to
be my favorite. Because it is
chocolate. Chocolate Zucchini Banana to
be exact. I start this one with a box of
Banana Bread mix. I add more grated zucchini,
unsweetened cocoa powder, mini chocolate chips and vanilla Greek yogurt to this
one. The Greek yogurt gives this bread
great moisture and it adds protein to it.
It also allows be to use half the amount of oil. To me, that makes it health food.
One of the greatest things about
quick bread, besides what I mentioned above, is that you can easily mix your
batter together in one bowl, with no mixers.
You basically mix with a spoon until everything is blended. I swear it is easier to make then cookies.
If you have a surplus of zucchini,
you must make one or both of these breads.
You can give them out, you can freeze them, or you can eat them all at
one sitting like I do with the chocolate version. Don’t laugh….there is zucchini in there so it
is super good for me. Right?
Zucchini and Gruyere Cornbread
2 cups Marie Callender’s Cornbread
mix
1 cup milk
¼ cup melted butter
1 egg
1 cup zucchini, grated and
squeezed dry
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 cup gruyere cheese, grated
1 teaspoon black pepper
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray
loaf pan (8x4x2 ½) with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, stir together
all ingredients until just blended. Pour
batter into loaf pan.
Bake at 425 for 30 to 35 minutes
or until golden brown on top a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out
clean.
Serves 8
Chocolate Zucchini Banana Bread
14 ounce box Pillsbury Banana
Quick Bread Mix
½ cup Vanilla Greek Yogurt
½ cup water
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup zucchini, grated and
squeezed dry
2 eggs
1/8 cup vegetable oil
½ cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a loaf pan (8x4x2 ½) with cooking
spray.
In a large mixing bowl, gently
stir together all ingredients. Pour
batter into loaf pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50
minutes or until brown on top and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Serves 8
No comments:
Post a Comment