Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Zucchini Recipes

Hopefully your gardens are now thriving this July and your gardening efforts have paid off providing a plentiful harvest. At Green Barn, we have been busy with harvest season and, like many of you, are trying to find new uses for the fresh produce! We would like to share recipes with you and welcome you to submit your favorites to share.

Today, we will feature ZUCCHINI! If you have every grown zucchini, you know that it doesn’t take very many plants to produce more than you and all of your neighbors can use!

Judy is a staff member at Green Barn that is always baking tasty things to share. This week, she made chocolate zucchini cake and we thought you may like to try this one if you have a few extra zucchini. Enjoy!

½ c. butter or margarine

1 ¾ c. white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Topping: 1/2 c chocolate chips and 1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Cream margarine, oil, and sugar. Beat in slowly eggs, vanilla, and milk. Combine dry ingredients. Beat into creamed mixture. Add 1/4 c. nuts and zucchini. Blend well. Pour into lightly greased and floured 9 x 13" pan. Sprinkle with chips and nuts for topping. Bake at 325 degrees F for 40-45 minutes.

One of our other favorite zucchini recipes is this zucchini bread. I make this regularly and it is very moist and tasty. One tip I suggest for this recipe is to drain off (squeeze lightly) the extra liquid from the grated zucchini before adding.

2 eggs

2/3 c. vegetable oil

1-1/3 c. sugar

1-1/3 c. grated zucchini

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

Beat eggs. Add next 4 ingredients listed. Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture until blended. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 325 degrees F for 1 hr or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (may take 1 hr. 15 min)