Tonight's Zucchini dish is Mom's Italian Stew #395... lol

It's an onion - chopped

Zucchini and/or yellow squash - large bite sized diced

Potatoes - large bite sized diced

A few cloves of garlic crushed whole, chopped roughly

Enough tomato sauce or tomatoes to give it the consistency of stew

Heat some olive oil in a pot, toss in the garlic to flavor the oil. Before the garlic burns, toss in the tomatoes and/or sauce. Add onions. Let simmer to meld flavors.

Toss in potatoes. Wait until they are softening some, then toss in Zucchini. cook until soft.

*** and a few deviations from the Mom... Tonight, as it was finishing, I added cannellini beans and Italian green beans.

Please don't ask amounts lol... it's totally up to you. And don't tell Mom about the beans!

Zucchini-Pineapple! It's a mixture of shredded zucchini, lemon juice, pineapple juice and sugar. It's zucchini, but it looks and tastes like pineapple.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1961805/canned-zucchini-pineapple

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/zucchini_pineapple.html

Zucchini-Pineapple

• 4 qts cubed or shredded zucchini
• 46 oz canned unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1½ cups bottled lemon juice
• 3 cups sugar

Yield: About 8 to 9 pints

Please read Using Boiling Water Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.

Procedure: Peel zucchini and either cut into ½-inch cubes or shred. Mix zucchini with other ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer 20 minutes. Fill jars with hot mixture and cooking liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process. See Table 1 for recommended process time for using a boiling-water canner.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Zucchini-Pineapple in a boiling-water canner.

We pick them very small (no more than 4" long) and eat them raw, in salads or with your favorite dip. I sometime include them in a coleslaw type salad.

I also make Baked Zucchini. Slice about 1/4" to 3/8" thick. Dip in beaten egg, then into a mix of Panko crumbs, dry parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and herbs. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until lightly browned. Love these sprinkled with malt vinegar or lemon juice.

And, when they really get ahead of you, just shred and freeze for bread later or make a batch of zucchini relish.

Deanna

I shred and freeze for bread. But a quick side dish I make often - sautéed zucchini, chopped fresh tomato, onion, sometimes adding a little garlic at the end (or garlic salt if in a hurry). Just sauté in a little olive oil after chopping all ingredients, no measuring needed. Take off the heat and serve according to your own tastes, we like a little 'bite' to the vegetables, not completely soft. (my FIL would tell me undercooked ;))

Your all making me jealous, I like making bread with them and also grilling them, somthing got to my plants and just rotted them away, I got pissed and just pulled them all. Gona plant somemore before it's to late, I did get some before they went bad

Yes! Grilled! I totally forgot about that. It's the one way my husband and I compromise...he likes them raw and I prefer them cooked. On the grill, I can cut thick slices so I get a little cooked flavor and grill marks, he gets the "bite" he likes.
Deanna

My favorite lunch.... Saute large chunks of zuch in olive oil until almost soft then add chopped garlic and cook, stirring for a few minutes until garlic is fragrant but not yet brown. Add beaten egg or two or however many you need to hold everything together / add chopped fresh herbs to the top before the egg cooks through/ add cheese of your choice ( I use a soft goat cheese) leave on low heat until cooked through or you can put under the broiler... delicious.

I like this recipe for Chocolate Zucchini cake, though I make cupcakes instead, and freeze them wrapped indiviually in wax paper. Easy to pop out of the freezer in the morning and into my lunch bag. I use less oil than this recipe calls for, though.

Chocolate zucchini cake

Usually I shred any extra zucchini to make into bread or add to soups later in the season. I have made zucchini relish and water bath canned it. Like it better than pickle relish. There's also a recipe on here for zucchini candy that I've been meaning to try, but never have.

First I want to say that I love zucchini so I put it in everything from soups to desserts. One of my favorite things to do when I have excess of it is to slice it thin and dehydrate it. It stores really well in old mason jars and they are great used in soups or I like to eat them like a chip. It gives you the crunch factor. Not everyone in the house is sold on them as chips but I love it and it's so healthy for you. I also LOVE zucchini relish, so good on so many different types of meat, fantastic on a burger.

In addition to the putting up methods mentioned above (shredding & freezing and dehydrating) I also chop it , steam it, and mash it, then freeze in plastic containers. When I make veggie soup, or a veggie casserole, during the winter I dump one of these containers in -- adds great flavor. The mashing is because if you just steam the chunks and don't mash, they can tend to be rubbery.

Also, another idea for the shredded and frozen raw -- I use it in winter frittatas, sautee with onion and herbs then add the eggs.

If you're new to freezing as well as new to gardening, don't forget to label containers since mashed zucchini can be very mysterious looking.

There is also sneaking zukes into neighbor's cars if they don't lock them . . .

Thanks guys for all of your yummy ideas. Hope the squash vine borers don't find my zucchini!

Anyone care to share their recipe for zucchini relish? I'd rather make that than pickle relish.

Here is a standard recipe.... I don't use nutmeg and will use jalapeno pepper in place of some of the red/green peppers.... Zuch relish is one of my standard pantry items.... http://extension.oregonstate.edu/lane/sites/default/files/documents/sp_50_447_preservingsummersquash.pdf

Don't forget to check out the long running thread here called 101 ways to use summer squash. It is full of recipes.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1973302/101-things-to-make-with-zucchini-or-summer-squash?n=79

Dave

Make pickles, make pickles, make pickles!!!!!! Zukes are pretty much equal to Cukes as far as fresh pack pickling of Bread & Butter, Sweets, Dills, or Relish - use the exact same recipes. You cannot tell the dif with all the spices they get pickled into/with. The only caveat is that they have to be the same size as cukes so save the baseball bat sizes for shredding into the freezer for Zuke Bread that of which you cannot do with Cukes!

Nancy

Kay, What do you use the zucchini-pineapple for? Just curious on how to use it.

What do you guys do with zucchini relish? The same things as pickle relish? I saw a recipe for zucchini salsa. Seems like I would use that more.

For me Zucchini relish is a multipurpose relish.... Macaroni and potato salads.... tarter sauce, in tuna or egg sandwiches...hotdogs/hamburgers.... any sands that are calling for a sweet relish..

Most of the recipes I have found do call for nutmeg, although that seems odd to me in a briney pickle relish. Not sure if I would like it or not. I like nutmeg in general. I'm thinking I could also sub tumeric for a yellow relish.

Zucchini relish is my favorite relish. I use it primarily in tuna salad and on burgers. Like the idea of using it in macaroni & potato salads

Last night I fried some breaded with eggplant and put it on pizza. You could use it in lasagna or other dishes as well.

Freeze it! It freezes surprisingly well.

My zucchini plant is out of control. I pick daily and this morning I found these two beasts. The one is the size of a big black beauty eggplant!

Zucchini bread to the rescue!

I have done the shredded zuk route, but I don't make a lot of zuk bread. I sometimes shred it to add to soups/stews.

My neighbor came up with getting rid of the guts (seeds) and the outsides, cooking the "meat" til soft, then freezing for a soup base. Very tasty!

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