Zucchini, oh, that green thing, grows like crazy in the garden. I got so much this year, I don’t know what to do with it all! My neighbor, she told me, “You gotta shred that zucchini!” Shred it, she says. Like I got nothing better to do than stand around shredding vegetables all day.
But, you know, she’s kinda right. Shredded zucchini, you can do a lot with it. I started lookin’ around, askin’ folks, what they do with all that zucchini. Turns out, there’s a whole heap of zucchini recipes out there. More than you can shake a stick at!
Some folks, they like to fry it up. I saw one where they mix it with cheese, that Parmesan stuff, and fry it in a pan. Might be alright, I guess. But fryin’ everything ain’t so good for the ticker, you know?
- You can put it in soup.
- Or make these little patty things, called burgers.
- Even throw it in bread, like banana bread.
Now, this zucchini bread, that got me thinkin’. My mama used to make the best banana bread. Sweet and moist, just the right amount of spice. I wonder if you can do the same with zucchini? I found a recipe, said to use butter, not that oil stuff. Some people put a lot oil, too much if you ask me. Makes it all greasy. Butter is better, I say. Just a little bit, makes it taste right.
I tried it out, that zucchini bread recipe. Had to shred a whole mountain of zucchini, though. My hands were achin’ after a while! But I got it done. Mixed it up with some flour, sugar, eggs, you know, the usual stuff you put in bread. Smelled pretty good while it was bakin’, I gotta say.
And you know what? That zucchini bread, it was alright. Not as good as mama’s banana bread, but still pretty tasty. Moist, too. The zucchini kinda disappears in there, you don’t even know it’s there. Good way to sneak some vegetables into the grandkids, I reckon!
Now, I heard tell of a fella down the road, grew a zucchini bigger than a baby! Can you believe that? A record largest zucchini, they called it. Made the newspaper and everything. Don’t know what he did with it, though. Probably took a whole week to eat it all!
Me, I just grow the regular size ones. Still get more than I can handle. This year, I swear, they were multiplyin’ overnight! Every time I turned around, there was another one, bigger than the last.
I gave some away, of course. Shared with the neighbors, the church, even the folks at the senior center. Everybody’s got zucchini comin’ out their ears this time of year!
- Give it to your neighbors.
- Take it to church.
- Freeze some of it.
But I still had plenty left. So, I kept shredding, kept baking that zucchini bread. Tried a few other zucchini recipes, too. Some were good, some were… well, let’s just say I won’t be makin’ those again!
One thing I learned, though. Don’t let that zucchini go to waste. There’s always somethin’ you can do with it. Even if it’s just shredding it and stickin’ it in the freezer for later. That way, you can have a little taste of summer even when the snow’s flyin’.
I also heard about someone making fritters, called them “zucchini fritters.” Sounded fancy, and I like trying new things. They weren’t bad, you know. Not bad at all.
You take that shredded zucchini, mix it with some other things, like egg and flour, make little patties, and fry ’em up. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. The grandkids gobbled them up, didn’t even ask what was in them.
One more thing, I heard you could put zucchini in veggie burger too. But with chickpea. Sound odd to me. Who puts zucchini in a burger? But, what do I know? Young folks these days, they eat all kind of things.
You know, that big zucchini, the record largest zucchini, I wonder if they made a whole lot of zucchini bread with that one. Probably could have fed the whole town with a zucchini that size. Or maybe they made a giant zucchini fritter! That would be a sight to see, wouldn’t it? A fritter as big as a tire!
Yep, zucchini. It’s a wonder, ain’t it? You can do so much with it. Just gotta get a little creative, I guess. And maybe have a good shredder. And a lot of time on your hands! But it’s worth it, in the end. A little bit of zucchini can go a long way.