Tag Archives: garden

>Zucchini Cookies – yes, cookies

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What do you get when you cross a (few) zucchini squash with a chocolate chip cookie?
The zucchini are plentiful in the garden; Chuck brought home the cookie from work. Together, they provided inspiration for yet another fun day in the kitchen.


This recipe is posted on the website for the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It’s a creative and delicious way to use some of the grated zucchini from a bumper crop.

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
(Makes about two dozen)
1 egg, beaten
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Combine in large bowl.

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg

Combine in a separate, small bowl and blend into liquid mixture
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
12 oz chocolate chips

Stir these into other ingredients; mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350°, 10 to 15 minutes.

Thanks to Barbara and Camille Kingsolver, creators of this delicious recipe and more. The day after I baked these cookies, I made their Disappearing Zucchini Orzo with multi-colored orzo I brought home from our vacation in Seattle. It was delicious!
If you’re wondering, that’s my Where’s Waldo coffee mug sneaking into the picture.

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>Grilling vegetables and mysteries solved

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>I picked up this tool at a grill specialty store. It’s a grill “basket” for vegetables. It has slots in the base to let the air (heat) circulate; the veggies cover those in this picture. We drizzled olive oil and a little garlic in the bottom, then sliced the vegetables thin and placed them in the basket. I had zucchini squash, three kinds of bell peppers, onions, and red potatoes. Anything else? The basket was really too full, but somehow, it worked. The herbs on top (oregano, thyme, basil) gave the veggies just enough spice to complement the smoky flavor.

On the side — or the main dish, if you’re a carnivorous type — were beef kabobs. The meal was pretty good. I wish I’d put the vegetables on the grill a little earlier so they could cook longer; they were a little underdone. Maybe if I’d had a lighter layer in the basket they would have cooked through a little better.

The leftovers (there were a lot of leftovers!) became a soup a few days later. Diced up small, tucked into a beef broth in the crockpot for several hours, a few ingredients added for fun (and to empty the vegetable tray), and we had a second meal from the same starters.

Remember the climbing plant? The one I couldn’t identify? The vine I thought resembled beans? It is, indeed, a morning glory. Or two, or three. The wild neighborhood rabbits have not nibbled.

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>Decisions: where to put the new compost bin

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>My new compost bin is decorative enough that I could put it anywhere — even in my front yard!

It could go in the back, nestled in the small rosebushes.

Then there’s the deck, near the herbs and the geraniums. Or should it go near the polka dot chairs?

Ah, here we go. It’s not as picturesque as the front yard or the roses, but it’s practical. Next to the garage, in a place where I can reach it even when there’s snow on the ground. It’ll be easy to get the kitchen scraps in it all year long.

(Guest appearance by La Petite)
The new composter is from Algreen Products. It’s available at GardenSuperMart.com. College student posing inside not included.

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>New Composter!!

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>I’m a garden geek. My son calls me a green freak. My daughter? You’ll see.

Husband tolerates and even supports my green proclivities. In fact, he brought home my first composter and later bought me a pitchfork to go with it. Lately I’ve been hinting that I need a second compost bin. “What’s wrong with this one?” he asked. “Nothing’s wrong with it; it’s full.”

That was in May. Luckily, compost compacts as it decomposes, making room for more. Now it’s August, and the bin is filled to the brim with organic matter. It needs stirring, and then I’d really like to leave it alone for a full year – a full twelve months or more. That means next spring I would not empty the bin and till it into the garden soil; I’d let it sit until spring 2011 instead, giving everything a better chance to decompose completely. But meanwhile, where would my kitchen scraps and yard waste go? Enter the new composter.


My new composter is smaller and cuter than my big beautiful bin. It has some nice features, too. This composter has a base and an insert to keep the solids off the bottom and let the liquids, the “compost tea,” drain off, and a spigot in front for collection. Compost tea makes a great fertilizer, I’ve been told.

When I want to empty the compost, I simply open the back. It stays open nicely, which will make it simple to shovel the rich soil enhancer into my wheelbarrow.


The holes in the sides have purpose: they allow air to circulate and speed up the process, and the holes are big enough that I can poke a broom handle or stick inside to aerate the compost itself. And last, I mentioned it’s somewhat smaller than my old one. It’s still a hefty size – big enough to fit a college senior inside. Yes, that’s La Petite, modeling the new composter for all of my lovely readers.

The new composter is from Algreen Products. It’s available at GardenSuperMart.com. As soon as I decide where to place it, I’ll post more pictures! Then I’ll fill it with kitchen scraps and weeds and other organic goodies, and let the compost happen.

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>Ten Places to Hide Zucchini

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>Two years ago I posted Ten Ways to Leave your Zucchini.
Last year the garden hardly produced any zucchini at all.

This year, we again have a bumper crop. Since you can simply click to find 10 Ways to Leave (and you don’t have to slip out the back, Jack), I’ll take another angle this time.

Beyond the Muffins: Ten Places to Hide Zucchini

1. Spaghetti sauce; the chunkier the better
2. Soup
3. Salads
4. Meatballs or Meatloaf
5. Lasagna
6. Scrambled eggs or omelets
7. Noddles/ Rice/ Orzo
8. Tacos, burritos, or quesadillas
9. Fruit cobbler or crisp
10. Cookies!! Yes, honestly, cookies.

Okay, readers, the challenge is now yours: can you come up with another 10 ways to incorporate zucchini into foodstuffs, visible or not? Leave another suggestion in the comments!

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>Chocolate Zucchini Bread

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>The short version: we have a lot of zucchini (six big ones in the kitchen as I type, and more growing!), so I baked this.

The long version: Long ago, in a city north of here, when my children were young, I worked in a child care center. Several of my coworkers were named Michelle. One of the Michelles gave me a recipe for chocolate zucchini bread.

When I pulled it out of the recipe box, the card was suitably stained with drops of chocolate and greasy fingerprints, so I knew I’d remembered a good one. To reinforce that claim, I noticed (I hear you laughing, you’re way ahead of me) several changes penciled in! Here’s the newer version.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
makes 2 loaves

Beat together:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs or 3/4 cup egg substitute
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup milk

Sift and add:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pour into two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes.

Now, I ask you, dear readers: if I added 1 Tablespoon each wheat germ and flax seed, can I tell Chuck (formerly known as Husband) that this is a healthy snack?

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>Garden mysteries: Who or what is this plant?

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>There’s one in every crowd. The one that marches to a different drummer. The one who leads off in a different direction.

The one who reaches out when all the others bunch together and reach up. When most of the group is producing long, green squash babies, the individualist is making its own decision……

…and making its babies round.

What is this plant, and how did it sneak past my fence?!!

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Mommy, where does zucchini come from?

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Once upon a time, a very long time ago, about last May, there was a patch of dirt behind the garage. Mom dug in the dirt and called it Soil and planted many, many seeds. Then she watered, pulled out weeds, watered, pulled out weeds, and watched with pride as the many shades of green stems and leaves emerged from the ground. The stems and leaves and vines grew and grew until a forest grew all around and it became the place where the wild things are. Wait, that’s another story.

It was eventful along the way in that little patch of vegetables. A wood chuck paid a surprise visit. A rabbit snuck inside a small opening. Mom fixed the fence and hung old computer CDs to help scare away the critters, hoping all along that the bees would still come by to pollinate the squash blossoms.

What’s a squash blossom? Well, honey, it’s this flower: the one that magically changes into a baby zucchini if the birds and the bees stop by at the right time. Ahem. Let’s stop right there. There’s a fiddle tune called Squash Blossom Reel, I think. Let’s look for it tomorrow on YouTube.

Well, little one, after the big orange blossom fades and falls off, the pretty green squash will grow and grow until it’s so long that Dad calls it a baseball bat and Mom takes ahold of it and twists it gently until it comes off the vine. Then she’ll bring it in the house, clean it up, dice it up, and add it to supper. And lunch. And make it into bread. And grate enough to fill the freezer.
Maybe the question shouldn’t be where does it come from, but where will it go? It’ll go in the zucchini bread, in the salads, in the stews, in the freezer, and it’ll end up in…. No, forget I said that, honey, and just go to sleep. Once upon a time, there was a little one who asked Mommy all about zucchini….

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>prepping the produce for the freezer

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>I had great plans. I was going to use my big, bold food processor to dice the fresh chives from the garden and then freeze a few jars for winter use. Great idea, right? Wrong. I tried three different blades, and none of them diced the chives evenly. This is what I got.

So…. I diced the pile by hand with a sharp knife, dropped the results into two small glass jars, labeled the jars, and placed the jars in the freezer. The good news: chives were done. The bad news: I still had a batch of green onions waiting for me.

I did these by hand.

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