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Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Another Use For Zucchini

Everyone knows how it is when you garden. If you're having a good year then you are overrun with fresh produce and either giving it away or just throwing it in the compost pile.
You have already canned and dried everything you need for the next year and probably even tried a few new ways to preserve here and there. In the end, sometimes you waste more than what you use.
This goes with Tomatoes, Squash, Eggplant and even Zucchini.
You can only eat so much Zucchini bread and dried Zucchini is not that appealing once brought back to live. Pickled Zucchini is not any good and canned Zucchini just is not the same. Frozen Zucchini is okay as long as it's used in combination with something else. Fresh grilled Zucchini is fine as long as it's done right.
    
As you can tell, I'm really not a big Zucchini fan, until now. My mom showed me this way of cooking it and I will never go back to real pasta again.

All I did was peal the Zucchini and cut it to the length I wanted the pasta to be, then ran it through the mandolin to make spaghetti strings. I stopped it when it got to the seeds. What you have left is the seed core of the Zucchini you can feed to the chickens.
Then I blanched it for a couple of minutes and then vacuum sealed enough for two portions in each package then put them in the freezer. Three large Zucchinis made six meals for two people.
All I had to do to eat it was heat up the homemade spaghetti sauce, throw in some of our own cooked grass fed hamburger meat and cook the Zucchini pasta in the sauce to the softness I wanted it. I like mine a little crunchy so just heating it up was enough.
Sprinkled some cheese on top and serve with garlic or buttered bread.
You can also make it with zesty Italian or pesto sauce.
I think the next time I cook this I want to use Alfredo sauce with chicken and mushrooms. 

Anyway, if you have not tried this I can tell you it's good.
This is just another way to eat Zucchini.

Next I want to try Crusted Stuffed Eggplant. Just like Stuffed Cabbage but with Eggplant.
Holy crap, now I'm hungry again.

MDR

12 comments:

  1. I have actually done that and you can put it in stir fry as well. In the winter you can use carrots though I don't put spaghetti sauce on them, more of a stir fry thing. I use a potato peeler to cut the thin strips. The squash just goes perfectly with spaghetti sauce.

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  2. Thanks for the idea SBF, I will try the stir fry.

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  3. Clever, clever - I like it a lot. I wasn't going to grow them this year because last year I had too many, but, now, I'll have to grow some this summer after all, because I have to try this... :)

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  4. omg - i loooooove zucchini! i could never have enough! you can grate it and freeze it in serving portions and then make my all time fave - zucchini fritters! oh i love those things any time of year but they are dead awesome in the middle of winter. another thing to do is make zucchini hummus - you make it just like any other kind of hummus but replace the chickpeas with zucchini - another great treat in the middle of the winter! and lastly - zucchini pesto is soooo delicious! you can search out these recipes online - or yell and i will send you mine. all can be made from grated zucchini that you froze during harvest - or if you are so inclined - the hummus and pesto can be made right away and then frozen for later use.

    did i mention that i love zucchini?!??!? your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Kymber, it's a shame you don't like Zucchini. I bet if you gave it a chance you would love it. LOL

      Thanks for the ideas.

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  5. Will have to try it--looks...."interesting". I like to cut it into strips and fry it--about french fry sized, and serve with ranch dip. Good stuff.

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  6. I am going to try it. It sounds good :)

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  7. Thanks for the post! I have been meaning to buy a mandolin slicer for awhile now. The wife will NOT eat zucchini unless I hide it, with the exception of all the zucchini bread she baked last summer.

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    1. I feel your pain SCF, My wife is about the same but she does at least try everything at least once.

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