Zucchini-chini-bo-bini

Sometimes neighbors with gardens leave mounds of zucchini on the porch, ring the doorbell, and run!  If this happens to you--here are two recipes--one for a kid-pleasing side dish and one for the best zucchini bread recipe I know--and you'll still have plenty left over to stir-fry!

Baked Zucchini Sticks

Perfect for little hands to dip with marinara sauce or ranch dressing!

A healthy side-dish to make together, an adult cuts the zucchini into sticks and the young chef can have fun shaking the veggies in a zip-lock bag to coat before baking.

Ingredients:

Canola or olive oil cooking spray

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons corn meal

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

3 medium zucchini cut into 1/2" by 3" strips

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine flours, corn meal, salt and pepper in a large zip lock bag.

Dip zucchini sticks in egg white, put in the bag and shake!

Place coated sticks on a cookie sheet, not touching and spray with cooking spray.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn zucchini and spray any floury spots.  Bake until just tender for about 8-10 more minutes.

Serve with marinara sauce, ranch dressing, or your favorite dipping sauce.

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

2 cups grated zucchini

3 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon each:  baking soda, cinnamon  and allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease two loaf pans.  In a large bowl combine sugar, oil, eggs, zucchini and vanilla.  In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients. Add to zucchini mixture and stir in chopped nuts.  Pour batter into the loaf pans and bake for 50-60 minutes.  Test bread for readiness by pricking with a fork or toothpick--it should come out clean.  Let cool for ten minutes before removing from pans.

The Zucchini Song

You can listen to this clever song by Dan Crow for free!


http://new.music.yahoo.com/dan-crow/tracks/zucchini-song--173851620