If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen that I have ummm… a few zucchini hanging around my house. Yeah, just a few…
I’ll share an quick update on my garden soon, but basically, the zucchini plant has taken over. Yes, plant. Singular. All these are from one plant. It’s seriously the biggest zucchini plant I have ever seen!
At first it was huge and had some flowers, but wasn’t really producing any zucchini. Then it started raining over the past few weeks (we had been in a drought) and the zucchini have been popping up so quickly that I can hardly pick them all before they get ginormous. Case in point:
I wish I would have put my arm or something next to these zucchini because it’s hard to tell how big they really are. They were bigger than my arm and weighed about seven pounds each!!
So besides zucchini bread and muffins (which my family loves), or sauteed or grilled zucchini for dinner (which I’m the only one in the family who will actually eat that), I’ve had to come up with some other uses for all my zucchini.
My friend has often made these yummy zucchini cookies, and I finally whipped up a batch this weekend and they are so good that I just had to share the recipe.
Can you tell there’s a green veggie in there?
Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies
:: Ingredients
2 cups white whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 egg, beaten
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup turbinado or brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup finely shredded zucchini
12 oz chocolate chips
:: Directions
1. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a small bowl.
2. Combine the egg, butter, sugar, honey and vanilla in a large bowl, and then whisk in the dry ingredients.
3. Stir the zucchini and chocolate chips into the batter and mix until combined.
4. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet, flatten with the back of the spoon. Bake at 350° for 10 to 15 minutes.
*Adapted from this recipe.
Yum! I even let my kids eat these for breakfast over the weekend. Hey, if they have veggies in them, they are healthy, right?!
Looking for a zucchini main dish? Try my Zucchini Ground Beef Skillet Casserole!
And if you’re like me and need more inspiration for all your zucchini, Mandi recently shared a great round-up of zucchini recipes at Food… Your Way.
What are some of your favorite ways to use up an abundance of zucchini?
__________________________________________
If you’d like to learn more about living green and living frugally I’d love to have you as a Live Renewed reader! You can subscribe, either by email or in a reader, to get the latest posts, ideas and inspiration for living frugally green. You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest!
Love the cookie recipe (and the book!) Zucchini bread is still my favorite. I made my Nana’s version recently and did both bread and muffins. http://bit.ly/O8bTzI
I tried something new the other week and really liked it! I shredded up the zucchini and added it to ground turkey to make meatballs, which I cooked in simmering broth.
This week I added it to ground beef to make hamburgers (in the fry pan, I don’t think they would survive on a BBQ grill).
Another recipe I saw suggested to slice them, sprinkle some seasoning and parm cheese and then bake until crisp. Haven’t tried that, really don’t want the oven on.
Apparently the zucchini can be shredded and frozen for later use too!
Thanks for sharing your ideas Julia! The meatballs sound great, I’ll have to try that! I do shred and freeze it in 2 cup portions to make zucchini bread and muffins throughout the year. The nice thing about it is that it doesn’t have to be blanched before freezing!
Another recipe idea was to shred the zucchini and make patties, like potato pancakes, fried in oil. hee hee .. fattening – but good, I’ll bet!
Thanks for sharing this recipe… my zucchini plants are going crazy. I have already grated 22 bags of zucchini for recipes. I have cooked zucchini stir fry and Italian zucchini recipes…
My plants are still producing a lot too!!