Rest Stop Time…Let’s talk about zucchini.

Every trip must have rest stops.  This includes my tea journey.  After all, part of my tealife includes stopping for those random opportunities to enjoy life’s many wonderous moments.

I will continue my tea journey next week with more on the Victorian Tea Society and desserts.

Have you ever noticed that almost every home gardener grows zucchini in the summertime?  I can’t figure this one out other than it’s easy to grow.  I don’t really like zucchini—okay, I eat it but will never buy it in a grocery store.  A few decades ago, I grew zucchini and I was very proud that one of them grew into a humongous creature.  I didn’t eat this particular zucchini, I just showed it off. 

Last weekend my friend Melinda asked if I wanted a couple of homegrown zucchinis.  Of course I said yes!  I forgot to mention that I love my sister’s chocolate chip zucchini bread.  Not because of the zucchini but, you guessed it, for the chocolate chips (and it’s very moist).  Melinda gave me two large squash, more than enough for the chocolate chip zucchini bread and a couple of other recipes.

Melinda also gave me recipes for bread and butter refrigerator zucchini pickles and parmesan zucchini bites.  I immediately went to the grocery story and bought the ingredients that I did not already have for these recipes.  I have included the recipes here for your enjoyment as well.

Bread and Butter Refrigerator Zucchini Pickles

• 14 oz thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini* (you want ones that are smaller – about 2-3 inches in diameter)
• 1 oz halved and thinly sliced yellow onion
• 1 oz halved and thinly sliced green pepper
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1/4 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

Pack the zucchini, onion, and peppers into a clean quart canning jar that has a lid.

Heat the cider vinegar through mustard seed in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir and let come to a boil. Reduce heat and stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved.

Pour the hot liquid into the jar covering all the vegetables. Let cool and cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before eating.

Enjoy within a few weeks of pickling.

Parmesan Zucchini Bites

• 3 medium zucchini
• garlic salt, to taste
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• paprika

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a rack inside a baking sheet. If you don’t have a rack, just spray the baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Trim both ends from the zucchini and slice diagonally into ¼”-thick slices. Arrange the zucchini slices in a single layer on the rack or baking sheet. Sprinkle zucchini with garlic salt and flip each piece so that the garlic salt is on the bottom.

Brush tops of zucchini lightly with olive oil and top each slice with Parmesan cheese. Use as little or as much as you would like, then sprinkle lightly with paprika.

I made both recipes on Saturday.  I didn’t immediately eat the pickles since they needed 24 hours of refrigeration.  I did fix the parmesan zucchini bites for dinner.  Yum!

On Sunday, my zucchini adventure continued.  This time I made my longed-for chocolate chip zucchini bread.  Since I still had one large zucchini, I doubled the recipe.  I made 24 zucchini muffins (regular sized muffin pan) and put the rest of the batter into a tube pan (like angel food cake pan) because I don’t do well with loaf pans.  Well, the muffins turned out quite well.  My husband and I munched on these all day.  My tube pan chocolate chip zucchini bread was a disaster as I didn’t bake it long enough.  This batter is very thick.  After I baked it about 10 minutes longer and tested it with a pick, I took it out of the oven.  After cooling it, I turned the pan over for the bread to drop.  Well it actually splat as about half the bread was still not baked.  I think I had enough batter to put into two of these tube pans.  As the bread (or dough) splat out, I lamented all the wasted chocolate chips!

Here is the recipe.  I got this recipe off the internet (All Recipes) and altered it by adding the chocolate chips. I recommend making the bread into muffins or really making sure that the bread is done before taking it out of the oven.

Mom’s Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool

The first two recipes were gotten from Pinterest and the other one was from All Recipes. 

Have I been converted to be a zucchini lover?  Nah.  I just liked the diversion that these two zucchinis took me.  I’ll wait until next year when Melinda has another batch of zucchinis to try my luck with some other zucchini recipes.

In addition to providing bodily relief and a chance to stretch, I have found rest stops provide beautiful surroundings.  I have added a few of my rest stop photos for you to enjoy on this post’s rest stop.