Iron Chef: Zucchini!

What fun I had today. I decided to use my bounty of zucchini to prepare a meal in true Iron Chef fashion.

I chopped, I cubed and I shredded away in preparation of what was to come.

For my main dish, I decided on a zucchini/ground turkey meatloaf. I added tomatoes, rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and my signature spice blend along with a bit of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I combined bread crumbs, chopped onion, garlic, a touch of lemon zest, shredded parmesan cheese and some feta to the mix. I baked at 350 for an hour and ended up with a delightfully moist loaf.

Borrowing from ChristineM's post about her Savory Zucchini Muffins, we made our own savory zucchini muffins with what ingredients we had on hand: basic muffin ingredients of flour, baking powder and salt for the dry mix. To that I added my signature spice blend and red pepper flakes. The wet ingredients included a touch of sugar, egg, half and half, "green" Tobasco Sauce, chives, garlic and some white cheddar cheese, and of course, the zucchini. This was the 1st time I "winged it" and went without measuring or using a recipe. They actually ended up pretty decent. It tasted more like a bread than a muffin, however. Next time I'll use more cheese, though.

Our side dish was a roasted zucchini and garden veggie medley that I marinaded in olive oil, rosemary, sage, signature spice blend, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Simply yummy.

For dessert I was attempting a zucchini chocolate banana nut ice cream utilizing the concept of Five Minute Ice Cream from All Recipes. Instead, I ended up with a pretty tasty milkshake.

This was a fun experiment and the family enjoyed the results. The zucchini was never overpowering in any of the dishes and each dish was unique. I do believe I can call this experiment a success!

Mutant Veggie Discovered in Sister Garden

This just in: 2 extremely large, mutant zucchini were found lurking in the Sister garden early Saturday morning. A shocked 5th Sister was heard mumbling, "I've never seen anything quite like this!" Mr. Sister, who found the 2nd giant squash simply stated, "I thought 5th was just trying to see how big the thing would actually get."

The zucchini weighed in at approximately 2 lbs each and are awaiting their fate.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow?

Well, I don't know about Mary but our 1st foray into vegetable gardening has gone surprisingly well. As you can see, my plants appear mostly healthy and robust.

Now let's take a closer look, shall we?

Here is my beautiful zucchini plant. It has spread quite nicely. I am looking forward to sauteed zucchini and onions, zucchini bread, fried zucchini chips, stuffed zucchini, etc... I have a feeling I may tire of zucchini. I will have to come up with a way of storing what we don't use. You think maybe that I can slice and freeze? I have no idea if that would work or not.

I am truly surprised by the corn. I planted seeds at the same time as the other plants and the corn is already thigh high! Digestively, I don't do so well with corn and corn byproducts, however, when this corn comes in I may have to just make that sacrifice and try the fruits of our labor!

Now I don't know what to think about the cucumber plants. I do know this...I planted them too close to the pepper plants. I didn't realize how much space they were going to need. I have one tendril that has snuck it's way around the peppers and into the carrots! Now this particular plant has also escaped the confines of our "rabbit screen"! I guess the rabbits will have a tasty snack, after all!

Here is my pride and joy! A perfectly round tomato without blemish or bug invasion. Tell me, oh pretty please, when will be the perfect time to pluck you and slice you and serve you with a slice of fresh mozzarella and basil (from my herb garden). Mmmmm. I can hardly wait.