zucchini

Zucchini is the blessing or affliction of the summer. What do you do when you have nine zucchini, some baseball-bat sized, and more growing in the garden? If you're like me and you love a cooking challenge, you design an entire meal around it. For any of you who have an overabundance of the stuff, here are some zucchini recipes, accompanied by pictures of the actual Zucchini Meal that I made for my household ...



Zucchini Bread from 101 Cookbooks: this awesome recipe includes curry powder and lemon zest. Outstanding.



Zucchini and Tomato Salad - don't actually have a recipe for this, but dill goes well with fresh zucchini.

Stuffed Zucchini from Allrecipes: tastes better than it looks.

Zucchini Chocolate Cake from Chocolate & Zucchini: tastes like chocolate, not zucchini.

Have fun with these! If you cook any of them, let me know how they turn out!

Totally Homemade Meal

Clockwise from top: homemade pita bread; salad; homemade hummus; and curried carrot soup. Last night's dinner was ENTIRELY from scratch ... the only exceptions were the veggie bouillon in the carrot soup recipe (I think I made up for that by pureeing two pounds of carrots) and the salad dressing. I managed to get it done in just under two hours, but only with lots of planning and concentration and the assistance of master dishwasher Anne Brewer, who generously cleaned up as I went along. She also generously took this picture with her digital after I mentioned I was so proud of it I wanted to put it on my blog. Thanks Anne!

Recipe: Lentil Salad

Wednesday was a milestone for me as a cook! I came home and couldn't find the recipe for the Lentil Salad that I had planned to make for dinner. So ... I made it from memory. I was so proud of myself. Some of it was even from visual memory. I was just about to cook the lentils when I remembered some dusty-looking spice that floats on the top when I first put the water in before cooking. Looked in the spice cabinet - yes, thyme, that's it! OK, so I accidentally cooked the celery instead of putting it in raw at the end, and I put in too many lentils (OK, about twice the amount called for) but it still came out pretty good. This is just about my favorite recipe - quick, easy, inexpensive, tasty, good for lunch the next day, and it pleases friends who are vegetarian or even those who are allergic to lots of stuff. So anyway, without further ado ...

(one more thing - I got this from allrecipes.com, my favorite recipe website. Check it out.)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup dry brown lentils
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan combine lentils, carrots, onion, garlic, bay leaf, and thyme. Add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes or until lentils are tender but not mushy.
2. Drain lentils and vegetables and remove bay leaf. Add olive oil, lemon juice, celery, parsley, salt and pepper. Toss to mix and serve at room temperature.