What’s in season? Zucchini!

One of the best ways to get great nutrition is to eat locally-grown produce in season. Food is usually in abundance, and therefore cheaper, in season, and is also fresher, having ripened on its own (without chemicals) and traveled less distance to arrive on your plate.

Believe it or not, Community Gardens of Tucson, Tucson Organic Gardners, and similar organizations have no trouble growing veggies right here in the hot desert. My garden is currently churning out tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini. I have a fridge full of huge zucchini, most of which may be unfortunately too hard to eat (vegetables are best when young and tender). I’ve been cooking zucchini at almost every meal, and am still not sick of it. Yet.

Without further ado, here are some great things to do with zucchini!

– Slice, saute in ghee (clarified butter) or olive oil and other chopped veggies, and scramble into eggs.

– Saute, add spices, and eat. Yum.

– Slice lengthwise into sticks, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 400′. “Fries!”

– Zucchini carbonara: use a peeler to slice 2-3 zucchini into wide, thin noodles. Saute these in olive oil. Meanwhile, sauté 2 oz of pancetta or bacon. You can also sauté them together, and yes, I sauté a lot. Add some pepper. Mix together 2T heavy cream (or up to 1/4c) and 1 egg yolk, remove the pancetta/zucchini mix from heat, and stir in the cream mixture. My kids LOVE this; even the finicky neighbor kid asks for it!

– Zucchini bread: who needs wheat when you can make THIS? The bananas add sweetness and the coconut makes it moist.

1 cup zucchini, shredded

4 eggs, beaten

2 bananas, mashed

1 t vanilla

1 t baking soda

1/2t salt (optional)

1 T cinnamon and other spice as you like

1/2 c coconut flour

1/2 c coconut oil, OR 1/4 c coconut oil and 1/4 c almond butter

Walnuts, pecans, anything else you like in your bread (avoiding sugar)

 

Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl until well blended, and the dry ones in another. Combine and mix until wet ingredients are moist, and bake in a loaf pan at 350′ for 40 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

If your bread somehow lasts for a few days, you can soak it in beaten eggs and use it to make french toast, or just slice it and dry it in the oven (300′ for 15-20 minutes), then soak it in eggs or an egg/coconut milk mix. Top with fresh berries, which are also in season in nearby areas. You can also drizzle it with coconut milk.

You think this sounds good? Wait until pumpkin season!