Lately I’ve been more conscious of my spending and realized that grocery shopping is really expensive. So the last few weeks I have strived to cook interesting and delicious food without buying a million ingredients. Thus I bring you Round 2 of cooking with Zucchini. I had a few zucchini left over from my first zucchini adventure, so I thought I could find some more great recipes for all of us zucchini lovers.
I was really inspired to do this initially because I had a new recipe I stumbled upon a week ago with zucchini in it that I wanted to try. Then I found another interesting dish that I thought could be fun to share as well. And both recipes fit my criteria of using ingredients I already had on hand and only buying a couple at the store.
Plus these two new dishes I bring to you this week continue to show this ingredient in a different way. Remembering back to the delicious Zucchini-Pineapple Quick Bread and Easy Summer Zucchini Salad I made a few weeks ago, I was happy to find new methods to cook with zucchini. This truly is a versatile vegetable, and I can’t wait to share these recipes.
So without further ado…
Recipes:
Recipe #1: Zucchini Fritters
I had to wonder if Deb at Smitten Kitchen knew I had leftover zucchini in my fridge. It’s good to know I wasn’t the only one inspired by this ingredient lately. When I saw her post on these zucchini fritters, I made a mental note. Once I determined zucchini was returning for a encore, I knew this recipe would make an appearance.
First off, I was intrigued by using zucchini in fritter form (say that 5 times fast!). Secondly, I also appreciated that the only things I needed to buy for this recipe were lemons (needed those anyway) and sour cream. Talk about easy and convenient.
This dish came together pretty quickly and was also fun to make. Plus this wasn’t an unhealthy recipe either. I only used 2 Tablespoons of Canola oil in total to fry the fritters, and of course I didn’t eat them all in one sitting. And when it came time to eating the leftovers, I found they re-heated fabulously by baking them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes so they were warmed through and still had a crunch to the outside.
To make these delicious fritters, click here for the recipe and step by step instructions.
Recipe #2: Penne with Zucchini-Parmesan Sauce
My sister has this great Cooking Light iPad app, that we were looking through last Friday and we came across this pasta dish. My next culinary adventure is always in the back of my mind, so I made another mental note when we discovered this recipe. The ingredients were simple, most I had on hand, and there was zucchini in it…done, done, and done.
So it was decided…this recipe was next. The dish was hearty and full of flavor. Next time I might cut back on the garlic (4 cloves seems a bit pungent, looking back), and I forgot to add the cream at the end. I guess with that modification, I accidentally made it healthier. 🙂
I would definitely make this dish again. By using whole wheat pasta, it was a hearty meal and I was totally satisfied. I actually think it would be great with some carrots sauteed and added to it too, to give a little sweetness. Ooh, now I know I’ll have to revisit this recipe. 🙂
Yet another great way to cook with zucchini! Go ahead and click here for the recipe and step by step instructions. Yum!
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