The raw goods
Zucchini! It took me 37 years to discover I love zucchini and it doesn’t have to be fried and covered with parmesan cheese or dipped in horseradish mayo sauce. Who knew? Last week I picked my first home-grown zucchini and 2 plum tomatoes. I took a little trip this weekend with my mom, but I knew these guys would wait for me. When I walked into the kitchen this morning in search of breakfast I eyed my veggies and decided I would be roasting them with some garlic olive oil and Penzey’s Salt Free Mural of Flavor for dinner.
Chopped and ready to go!
I couldn’t decide between polenta or brown rice couscous to go with, but I was hungry and the couscous took 1/2 the time of the polenta so couscous it was. I had never made anything but the quick cooking flavored stuff before so I almost burnt this stuff because the box said DO NOT REMOVE THE LID FOR 15 MINUTES. Thankfully I had a glass lid and could see that all of my veggie broth had evaporated after 5 minutes. Whew, disaster averted. I added a little water and we were good to go. After 15 minutes I had a very healthy and tasty dinner all for under 300 calories. The best part is that I’m still satisfied and not craving any junk food.
"Yummo" - Rachel Ray
I noticed today I have 5 banana peppers ready to be picked. I’m not a fan of banana peppers so I’m challenging you to give me your best vegetarian recipe that includes these guys. I even have a prize for the first vegetarian recipe submitted. You want to know what it is?
Drum roll please……………………..
A one year (9 issues) subscription to Vegetarian Times. Trust me, even the meat eaters will love the veggie recipes. I can not wait to try your recipes.
From Fit to Fat and Back 
zeezmom said,
July 20, 2010 at 12:39 am
Came across your blog and had to laugh because I have sooooooo many zucchinis in my garden that I’ve posted them on freecycle to give away.
I do it every year – plant 6 or 8 seeds, when really, I only need one. One year, I took over a hundred pounds of zucchini into my co-workers.
My first problem is I love the look of them. And I love how quickly they grow – which is my second problem. I usually have gigantic zuccs.
Here’s a recipe you can use to get rid of any extra zuccs (and you can even throw in your banana peppers!). This is a good recipe to use with larger zuccs. Sorry, I don’t have exact measurements, I just wing it.
Stuffed Zucchini
Cut zucchini in half, lengthwise.
Scoop out the insides to about 1/4 inch from the edge and bottom.
From what you scooped out, discard any seedy/spongey parts and dice the rest and put it in a large bowl.
Put the two halves of the zucc in a 9×13 baking pan (I use glass) and pour boiling water over them. This will partially cook the zucchini while you’re preparing the other stuff.
To the bowl with the diced zucchini, add anything else that you like in stuffing. I usually cut up a couple of pieces of bread, an onion, celery, peppers (mild or hot – enter your banana peppers), chopped fresh herbs (like basil, thyme, oregano, savoury), salt and pepper.
Melt enough butter to coat but not saturate the stuffing and pour it over everything and mix.
Empty the water out of the zucchini and cake pan and stuff each half.
Sprinkle with a tasty cheese (I like blue or old cheddar – you can also just mix the cheese in with the stuffing instead).
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (or so).
I usually serve this as a side dish, but I have made it into a meal by adding seasoned tofu.
fittofatandbackcarrie said,
July 20, 2010 at 12:50 am
Wow, what a great recipe. Thanks for posting so quickly. The subscription is yours for the taking. If you want it please email me with your mailing address and I will order it for you. I can not wait to try this out. Carrie (dot) Labowitz (at) gmail.com