Got Zucchini?

Its zucchini season folks! This past weekend, my brother Will brought two HUGE zucchini over to the house that his colleague had grown and shared with the office. His question, “What do you do with zucchini?”, inspired this post.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the record for world’s biggest zucchini belongs to a zucchini grown by John (Giovanni) Scozzafavain in his garden in Niagara Falls, Ontario in 2014. His zucchini measured a whopping 8 ft 3.3 inches long (2.52 m). When you have that much zucchini, you have to get creative on how to use it. We are talking way more than zoodles, people. Here are two creative zucchini-based recipes that we made this week. We have you covered with zucchini for breakfast AND dinner.

These zucchini banana chocolate chip oatmeal cups are fantastic. So tasty – but be warned – they are definitely more like a single serving-sized baked oatmeal in consistency as opposed to a muffin. Our brother Michael made them before us and ran into a few problems with the oatmeal cups staying together after baking. He left out the butter (don’t do this!) and I added 1/4 cup milk and swapped out baking soda for baking powder to the recipe. Our oatmeal cups stayed together, I’m just saying…

ZUCCHINI BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL CUPS

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup mashed banana, about 2 large bananas  (recommend ripe bananas with black spots)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 whole eggs
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Finely shred zucchini. If zucchini shreds are larger, recommend roughly chopping into small pieces. Then squeeze out as much water from your shredded zucchini as you can using a colander.
3. In a bowl, combine the bananas, yogurt, milk, eggs, maple syrup, melted butter and vanilla. Mix well and set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. Let set for 10 minutes to allow for the the oats to soak up the wet ingredients.
6. Fold in the shredded zucchini, mini chocolate chips, walnuts and coconut flakes.
7. Transfer the batter to a greased muffin pan (these silicone muffin pans that Mallory found work great!). Fill the muffin wells all the way to the top for 16 muffins. Fill them 3/4 full for 24 muffins.
8. Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes (less if opting for small muffins) or until tops are golden brown.
9. Remove from oven and let set for 5 minutes. Transfer to a baking rack to continue to cool.
10. Muffins can be served warm or cold.
11. Store muffins in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Recipe Credit: The Real Foods Dietitians

We love Half Baked Harvest recipes and Tieghan Gerard’s zucchini ramen recipe below is no exception. We made it for dinner last night and added grilled and sliced beef tenderloin steak on the side (because Ryan needs protein!). Highly recommend you make these ramen noodles this zucchini season!

ZUCCHINI RAMEN WITH GRILLED STEAK

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3 packages of ramen noodles
• 6 tablespoons salted butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced or grated
• 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
• 2 small or 1 medium zucchini, grated
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped plus more for garnish
• 4 soft boiled eggs (optional)
• toasted sesame seeds for serving
• grilled steak (we used beef tenderloin steaks on sale at QFC this week)

DIRECTIONS

1. While your partner is grilling the steak, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain. (Note: Make sure to cook the ramen only till al dente otherwise it will get mushy when you add it make into the pan with the butter and zucchini as part of Step 2 below.)
2. If adding soft-boiled eggs, I used the Instant Pot method for the first time with this recipe. (I have always made my soft-boiled eggs on the stove, 6 minutes on low boil/simmer. But sometimes I have problems removing the eggshell and the Instant Pot works so well for hard-boiled eggs, I thought I would try it!) Add one cup water to Instant Pot, add rack to inside and place your eggs on top. I used the manual setting for 2 minutes and the yolks of my soft-boiled eggs were too firm for my liking. I would only do 1 minute next time. Use quick-release function once eggs have finished cooking and then quickly place eggs in an ice bath until cool enough to peel.
3. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the butter and garlic. Cook until the garlic is golden and caramelized, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the ginger, cooking another minute. Stir in the shredded zucchini, cooking another 2-3 minutes, until the zucchini wilts into the butter. Stir in the ramen noodles, soy sauce, and basil. Gently toss to combine. Remove from the heat.
4. Divide the noodles among bowls and top with toasted sesame seeds, basil, grilled steak, and eggs, if desired. Eat immediately…enjoy!

Recipe Credit: Half Baked Harvest

In need of some other zucchini recipe ideas? This is a wonderful turkey zucchini meatball dinner that I have made in the past from Freutcake. And here are few zucchini recipes I would like to make in the future (hint, Will, bring me more zucchini!): baked rosemary and basil zucchini chips, grilled pesto zucchini stuffed with tomatoes and orzo, and Korean beef zucchini noodles.

Now that you can have zucchini for breakfast and zucchini for dinner, are you are feeling really daring? We found three zucchini cocktail recipes (WHAT?!?!?) that are just screaming for someone to try. Should I make one this weekend?

This zucchini post wraps up a week of produce-based recipes on Lets Wine About It Sister. We had grapefruit, then peaches, now zucchini….oh my! If you missed one of these posts, check them out here and here. One of our favorite parts of summer is the fresh produce available in our stores, farmers’ markets, and our own home gardens. What are you favorite summer produce recipes?

If you make one of our recommended zucchini-based recipes, snap a picture a post it on Instagram with the hashtag #letswineaboutitsister. We would love to see what you are cooking!