ISSUE 81 - September 2024 | |
Growing Together:
Food, Family and Friends
This month we explore the refreshing flavor and versatility of zucchini. Try new ways to use it and clean up your garden or flower beds with fun ideas
to involve your family.
| |
Julie Garden-Robinson, Ph.D., R.D., L.R.D., Food and Nutrition Specialist
Kim Bushaw, M.S., Family Science Specialist (former)
| |
EAT
Harvesting time has arrived, and often zucchini is part of the harvest. What can you do with an excess amount of zucchini? Try these recipes. Find more ideas at www.ag.ndsu.edu/fieldtofork.
Invite kids into the kitchen to help you make these fun and tasty zucchini recipes. Be sure to rinse all fresh produce thoroughly before preparing it.
Boats: Rinse then cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds, creating a “zucchini boat.” Drizzle the zucchini with olive oil and season to taste with salt and paper. Roast cut side down at 400 F until a fork inserts easily, about 30 to 60 minutes. Alternately, cook in boiling water. Fill with your favorite stuffing, such as hot dish, taco meat or dressing, and bake at 350 F until heated through.
Meatloaf or meatballs: Add grated zucchini to meatloaf or meatballs to keep the recipe moist. Use about 1 cup of grated zucchini per pound of ground meat.
Sauteed: Enhance the flavor of zucchini by sautéing on a stovetop. Slice the squash into bite-size pieces or make zoodles (zucchini noodles) by slicing into thin strips with a knife or vegetable peeler or using a vegetable spiralizer. Next, mix the zucchini with 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a pan and cook over medium heat. The zucchini should be tender and lightly brown. Season to taste.
Grilled: To cook zucchini on the grill, slice it into ½-inch-thick pieces. Place in a bowl, then add a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning. Place the zucchini on a grill pan or wrap in aluminum foil. If you want grill marks, slice the zucchini lengthwise and place over the grates. Grill zucchini over medium-low heat for three to four minutes per side.
***
This is one of the recipes shared by a community garden volunteer, Megan Lewis, with the Growing Together Gardens community. Her family loves this recipe, and it is easy to make.
| |
Crustless Zucchini Pie
10 ounces zucchini, shredded
½ cup red onion, diced
1/3 cup fresh chives, chopped
¼ cup shredded feta cheese (substitute shredded mozzarella or your favorite cheese)
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 large eggs, beaten
½ teaspoon salt
Pepper (to taste)
Shredded cheese (for topping) if desired
Preheat the oven to 400 F and spray a pie pan with cooking spray. Combine zucchini, red onions, chives and feta in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add all remaining ingredients to zucchini mixture and blend well. Combine zucchini mixture with dry ingredients and blend well. Pour into pie pan and top with additional shredded cheese if desired. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until knife comes out clean in the center. Let stand five minutes prior to serving.
Makes six servings. Each serving has 110 calories, 4 g fat, 6 g protein, 13 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber and 290 mg sodium.
|
|
Connect
Spring planting is exciting. Summer watering is fun. The garden produce is delicious, even with a little dirt on it. How about the fall cleanup? Not as much fun! Getting help to clean the garden may take some coaxing. Here’s a way to make fall cleanup a bit more fun.
- Write out all the jobs that need to be done on separate sticky notes.
- On a large piece of paper, write a heading, “Jobs To Do Today” or something similar and catchy.
- Put all the sticky notes under the heading. Invite pairs of people to pick a job.
- When they finish the job, they get to post the note under the heading “Well Done.”
- Offer a family movie night with popcorn or a game night with your family’s favorite snacks when the garden and yardwork are done for the day.
- Tip: Clean up plant debris as each type of plant is done producing to avoid having to do it all of the cleanup at one time.
Planning for Next Year
As you walk around your space, start planning for your next year’s garden project. Research what to plant to attract helpful pollinators to your space. What environments do they enjoy? What will you add?
- Is building a butterfly house or hummingbird feeder on your winter projects list? How about a colorful peace pole designed and painted by your family?
| |
What can you do with excess produce? Whether you have extra tomatoes, peppers or zucchini, enjoy the produce fresh, sauté or grill it, use it in recipes or preserve it.
Zucchini is one of the prolific fruits of the season. It is a fruit because it has seeds, even though we use it as a vegetable on menus. Zucchini is a type of summer squash that provides vitamins A, C and K, plus potassium and other minerals. You can eat it raw,; cook it in an oven, air fryer or microwave;, or sauté it on the stove.
-
Not all fruits and vegetables can or freeze well. Zucchini can be frozen, but it becomes quite watery. Be sure to drain it well before using it in recipes. Visit www.ag.ndsu.edu/food and click on Food Preservation to learn more.
| |
The NDSU Extension does not endorse commercial products or companies even though reference may be made to tradenames, trademarks or service names. NDSU encourages you to use and share this content, but please do so under the conditions of our Creative Commons license. You may copy, distribute, transmit and adapt this work as long as you give full attribution, don’t use the work for commercial purposes and share your resulting work similarly. For more information, visit www.ag.ndsu.edu/agcomm/creative-commons.
County commissions, North Dakota State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. NDSU does not discriminate in its programs and activities on the basis of age, color, gender expression/identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, participation in lawful off-campus activity, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, public assistance status, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, spousal relationship to current employee, or veteran status, as applicable. Direct inquiries to Vice Provost for Title IX/ADA Coordinator, Old Main 201, NDSU Main Campus, 701-231-7708, ndsu.eoaa@ndsu.edu. This publication will be made available in alternative formats for people with disabilities upon request, 701-231-7881.
| | | | |