Daily Dose of Zucchini

Zucchini Lasagna

Before I forget what I did with these recipes, I need to chronicle last week's zucchini experiment.

The week started with zucchini lasagna, always a family favorite. The zucchini isn't quite a star ingredient here. It's pretty stealth actually, grated up and mixed in with the ricotta.

 Next up: zucchini bundt cake with orange glaze. The recipe from Martha Stewart Living was absolutely amazing. It's currently my favorite cake and I plan to make it again. I made a couple modifications.

Instead of straight zucchini, I used a mix of zucchini and yellow summer squash. I also used granulated sugar for the glaze, which turned out to be a bad idea. I'd have been better off jumping in the car and restocking my pantry with powdered sugar. But considering the family demolished the cake, the crunchy glaze didn't ruin the dish.

Sauteed Ribbon Summer Squash

The sauteed ribbons of summer squash was just really fun to make. I kept looking up recipes and found all sorts of dishes made with these ribbons. I went simple.

After using a veggie peeler to make the ribbons, I sauteed them lightly in olive oil with chopped shallots and garlic. I finished it off with a little Kosher salt. Even the kids couldn't find a reason not to eat it. Delish.

Zucchini Pickles

To wrap up the week and to use up the rest of the zucchini/summer squash bounty from our CSA, I whipped up a batch of Judy's Zucchini Pickles.

I just love this recipe. I'm not exactly sure why I needed to sterilize the jars for refrigerator pickles, but I did for good measure. I did forget the mustard seeds, but I didn't miss them. Next time I won't forget.

These are great as a cold summer side dish or as a starter or afternoon snack.