How To Use Up Zucchini And Make Your Family Very Happy

It's summer! Well, in some places it's summer. Oregon seems to be having a problem getting with the picture, it's 64 degrees right now. The past few days we have had clouds, rain and a massive thunderstorm. The thunderstorm part was kind of awesome and all of the rain means I haven't been having to water the garden as often, so that's a plus as well.

Since it is summer and gardens are teeming with zucchini right now, I thought I would share 2 recipes with you. The first one is one that I have previously posted about, and the other is a new-to-you recipe. I Wanted to post the "used" one again because so many of you are new and might not have seen it when I first posted it last year.

The first recipe is for Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. I won't write the whole recipe here, you can just click over to see it and the whole cake frosting process in that post since it is a repeat.

In a weird way, this picture has a lot to do with the next recipe. You see, I dehydrate every. single. extra. zucchini that I get out of the garden and store them in a big glass gallon jar. In the winter when I am making a soup, or stew, or chili or enchiladas, or heck just about everything~ I throw in a handful of dried zucchini. I also re-hydrate it, squeeze out the extra liquid and make zucchini bread, cake or muffins as well. I know you can just freeze your zucchini shreds, but I don't have a ton of freezer space and you would be amazed at how many dried zukes will fit into a gallon jar :)

And so I give to you our next recipe, it's one that I got off of Allrecipes.com and I l-o-v-e it. Please make it so you can love it too!

Mom's Zucchini Bread
from AllRecipes.com

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Spray 2 loaf pans with non-stick spray, set aside. Mix the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in everything else except for the zucchini and nuts. Stir well, fold in the zucchini and nuts and pour into the prepared pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 45-60 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

I don't have a picture of the actual loaves.....because they are in the oven right now and I wanted you to have the recipes as soon as I could get them on here. I'll update with a picture of the loaves when they are done.

I know some of you are dying in the heat...but maybe you can get one of these treats baked early enough or late enough in the day to enjoy them. I hope so, they are really good!