Thursday, April 30, 2015

Z is for Zucchini Boats

Zucchini is remarkably easy to grow here in Colorado. In fact, it's sorta like a weed.


The only time I haven't had success with it was the year my neighbor accidentally poisoned my garden by spraying for weeds on a windy day. Bad neighbor!!

But I almost always end up with a surplus, and try as I might to harvest them when they're small, some inevitably get away from me.

So this past fall, when I was overrun with limb-sized zucchini, I decided to make zucchini boats.

This was one batch... I think I made 4 like this!
The recipe is very simple. You just cut the zuke lengthwise & clean out the seeds. Then you make a filling... your filling can pretty much be anything you like. Mine were all variations of beans & rice, with bits of whatever else needed using up. Some had ground beef, some had cheese, some used quinoa instead of rice, there were tomatoes, chives, onions & peppers as well.

The only rule of thumb for good filling is to add an egg to the mixture to help it hold together well.

Once you've got your filling made, you just spoon it lavishly into your zucchini boats, stick it uncovered in the oven for 40 minutes or so, and you're done.

I filled my chest freezer with several dozen of these.


I must say, I have been quite grateful to have them for a quick meal when things get busy... like, say, when you temporarily go insane and join an A-Z blogging challenge. The insanity is only temporary, isn't it? ISN'T IT?!?!?!?



Anyhow, the only downside to freezing these suckers is that when you defrost them a LOT of liquid comes out of the cooked zucchini.


My technique for dealing with this was to use a cheese grater to hold the thing together and then drain the excess liquid from the plate after nuking it in the microwave.


Perhaps not the most elegant solution, but it certainly worked. And once I melted some fresh cheese on top and added a hefty dollop of sour cream, you could hardly notice that it was a little bit smooshed!


So there you have it! Fast food CatLady style!

And with that, folks, I have officially completed my A-Z blogging challenge! Whew! I hope I haven't bored you all to tears. If I have, not to worry, I'll be taking a break for at least a few days because at the moment I am Z for Zonked!


32 comments :

  1. I found a recipe online for zucchini boats using sausage; we made it one time, so delicious!!!

    We finished the challenge!!!!!

    betty

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    Replies
    1. Oooo... sausage sounds delicious. I have yet to find sausage that doesn't have illegal ingredients for me (allergy-wise) but maybe I'll look harder! :-)

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  2. Too funny...enjoyed reading!!

    YHF

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  3. Am I the only person on earth who can't grow
    zucchini successfully? Anyone else?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm... what is your climate like? What went wrong?

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    2. Who knows? Climate just like Southern Italy, lots
      of water, hand pollination...zucchini fail every year!

      Delete
  4. I enjoyed reading your A to Z, thanks for your creativity in writing.

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    Replies
    1. Awwww shucks. Thanks for your kind words. :-)

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  5. When my kids were young, they loved seeing how big the zucchini could get. So we could have made zucchini aircraft carriers out of some of them instead of boats.
    Congratulations on completing the challenge. It was a challenge sometimes, for me anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zucchini aircraft carriers - I love it!

      It was a challenge - but I do think I succeeded in taking each post less seriously. Yay!

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  6. Bravo on completing the A-Z Challenge! I've enjoyed all of your posts. And the crazy cat picture is too funny. Yeah, I think zuchinni grows well pretty much everywhere short of the Poles.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much Mary. I often think we could solve world hunger with more liberal plantings of zucchini! :-)

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  7. Okay another meal I have to try. Zucchini grows the same here, every where. I haven't grown it myself because it's so inexpensive to buy from the local growers that why take up room in my own garden but after seeing your zucchini boats I may have to start growing my own as that's a meal I would gladly grab from the freezer and reheat. I'm all for being lazy in preparing my meals now that it's only me at home. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Grab 'n' go meals make life soooo much easier!

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  8. Those look delicious! We had good luck with growing zucchini last year, and I'm hoping it will do well again this year. I love freezing meals that work as fast food when time is tight.

    I haven't bee bored at all. I'm glad we connected with A to Z. A break does sound wonderful though.

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    1. I'm glad you weren't bored. Now I just have to stop tagging every thought I have by a letter of the alphabet! :-)

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  9. Super Congratulations! You know it takes 21 days to form a habit and you have completed 26 alphabets challenge. Bet, it must have become a habit by now! I will be glad to read more from you! The images you put are so hilarious. Thanks for brightening my day as now I know what to do with my Zucchini lying in the fridge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well... if it's a habit, I'm about to break it! Though I do feel like I've succeeded in making each post much less of a big deal, so perhaps I'll post more often than the once a week that I did before.

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  10. Replies
    1. Clearly you did - so much that you commented twice! :-)

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  11. Mmmm that sounds delish! We've been buying zucchini a lot lately because we just realized we're adults - I HATED them as a kid, but now they taste so good to me. We're going to try and grow some veggies, so maybe those will grow ok in our soil. But even if they don't, we're going to have to try this recipe after our next grocery store run!

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    Replies
    1. It's really hard to mess up zucchini - well, I suppose it could be different in different climates - but it's one of the easier plants to grow here. And I totally know what you mean. I hated the stuff as a kid, but now I totally love it. Adult taste buds... go figure!

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  12. I really enjoyed your A-Z! You deserve a rest now but please don't stay away too long.

    Rolien

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for reading... I think I'm finally re-surfacing!

      Delete
  13. Well, Ms Eco Cat Lady.....let me start by saying how much I've enjoyed your blogging over the past 26 days. However, your 'About Me' section inferred a much less frantic schedule of blogging than I've experienced to date. I quote: "I don't blog on a schedule... I pretty much refuse to do ANYTHING on a schedule, because really...why make an enjoyable activity into work?" Hear, hear! I sincerely hope you will now revert to the random, once-weekly 'blatherings' I've come to know and love you for, so my e-mail box will return to a manageable size. Thank you for your insights, pretty kitty pics and recipes but I've still got a sizeable chunk of the 'Alphabet' to read!!! So.......take a break woman!!!
    All the best,
    Dawn ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for such a sweet comment! I think the universe decided for me that I was gonna take a blogging break! I'm really looking forward to getting back to the "no schedule" approach to life!

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  14. I also thank you for your A to Z challenge. Lots of fun!

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    1. Thanks so much for reading and commenting! :-)

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  15. That looks yummy. I have a recipe for zucchini BINGO that I can send you. You mix and match from each letter for all sorts of creations.

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    1. Holy Moly! That sounds waaaayyy too complicated for me! I fear I'm not organized enough for anything other than creating something edible! :-)

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