What to do with excess zucchini
I’m certainly not complaining about a bountiful garden. There will come a time in the not too distant future when the ground is cold and barren and I am missing my forays into the vegetable garden to see what is ready to be picked. This year, partly due to poor planning on my part and partly due to the high temperatures we have experienced here in the Northeast, I have an excessive amount of zucchini…more than my family could possibly eat. I’ve grilled it, sautéed it, stuffed it, made it into a primavera sauce, and spiralized it into a fantastic raw pasta, but quite frankly, I’ve reached the point where I am a little sick of it.
So for the remainder of the zucchini that make their way into my kitchen, I have found a few ways to use them without them ending up in the compost pile.
Freezing: Shred zucchini and measure into 2 cup servings. Place in freezer in airtight containers for use in the colder months (label them so you don’t forget what it is). These servings can be used for zucchini bread, muffins or added into a marinara sauce.
Juicing: I didn’t think zucchini would taste good juiced, so I had never tried it…until today that is. Juice 2 zucchini with 1 cucumber, ½ cup mint, 3 stalks of celery, 1 lime and 2 apples (recipe from The Seven Day Total Cleanse). It’s pretty tasty and a great way to get your veggies in. It makes about 32 ounces of juice so I drank half in the morning and the other half later in the day.
Raw: Slice into discs and serve with your favorite dip.
Raw pasta: Run through a spiralizer to form “noodles” and serve with a sundried tomato or pesto sauce. There are some great sauce recipes in Raw Food Real World.
Raw “hummus”: Puree 2 peeled zucchini in a food processor with ¾ cup raw tahini, ½ cup fresh lemon juice, ¼ cup olive oil, 2-3 cloves garlic, 2 tsp sea salt and ½ T ground cumin (recipe from RAWvolution by Matt Amsden although I reduced the amount of garlic and sea salt that he calls for)
Zucchini Fries: Slice into discs, dip in soymilk, almond milk or rice milk and then cover discs with brown rice flour. Saute in olive oil for 2-3 minutes on each side.
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Great suggestions Carol. Thanks!