Apple zucchini bread

Enjoy this healthy, delicious apple zucchini bread for breakfast: it's loaded with end-of-summer produce and early-fall fruit, plus it contains no dairy or refined sugar.

You know The Ninj is dedicated to seasonality, and, given that it is still September, that means I'm still not showing you recipes that involve The October P-Word Vegetable. But that doesn't mean that I'm not excited for fall produce, like apples. What it does mean is that I have a bunch of end-of-summer produce overlapping with my beginning-of-fall produce.

That overlap is how I came up with this apple zucchini bread, my homage to September, the month that graciously ushers in fall while kicking summer out the back door.

You're totally going to dig this bread because it's moist, flavorful and super-addictive yet wicked healthy: It's loaded with fiber and it contains no milk, refined sugar or butter.

Whatchootalkinbout, Ninj?

(I can hear you saying that, I really can.)

Let's break that down:

Zucchini-a-rama: 9 summer zucchini recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Just in time for national Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day on August 8, check out these nine delicious recipes for summer zucchini.

Yep, it's another week of the CSA Share Ninja Rescue for 2014, in which you tell me each week what produce from your CSA share (or garden or farmers' market) has you in a recipe rut, and I shower you with a list of delicious, healthy recipes on Tuesdays. This week, we're talking zucchini!

If you have ever grown zucchini, which seems to produce endlessly, you undoubtedly understand the awesomeness of national Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day, fast approaching on August 8. Mark your calendars NOW, peeps!

If you can't wait until August 8, just do what The Ninj did this year to unload my surplus: I put a giant box of zucchini in front of my mailbox with a sign that said "FREE VEGGIES." Gone by the end of the day. Because people love free shit.

If you're looking for more ideas on how to use up enjoy this ubiquitous squash, take a gander at these nine yummy recipes for some delicious inspiration.

Banana-zucchini muffins

So, have you used up all your zucchini yet? (Snort)

Yeah, I know: bad joke. Mine is still coming in from the garden and I don't know how many more baggies of shredded zucchini my freezer can hold. I still have one in there from last year, for cripes sake.

But if you also happen to have a past-its-eating-prime banana hanging around, today is your lucky day.

If not for the pathetic banana on the counter, I would likely have made my summer harvest zucchini bread this week. But frugality (read: cheapness) got the better of me: I was determined to use up the banana and the zucchini -- and not by throwing either one into the compost bin. My challenge to myself was to find a way to use them both in one recipe.

Lucky for you, I scored. And scored big.

You know how yummy banana bread is? And you know how much you love zucchini bread? Yeah? Well, now combine them together, add some flax seed meal to make it good for you and -- voila! -- you've got The Ninj's favorite new breakfast: banana-zucchini muffins.

The best thing about these banana-zucchini muffins is that they are incredibly moist, without any added oil -- and not that rubbery, oh-you-clearly-added-applesauce-instead-of-oil-to-make-it-healthy moistness. We enjoy them au naturel (which makes them handily portable), but they are also wicked with a little butter or fruit butter schmeared on them.

And they freeze well, too.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2013: zucchini, beets and fava beans (10 unique ways)

 
Welcome to another installment of the 2013 edition of CSA Share Ninja Rescue, a weekly feature in which you tell me on Fridays what veg you got in your CSA share box (or found at the farmers' market) that you don't know what to do with and I'll give you a whole bunch of recipe ideas on the following Monday.

Seriously: where else can you get recipe suggestions on demand? OK, other than Google? (snort)

Apparently, the zucchini giant has awoken. I'm still waiting for mine but my readers are already drowning in it. Additionally, other readers are looking for different ways to deal with an excess of beets and fava beans.

So let's jump right in, shall we?

Zucchini

• Lemon zucchini cookies: Citrusy, but they still let the zucchini flavor and texture come through
• Summer harvest zucchini bread: It's like an entire garden in one loaf (pictured above) -- and it's savory
• Sauteed zucchini: This one is simple and comes to you courtesy of my cousin, Susan -- a little side dish her mother, Anna, created to use up zucchini. Add some olive oil to a pan, throw in some minced garlic and shredded zucchini. It tastes almost like broccoli.

Beets

• Cider vinegar pickled beets: Really unique flavor from oregano and thyme
• Beet veggie burgers: So gorgeous and so yummy
• Beet pesto: Probably more like a tapanade than pesto -- makes amazing (and beautiful) crostini
• Beet bread: ZOMG, it's pink bread! Your kids will flip!

Fava Beans

• Grilled fava beans: Perfect if you hate shelling the beans first -- they pop right out after grilling
• Fava puree: Another option for making gorgeous, delicious appetizer crostini
• Fava bean burgers: Says the creator, "If a samosa and a falafel had a burger baby, this would be it"

And don't forget to check out my rescue posts from 2011 and 2012, too, for even more ideas -- we're in our third year of this, after all!

• Zucchini (2011)
• Zucchini (2012)
• Beets and fava beans (2011)

Now, with what veg can I give you a little help next week? Leave a comment -- The Ninj wants to know.

Pinspiration: Double chocolate cake

This is the second installment of my new feature -- Pinspiration -- in which I make some of the recipes I have pinned in Pinterest and share some love for the original creators.

If you follow me on Pinterest, you'll see that I pin a lot of baked goods recipes. Not a lot of over-the-top baked goods, mostly breads and breakfasty items.

But sometimes you just need chocolate cake, right?

This recipe was actually described as "healthy zucchini brownies." Um, let's just be clear: these are neither brownies nor healthy. But they are less bad for you than many desserts, given the use of whole wheat flour, applesauce and shredded zucchini (just ignore the large amount of sugar and chocolate chips!).

I guess "less-bad-for-you cake" wasn't as good a title.

How to make all kinds of pickles (or, the Pickling Ninjipedia)

Pickled golden beets

I'm taking a little bit of a different approach to my entry this month for Grow It Cook It Can It's Cook It! 2012 challenge. (If you've been playing along at home, you know that we have already tackled pasta, bread, butter, cheese, lactofermented veg, jam and canned fruit -- wow, that's a lot, isn't it?!)

You see, the challenge for this month is to make pickles.

If you are a regular reader of The Ninj, you know this is like saying, "This month's challenge is to breath."

I'm a pickle junkie and feel I have already given you more than your fair share of pickle musings this year. So I didn't want to subject everyone to simply one more post on how to make pickles.

Therefore, perhaps cheatingly, for the Challenge, I'm giving you a sampling post: that is, I'm summarizing my pickling escapades all in one place. Let's call it the Ninjipedia of pickling.

(Oh man, I supah like that one!)

Pickles, pickles, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

Lemon zucchini cookies

Lemon zucchini cookies

Today, all my friends are posting pictures of their kids' first day back to school, my dogs have nearly stopped their seemingly constant shedding and I had to wear my Ugg slippers to sit out on the porch this morning.

I guess it's official.

Summer is over.

Although not quite over in the garden, I'm happy to report. Knock on wood, my tomatoes have been spared both bugs and blight this year and are producing almost more than I can eat or freeze, the green beans continue to proliferate, I'm giving away bags of cucumbers on a near-daily basis and the kale is plentiful.

So let's have one last huzzah for summer veg, shall we?

And what typifies summer veg better than the ubiquitous zucchini?

And who better than The Ninj to put it in a cookie?

Summer harvest zucchini bread: a recipe

Summer harvest zucchini bread

Harvest time in the garden is the most rewarding time of the year.

But it can also be the time when you realize your planning and planting mistakes and, hopefully, learn some lessons.

This year's lesson learned?

Two people cannot eat this much zucchini.

(Especially when one of the aforementioned two people has never met a vegetable he liked.)

Yes, folks, it's zucchini overload time here in Ninjaville, as I'm sure it is where you live as well. You know this time well: large quantities of the stuff start showing up in the break room at work, with little "Help Yourself!" signs.

Don't get me wrong, I love zucchini -- heck, that's why I planted it. (Way too much of it, apparently, but that's a "lesson learned" now, water under the bridge. )

So, if you have indeed helped yourself to someone else's zucchini bounty or have found yourself overwhelmed by the prolific courgette, I have a completely wicked way for you to make it useful.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue: Summer Squash

Photo courtesy of David Lat via stock.xchng

I'm sure you guessed that, after highlighting zucchini last week, summer squash would be showing up next.

Guess what? Today is "next." 

Everybody can saute squash and what not, so I tried to feature a couple of recipes that were a bit more on the unusual or adventurous side.

As always, if you need help with a veggie you've received in your CSA share, leave a comment below or send me an email before this coming Friday.

Recipes suggestions are posted on Mondays.

• Summer squash soup: From The Kitchn -- they had me at "simple."
• Summer squash gratin: You know me -- I'd probably sneak some sausage into this dish from 101 Cookbooks and turn it into a main dish.
• Grilled squash and zucchini: From Epicurious, this recipe originally appeared in Gourmet. I like it because of the light dressing that you add after grilling.
• Squash marmalade: This has got to the best use of excess squash I've ever seen. Can't you just see it on zucchini bread? (from Joyce at Friends Drift Inn)

If you try any of these recipes or have a favorite squash recipe of your own, tell me about it in the comments below!

CSA Share Ninja Rescue: zucchini

Zucchini chips

This week, readers have started receiving zucchini in their shares.

Let the great summer zucchini onslaught begin!

I tried to include both traditional and non-traditional ideas for using zucchini; there's only so many times you can serve sauteed zucchini as a side dish without your family looking weary, am I right?

As always, if you need help with a veggie you've received in your CSA share, leave a comment below or send me an email before this coming Friday.

Recipes suggestions are posted on Mondays.

• Zucchini chips: Near and dear to my heart, as these are my only official prize-winning recipe. 
• Zucchini pecan cake: Whether you make it as a cake or muffins (minus the frosting), this recipe from In Praise of Leftovers is a winner.
• Lemony zucchini goat cheese pizza: I love this easy, unusual recipe from Smitten Kitchen -- perfect for casual summer dining.
• Cream of zucchini soup: I just discovered this one from The Meaning of Pie -- easy and delicious, my favorite combination!
• Morning glory muffins: Just substitute shredded zucchini for the carrots called for in this great breakfast muffin recipe.

You can also check out last year's suggestions for using zucchini.

What's your favorite way to prepare zucchini? The Ninj wants to know.



[Shared with the What's in the Box? link party]

Morning glory breakfast muffins: a recipe

Morning glory breakfast muffins (damn you, white balance!)

Breakfast is hard.

I feel that I say this to you at least once a week, but it's true. And I wouldn't want to let you down by not saying it, ha ha ha.

It's challenging to come up with a variety of healthy, grab-and-go recipes. I usually fall into a rut. To wit: you don't even want to know how many ham-and-cheese-on-a-100-calorie-thin-bun breakfast paninis we've eaten since I got a panini press.

Seriously, you don't want to know. Suffice it to say that we're in danger of hating ham and cheese.

Breakfast muffins are a good idea but too many of them wind up basically being cake. And I for one don't like a lot of sweetness in my breakfast.

Therefore, the "morning glory" muffin is right up my alley: all the excellentness of being make-ahead but still being jam-packed with healthy ingredients.

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday: VT's biggest zucchini

Now that would make a lot of zucchini chips and pickles!

Pickles: three recipes

UPDATE: I'm thrilled to announce that my recipe for zucchini chips co-won the Can You Can It? preserving contest hosted by Eve at The Garden of Eating. Thanks to all the Ninj's followers who voted! I'm looking forward to tackling some new preserving projects from my prize, Put 'em Up!: A Comprehensive Home Preserving Guide for the Creative Cook, from Drying and Freezing to Canning and Pickling

Three kinds of pickles

Three for the price of one today.

Let's get busy before the cucumbers and zucchini are gone for another year:

1. Best-Ever Dill Pickles
The first one, I will admit, is really just a repeat of last year's pickles.

However, they were my first foray into pickling and were billed by BHG as "Best-Ever Dill Pickles", so the recipe bears repeating. They were truly some of the best dill pickles I've tasted, so I'd encourage you to give them a try.

Recipe: Best-Ever Dill Pickles

Zucchini chips: a recipe

Zucchini chips

If you follow the Ninj on Facebook, you already know that my zucchini fell victim to the dreaded and disgusting squash vine borer this year, so I may be the only gardener in Vermont that actually has to buy zucchini right now. But I love the stuff, so I'm faking having an overabundance of it that I need to use up (shhh ... don't tell).

I made some zucchini refrigerator pickles yesterday that won't be ready for a day or two, so I'll give you an update on those next week.

I also made zucchini chips in my dehydrator.

If you don't own a dehydrator, go buy one. Seriously. It doesn't even matter if it's the lame-ass Ronco kind, it will still work. And it's amazing the stuff you can make with meat, veggies, fruit and more (the Ninjette is a big fan of chicken jerky and banana roll-ups).

Word on the street is that you can also achieve a similar effect by drying stuff in your oven at a very, very low temperature, but I can't vouch for that, as I've never tried it. Moreover, I doubt you'd want to keep your oven occupied for 14 hours in some cases.

Back to the chips.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue: zucchini

Zucchini cornbread

Yes, it's that time, when the zucchini really starts to come in and most gardeners are up to their eyeballs in the stuff.

Most gardeners, that is, except the Ninj, whose crop -- for the third year in a row in three different locations and two different states 800 miles apart, mind you -- was attacked by the extremely disgusting squash vine borer.

Nasty. I wouldn't wish this bug on my worst enemy. Well, maybe my worst.

So while you are drowning in zucchini and perhaps even leaving large bags of it on your neighbor's porch just to be rid of it, I may just be the only gardener in Vermont actually paying for the stuff. Sniff.

Regardless of how you come by it, here are some excellent ways to use all that zucchini from this week's CSA share: