Monday, August 16, 2010

zucchini madness omg

Friends, I don't really like zucchini. It just figures, doesn't it, that it's the easiest dang thing to grow?! Here's a picture of the one zuke plant from my group garden project, about 6 weeks ago:

It's the big green leaves to the right. Believe me when I say that freaking monster has more than doubled in volume since then! And of the five of us in the garden group... it doesn't seem like anyone is that into the dreaded green veg.

My biggest hits so far this year have been Simply Recipes' Chocolate Zucchini Cake, and zucchini pickles!

When I was growing up, our next-door neighbor had a HUGE garden, and I distinctly remember these pickles she'd make. Oddly enough, I liked neither pickles nor zucchini, but it seemed like the two negatives cancelled each other out; I liked her zucchini pickles! I hadn't thought of them for years until I had a burger at a restaurant in Portland and they came with a side of the distinctively-colored pickles. Now that I'm ..um.. blessed with an abundance of the Loathsome Green Monster, I made my own. They came out pretty tasty, though next time I may use cider vinegar to bump up the sweetness a tiny bit.

I used this recipe (I think... they are all about the same) and here's my pickles getting briney. yep, everything is now that turmeric yellow color.

What else can I do with zucchini? I should probably just give in and pick 'em really small, but I keep hoping one of the gardeners will want one or two (or ten).

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