What To Do With All This Zucchini?!? (Lots Of Ideas At the Bottom Of Post)

Okay, I have a slight problem. It's the zucchini. The zucchini is threatening to take over my garden...yard...kitchen. Every time I turn around there's another one that's mysteriously grown to a crazy size.

So I got busy tonight. I pulled out the food processor, and started shredding it. I saved several reasonable sized zucchini to grill, fry, or steam. The rest all got shredded.

I had help. This beautiful, spunky, sweet, sassy little sweetie was my helper (I dare you to come up with another "s" descriptor! Well, I can think of one, but this is a family blog, gang):

Thomas was there too, but he didn't approve of the activity. He didn't like the sound of the food processor.

Not one...

...Little...

...Bit...

Poor little guy. At least I only had to do something like FIFTEEN rounds! Now come on, he didn't scream the entire time...only while we shredded...he happily munched on his crackers while we measured, scooped, and sealed.

In the end we had all sorts of goodies to put in the freezer:

So what am I going to do with all of this zucchini (and there will be lots more too, I'm sure)?? Here's a run-down on some of the yummy ways I've found to use it so far:

1. Fry it - you cut it into sticks for this, not shredded.

2. Fry it with a tempura batter covering it (my favorite so far).

3. Make really yummy muffins. Go ahead, make a double batch...they freeze great.

4. Sneak the shredded stuff into the baby's food. Along with a little apple sauce or yogurt? He never notices.

5. Make the best zucchini bread on planet Earth. Go see Becky for the recipe :)

6. Make zucchini "cakes"...think crab cakes without the crab. Okay, maybe this is my favorite! I didn't have the seasoning that the recipe calls for, so I used Johnny's Seasoning Salt.

7. Steam - Slice and halve, and steam with some red onion. Be sure you don't over-cook, or it will turn to mush! Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese, serve.

8. Grill - Slice and halve, put in foil packet along with carrots and onions of similar size. Add some olive oil, parmesan, and Johnny's Seasoning Salt (yes, we use a lot of the stuff around here). Seal up the packet, and put on the grill. YUM!

9. Fry - Slice thinly. Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Toss the zucchini in the pan with some red onion. Stir and heat until cooked through. I like a squeeze of lemon juice thrown in too.

Do you have a favorite zucchini recipe? Share, please! Leave a comment with your favorite way of fixing it...or blog about it, and leave a link in my comments section for me.