World’s Largest Zucchini!

So, a zucchini was left outside a little long, and look what it became!

It’s the largest zucchini I’ve ever seen! I decided to use it to try a new stuffed zucchini recipe since I didn’t know what else to do with such a huge zucchini. This recipe is pretty good; however, I would not recommend stuffing a huge zucchini! It seems like a good idea, but since the zucchini is so huge it overpowers the stuffing and you just feel like you’re eating WAY too much zucchini.

Rice Stuffed Zucchini

2 cups cooked brown rice (cooked in chicken broth, not water)
1 large zucchini
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 white or yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
8-10 basil leaves, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning 
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella would be best I think)

* I also added some mushrooms, carrots, and bell peppers since I had some. Really you could probably just add any vegetables you want

Cook the rice in the chicken broth! Do not cut zucchini in half, just slice off the top and then core out the center of the zucchini, leaving a nice cylindrical shell.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet saute garlic and onion for about 4-5 minutes. Add basil and saute another minute or two. Add tomato, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix cooked rice and cheese with zucchini mixture and spoon into zucchini cylinder. Place in a glass baking dish and put into the oven. Cook for about 30 minutes.

The filling was really good! I think it would have been great with a smaller zucchini, but like I said, the zucchini kind of overpowered everything. So use a regular large zucchini if you make this, not a monster zucchini!

“The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.” ~Ivy Baker Priest

 

For some reason it seems like the more free time that I have the less time I have to blog . . . or the less I feel like blogging I guess. So now it’s time to play catch-up.

My internship at NASA is over. It was a great experience and I’m glad that I had that opportunity! The last week was great. Adrienne and I finished up our project early and we pretty much had the whole last week to play. We made sure that we ate at every lunch place we were told we “had to” eat at, and visited the Rocket Park, Space Center, and anything else we needed to visit while we still had NASA badges to get us in free! It was the perfect way to end the summer!

Last time to see the sign I drove past every morning.

The Data Conversion Team ‘aka’ The poor people who have to keep working with this material that we prepped for them.

The JSC History Office and NASA Archivist. My coworkers this summer. Minus Two.

Lemon Zucchini Muffins

The original recipe on allrecipes.com called these “Lemon Zucchini Drops” and they are supposed to be cookies. However, when I had everything mixed in the dough looked far too runny so I put them in mini muffin tins and they turned out perfectly! In fact, they are the exact consistency of a muffin, so I’m not really sure they would hold together well as a cookie.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup finely shredded zucchini
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (I use a LOT more, and added a little bit of lemon juice because I love lemon)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup raisins (I omitted the raisins because I hate them)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• LEMON GLAZE:
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (this is so wrong, more like 4-5 tablespoons if you want it really runny so it’s just a light glaze)

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg, zucchini and lemon peel. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in raisins and walnuts.
2. Drop by tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto lightly greased baking sheets (or muffin tins! I recommend the muffin tins!). Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
3. For glaze, combine sugar and enough lemon juice to achieve a thin spreading consistency. Spread or drizzle over cooled cookies.

I brought these to our last day breakfast at NASA and everybody loved them!

Zookies! (Part 1)

So Cami sent me an email with a recipe for zucchini cookies! You can find that recipe here. Naturally I had to try it! The recipe that Cami sent looked good, but I found it a little boring with just butterscotch chips, so I searched for a similar recipe using oatmeal, and chocolate chips in addition to the butterscotch chips. Here's the new recipe (I forgot where I found it):

Zookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter until soft, add sugar, and beat until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, beat well.
3. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low speed, gradually add four mixture to butter mixture, beat until well mixed. With a wooden spoon, stir in oats, zucchini, walnuts or pecans, chocolate and butterscotch pieces.
4. Drop by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool sheets and then cookies on a cooling rack.

I forgot to take a picture, but I brought the cookies to work and everyone loved them, so if you have zucchini, give it a shot!