Jul 17, 2007

Case of the missing cucumbers

Although our vegetable garden bears fruit, it seems to be on the slow bus to China in it's production. Sunday I was overjoyed to find near 10 cucumbers. They seemingly popped up overnight. They were about pickle size when I found them. I even have photographic proof.



This afternoon I went out to check on them and found only two. There was no sign of tampering. So one has to wonder where they went.
Did a:
a) neighbor make off with them?
b) stray cat take them for his tossed salad?
c) strapping squirrel scale the fence with one strapped to his back?

Since we don't have zucchini yet, a friend was kind enough to share from his surplus.



I'm having fun trying new baking recipes from the Junior League cookbook. A chocolate zucchini cake just came out of the oven.

Sunday I made some delicious (and somewhat healthy) Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread. I'd like to share the recipe with you.



Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated peeled zucchini
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts or walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until light and foamy. Add the sugar, oil, zucchini and vanilla and mix well. Sift ttogether the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Add to the zucchini mixture and mix well. Stir in the nuts.

Pour into 2 lightly greased 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 60 minutes (I recommend you check it at 45 minutes, because mine was done a lot earlier than the recipe calls for). Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Store, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to 1 week.

I'd love to have you send me your favorite zucchini recipe!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I think the cats have created a secret feline pickle factory underneath the trash heap on the other side of the fence.

This is only a theory, but I did smell the distinct aroma of vinegar when I parked in the garage last night.

Matt Stratton said...

Actually, I snuck up to Holland and stole your cucumbers.

I know you would think if I was going to break into your house and make off with some stuff it would be the Wii or the iPhone, but no...cucumbers are even better.

Carrie said...

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Matt. Seriously, he loves cucumbers and has been known to sit down and eat a whole one in one sitting. weird.

I have a great stuffed zucchini recipe for you, its at home, but I'll post it later tonight.

Patty Ann said...

Never heard of squirrels taking cucumbers. I have 2 adorable feline cats ready for adoption, they are hunters!
We made zucchini muffins last night, used applesauce instead of oil, didn't wisk the eggs, and reduced the sugar by half. Still very good. The next zucchini from the garden is going to be the chocolate cake from Junior League.

Jessica Hessler said...

Definitely wasn't Carl; he thinks pickles and cucumbers should be illegal. For some reason his libertarianism doesn't apply to agriculture.

Kim Davis said...

My dogs actually found a way yesterday to steal a cuc from the garden. Are you SURE there were 10?? Maybe BRIAN took them.

I have a recipe for a chocolate zucchini cake. Did you like it?

Go to www.cookinglight.com and search for zucchini recipes. There are too many to even read them all. The site lets you search by other categories, too, like pasta or main dish, etc. Enjoy!

Chris said...

Ugh! Ben just made Zucchini bread from Betty Crocker, but your recipe sounds so much better. We will have to get this for the next time. We have a bunch of cucumbers and some zucchini coming, but the tomatoes are still pretty green. We'll probably come back from the Poconos and have to go picking!