Zucchini bread is one of my all-time favorite ways of fixing zucchini, and I found a really great recipe for it that is vegan.
Ingredients
2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups sugar
Ener G Egg Replacer for 3 eggs (or 3 tablespoons flaxseed meal mixed with 9 tablespoons water mixed up in a blender)
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon
cooking spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix the zucchini with the sugar, egg replacer, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Grease two 9"x5"x3" pans with cooking spray and put half of the mixture in each pan. Bake for approximately 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container, or you can freeze for future use.
This is the easy way to replace eggs in vegan recipes. Flaxseed meal is good, too, because it provides a ton of Omega-3 fatty acids (which if you're vegan, you're not getting from fish).
Another delicious way to eat zucchini is to fry it. Like I've said before, I'm not a vegan because of the health benefits (they're just a sweet little bonus), and just because I don't eat meat or animal by-products doesn't mean I can't fry shit up like the rest of the free world. When I make fried zucchini, I use the same recipe that I make my Fried Green Tomatoes and they come out absolutely perfect.
At the bottom of our hill, some good country folks set up a stand every day and sell their homegrown vegetables and fruits (they've had some of the biggest watermelons I've seen all year) and this morning, I ran down the hill (alright, that's an outright lie - I walked...slowly) and picked up some fresh zucchini. I get an A+ for buying organic produce, and cheap, too. I sauteed it today, and the recipe I used was amazing. I found it at 101 Cookbooks which is a GREAT website created by a woman who posts all kinds of delicious vegetarian recipes and some of the most gorgeous food pictures ever taken. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (they say you get what you pay for, and I pay some damn good money for my olive oil, which is why it's damn good)
5 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 medium shallots, thinly sliced
fine grain sea salt
2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch thick coins
handful of fresh dill, chopped (my FAVORITE herb ever to grow)
1/4 cup toasted almond slices
This picture is directly from the 101 Cookbooks website - love the colors.
Directions
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Stir in the garlic and cook until it starts to take on a hint of color. Stir in the shallots and a big pinch of salt, cook until they start to soften (a few minutes). Add the zucchini and stir to coat in oil, then spread out as much as the pan permits so there's an even layer of zucchini and none are overlapping each other. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini browns, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and fold in the dill and almonds.
Another picture from 101 Cookbooks - my sauteed zucchini looked THAT good (and tasted even better)
By the way, if you're using garlic for anything, avoid letting your dog get a hold of it. The other day, I was sitting on the couch, eating some bread that had garlic cloves baked right in. I didn't want to eat the actual garlic pieces, so I picked them out and set them on a paper towel, which I rolled up in a ball after I was done eating and left lying on the coffee table. When I got up to go to the restroom, my little mischievous dog Coco got into that paper towel and ate all the garlic in there. Two days later, she STILL has some pretty fierce breathe (and thankfully, her smelly farts have subsided). I'm getting ready to trim up her fur some and give her a bath, so maybe that will help get rid of the awful garlic smell.
My little monster on her first Christmas
