Vegan Zucchini Bread

I made this moist, partially date-sweetened cake, when I woke up to find three extremely large zucchinis on my kitchen counter- freshly picked from the garden.  I think zucchinis are like magic beanstalks that grow into gigantic forms, overnight by the light of the moon.  

My cousin from Taiwan and her family have come to visit me and my dad, and they brought me a cute little, teeny tiny tea pot (in picture).  To thank them, and to make something for their road trip to visit my brother, I made a batch of zucchini muffins.

Although zucchinis are mild in flavor, they are a good source of potassium, vitamin A, B vitamins, and other nutrients.  And did you know that they are over 95% water?  This is why there is very little added liquids in this recipe.


Makes two loaves, or 2 dozen muffins


Ingredients:
Wet Mix
2 C. dried pitted dates + 1/4 C. water
1 C. unbleached sugar
1 C. canola oil
2 1/2 C. grated zucchini
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 T. ground flax seeds
----------------------------------
Dry Mix
3 1/2 C. white spelt flour (or all purpose wheat)*
1 T. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
Optional:
1 C. raisins
1 C. nuts (I used pecans)


Spinz:
Split the dried dates to remove any stray pits and pack them into your measuring cup and dump them into a microwave safe bowl.  Add 1/4 cup of water, place a plate on top to act as a lid,  and microwave for 1-2 minutes on high.  Wait a minute or two before sliding the plate off with a kitchen towel or oven mit, as hot steam may come out!  Check to see that the dates are tender, then place into a food processor with 1 cup of oil.  Blend until it's a smooth paste.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and mix in the remaining wet ingredients.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until they are completely blended.  Add dry to wet, and mix until just combined.  The batter will be very thick and sticky.  Mix in raisins and nuts if desired.


*You could probably substitute half whole grain flour and half white flour, or even all whole grain... let me know how it turns out!


Transfer to a oiled loaf pan or cupcake liners (do not overfill, as they will puff up).  If making a loaf, bake at 350 F for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  If making muffins, bake for 15-20 minutes.

Split Pea and Zucchini Soup, and a Winner

Velvety-smooth and fat free!  Served chilled or piping hot, with crispy tempeh bacon and vegan Texas toast.  20 minutes in the pressure cooker was all it took.

Ingredients:
1 C. dried split peas, rinsed
1 large zucchini (2-3 cups, cut into chunks)
1 medium onion (1 cup, cut into chunks)
1/3 C. nutritional yeast
water (enough to cover)
salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:
Put all ingredients except salt into the pressure cooker and cook for 20-30 minutes.  If you don't have a pressure cooker, just cook in a covered pot until split peas are tender.  Let cool for a bit, then taste and add salt as desired.  Then blend with a stick blender or transfer to blender to make smooth.  If it's too thick, add a little water.  This soup will thicken as it cools down.

Tempeh Bacon Marinade:

Ingredients:
1 3/4 C. water
1/4 C. soy sauce
3 T. nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke
3 T. ketchup
2 T. agave nectar
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. garlic powder
pinch of black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper (to taste)

Spinz:
Slice your tempeh into thin strips.  Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl you'll be using for marinating.  Add the tempeh, making sure that they are well submerged.  Place in the refrigerator for about an hour before grilling on a flat pan with a little oil.  Brown on both sides and serve.  The longer you marinate, the more flavor- keep for about a week in the fridge- I like to make a big batch and use as needed throughout the week.

...Still finding ways to use our giant zucchini, but I'm sort of glad the season is winding down!

As for the WINNER of the Whip-It^tm Whipped Cream Dispenser from The Webstaurant Store (drums, please.)...

Congratulations to:  Tiffany of 
Bread Without Butter blog.  

Looking forward to your Thai-Style Lemongrass Foam!
(doesn't that sound good?)

Thank you everyone for participating!  I'll be doing another give-away soon.

Zucchini Bread Pancakes

Zucchini overload!! My garden is supplying more zucchinis than I know what to do with. They were cute in the beginning- little baby newborns attached to bright yellow blossoms. But then...

before I knew it, the garden was overrun by Giant Zucchini Overlords -ready to do battle with the Eggplants and the Cucumbers. No, that isn't a picture of a child's hand -it's mine!

Anyway, I've been making zucchini bread like crazy and everyone seems to gobble it up, so I thought- why not make zucchini bread pancakes for breakfast this morning?

Ingredients:
(Dry)
2 C. all purpose flour (you can sub 1 C. whole wheat)
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. cinnamon
(Wet)
2 C. zucchini puree
1/2 C. unprocessed sugar
2 T. ground flaxseed
1 1/2 C. water (more or less to get the right consistency)
3 T. canola oil
(Optional additions)
3/4 C. raisins
3/4 C. chopped walnuts- add to batter or sprinkle on top

Spinz:
Sift the flour and mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the wet ingredients until well combined. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just combined. Add raisins and walnuts if desired. Cook pancakes as usual.

TESTERS:
Thank you to all my testers! I will be posting the new burger recipe soon, as well as sending out new recipes. Thanks for being patient and giving me some great feedback!

Baby Zucchini with Stuffed Blossoms

Tender baby zucchini, left raw, with their attached blossoms stuffed, battered, and quickly fried until crisp. Then drizzled lightly with garlic lemon oil and fresh basil. This was an interesting finger food, as the first question on everyone's mind was: "How are you supposed to eat this?"

Mark picked three very adorable baby yellow zucchinis from the garden yesterday evening, and I just had to make something with them before those lovely blossoms wilted. This is definitely a recipe for all you home-gardeners (or friends of home gardeners), with zucchinis everywhere!

First, I removed the stamens by pinching with my fingers. Then I cleaned them gently with a damp paper towel to remove any soil or little critters that might be lurking in there.

I then carefully stuffed each blossom with a mixture of extra firm silken tofu, Tofutti cream cheese, fresh corn, fresh basil, garlic powder, dried onion flakes, and salt & pepper.

The batter was a very simple tempura made with flour, cold water, a pinch of salt, and pinch of baking powder.

The lemon oil was made with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, water, lemon zest, garlic powder, agave nectar, salt, and pepper. I didn't do any measuring of ingredients this time, since I was whipping them up like a storm, but these are easy to throw together and adjust to taste.

Here is the approximate quantities:

Filling (this makes more than enough for three blossoms- more like 5-6):
1/4 C. extra firm silken tofu (I used Mori-Nu)
1 T. plain Tofutti cream cheese
3 T. fresh corn, or thawed frozen corn
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste


Tempura Batter:
1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder.
Add 2 T. cold water, then mix and add a little more at a time until you get the consistency of pancake batter.

Lemon Oil:
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. agave nectar
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:
Mash all ingredients for the filling together and spoon carefully into each blossom. Fold the petals around the filling, tucking the tops of the petals down over one another. Secure with toothpicks as needed. With tongs, hold the zucchini securely and dip the stuffed blossoms in the tempura batter, being careful not to batter the zucchinis, then into the fryer. Fry for 30 seconds or so (it's very quick) until golden. Remove to a lined plate to drain. Arrange on a serving dish and whisk together, then lightly drizzle the lemon oil with a spoon. Sprinkle fresh chopped basil, and sprinkle zucchinis with a little extra salt.

So... the consensus on how to eat: Hold the zucchini part and eat the warm crispy rich blossom first, then follow with the tender raw zucchini. SO GOOD! Wish I had more than three. This would be cool to serve as an appetizer at our restaurant, but only if we had a killer zucchini garden!

Oh, and I still need TESTERS, if anyone is interested for testing recipes for our menu.

Stuffed Squash, and Squash Stuff

With what I like to call the "Zucchini Outbreak" that so many are currently experiencing, my garden has also been "infected." The fun part of growing your own, is to be able to make wonderful things with the blossoms, and also to grow giant radio-active, "Giligan's Island" -looking zucchini, that you would never see in the supermarket. Mine barely fit into my 18" baking pan!

It turned out delicious, stuffed with carmelized onion, eggplant (also from the garden), mushrooms, tomato, homemade seitan, and topped with bread crumbs.
Here's a round zucchini, stuffed with vegan cheese, onion, more squash, and sun dried tomatoes.

And, if you're growing- you gotta try the blossoms! We stuffed them with an eggplant mixture, dipped them in a light tempura batter and bread crumbs, then fried them quickly. Make sure you wash out all the little critters with a gentle, yet thorough rinse first!

I found a lovely straight zucchini, which I cored out, and stuffed with blanched carrots. I used an apple corer and a butter knife to help get the center out, then roasted the whole thing in the oven. Next time, I think I'll mash some of the carrots up to keep them from falling out.

The only thing I haven't posted yet are the Zucchini Brownies that I made. I think after that, I'm all zucchinied out!