Frugal Friday: Zucchini Freezer Waffles

Zucchini is still going strong in our CSA boxes lately. I feel like I've tried every preparation of zucchini that I can think of:

• Zucchini Chips
• Zucchini Corn Cakes
• Zucchini in a Salad
• Broiled Zucchini as a Side
• Zucchini Chocolate Muffins
• Oven Roasted Zucchini
• Zucchini Muffins with Struedel Topping
• Zucchini Boats

I've done sweet, savory, side, main, and everything in between, it seems!  But I'm not done yet!

I had an unexpected block of time to myself this weekend,  and a giant zucchini from 2 CSA boxes ago staring me in the face.  I knew I wanted to make freezer waffles -- these are a great  healthy afternoon snack for the kids, especially spread with a little homemade strawberry jam -- yum!

So I pulled out my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Bridal Edition  - one of my absolute favorites -- and went to work doctoring up their recipe for waffles to include some healthier ingredients.  And yes -- it included a TON of zucchini!

Healthy Freezer Waffles

(inspired by Better Homes & Gardens)

• 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 3/4 cup white flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 2 tbs raw honey (only for children over age 1)
• 1 egg
• 1 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup finely shredded zucchini (I used the finest setting of a box shredder)
• 1 tsp cinnamon

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 

2. In another medium bowl, beat eggs, then add milk, honey, zucchini, and cinnamon.  Add this mixture to the flour mixture, stir until moistened.

3. Pour 3/4-1 cup batter at a time into a heated, greased waffle maker. Bake 3-5 minutes, until waffle is golden brown and slides easily with a fork out of waffle maker. Repeat with remaining batter.

This recipe is easily doubled, and can be frozen for up to 3 months. The waffles are easily defrosted in a toaster or toaster oven, and taste great spread with a little organic jam. 

Easy Zucchini "Chips"

In my never-ending quest to come up with delicious ways to get my family to eat all the zucchini that winds up in our refrigerator, I decided to make Zucchini "Chips."  I got the idea from -- of course -- Pinterest.  In fact, head over here if you'd like to see all my Pinned zucchini recipes!


I used this recipe from Urban Veganista for inspiration, but as you'll see, I completely changed the recipe.  I think, however, that maybe I should have stuck to the original. Even though mine tasted savory and delicious -- my sick-of-zucchini husband had two helpings -- the texture was a little flabby.  Here's the recipe -- but it's still a work in progress:


Easy Zucchini Chips
1 large zucchini, sliced into super-thin rounds (I used my box grater, but a mandoline would be perfect)
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste

1. First, assemble your ingredients. Then slice up the zucchini.

2. Next, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and pour the milk in a separate bowl.

3. First dip the sliced zucchini in the milk, then dredge in the bread crumb mixture.

4. Lay in a thin layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, flip, and cook for 3-5 more minutes. I used the toaster oven because I hate using the real oven when it's over 80 degrees out!

While these taste absolutely heavenly, I wasn't able to get the texture quite right, and I can't decide if I should cook them longer on low heat or shorter on higher heat.  I'm fairly certain, though, that frying these in hot oil would be absolutely perfect. 

$5 Friday: Crab Salad with Veganaise Dressing

Several weeks ago I was chosen by Moms Meet to participate in a sampling of Vegenaise brand salad dressing.  Yes, I said it -- Vegenaise. While it's still sort of a dirty word in my house (thanks to my carnivorous husband!), I have had only rave reviews of this product (and the resulting salad) from pescatarians, locavores, and meat-eaters alike.  Thanks to all the free samples I received, I have been using Vegenaise for a ton of different things, and it doesn't have any sort of weird eggless aftertaste. 


I recently used it to make a Crab and Pasta Salad for a potluck picnic with friends. It traveled well (on one of the hottest days of the year!) and tasted delicious.


Crab Salad with Vegenaise Dressing
1 box (12-16 oz) Elbow Pasta -- $.69
1/2 package imitation crab -- $1.75
6-8 oz Vegenaise -- $2.30
1 cup of CSA veggies, chopped into bite-size pieces (I used zucchini --surprise!-- cucumber, and onions) -- approx. $1
1 tsp Celery Salt
1 tsp Celery Seed
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
salt & pepper to taste


1. Cook pasta until al dente. Do not over cook. Drain and chill in the refrigerator 1 hour.
2. Mix up dressing: add celery salt, celery seed, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to the Vegenaise. Mix thoroughly. Set aside.
3.  In a large bowl, combine the pasta and the vegetables. Add in the dressing and mix well.


Serves 4 as an entree, 6-8 as a side. 


Total Cost= $4.74


Note: I was not compensated  for this post, nor do I have an "arrangement" with Follow Your Heart Vegenaise. I was selected to sample this product and my opinions on it are my own.

Apricot and Blueberry Glazed Chicken with Couscous and Vegetables

I had a few extra minutes to make dinner tonight, but I didn't have a lot of "special" ingredients. Since we were out of town last weekend, I haven't done a lot of shopping, and have been trying to really cook from the pantry. 


The inspiration for this recipe is really mundane -- I had 4 apricots, already over-ripe, that weren't going to make it 12 more hours.  Because it's been warm, I didn't want to bake anything, so I came up with this savory Glazed Chicken Recipe.  Why couscous and vegetables?  Well, if you remember my earlier post about the abundance of zucchini in my refrigerator, that pretty much sums it up. 


Oh, I almost forgot -- in all this talk of using up everything in my fridge, I never mentioned how absolutely delicious this meal turned out!!!  The kids loved the chicken, although there were some veggies left on their plates.  And my husband had two servings.

Apricot Glazed Chicken with Couscous

For the Glaze:

4 chopped, over-ripe apricots, roughly chopped

1/4 cup blueberries (optional)

3/4 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1/4-1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1. In a small pot, combine sugar and water over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and starting to boil.

2. Add fruit and balsamic vinegar, bring to a rolling boil for 3 minutes, then simmer on low for 5-ish minutes. Take off heat.

For the Chicken:

3/4 - 1 1/2 lb chicken parts (I used boneless, skinless breasts, pounded thin)

Homemade Pan-Searing Flour

3-4 Tbsp Vegetable Oil (I used olive oil)

1. Pour oil in saute pan and turn burner to medium high.

2.  Dredge chicken in the pan-searing flour and place into pan when the oil is faintly smoking.

3. Cook about 5 minutes on each side, until brown, making sure chicken is cooked through.

4. Serve drizzled with the apricot glaze, with more on the side for dipping.

For the Couscous:

1 cup dried couscous

1 tsp oil

1/4 cup raisins or craisins

1. Cook Couscous per package directions.

2. Mix in dried fruit after all the water is absorbed.

Tips:

• I served this with broiled (in the toaster oven!) zucchini, yellow squash, and onions -- all from my CSA box.  I chopped 'em up, drizzled with herbed olive oil, salt and pepper, and threw them in the toaster oven. Super easy! And the savory vegetables really balance the sweetness of the chicken
• Mix a little of the glaze -- maybe 2 tbsp -- in with the couscous when it's done cooking. It'll pull everything together.
• If the orginal is too sweet for you (I like sweet!), use more balsamic vinegar and less sugar in the glaze. 
• Feel free to substitute any vegetables you have.  And they taste great grilled, as well. 

Zucchini Corn Cakes

I first tasted these savory zucchini cake as the entree part of a Wegmans'  "$6 meal." I loved them so much that I had to find the recipe and try to replicate them at home.  I only tweaked Wegmans' orginal recipe a tiny bit -- mostly to make it easier. 

Photo Credit

Savory Zucchini Corn Cake (adapted from Wegmans.com)
3 medium (1 1/2 lbs) zucchini, shredded (I use a box grater and it's super-easy)
2 ears of corn, shucked, kernels removed (or 1 can of corn)
2 green onions, chopped finely
2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
 1 1/2 cups Bisquick
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2  large eggs
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil


Step One:  Combine all ingredients except oil in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
Step Two: Heat 1 tbsp oil on a stovetop griddle until oil faintly smokes. Use 1/2 cup batter for each pancake, and cook 3 minutes on each side. Make sure to use new oil for each batch.


Optional: These taste delicious with a dollop of rich sour cream. 


Makes approx. 12 pancakes.

What to Do With All That !$^&%*%*$ Zucchini

I promise the words “Deceptive” or “Sneaky” will not appear in this post.

Ideally, I believe that vegetables and other wholesome foods should be presented to children simply and in their natural state.  

I'll wait until you're done laughing.

 I have a friend whose child is so averse to vegetables, he picks flecks of green oregano off his pizza.  

Even if you and your family don’t mind eating vegetables al fresco, there comes a time when everyone is mildly (or extremely!) sick of eating the never-ending summer bounty of zucchini.  For the next couple of weeks I’ll be presenting a variety of different zucchini recipes for normal cooks who just want their families to eat healthy food, darn it, and stop whining! 

Maybe that’s just me, though.

A few tips if you’re in the business of disguising zucchini. While the skin is edible (though it should always be washed well first), you will have better luck hiding the featured ingredient if you use a vegetable peeler (I like the OXO Good Grips Swivel Peeler) to peel off all traces of the green skin. The pale green flesh is much less noticeable for recipes in which it is imperative that no trace of any offending green shows through.

Anyway, let's kick this thing off with one of my absolute favorite ways to "hide" zucchini in baked goods: lots and lots of chocolate.

These delicious muffins are such a decadent dessert, no one will know that the star ingredient is the Vegetable-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

(adapted from Bakingbites.com)

2 c. flour (could do 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup white)

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs (OR 1 egg plus 1 tbsp water with 2 tsp ground flaxseed -- again, upping the healthy factor)

1/3 c vegetable oil (or a comparable amount of applesauce)

3/4 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 medium zucchini, shredded

1 c. chocolate chips or chunks

1. Preheat Oven to 350.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, and salt

3. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined

4. Fold in  zucchini and chocolate chips until evenly distributed

Bake for 25-35 minutes. Makes 1 dozen muffins. Can easily be doubled; these muffins freeze beautifully.