Zucchini Recipe From This Week's Distribution Night #7

August 31st was our last distribution night. For the following weeks, students will be harvesting and distributing shares directly to our shareholders on Saturdays. As the season comes to an end, there are many opportunities that await and many sad farewells! We want to thank everyone for their support and encouragement along our journey into the local fresh food movement! Our students have learned so much and have taught us just as much this summer.

We would like to share our healthy zucchini muffin recipe that we sampled during our last distribution night, as well as a salsa that we created in the Northbrae Hub kitchen during our end of summer staff party.

Stay tuned for more great recipes and blogs to come, as you journey with us until the end of October, when our gardens will be put to rest and our great Veggie City crew will also rest!

Whole-Wheat Zucchini Bread with Cinnamon & Dark Chocolate Chunks

We have included plenty of alternative ingredients in parenthesis, because we want you to be able to work with what you have on hand.

Dry ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour (or all-purpose)
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground cinnamon (or 1 Tablespoon pre-ground)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients:

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup canola oil (or peanut)
• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with a splash of vinegar)
• 1 cup raw sugar (or brown sugar, firmly packed)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups finely grated zucchini
• 4 oz dark chocolate, chunked

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil a 9×4 inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Line a 6-cup muffin tin with papers OR oil a mini loaf pan.
2. In a bowl, sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy; beat in eggs, yogurt, buttermilk, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Combine well. Stir in grated zucchini and chopped chocolate.
4. Fold flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
5. Spoon batter into 6 muffin cups (or mini loaf pan) and pour the rest into the 9×4 loaf pan. Bake for approximately 50 minutes.

 Freezing Zucchini

You don’t have to wait for zucchini season to roll around to enjoy this bread. It is possible to freeze grated zucchini so as to have it available whenever the baking mood strikes.

To freeze zucchini, first wash them, trim the ends and then simply grate them on a box grater. Package in 1 or 2-cup portions in freezer bags or freezer containers. Remove as much air as possible from the bag by smoothing it with the back of your hand from bottom to top and quickly sealing the bag. Freeze flat.

Veggie City Salsa

• 2 green peppers
• 6 large tomatoes (any kind from the garden)
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic bulb (yummy garlic!)
• 3 jalepeno peppers (we like it hot!)
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 lime (to squeeze at the end)

Chop veggies really small, or use a blender (we liked ours chunky). Mix cumin, salt, chopped cilantro and squeezed lime at the end. Serve with tortilla chips. We liked the scoops kind!