Zucchini, Zucchini Everywhere, Part 1

I have a garden.  It's a rather messy garden, because while I like the part where you plant stuff and harvest it, I'm not a big fan of what comes in between- namely, the weeding.  With the warm, wet beginning of summer that we had, it's like a jungle out there!  Part of me had given up- I was feeling a bit dejected because less than half of the green bean seeds I planted came up, so I haven't even bothered to go out there and check things out much.  I finally started seeing some color on the tomato plants though, so late last week, I ventured out there to pick a few of the little orange cherry tomatoes that had suddenly ripened.  I was pretty surprised to see a fully grown zucchini on the nearest zucchini plant, ready to be picked!  I planted two zucchini plants and one yellow squash, and the zucchini plants have really grown fast.  The yellow squash plant does not get as much sun, so it is slower going there.  So I've had this one zucchini on my counter for a couple of days, and finally this morning I diced and cooked it up with some onion to have with breakfast alongside my fried egg and toast.  Whew, I thought- so glad to have used that up before it went bad!

Then I stepped outside to water the garden, and to my astonishment, there were 5 MORE zucchini ready for picking!  Funny how it happens all at once, isn't it?!  So my challenge today was to use as much of the zucchini as I could, so that I was not faced with the task of trying to cook that much zucchini during the week.  I managed to use 3 of them, so that's not too bad!

So what did I do with these lovelies?

Well, I did several things, and as such, it is going to take me more than one post to document it all!  So this is Zucchini, Part 1.  Stay tuned for more later!

Italian Egg Bake

This was SO easy.  I managed to clean out my crisper a bit for this dish too, and used up some random onion pieces and a few mushrooms that were nearing their use-by date.  This is so simple to make, I won't even bother with a recipe- just a method of putting it all together.  This is so yummy, and bursting with fresh veggies and Italian flavors.

1.  Shred one zucchini.  Put in a colander over a bowl and salt liberally, tossing to mix in the salt.  Leave for 20 minutes or so.  Press water out of the zucchini through the colander and set aside.

2.  Sautee some chopped onions and mushrooms in a bit of oil or butter until soft.  Add zucchini for the last couple of minutes of cooking, tossing to incorporate all the veggies.

3.  In a bowl, crack 6 eggs and beat.  Stir in 1/2 lowfat cottage cheese and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, a few fresh basil leaves chopped, and a clove of garlic, finely minced.  Add cooled veggies and stir to incorporate.  Pour into a 9x9 square pan sprayed with nonstick baking spray.

4.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle with a tablespoon or 2 more parmesan cheese and put back into oven for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes before cutting into 3x3 squares.

This crustless quiche is really tender and flavorful, and omitting the crust makes it a lot healthier too!  You could reduce the fat by replacing half of the whole eggs with 2 egg whites for each whole egg.  I know the cottage cheese may seem like a strange ingredient, but trust me- it melts right into the dish and you don't even know it's there, and it contributes to the tender, delicate texture of this dish.  Garnish with fresh basil if you want- mine was fresh right out of my garden!

Stay tuned for Part 2, and possibly Part 3 as well- I have no idea what other lengths I will have to go to to use up all this squash!