Zucchini, Zucchini and MORE Zucchini

I've been baking all day...a birthday cake for my brother (more on that later), granola bars with craisins this time, and Zucchini cookies (see below), not to mention this little project. This is what only one corner of my kitchen looks like...I have some work ahead of me.

Why does Zucchini grown at the wrong time of the year? In my opinion, the best thing to do with Zucchini is to bake with it. (Although, I do love it sauteed in a little bit of olive oil and fresh garlic...yum) But, I never want to bake in the middle of the summer when I have tons of zucchini, do you? So, I just wanted to share this tip about Zucchini that my friend Kim Mills shared with me a few years ago. Do you know that you can freeze these lovely squashes? You can't really make what you would make with fresh zucchini, but zucchini that has been frozen is great for baking with.

Here's what I do: I take the big zucchini's that aren't any good for much of anything and put them through my Kitchen Aid shredder on fine shred. (You can also just use your cheese grater if you want.) Then, I package it in sandwich baggies, each 2 cups (just because that's what most of my recipes call for). I then put several full baggies in a freezer bag and pop them in the freezer. In the middle of the winter when you don't want to pay $3 a pound for squash, you just get a baggie out of the freezer, thaw it, and dump it into your zucchini bread ingredients and everything is great. However, zucchini tends to release all of it's juices while thawing, so don't be surprised if your little shredded zucchini is floating in liquid by the time it's thawed. Make sure to dump it all, or at least most of it, into your recipe. This is where all the yummy moisture in your baked goods comes from.

And, that's my tip of the day...or week...or my only tip so far! If you don't have a garden, go beg some big zucchinis from your neighbor and get to shredding. When it's frigid in February and you want some zucchini bread, you'll be glad you did!