A Focus on What's in Season: Zucchini

It's no secret I love zucchini. If my husband wants to win over my stomach at dinner he just grills a little of it up on the BBQ with some olive oil and fresh herbs and sits back and smiles while I exclaim  how GOOD dinner is. 

Naturally when planting my garden this year it had to include some (many) zucchini, and now that my plants are producing pretty rapidly I had to come up with some great low calorie ways to use up the excess. 

Before I get into the recipes are there any gardening gurus out there that can tell me what these spots are on my plants? They kind of look moldy...help!

So when I think of using up excess zucchini I always think of Zucchini Bread, but because I'm trying to cut some of the excess calories I had to find a tasty low sugar/fat one. This one from SkinnyTaste is pretty good, it's not that sweet but the chocolate chips make up for that. I think I could have cooked mine a little longer even though I baked it the full 55 min and the toothpick came out clean when inserted. Zucchini is very moist and it can take awhile to cook, so just a heads up on that one...mine was slightly doughy. Swapping out the oil for applesauce is always an easy way to keep things a bit lower fat, but still keep the moisture. If you try this recipe let me know what you think.

This next recipe was a huge winner, everyone gobbled it up at dinner time and I had it for lunch the next day too. One Pan Skinny Tex Mex Chicken and Zucchini....that's a mouthful...a delicious mouthful! ;) 

This recipe is very easy, prep is pretty minimal and clean up is a cinch with only one pan. It's packed with flavour (I heart cumin so it easily won me over), and is a very good way to use up your extra zucchini. I reduced the cheese to a generous half cup but otherwise kept everything the same.

What have you been doing to use up your zucchini? Please share as I still have lots!

Are you still reading this months Book of the Month Club read (Wild by Cheryl Strayed)? I blazed through it, and loved it. The author has a great writing style and really pulled me into her story. 

It's time to start thinking about what Septembers read will be. Thoughts on A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout? It looks really good, and stays in the memoir vein that Wild started. Feedback please. :)