Zucchini Heaven

Unfortunately, my garden didn't make it in this year Guess thats what happens when you're gigantically hugely pregnant about that time.

Fortunately! My MIL has an amazing garden that produces V.O.U.S's (Vegetables of Unusual Size). And I LOVE her zucchini! So I thought I'd share my two favorite things to do with zucchini:


Pineapple Zucchini Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!
Cook Time: 33 Minutes Servings: 12 ... or one Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup All-purpose Flour
1 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut (I usually skip this)
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
Nutmeg, To Taste (1/4 To 1/2 Tsp?), Optional
1 Pinch Ginger (about 1/16 Tsp Or So), Optional
3 tablespoons Canola Oil (I use applesauce)
2 whole Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups Grated (unpeeled) Zucchini (*see Note)
1 (20 Oz.) Can Crushed Pineapple In Juice, Drained (reserve In Case You Need It For The Cake Batter Or The Frosting)

FROSTING
2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
8 Ounces Low-fat Cream Cheese, Softened (can Use Full-fat Cream Cheese)
2 Cups Powdered Sugar, Approx.
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Splash Of Milk Or Pineapple Juice, If Necessary
Chopped Walnuts Or Pecans (optional)

Preparation Instructions Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated zucchini, and pineapple into flour mixture. Batter will be stiff and dry but keep folding it and it will all come together. If it still seems too dry, just add a little splash of the pineapple juice.

Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for about 33-35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and cake is pulling away from sides of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Add a splash of milk or pineapple juice if necessary. Spread frosting over top of cake. You can garnish with chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired.

NOTES : If your zucchini are huge, scrape the seeds out of the center before you shred it so it’s not too watery. Also, I spread it all out on layers of paper towel to drain it and dry it off a bit. Then I measure out 2 cups. Not sure if this is critical though. Nuts can also be added to the cake batter if desired. This recipe makes a very generous amount of frosting. And this recipe can be turned into a Carrot Cake just by substituting shredded carrots for the zucchini.

Thank you Tasty Kitchen!


Then my Grandma's recipe:

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread (My husband ate an entire loaf of this in two days the first time I made it for him)

2 cups shredded zucchini
2 cups sugar
3 eggs beaten
1 cup oil (again, I use applesauce)
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups chocolate chips

Mix oil, eggs and sugar. Add vanilla. Add dry ingrediants

Pour into greased and floured bread pans.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.



Easy Peasy! ENJOY!

I am really curious about that cake recipe. Does it taste like normal cake or like carrot cake? And zuchinni bread is absolutely divine!! I love it!

Normal-ish... more pinapple-ish... but if you're used to always having cream cheese on your carrot cake, then I'm sure that would remind you of it. LOL Sure that doesn't help It's just delicious!

that sounds too good! I just made some chocolate chip zu. bread the other day:)