Zucchini Orange Bread Or MuffinsThey Are Great For Breakfast With300 Grams Of Omega-3 Per Serving

Orange zest is the key ingredient in this zucchini recipe.
Each serving provides over 300 mg of omega-3!

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And the Zucchini Keeps Coming
Believe it or not, I'm still enjoying my zucchini. Especially the kind that I'm growing this year. It's an heirloom Italian zucchini with light green ridges. If I pick them when they are 6 to 8 inches long, they are the best I've ever eaten. Unfortunately the plant has enormous leaves that are good at hiding the zucchini until they get way too big. My grandson loves to hunt for veggies and uncovered this one that was successfully hiding.

Matisse, the veggie hunter!

I was about to make banana bread when Matisse reminded me that he was allergic to bananas which are unfortunately one of his favorite foods. But he suggested that we make zucchini bread instead. Then my daughter gave me the idea of adding some grated orange peel to the recipe. The results were wonderful! (By the way, I didn't use the monster zucchini. I used a much smaller one otherwise the zucchini would have been far too watery.)

Omega 3
Because this is a vegan recipe which substitutes flax eggs for chicken eggs, it supplies a nice shot of omega-3 fatty acid. And did you know that zucchini have a higher omega-3 content than omega-6 providing 58 mg of omega-3 and 35 mg of omega-6 in each chopped cup. 

Great for Breakfast
This zucchini bread or muffin recipe is great for breakfast, dessert, or for a nice snack. 

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Zucchini Orange Bread or Muffins
Vegan
[makes 12 servings]
Requires loaf pan or 12 muffin tins
Best with an electric hand beater

Earth Balance to grease pan
2 tablespoons finely ground flaxseed
6 tablespoons water
2 cups King Arthur white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon powdered stevia extract 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated orange zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan or muffin tins.

Prepare the flax eggs by mixing the flaxseed with 6 tablespoons of water. Beat well until gooey and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mix the flour, powdered stevia, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Squeeze the water out of the grated zucchini and place in the bowl. Using an electric hand beater, mix the zucchini into the flour mixture.

After grating the zucchini, squeeze the water out of it.

In a smaller bowl, blend the olive oil, sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and orange zest. Add the flax egg and blend until smooth.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend with the beater until combined. 

Place in the loaf pan or muffin tins. Bake until golden and when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes for the bread and 20 to 25 minutes for the muffins. 

Zucchini Orange Bread

Zucchini Orange Muffins

Cool the bread for 15 minutes (the muffins for 10) and remove from the pan. Serve the muffins warm but let the bread cool a bit so that it is easier to slice. Serve and enjoy!

Per serving: 143 calories, 5.5 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 316 mg omega-3 and 661 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g protein, 19.5 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 188 mg sodium.

And Here Come The Zucchini!Try This Delicious Raw Zucchini Salad

Baby zucchini are used in this chopped veggie salad.

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And Here They Come!
It's funny how excited I get when I harvest my first zucchini and how happy I am at the end of the summer when I pull the plants out for the season. To maintain my joy this year, I've made a promise to myself that I would harvest every zucchini while it is still relatively small. There are several advantages of doing this. First of all, the zucchini and its skin will be tender with few seeds. But most of all, it will keep me from being overwhelmed with the sheer amount of this prolific vegetable.

Female zucchini flowers

Do Your Zucchini Start to Fruit and then Wither?
As prolific as zucchini are, in the beginning of the season you may find that your plants begin to fruit only to wither. If you are having this issue, read last year's post on boy and girl zucchini flowers and how they need to develop before fertilization can take place.

Simple and Delicious Chopped Salad
Here's a simple chopped salad that uses tender baby zucchini. This raw vegan salad is gluten free and less than 100 calories per serving. It is suitable for weight loss and a raw food cleanse. And of course it is a delicious salad to serve anyone during the summer months when these wonderful fresh veggies are in season.

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Zucchini Salad
Raw Vegan, Gluten Free
[Makes six servings]

2 small zucchini, diced (2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, diced (1 cup)
Kernels from 1 ear corn (1 cup)
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon cold-pressed hemp oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 avocado, diced

Place the zucchini, red bell pepper, corn, red onion, and cilantro in a medium-sized bowl.

Make the dressing in a 2-cup container by combining the lime juice, hemp oil, salt, and pepper. Mix until the salt dissolves. 

Mix the avocado into the dressing and toss gently until well coated. 

Mixing the avocado into the lime dressing
helps prevent it from turning brown.

Pour the dressing and avocado over the chopped salad. Toss gently until all the veggies are well coated and serve.

Per serving: 98 calories, 6 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 389 mg omega-3 and 1,887 mg omega-6 fatty acid, 2 g protein, 11 g carbohydrates, 3 g dietary fiber, and 205 mg sodium.

Update
Oops, we didn't get to this one in time. This guy was hiding under a big leaf!

Low Calorie Vegan And Gluten Free Zucchini And Turnip Soup With Fresh Ginger - Perfect For Weight Loss!

Zucchini turnip soup has less than 50 calories per cup!

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Turnips
Have you ever eaten a turnip? They're a delicious root vegetable which when peeled looks a lot like a potato but with fewer calories and carbohydrates. Turnips have a slightly bitter taste and add a wonderful and interesting flavor to soups. You can also mash them up like potatoes or roast them with a little olive oil and salt. 

Turnips are a great source of fiber, vitamin C and manganese and are also a good source of vitamin B6, folate, calcium, potassium and copper.

Peeled turnips look like potatoes.
Potatoes have 116 calories per cup and 28 g of carbohydrates.
Turnips have only 36 calories and 8 g of carbohydrates!

Great Soup for Weight Loss!
This soup uses up lots of  that garden zucchini. It's quick and easy to make with a few simple ingredients  and blends up into a delicious, low calorie, low fat soup. Eating a 45 calorie cup of this soup before a meal will definitely curb your appetite. Or make a whole meal of it with a 2-cup serving and a mixed green salad.

Zucchini and Turnip Soup 
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 8 cups]

8 cups diced zucchini
4 cups peeled and diced turnips
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
2 cups water
1 large Rapunzel vegan vegetable bouillon cube
1 bay leaf
Salt to taste if needed
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the zucchini, turnips, garlic, ginger, water, bouillon cube and bay leaf in a large pot. Bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, partially covered, until the vegetables are soft. 

After vegetables soften, remove bay leaf and blend.

Remove the bay leaf and place the soup in a blender and blend until smooth. If you don't have a high-speed blender, make sure you mince the ginger very small.

Place in a blender.

Blend until smooth.

Adjust for salt (remember many bouillon cubes already contain a lot of salt) and add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve with additional freshly ground black pepper if desired.

Per cup: 45 calories, 0.5 g fat, 0.4 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.6 g protein, 8.6 g carbohydrates, 2.1 g dietary fiber and 309 mg sodium.

Crispy Raw Vegan And Gluten Free Zucchini Onion Crackers - High In Omega-3 Fatty Acid

Zucchini and onion crackers packed with omega-3.

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It's Zucchini Season
About this time each year I search for ways to use up my zucchini. This crispy cracker does the trick! Besides using 2 1/2 pounds of zucchini per batch, these delicious gluten-free crackers deliver 626 mg of omega-3 fatty acid per cracker! Here's how to make them.

Zucchini Onion Crackers
Raw Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 40 crackers]
Requires a Dehydrator & a tool to grind walnuts

2 1/2 pounds zucchini
1 small onion (6 ounce)
3/4 cups ground flaxseeds
1/2 cup ground English walnuts
2 tablespoons gluten free tamari soy sauce
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Grate the zucchini on a large grate. You should have about 7 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini.

Grate the zucchini using the medium grates.

Cut the onion in half or quarters and thinly slice. 

Slice the onion as thinly as possible.

Place the zucchini and onions in a large bowl.

If you are grinding your own flaxseeds, start with 1/2 cup of whole flaxseeds to yield the needed 3/4 cups of ground flaxseeds. 

Grind the walnuts in a Vitamix, food processor or coffee grinder (reserved for nuts and seeds). You will need 1/2 cup of walnut pieces to yield the needed 1/2 cup of ground walnuts.

Add the ground flaxseeds and walnuts to the bowl of zucchini and onion.
Add the soy sauce and lemon juice to the zucchini onion mixture. 
Mix thoroughly until well blended.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

Divide the mixture between two 14" x 14" inch non-stick dehydrator sheets. 
Spread it out into 11" x 11" squares. The mixture will look thick but it will thin out significantly after dehydrating.

Spread mixture on to 2 dehydrator sheets.

Dehydrate for 24 hours at 115 degrees F. 

After dehydrating, the mixture will thin significantly.

After 24 hours, flip over onto mesh dehydrator sheets. Slowly peel off the non-stick dehydrator sheets.
Place back in the dehydrator for another 6 to 10 hours.

Peel off the non-stick dehydrator sheets slowly.

Place on a cutting board and cut into crackers with a pizza cutter or sharp knife.
Cut one side into 4 equal pieces and the other side into 5 equal pieces. Each sheet will yield 20 crackers.

Cut into desired cracker sizes.

If  the crackers are not crisp enough, place individual crackers on the mesh sheet and dehydrate until they reach the desired crispness. (If they still bend, they are not crisp enough).

Dehydrate until crisp.

Store in an air tight container and refrigerate.

Serve with soup, along with dips, or just enjoy as is!

Per cracker: 26.1 calories, 2 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 625 mg omega-3 and 690 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 g protein, 2 g carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber and 52.5 mg sodium.

Does Your Zucchini Begin To Fruit And Then Wither? What You Need To Know.

Why did this zucchini begin to set and then wither?

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But Aren't Zucchini Prolific?

Some years I plant zucchini and have no problems at all and other years, like this one, I have had a rocky start. The problem is always the same. The plants look healthy, start fruiting and then when the baby zucchini is about 3 inches long, it withers and rots. 


This is extremely bothersome. Isn't zucchini the most prolific vegetable around? Not being able to grow zucchini can really effect ones self esteem! Why is this happening?


The Mating Game
It turns out that it takes a boy flower and a girl flower to make a zucchini. Who knew? I never paid much attention to it before. I just noticed pretty yellow flowers and a few weeks later I was plucking baseball bat-sized zucchini from my garden. 


Upon further examination I discovered that the flowers were indeed different.

It's a girl!
Girl flowers have small zucchini attached below them. 

It's a boy!
Boy flowers have a stem that connects to the plant with no fruit.

Patience
Before even realizing all this, I just waited to see if the plant would eventually grow normal zucchini. My patience paid off. Eventually the boy and girl flowers finally got together (I assume the bees helped out a bit since I'm not aware of any zucchini internet dating sites) and produced big, beautiful zucchini.

With a little patience, and eventual pollination, the plants began to yield big, beautiful zucchini!

Pollination 
While I was being patient, the male and female flowers developed and pollination occurred. There are some things you can do to help this along:
* Don't water overhead when the flowers are open. It could possibly wash away or dilute the pollen.
* Don't use insecticides as it will kill the bees and other insects who are responsible for pollinating your zucchini.
* Plant more than one zucchini. This will give the plants a better chance at getting properly pollinated.


If all else fails, you may have to resort to hand pollination. I have never tried this but according to some experienced gardeners, you can do it. Here's how:

The boy flower has a center stamen covered with pollen. This pollen must make it over to the girl.

The girl has a multi-segmented stigma in its center which needs to be pollinated in order to make fruit.

* Manually pollinate in the morning when the flowers open and they are fresh.
* Make sure the male stamen is mature with dusty, yellow specs of pollen.
* You may transfer this pollen to all sections of the female stigma in several ways. 
     (1) You may use a little artists brush or a cotton swab to transfer the pollen
     (2) or you can pick the male flower, remove its petals and use the stamen directly to transfer the pollen.
* When pollinating, make sure you get the male pollen on every segment of the female stigma. 
* You can use this male for fertilizing several female flowers.


OK, now you can sit back and start looking at zucchini recipes. You'll need them soon. Enjoy!