You know it’s summertime when zucchini starts showing up at your church services, office meetings, little league practice, etc. That’s because people with gardens begin to have an overflow of summer’s bounty and some of it is more prolific than others – such as squash and particularly zucchini. They have way too much for themselves so they start bringing it to friends and family which is great, but what do you do with it? I don’t know about you, but there is only so much zucchini bread one can eat. I have found some other suggestions however that might help you and me use and enjoy the blessings we receive from those summer gardens.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Let’s start with the sweet first. Why not, right? I saw this recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake in the June 2019 issue of Southern Living and I thought, I have got to try this. However, I needed to make a few tweaks. For one, when I bake sweets, I try to go smaller in size so that we are not eating cake for a week. This recipe makes a 9×13. I cut all ingredients in half and baked it in an 8×8. I used one medium zucchini and 
grated it on the large side of the box grater as suggested in the recipe. Secondly, my daughter is allergic to tree nuts, so out went the pistachios called for in the icing. I actually omitted the icing all together. I had some whipping cream in the fridge, so that’s what went on top of our cake. A little dollop goes a long way with flavor and a lot less sugar. Third, I was out of chocolate chips. 
I try not to make additional trips to the grocery store during the week, you can read about that here, so I put in blueberries instead with the thought of bumping up the “good for us factor” while enjoying a sweet treat. Even with all of these tweaks, it was absolutely delicious in the end. Full of chocolate flavor and really moist because of the zucchini. Bonus points – every now and then you’d get a sweet blueberry bursting through the chocolate. Yum!
Tip: the batter will seem thicker than usual for a cake batter. However, the zucchini has a lot of moisture. Once you mix it in, the batter will loosen up closer to normal.
On the Savory Side of Things
I used to make a wonderful zucchini ribbon salad. It looked a bit like the image shown here. I haven’t made it in years and unfortunately could not find the recipe. However, after a bit of poking around, I found one that is very similar to share with you. More on that in a minute. Most of the links within DCI posts are affiliate links, meaning, if you click on them and buy something we get compensated. It’s one way we are able to provide great information to you and also keep our blog going. However, the links provided below are not affiliate links. They are sources for savory zucchini recipes I found for you including the zucchini salad. So, enjoy the bounty of summer with one of these great recipes and let me know how they turn out in the comments below!
We Can’t Forget the Breads!
Okay, so I couldn’t write a post about zucchini without including bread recipes. I just couldn’t. On the upside, I picked some that are outside the box and even a bit savory. Go get a cup of coffee and enjoy!
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