More Zucchini

Well I guess since zucchini is green it falls into the category of greens, and farmer John did say there would be lots of greens in our Ranui CSA boxes. This is the third week straight with zucchini.

What to do?  At least it’s the Roman varietal zucchini in our boxes; Costata Romanesca does have more substance and real flavor than the brunt—of–jokes classic green zucchini .

Zucchini Ideas:

Grill zucchini simply, with olive oil and salt and pepper, which is what we did last week.

Or bake up some Chocolate Zucchini muffins—a variation from the Chocolate Zucchini Bread in my Chocolate Snowball cookbook.

Go to fellow blogger Gwen’s  terrific recipe for stuffed zucchini—and read her funny comments about zucchini.

This post from another blogger has ideas for the top 10 best things to do with too much zucchini. As I read Cheryl’s ideas I was giggling out loud—“lol” in internet vernacular.

This summer I’ve been writing monthly for Catalyst Magazine here in Utah. Go to Catalyst’s July issue to learn fun zucchini facts and trivia as well as my advice to pick and enjoy the blossoms before they turn into the green phallic fruit.

Here is a variation on the recipe for Squash Blossom Soup from that same Catalyst article. Enjoy this soup hot or cold.

For efficiency, use an immersion blender to puree the soup, it stands right in the soup pot and eliminates the muss and fuss of hot soup transfer and exploding out of the blender. An immersion blender is a purchase worth every penny.

Cotija cheese is a Hispanic-style cheese–somewhat salty and doesn’t really melt–you may substitute any cheese you want or skip it altogether.

Squash Blossoms on the Grill

Zucchini Soup

1 tablespoon canola or grapeseed oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

About 5 cups grated zucchini

3 cups veggie broth

1/4 cup cilantro, basil or parsley leaves

Dash cayenne pepper

Real Salt or sea salt

1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese, optional

1/4 cup lightly toasted pumpkin seeds, optional

Avocado slices, optional

In a large saucepan, heat the oil on medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the zucchini and the broth, cilantro and cayenne. Cover and simmer 10 minutes, until the zucchini is soft. Puree in a blender, or with an immersion blender.

Season to taste with sea salt and more cayenne.

Serve garnished with garnishes of crumbled cheese, pumpkin seeds or slices of avocado, if you wish.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Muffintalk is when you get together with foodie friends and your conversation is all about food, its flavors, types, ingredients, you name it, much to the boredom of someone who gravitates to conversation over sports, or motorcycles, or the book they are reading or what happened last week on Survivor. This blog is mostly about vegetarian cookery and recipes using your CSA veggies, but every once in a year I feel the need to post a muffin recipe. After all, a blog named muffintalk should include some literal muffin talk, especially when vegetables are one of the ingredients.

The actor Jim Davis who played Jock Ewing on Dallas was once quoted, “Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.” That’s Mr. Davis’ idea, not mine, though you can find recipes for all three in my cookbook, Chocolate Snowball. These muffins appear in Chocolate Snowball as Chocolate Zucchini Bread. As with most breakfast quick breads, you can bake the batter in muffin tins instead of a loaf pan.

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini

3/4 cup plus 1/4 cup sliced almonds

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners, or coat the tins with melted butter and dust lightly with flour, or spray generously with cooking spray.

With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix in the oil and vanilla extract.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the cream cheese mixture, blending well. Mix in the zucchini, 3/4 cup of the almonds and the chocolate morsels. Divide batter among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of almonds. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops of the muffins spring back when touched with a finger or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes, then remove from the tins.

Makes 12 muffins.

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Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe is really the Pumpkin Pecan Bread from my Chocolate Snowball cookbook, varied and baked in a different shape. Did you know that most sweet bread recipes can be made into muffins?

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups (15-ounce can) pumpkin puree

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels (optional)

3/4 cup plus 1/4 cup chopped pecans (the second amount is for garnish)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners, or coat the muffin tins with melted butter and dust with flour, or spray generously with cooking spray. To make sure muffins release with ease, coat the top of the pan as well as the inside of the cups when you grease the tins.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a large bowl. In a second bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, vinegar, vanilla and pumpkin puree.

Using a wire whisk, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Stir in the rolled oats and 3/4 cup of the pecans. Divide into the prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped pecans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the tops of the muffins spring back when touched with a finger. Cool for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan.

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Savory Muffins with Dill

another muffin recipe on muffintalk–imagine that! Pastry Chef Mary Cech, who lives in Park City, has a Sour Cream and Dill Muffin recipe in her recently published cookbook, Savory Baking. Mary  suggest the muffins for breakfast, split and broiled until golden, then spread with soft cream cheese and topped with slices of tomato and smoked salmon. She makes hers with rich sour cream. I’ve substituted yogurt and cottage cheese for the sour cream, I think making these muffins equally as delicious as Mary’s yet higher in protein and lower in fat. Try them for dinner with a salad or soup.

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 ½  teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons Real Salt

½ cup finely chopped fresh dill

2 eggs

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

¾ cup Nancy’s lowfat cottage cheese

¾ cup plain lowfat yogurt

Dill seeds for garnish, optional

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Coat 12 muffin cups with melted butter or spray generously with cooking spray.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together into a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the chopped dill, eggs, melted butter, cottage cheese and yogurt. Pour the dill mixture over the flour mixture and gently blend together. The dough will be relatively stiff for a muffin.

Divide the batter evenly between each muffin cup and sprinkle the tops with a few dill seeds, if desired.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and they spring back when touched with a finger. Cool for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan. Serve warm.

Makes 12 muffins.

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Basil, Goat Cheese and Sun-dried Tomato Muffins

Recently someone pointed out that this blog is muffintalk and I have not posted muffin or baking recipes. Here is a muffin for you all—gleaned from my baker girlfriend Cindy Mushet, who gives a feta, basil and roasted red pepper muffin recipe in her award-winning cookbook The Art and Soul of Baking. I have that big log of goat cheese as well as a 2 # jar of sun-dried tomatoes from Costco to employ and we have the first basil of the season—hooray it is finally summer! These muffins are fabulous with soup.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder


1/2 teaspoon baking soda


1/2 teaspoon salt


3/4 cup (3 ounces) soft goat cheese, cut in ½-inch dice


1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped


3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil


1 cup buttermilk


1/4 cup olive oil


1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners, or coat the muffin tins with melted butter and dust with flour, or spray generously with cooking spray. So the baked muffin can release with ease, coat the top of the pan as well as the inside of the cups.

Whisk both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, gently stir together the goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil. Set aside.

Whisk together the buttermilk, olive oil and the egg until well blended. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the well and stir gently with a spatula. Mix only until there are no more streaks of flour or pools of liquid and the batter looks fairly smooth. A few small lumps scattered throughout are fine—they will disappear during baking. Gently fold the goat cheese mixture into the batter until evenly distributed.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the muffin tops feel firm and a skewer inserted into the centers comes out clean. Cool for about 5 minutes, then remove from the pan–careful, these are tender while hot. Serve warm.

Makes 12 muffins.

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