Cooking 101 - Vegetables: Zucchini

Eat easily, healthily with zucchini

Chances are zucchini doesn’t rank number one on the average college student’s list of favorite foods. In fact, this underrated member of the squash family probably is absent from the diet of most JMU students. After all, it lacks the versatility of the potato, the bright, vibrant coloring of the tomato or the refreshing coolness of cucumbers. However, zucchini provides a source of vitamin C and the valuable anti oxidants lutein and zeaxtanthin, according to the Atkins diet. So it is not a bad idea to incorporate a bit more zucchini into your diet.

Two tasty zucchini recipes that even an oven-phobic college student can prepare are zucchini bread and zucchini pie. To ensure that your meal obtains its maximum flavor, gardeners recommend picking out smaller, skinnier zucchini for recipes.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups flour
2 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1 and 1/2 cups sugar (optional)
1tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3 eggs
1 cup nuts (chopped)
1 cup oil

Put zucchini and dry ingredients — except nuts — in a bowl. Beat eggs and oil together in a separate bowl. Combine dry and wet ingredients, adding the nuts last. Place the batter in a bread mold and bake at 350 degrees for 1 and 1/2 hours.
Source: Marie Solmo

Zucchini Pie

1 zucchini grated
1 cup grated cheese
1/2 cup of oil
1 cup Bisquick pancake mix
1/2 onion grated
4 eggs
A pinch of salt and pepper

First grease the pie pan. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly. Pour mixture into the pie plate and bake pie for 30 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Source: Marie Solmo