Project Zucchini

I love zucchini.  It is a magical vegetable eaten as either a sweet or savory for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack...you name it.  Not only that, but it is super easy to grow and pretty abundant.  With that being said we have been eating our fair share of zucchini this summer.

zucchini plant from my garden 

zucchini chips

One of my favorite Zucchini treats of the summer is zucchini chips.  They are so easy to make and are a great snack!  We used our mandolin to slice them (my husband jumps at any opportunity to use the mandolin.  I don't get what the excitement is about, but I am happy for the help).  I didn't want them sliced too thin so I would say that they were about as thick as a Ritz cracker - is that a 1/4 inch?  To make them: 1) line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 225.  2) Align your zucchini on the parchment paper and using a pastry brush and brush a light amount of olive oil on each slice (do not over oil or you will have some soggy chips).  3) Sprinkle a light amount of sea salt on top of the slices. My zucchini took about  3 hours to cook, but I would set your timer to 2 hours and check on your zucchini.  I also like to rotate my baking sheet midway through cooking.  4) When they are done and cooled peel them off the paper and toss them in a bowl.

zucchini fritters 

We are also big fans of zucchini fritters in our house!  My kids think that they are fantastic (which they pretty much feel about anything that is fried) and they are eating vegetables.  I used a zucchini and summer squash fritter recipe that I found on Pinterest.  Side note - Pinterest is my favorite time suck ever (well that and the Real Housewives).  I could spend days, weeks - who am I kidding I could spend months surfing Pinterest. Back to the fritters...I have made them a few times this summer and was able to make them gluten free by subbing flour for gf panko (1/2 cup) and quinoa flour (2 tbsp).  Note: stop the urge to add an extra egg - do not do it!  I made the mistake of doing this on one batch and the fritters tasted a bit like a scrambled egg patty with zucchini.  If you get the egg right - these are awesome.

zucchini cake 

One of my other favorite uses for zucchini is zucchini cake.  It seems strange that I am a fan of zucchini cake, but not carrot cake - right?  Kind of like those people who hate tomatoes, but love ketchup.  Nonetheless I had a hankering for some zucchini cake.  In searching to fulfill my craving I found the best ever gf zucchini cake recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks Artisinal Gluten Free Cooking.  This cookbook is fantastic although I must admit that I am not a fan of their suggested flour mix and tend to sub other gf flour combinations.  

zucchini choc chip doughnuts

I also had a few zucchini failures in all of my zucchini cooking endeavors.  I would get into all of the details, but they weren't good.  Just ask my family who were subjected to these dishes.  

Zucchini tots - burnt 
Zucchini choc chip doughnuts - soggy (they don't even look good - right?)
Zucchini cheesy rice - eh 



The amazing thing is that is almost October and I still have more zucchini coming.  Now what to make next?  Hmmm....

Project: Pancakes - Boxed Mix Style

I really enjoy making most things from scratch, with the exception of pancakes (alright and sometimes brownies too or if I am in a bind and need to make something happen fast I will take advantage of a box).  I don't know why, but in my family Bisquick boxed pancakes were king and nothing else compared to them.  In fact I would choose a Bisquick pancake over just about anything to this day.  However, as I can no longer eat Bisquick pancakes I decided to test the four GF box mixes that my local grocer carries.  The results we astounding (OK not really, but didn't that make it sound more exciting?).

I tested Gluten Free Pantry, Bob's Red Mill, Pamela's, and Cherrybrook Kitchen. 

My husband Brian took on the task of manning the griddle and keeping track of all of the pancake varieties.  My daughter is convinced that if Brian makes pancakes they will ultimately taste better.  Plus I would have surely messed up this project if I had to keep everything straight and it would have resulted in a very confusing guessing game as we sampled each cake.  

The four pancakes looked quite similar.  (top left - gf pantry, top right cherrybrook kitchen, bottom left pamela's, and bottom right bob's).  

My husband with the ever so sophisticated palate said that he really couldn't taste the difference between the pancakes at first.  Then as he began to think about it, we both agreed that Bob's Red Mill definitely had a more distinctive taste than the others.  The flavor seemed more like that of a whole wheat or buckwheat pancake.  Not bad, but not what we usually go for.  We also came to the conclusion lead by my 4 year old daughter that the Cherrybrook farms pancake was too sweet.  I really couldn't eat this one because it was so sweet and I might add that my daughter took one bite and was finished.  If a four year old doesn't like something because it is too sweet, then there is definitely something wrong with it.   Both the Pamela's and Gluten Free Pantry pancakes were our favorites with the flavors being very similar. The Gluten Free Pantry cakes were slightly sweeter with Pamela's tasting a bit more like the traditional Bisquick pancakes that I had grown accustomed to.   

We came to the consensus that we would definitely buy either the Pamela's or the Gluten Free Pantry products again.  Yet being ever so practical (and having a love of creating spreadsheets) I decided to break down the costs.  I of course couldn't find my receipt from the grocery store (doh), so I used amazon as a point of reference and from what I can remember the costs on amazon are slightly better, but not that far off from my grocer.  As you can see below the cost per ounce and cost per box on Bob's were definitely the least expensive.  However cost doesn't trump flavor in our house.  Being that the GF Pantry and Pamela's were so close in flavor yet the cost per ounce is better for Pamela's, we will likely purchase Pamela's in the future.  Ah problem solved.  

Now what to do with all of those leftover pancakes that we cooked up for the taste test???

I find that mornings can be hectic so I usually take leftover pancakes, waffles, french toast...etc... and package them up into mini servings in plastic bags and throw them into the freezer.  Then breakfast is already prepared for those busy mornings as you are rushing out the door and trying to feed small people.  

I think we will be in business for a while and to be honest, they all taste pretty good with a little syrup on top.  I guess you really can't go wrong.