This was our favorite of the zucchini side dishes we tried this week.

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 pounds zucchini, ends trimmed and sliced into 1/4-inch thick coins
Salt
4 (12 by 18-inch) pieces aluminum foil
2 cups shredded aged Cheddar
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
4 teaspoons minced garlic (from about 4 medium cloves)
Freshly ground black pepper
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
16 thyme sprigs

Directions
Heat grill to 350 degrees F (medium heat) and oil well.
Place zucchini in a sieve set over a bowl, salt well, toss to coat, and set aside to let drain, at least 5 minutes.
When ready to cook, oil 1 piece of aluminum foil on 1 side. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cheese in the middle of the foil to form a rectangle, shingle 1/4 of the zucchini over cheese (about 3 rows of 8 zucchini coins). Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the shallots and 1 teaspoon of garlic evenly over top, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Top with another 1/4 cup cheese, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour, and top with 4 sprigs of thyme. Enclose foil tightly to form a packet and repeat to make 4 packets. Place the packets on the grill and cook until zucchini is soft and cooked through, turning once, about 10 minutes total.

Recipe Source - Food Network

Still trying to use up the zucchini! These are really wonderful cupcakes, and the frosting is out of this world!



Ingredients:
Yields: 24 cupcakes

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 cups packed grated zucchini

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.


Cream Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 pound (4 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and then vanilla, and mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 3 days in an airtight container; before using bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again.

Recipe Source - Martha Stewart Cupcakes via Delicious Meliscious

Here's another recipe from one of my readers (Danielle) in response to my zucchini recipe request.

This recipe can make two (2) 8x4 inch loaf pan loaves or you can make it in a 9x13 pan for "brownie style". I made them in the 9x13 pan, and I think I should have either used a bigger pan, or used two 9X13 pans. It came out more the thickness of a cake, but still tasted great. I had some extra cream cheese frosting that I topped it with, and it was very good.




Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. each of salt, baking soda, baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup veg. oil
2 1/4 white sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup walnuts (may be omitted, which I do!)

1. Grease your pan(s) . Preheat oven to 325
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts and combine well with a spoon.
4. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

This recipe was shared with me by one of my readers, Carol Ann, when I posted a request for zucchini recipes. I currently have 25 of those buggers sitting on my counter, so I thought I'd better try out some new recipes. This ended up being pretty good.



Ingredients
4 cups zucchini, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 T butter or margarine
1 small to medium onion, chopped
1 cup shredded carrots
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup (8 ounces) of fat free sour cream
1 box of stuffing mix (I used Stove Top chicken reduced sodium)


Boil zucchini just until tender, drain. In a large skillet, melt 1T butter. Add carrots and onion and sauté until tender.

Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and soup (right out of the can). Stir in the drained zucchini and half of the croutons and mix until croutons are coated. Pour into greased 3 quart baking dish.

Top evenly with remaining croutons, cover with foil and bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until hot.

We survived our crazy week! Band camp is done, eMINTS training is done, fair performances are done, and the boy's Eagle Court of Honor is complete! Woo hoo! We really enjoyed having so many friends and family over to our house on Saturday for Corey's Eagle ceremony. We had about 60 people here, and it was definitely a challenge for me to get all of the food prepared during such a hectic week, but it all worked out great. Here are a few pictures that my brother, Kevin, took for me (thanks Kev!).

My menu this week probably won't be too exciting. I was hoping to get a bit more creative now that our schedule is a little lighter, but I have to admit that I'm pooped out. The boy requested turkey dinner this week, so we'll be eating that for a couple of days. We're also going to be eating some leftovers from the Eagle ceremony. Anyway, here's the menu. Sorry it's so full of leftovers. I do promise to post some new recipes soon. Check out some past week's archives for more more creative menus. Enjoy! For more menu ideas, go to orgjunkie.com.

Sunday - Rotisserie chicken, salad, strawberries, pineapple
Monday - Leftover BBQ pork sandwiches, baked beans, salad
Tuesday - Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans
Wednesday - Leftover turkey dinner
Thursday - Spaghetti with turkey Italian sausage, Salad
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Eat at Eric's mom's house

I know it's still technically summer vacation, but tomorrow is the start of a very hectic week for our family. My son is now in high school marching band, and any of you who have ever been in band or have had a kid in band know that August means band camp week. That means my son will have band practice from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. every night this week. On top of that, I will teaching eMINTS classes every day. We won't be able to come home for dinner because we live in a different town than Corey attends school. Oh, but there's more! My husband's band is playing at the fair this week, so he has rehearsals. And, to top it off, Corey's Eagle Court of Honor will be at our house on Saturday. Eek! I'm having one of those "I have way too much on my plate" feelings this week. So, unfortunately, we will probably be eating out more than I would like this week. I can't even rely on my usual desperation dinner plans. I promise you will get better ideas from me next week, but I'll share this week anyway. :) I like people to know that I have bad weeks, too. Just to help you out, here's the menu from the equivalent week last year. The Won Ton Tacos and Lasagna Ciabattas are great. Here's this week's poor excuse for a menu. For more ideas, visit orgjunkie.com.

Sunday - Creamy Chicken Breasts, Green Beans, Cheddar Potato Strips
Monday - Leftovers from yesterday (will bring to my library and heat up in microwave during Corey's dinner break)
Tuesday - Chili, Peanut Butter Sandwiches (again, in the library)
Wednesday - Chili Spaghetti (leftover chili over spaghetti noodles with shredded cheddar on top) (yes, in the library again)
Thursday - out to eat (hubby playing at the fair)
Friday - out to eat (I will be out of town at a library meeting)
Saturday - BBQ Pork Sandwiches for 50 people (eek!) - Eagle Court of Honor

And just a quick family side note for those who might be interested...

Eric got to jump our almost 8-year-old black lab, Nimbus, in a Dock Dogs competition this weekend. She qualified for finals, which were held today, and she won first place in her division! It was pretty awesome as we haven't taken her to a competition in two years, and she was the oldest dog in the contest. Way to go, Nimbus!

I had a couple of requests last week (Gypsy Lady and Stacey) to talk about how I freeze the items I've been cooking to stock up my freezer for the start of the school year. I'd be glad to, but I want to preface this post with the fact that I am no expert on freezer cooking and can't promise the way that I store things is the "right" way to do it. I just know it works for me. So, here are my methods for my most common freezer stock-up items.

Casseroles (like lasagna etc.) - I usually make several lasagnas at a time. If I'm going to take the time to make one, I figure I might as well make four. It doesn't take that much longer. I will create all of the layers and make sure they are completely cool (I don't pre-bake them). I then cover them with plastic wrap, and then a layer of foil. Finally, they go in the freezer. Once they are frozen solid, I will usually stack them to make room for more items, or I can place other items on top of them (see top row of above picture).

Soups - I eat soup almost every day for my lunch at school. So, I make a big pot of soup and then divide it into individual portions that I put into plastic storage bowls (the kind that are freezer safe and microwave safe). Before I put lids on the bowls, I make sure the soup has cooled completely. Sometimes I will freeze a larger bowl if I know it is a soup that we might eat for a meal. I do that a lot with chili.




Quick Breads (i.e. banana, zucchini, pumpkin, etc.) - After baking the loaves of bread, I let them cool a bit, but not completely. When they are still slightly warm, I wrap them in a layer of plastic wrap. I find this helps keep the bread moist when you thaw it. I'm sure someone smarter than me will tell me that's the wrong way to do it, but it works for me. :) I then wrap it in aluminum foil, and place it in a freezer bag. I've never had a problem with freezer burn, and the breads always taste great when thawed.

Muffins - I simply let them cool and place them in freezer bags. I used to wrap them each individually in plastic wrap and then put them in the bags, but it really didn't make that much difference.


Well ladies, I hope this helps a bit. Let me know if you have any questions about my freezing methods. And, if you have any great tips, please be sure to share them in the comments!