zucchini craze

"vegetables are a must on a diet. i suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie"

- jim davis

my mom use to make magical vanishing zucchini bread. the 4 steaming loaves would evaporate into thin air... or more likely, our stomachs. one wide slice would disappear, then another, and another until all that remained were crumbs. and of course, those were devoured too.

this is all to say i have always had a fondness for zucchini, really from before i can remember. my love is quite credible because zucchini may be the most versatile vegetable. pasta, stir-fries, rice bowls, various entrees, or even fried...

currently i am obsessed with zucchini in it's best form-- dessert.  it all started a few weeks ago when i made zucchini cobbler. you may scoff but have you ever had zucchini cobbler? don't be so quick to say no-- you just might have, only you thought it was apple. it is almost eerie how similar it tastes to apple cobbler but after you get over the initial weirdness your tastebuds are high-jacked and you forget you're eating vegetables. mmmm.

when co-workers brought in grandiose zucchinis from their gardens this week, what was a girl to do but take them home?

i made the tried-and-true zucchini bread recipe from my momma, which was as wonderful as my childhood memories.  after the loaves and muffins vanished (magic, i tell you), i had extra zucchini.... darn. clearly i had to keep going-- so i made zucchini chocolate cake.  diiiiivine, and probably the moist-est (is that a word?) chocolate cake ever. that also evaporated when i took it into work-- the men were nearly begging for the recipe for their wives to make. hah!

next up is zucchini cupcakes with a caramel brown sugar frosting. oh, i can hardly wait!