Recipe Tuesday :: How to Use Up a Large Zucchini

Things are a-growing in the garden and that means dinners and food planned by what's available.  I checked the garden yesterday when I got home and the baby zucchini that I saw last week have turned into pickable sized zucchini.  I ran in and scoured Pinterest for something to make with zucchini for dinner and found this lovely one-pot recipe by Damn Delicious.  So out I went to bring in one just big enough for that recipe.  I swear that from the time I went in until I got back to the garden to pick it, that the zucchini got bigger.  Swear to it.  So as I was slicing it up for dinner I could tell I had too much to use it all up.  This called for a quick recipe for some zucchini bread for dessert, which meant it HAD to include chocolate chips.  Had to.  Enter the amazing it-sounds-like-it's-healthy-but-we-know-it's-not Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread recipe by Flavor the Moments.

I added a grilled chicken breast on the side to the dinner meal for some protein.  I also didn't have cremini mushrooms on hand so I omitted them and instead of fresh thyme I used fresh basil (which was delish).  That said I wasn't the biggest fan of this one-pot recipe.  I wanted it to taste like the picture looked on the website; flavorful with steamy fresh vegetables in a creamy sauce over noodles.  Instead I got bland watery-cream sauce on noodles with over-done vegetables.

I loved the flavors together though, so this recipe had that going for it.  My suggestion is to take the zucchini and peas and steam them so they are fresh and just done perfectly.  Then take my cousin Melinda's expert veggie spice (salt, pepper, garlic powder) and make them go from meh to a-meh-zing.  I'd also get that cream sauce up to par with my favorite light alfredo sauce from Cooking Light.  Cook those noodles al dente, top it with the sauce and veggies and some some fresh cut basil and then a grilled chicken breast on the side and BAM!  That picture just became reality.

The zucchini bread was, of course, awesome because how hard is it to make zucchini bread?  I really did love the coconut and chocolate chips in this one though.  It helped it go from brunch staple to dessert.

And who doesn't love a warm dessert with milk at the end of the day?