Christina Cavallaro Edick - From Vine to Table: The Unexpected Joy of Zucchinis Magic

The zucchini in our summer garden grew and multiplied many times over, resulting in an abundant crop. While we love zucchini, our plants produced much more than we could possibly eat.

So the big giveaway began. Book club, writing class, weekly game day crowd, library meetings, swim buddies, any and all were invited make that strongly encouraged to take one or more zucchini home. If neighbors were walking their dog or picking up mail at the receptacle in front of our house, I ran out and offered zucchini. I left them on neighbors doorsteps. I even raffled off several at an Italian club meeting. First prize was my baby weighing in at 8 pounds 7 ounces.

It did get a little ridiculous as neighbors and friends began avoiding me when I showed up with zucchini in hand. So my only chance to salvage this plentiful harvest was to slice, dice, and cook them.

This book is dedicated to all the summer gardeners who planted too many zucchini AND the recipients of zucchini from friends and family with abundant gardens.

Heartfelt thanks go out to all who helped with this book.

Cheri Papini, gardener extraordinaire, whose green thumb and greenhouse started my zucchini plants with love from seeds. Thank you for sharing your healthy plants!

• To those who took some zucchini when the harvest overwhelmed me, I am especially grateful.
• The many taste testers of recipes get a special thank-you for giving feedback and suggestions.
• A shout out to my friends who put up with me during this book writing/recipe creation process, ignoring the fact that even my hair was turning green (which we all swear was due to eating zucchini at every meal for four months, not the fact that I swim every day in the summer).
• Patricia B-J and Carol W cleaned up more than a few sentences in the book with their sharp editing skills and English grammar background.
• A special acknowledgment goes to Ellis B for sharing his knowledge and experience publishing books.

And I couldnt have written this book without the encouragement of my husband, who was extremely patient and understanding when I put another variation of zucchini in front of him, trying out yet another zucchini recipe. He cleaned up the kitchen after my experiments, most of the time my having used every pot, pan, and measuring utensil we own. He never complained, and was especially happy when I made his zucchini favorites bread, cookies, and brownies.

I confess Im a person who lives to eat more than eats to live.

I have a passion for food. Cooking and experiencing food as a love of life was ingrained in me as a child growing up in an Italian-American family. We have always had a backyard garden and use the fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs in our meals.

I equate most of my everyday experiences to food. In case you dont think that way, here are some examples: Our house backs up to a golf course and if a golf ball lands in our yard, I might think about making meatballs. Or if I watch a movie with an Italian theme, I want to make homemade pasta or some other Italian dish to re-experience the feelings I had when watching the movie.

Nicole Gulotta, author of Eat This Poem, a cookbook pairing poetry and food, is a writer with a similar inclination to mine, relating life experiences to meals shared around a table. She writes:

Food memories are inescapable. They are chosen for us, given flavor and meaning before we are old enough to learn the names of the ingredients.

Janet Theophano, author of Eat My Words: Reading Womens Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote, explains:

As cooks, we must first taste a dish in our imaginations, see it on the table, share it with guestssometimes more fanciful than realand then actually reproduce it from a text. A longing for the pleasures of the table reflects a concern for balance and harmony and an integration of the physical and spiritual nature of our existence. In this way, cookbooks are a meditation. Preparing a dish or a meal is not merely an effort to satisfy physical hunger but often a quest for the good life.

***

Well Christina (that fine cooking genie)

Is now known as the Queen of Zucchini~!

With courgettes shell find

Ways to just blow your mind

Like that other great wizard, Houdini

By Paul Raworth Bennett

Frittatas can be baked or fried. If Im just making an individual serving or two, I throw all the ingredients into a small frypan and I cover it with a lid about midway through cooking. If making a larger frittata serving 4+ people, baking it in a 350F oven for 35 minutes or so is a good option. Either method results in a flavorful and robust egg dish to serve any time of day.

This recipe was created so I could use cooked zucchini, asparagus, and leftover challah bread. Its also a good recipe if you need to use up leftover pasta!

Serves 2.

2 pieces of bacon, pancetta, or 1 Italian sausage diced or chopped

cup onion, chopped

cup bread cubes or cooked pasta (leave out these ingredients for gluten free)

1 cup egg white substitute (or 4 whole eggs if you prefer)

cup shredded mozzarella cheese

cup grated Parmesan

cup ricotta cheese, store brand or homemade (see Tips for homemade ricotta cheese recipe resource) or substitute cottage cheese

cup cooked vegetables (any combination of zucchini, eggplant, asparagus, broccoli, or spinach)

cup milk, if needed

Olive oil for frying

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Saut bacon or sausage and onions until bacon is crisp and onions are translucent. Set aside. Drain most of the grease, leaving a little to cook with.
2. Add pasta or bread to the frypan and saut for a minute or two (if using).
3. Mix eggs with cheeses and cooked vegetables. Add milk if mixture needs more moisture.
4. Put all ingredients back in the frypan to cook together.
5. After a few minutes, add a lid to help set the eggs.
6. Frittata is done when eggs are set, not runny or gooey.

Who says healthy recipes cant be tasty and easy to make? And dont let the flaxseed in this recipe scare you away. My I dont eat muffins, especially healthy ones hubby ate several of these. Did I tell him they were good for him and contained zucchini? Of course not! I served them to him in a dimly lit room so he couldnt see what was in the muffin itself.

Makes 24 mini muffins or 15 regular sized muffins, or 12 regular sized muffins plus 1 mini loaf.

cup regular rolled oats