What to do with all of those ^(#"&%@ zucchini!

First, allow me to apologize. I've been MIA lately. I've got a lot going on. I've been to NYC and back, sold a house, purchased a house, in the process of moving, in a community theatre musical, helping a young girl move into college, and helping 2 people with wedding planning. Oh, and working. I have still been cooking but I haven't been good about taking pictures or blogging about it.

Okay, that's out of the way. My CSA has been very very interesting. I've gotten about 8 cucumbers and double that amount of summer squash-zucchini, yellow squash, and some bizarre white squash that is round with scalloped edges. I've gotten lots of other stuff today, but today we are focusing on the summer squash.

Summer squash doesn't have very much taste all on it's own. It's crisp, watery, fresh and green tasting. It's great in veggie trays, but other than dipped in Hidden Valley, what else can be done with it?

Marinated Zucchini

2 zucchini cut into 1/2 inch thick disks

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic minced

2 tablespoons dry white wine

couple large pinch salt and pepper

handful of herbs chopped- I used rosemary and flat leaf parsley

Marinate for at least 20 minutes or up to an hour. If you want to marinate longer, leave out the salt and pepper until the end. Grill zucchini over medium high heat for about 10 minutes per side, or until desired softness.

Okay, okay, I'll admit, this recipe is kind of my Go To method for cooking veggies that I don't know much about. I mean, come on, olive oil, wine, garlic, and herbs- what can possibly go wrong???

This would also be amazing with balsamic vinegar instead of white wine or using yellow squash or the freaky white crazy squash.

Crazy Good Veg-tastic Pasta

1 medium zucchini or yellow squash or freaky white orb squash chopped into 1 inch cubes

2 bell peppers of any color (I like red) chopped into 1 inch squares

1 yellow onion chopped into squares

3 cloves garlic minced

1 pound of penne pasta

4 ounces of pancetta

1 jar of marinara sauce

2 ounces of heavy cream

pinch red pepper flake

salt to taste

Start some water boiling in a stock pot over high heat. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat with olive oil to coat the bottom. Cut the pancetta into 1 inch squares and add to the pan. Once the pancetta starts to crisp, add the onions and the peppers to the pain and soften for 10 minutes or so, or until the onions start taking on some deeper color. Add the garlic and the squash. Drop your penne into the boiling water after adding a healthy pinch of salt. Pour the marinara sauce over the veggies and stir to combine. Allow sauce to simmer while pasta cooks. When pasta has 2 minutes left, add the heavy cream and red pepper flake. Toss cooked pasta with sauce and serve.

I love this pasta. I usually add some chunks of mozzarella and grated Romano to the top. Delish.

Zucchini Muffins

1 box bran muffin mix (I used Kroger brand) that is around 14 oz-19 oz

2 egg whites

1 1/4 cup shredded zucchini

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup apple juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup dried cinnamon-sugar apples (I found them in the baking section with the dried cranberries and raisins on the top shelf in little individual packets...awesomely delicious.)

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Dice up your dried apples. Combine all of the ingredients and mix well. Prep your muffin tin either by using muffin papers or by spraying it with Pam. You should get 12 muffins out of your batter. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the muffins.

This recipe I found on foodnetwork.com http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/semi-homemade-cooking-with-sandra-lee/moist-zucchini-bran-muffins-recipe/index.html with 2 exceptions that I made. One, I used Kroger brand bran muffins instead of Sun-Maid because Kroger didn't carry Sun-Maid bran muffin mix. The Sun-Maid muffin mix was about 18 ounces and my Kroger brand was 14 ounces, so I only used a half cup apple juice and it worked out very well. Second, I used dried cinnamon apples instead of raisins. Use whatever dried fruit you think sounds good. My cinnamon apples were amazing but I bet plain dried apples would be good too. These muffins are going to be breakfast all week long.

I feel pretty good about my uses of summer squash so far. Now to tackle those cucumbers. Any ideas?????