One Foot on a Banana Peel

It’s zucchini season and we’ve got fruit coming out our ears….and those jokes about not being able to give the stuff away?  After a while it’s true.  People see you coming with an arm load and they go into a red alert akin to the one brought on by a Jehova’s Witness approaching the door.  We love the stuff, but there’s only so much of it you can eat fresh.  My mom makes zucchini bread and zucchini relish.  We like it fried and sauted mostly, but it’s good in soups and stews, too, but who wants that when the temperature is closing in on 100 degrees?  So, here’s my zucchini tip of the day, brought on by the fact that this is what I’ve been doing.

Cube unpeeled zucchini (removing seeds) and par boil in lightly salted water for 3 minutes.  Cool.  Freeze.  Use later in those soups and stews.  Below is our favorite recipe.

Zucchini Dumpling Stew

6 slices bacon, cut in small pieces

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1-2 stalks celery, diced

8 cups stewed tomatoes

4 cups zucchini, unpeeled, diced, cooked

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 cups Bisquick baking mix

2/3 cups milk

*Dice zucchini and cook until tender in salted water, drain. 

Brown bacon in 4-qt pan until crisp.  Add onion, celery and green pepper.  Cook 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes, zucchini , salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.

Mix Bisquick and milk together until a soft dough forms.  Drop by Tbsps. into boiling stew.  Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Cover and simmer an additional 10 minutes.

Serve over dumplings.