Zucchini Overdose

Yesterday was the Day of Zucchini. I made zucchini-carrot cake with citrus-cream cheese frosting in the morning. I found a low-fat recipe in Better Homes and Gardens, of all places. I substituted part of the white flour for whole-wheat flour.

For lunch, I made these fantastic zucchini fritters. I always forget that I dislike shallow frying until I am in the midst of doing it. I was worried that they wouldn't work out too well; my first couple of fritters didn't have the oil hot enough and were flipped too soon out of impatience, but it was completely worth it in the end. They were amazing. Crispy and browned on the outside, buttery with feta cheese and dense greenness on the inside. I didn't use mint because I didn't have any (I wish I did), but the fresh dill was an excellent flavor. The tzatziki sauce was excellent and a good way to use up a cucumber from the CSA. I served the fritters with thick slices of purplish heirloom tomato. Hopefully the leftovers will turn out well when reheated in the oven. I will find out today.

Then for dinner, I made homemade macaroni and cheese with zucchini. After all that, I am not yet tired of it. That is a good thing, because I expect to get lots more zucchini this coming week.

Other items from the CSA delivery last Thursday:

Corn: Five ears. I ate one, then boiled and froze the rest of the kernels.

Green beans: A huge bag! I found a simple recipe for dilly beans. I may try out home canning this week. I have been studying the preserving supplies at the grocery store lately and it's time to act.

Chinese cabbage: I have already sauteed and eaten one half of it. Not sure what will happen to the other half.

Lettuce head: Lunch plans are settled for the week.

Garlic: to be used in nearly everything I make!

Cucumber: I was tentatively planning to make pickles, but I received two of these, and one was used for the tzatziki sauce yesterday. One isn't worth the trouble. I may marinate it.

Hot pepper: One jalapeno and one yellow Hungarian hot wax. I might make spicy black beans with one. The other could find its way into the dilly beans.

Carrots: It is a good thing that they have a long refrigerator life. I have used some in salads and for the zucchini-carrot cake. I will make the carrot-dill soup soon.

Tomatoes: Something heartbreaking happened to the farm's tomato crop. You can read the terrible news here. Thousands and thousands of them, destroyed. Lots of marinara sauce, salsa, gazpacho, chili, and caprese salad, never to be known. Anyway, I did get one ordinary red tomato and one purplish heirloom variety in my box. I plan to eat them plain, in remembrance of the rest.