Growing up my parents loved their garden.  They honestly made spread sheets about where they were going to plant everything including scaled graphs to make sure they weren’t planting the beets too close to the tomatoes, and that pumpkins would have plenty of room to spread out.   It was serious business.

However the very first year they started planting their garden, before all this scheduling and graph business, they made the mistake of planting 6 zucchini plans. 6!  If you’ve never planted zucchini before let me tell you, these crops can produce!  We had mountains of it, and as a ten year old you can only get excited about zucchini for so long…  which led my mother to get rather creative with it. Turns out she’s not the only one. Check out these great recipes and my Top 5 Best Foods to Hide Zucchini. 

1. Zucchini Bread

This stuff is delicious.  The zucchini keeps the bread nice and moist but you don’t really taste it, instead you taste all the other good stuff you’re using for the bread.  The texture is heavy and thick making it a hearty, dessert like, bread and the bottom line is, it’s delicious.  So good that it’s hard to leave alone, and even as a kid, knowing I never wanted to see another zucchini in my life I couldn’t stay away when my mom pulled out a piping hot loaf of zucchini bread. 

If you’re interested in making some of your own check out this recipe from Six Sisters Stuff: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/10/classic-zucchini-bread.html

2. Zucchini Quinoa Burgers

Okay, I actually haven’t tried this one yet, but I love quinoa and this sounds both interesting and delicious, especially for my veggie loving and vegan friends.  

Check out the recipe on Food 52: http://food52.com/recipes/18585-zucchini-quinoa-burgers

3. Zucchini Pizza Casserole

Who doesn’t like pizza?  I’m pretty sure both my husband and son could eat it daily, or at least multiple times a week.  What if you could take the deliciousness of pizza and step up the nutritional content?  Sounds like a win in my book, and this recipe is even “contest winning” …  I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds good.

Check out a recipe on Taste of Home: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/zucchini-pizza-casserole#ixzz3CqNp8VxA

4. Zucchini Nut Bread Cookie Sandwiches

I’d say this is pretty close cousin to the zucchini bread, but a cookie might be easier for little hands to handle or to pack in a school lunch.  Plus these cookies look pretty fancy being all double sided with cream cheese frosting.  Yum.  

See Martha Stewart rocking these cookies and get the recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/349243/zucchini-nut-bread-cookie-sandwiches

5. Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

If you’re really looking to hide all traces of zucchini this might be the best way to go.  The dark color of the cupcakes make the green of the zucchini harder to spot and they are sooo good!  Again they moist and chewy, but so soft and chocolaty.  Is your mouth watering yet?  I love chocolate, and just about anything can be blended with chocolate and still be delicious, zucchini is no exception.  

Check out Your Cup of Cake’s recipe and try them yourself: http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2013/08/chocolate-zucchini-cupcakes.html

What are your favorite ways to use an over abundance of zucchini?