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Vegetarian

Wondering What To Cook With All That Zucchini? Zucchini Fritters

August 19, 2020 By Elizabeth Davenport Leave a Comment

Zucchini Fritters

There seems to be an endless supply of zucchini this time of year. I’ve been serving zucchini in some form or another for years. We even grew it one summer. Yet, my children have never touched zucchini, at least that I can remember, and they’re teenagers: 13 and 16. Kids need to see a food upwards of 20 times before they’ll try it. We’re definitely well beyond that with zucchini! Yes, it’s helpful to offer a food in different forms and I definitely have done that, too. I’ve often felt like throwing in the towel and just assuming they don’t like this vegetable and never will. There have been times over the years that I’ve felt SO frustrated that they haven’t even taken the tiniest taste! It’s hard to resist the urge to coax a child to try different foods and I’ve had years of practice. I feel your pain! 

Pandemic Silver Lining

One of the positive things to come out of the pandemic is that I’ve had much more time to plan meals and cook. The lack of a commute to work, coupled with not ferrying my kids all over to their activities, has left me with the elusive gift of some extra time.

I felt like I’d been stuck in a rut repeating a couple of handfuls of meals and not much new. But with this gift of time, that’s changed! I’m loving cooking so many new recipes, including some new zucchini recipes!

Recently, I’ve made roasted zucchini; fettuccine tossed with corn, diced zucchini, basil and lemon and zucchini fritters. Offering a food in different forms, gives everyone different opportunities to try foods. @smittenkitchen had a zucchini recipe in her feed recently, so I decided I’d give it a try. I’ve never made (or eaten) zucchini fritters. GUESS WHAT???? One of my children ate the fritters and even LIKED them! 

Zucchini Fritters

Zucchini fritters are so simple to make and they don’t take long to cook, which makes them perfect for a hot evening. They also reheat well if there are any leftovers. 

  • grated zucchini
    grate zucchini
  • drain zucchini
    sprinkle with salt and let sit in a strainer over a bowl for 20-30 minutes
  • wring out shredded zucchini

I added feta cheese and some herbs. After I made them the first time, my 16 year old suggested I coat them with bread crumbs, so they’d be nice and crispy. Such a great idea! She was right! I like them both ways with just a slight preference for the fritters coated in bread crumbs.

breaded zucchini fritters

Serve the fritters with sour cream or tzatziki. You could also make the sauce from the original Smitten Kitchen recipe if you prefer. You can serve these as a side or a main dish. I served them as a side with pesto pasta and a salad. I just put them on a plate and placed it on the table with a serving utensil so everyone could help themselves. This way there was NO PRESSURE for anyone to try them. I knew everyone could fill up on other parts of the meal. If there’s no pressure to try a new food, kids may be more likely to try it. 

Zucchini fritters

Just Keep Offering!

The moral of the story here is to KEEP OFFERING! If you read the opening paragraph (no worries if you didn’t! Most of the time I skim blog posts.), you’ll remember my kids are TEENAGERS who had never eaten zucchini. One of them has now eaten zucchini at least 6 times in the weeks since first trying a zucchini fritter! DON’T GIVE UP!

What’s a food you’ve offered for years without anyone trying it?

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Zucchini Fritters

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Simply Recipes.

Makes about 10 fritters

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport
Scale

Ingredients

1 lb (2 medium) zucchini

1 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt) plus more to taste

1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped

½ teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped

¾ cup crumbled feta cheese

1 egg

½ cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil for cooking the fritters

*Optional: ¾ cup panko bread crumbs for coating the fritters before cooking

Instructions

  • Wash the zucchini and trim off the ends. Grate each zucchini on the large holes of a box grater. 
  • (Or you can use the grater blade on a food processor). Place the grated zucchini in a mesh colander set over a bowl. Sprinkle with the salt and mix with your hands to distribute the salt. Let sit for at least 20 minutes. (The salt will draw the water out of the zucchini).
  • While the zucchini rests, chop the basil and oregano and mix together with the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl.
  • Once 20 minutes has passed, wring out the zucchini by squeezing handfuls of it at a time. (This is a fun activity for kids if you have them). You’ll get a lot of water out! Give each handful of zucchini a few really good squeezes.
  • Taste the zucchini to see if it needs more salt and add more if needed. 
  • Add the wrung out zucchini to the flour and herb mixture. Add the egg and crumbled feta along with a few turns of freshly ground pepper and mix gently until combined.
  • Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil to a frying pan (I used a cast iron pan) over medium high heat. While the pan is heating, form the mixture into small cakes and set aside on a plate. (You can also just drop about a ¼ cup at a time into the heated frying pan if you don’t want to form them into cakes). 
  • Cook on each side until golden brown (3-5 minutes each side). Remove the fritters from the pan and place them on a paper towel lined plate for a few minutes. If you’d like to keep them warm while you finish cooking all the batter, place them on a ¼ sheet pan in a 250F oven. 

Notes

*If you’d like the fritters to be extra crispy, you can coat them with panko bread crumbs just before frying. 

Did you make this recipe?

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Filed Under: Dinner, Family Feeding, Featured Posts, Recipes, Vegetarian, Weeknight Meals Tagged With: Simple and delicious zucchini fritters

Make These Easy Baked Beans To Simplify Your Lunch Packing Routine

January 29, 2020 By Elizabeth Davenport 2 Comments

Leftover baked beans make a great lunch.

It’s that time of year when, if you’re like me, you’ve been tired of packing lunches for awhile now. We’ve got about 5 months of school left. So, you might also be looking for something new and SIMPLE to add to your lunch list? I know I am!

Do you want to simplify packing lunches? Try making a Master Lunch List.

What do I mean by a lunch list? Anna and I are both fans of keeping a list of all the lunch items we pack. We call it our Master Lunch List. We write out all the entrees, sides and fruit and veggie ideas we pack. When we can’t think of anything to pack, or we’re doing our weekly meal planning we can refer to our list for ideas. And we periodically add new items to the list – like the Easy Baked Beans recipe in this post!

Another Tip To Streamline Packing Lunches

Another way we like to streamline packing lunches is to plan ahead and make 1-2 dinners with enough for leftovers. For example, I’ll make a bigger batch of pasta with pesto and send the leftovers for lunch the next day or 2. Or, I’ll cook something I can use for lunches while I’m cooking dinner. I might make my easy black beans to use for lunches and snacks while I’m cooking something else for dinner – especially on a weekend when I have some extra time.

A note on this photo: I don’t always buy organic beans. This is what I happened to buy this time. Sometimes I buy non-organic. It often comes down to what I grab off the shelves. I also buy different brands of canned beans.

Easy baked bean leftovers make a great thermos lunch for school.

Recently, I’ve rediscovered baked beans as an easy lunch entrée. I used to send heated, canned baked beans for my older daughter when she was in elementary school, but for some unknown reason, I stopped. Maybe she told me she was tired of them? Maybe it was because I knew my younger daughter didn’t like baked beans and I didn’t want to be making two different lunches. Who knows! But I do know it’s been a long time since baked beans have been on my Master Lunch List.

The recipe is the epitome of SIMPLE! Minimal chopping, opening cans and adding ingredients to a pot and voila! My mother-n-law gave me the recipe for these baked beans and the word is her mother used to make them. I made a number of changes to the original recipe, like using fewer onions, adding extra beans, using dark brown sugar instead of light brown, using tomato puree instead of ketchup, and draining the beans. 

Sometimes, I make a double batch and freeze some to use during an especially busy week. They work well served on their own or over rice. They also work well as a side dish for many meals. And the leftovers are scrumptious heated and sent in a thermos for lunch! 

Just Keep Offering!

Caroline, my 15 year old, has always LOVED these beans. Ellie, my 12 year old never ate these – until just recently. We were at my in-laws and Ellie mentioned how much she loved the beans and asked if I’d please make them to put in lunches. Hooray! She’s been exposed to these beans since she was a baby and had never liked them. Just this morning, out of curiosity, I asked Ellie about the beans. She said, “Oh, I had baked beans at sleep away camp this past summer and they were great! So when we had them at Nana and PopPop’s, I tried them and loved them even more than the ones at camp.” Hearing this was somewhat of a relief, because it’s evidence I’m raising her to be able to make do with what’s available. It’s also a reminder to “just keep offering!”

When I asked what Ellie was in the mood for in her lunches this week, she said “baked beans!” Great–because I made 3 batches this week testing this recipe!

Leftover baked beans make a great lunch.

Are you looking for more tips to simplify your lunch packing routine?

Do you find yourself wondering how you can simplify your lunch packing routine? We’re putting our tried and true formula down in an e-book to share with you! Would you like to be one of the first to know when it’s available to purchase? Click here now!

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Easy Baked Beans

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Author: Elizabeth Davenport
Scale

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 small onions, chopped

1 15 oz can baked beans (I use vegetarian baked beans but you can use regular)

1 15 oz can black beans

1 15 oz can white beans

1 15 oz can kidney beans

1 ⅓ cup water

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

¼ cup cider vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 Tablespoons molasses

1 teaspoon dry mustard ( or 1 tablespoon dijon mustard)

½ cup tomato puree (or ketchup)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
  2. Chop the onion and garlic. Add olive oil to a dutch oven placed over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic to the pan and sauteé for 5-7 minutes. 
  3. While the garlic and onion are cooking, gather together the rest of the ingredients. 
  4. Drain and rinse the beans.
  5. Add all the ingredients to the pan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Once the mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat under the beans.
  6. Place a lid on the pan and put them in a 350 F oven for 1 ½ hours. Stir twice during the hour and a half.
  7. Carefully remove the pot from the oven. Take the lid off and allow the beans to cool for a bit before serving.
  8. Allow to cool and store the leftovers covered in the refrigerator. 

 

Notes

These also freeze well if you want to make a double batch.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @sunnysideupnutritionists on Instagram

Filed Under: Dinner, Family Feeding, Lunch, Vegetarian

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