Our friends have a lovely garden. They have a bounty of zucchini and yellow squash. I was super excited when they gave us some!
The Menfolk aren't huge fans but I sure am!!! It reminded me of harvest time when I was growing up. My grandparents had a huge garden in the back yard. Oh how I hated going out in the garden to weed or to pick veggies. I was always more than happy to eat the veggies though. There were bushel baskets lined up in the kitchen full of corn, peaches, tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers. I'm sure there were more that I can't remember - I'll have to ask my Mom.
Canning week was the WORST! It was ALWAYS the hottest week of the summer and with the stove going it was even hotter. We didn't have air conditioning either. All the women sat around the table and chatted while they worked. I remember that part of it fondly. Nonnie (my great-grandma) made these incredible sweet pickles that we called Christmas Pickles. She made Bread & Butter Pickles too. I remember making chili sauce as well. We shucked and froze corn. We sliced carrots. We chopped green beans. We made crushed tomatoes. It was a chore but we appreciated all that hard work when we had delicious sweet corn that tasted like fresh in the cold winter months! Growing up, we ate the vegetables that the women canned or froze. I never saw veggies in aluminum cans. The only frozen veggies we ever got from the store were peas and spinach.
We ate a lot of fried zucchini but I have no idea what we did with all the zucchini that grew in the garden. We ate a lot of zucchini bread so I imagine we shredded it up and froze it.
When I opened the fridge after a cleaning spree, I saw the zucchini as well as a sad, lonely lemon and a crate of blueberries. I dragged The Husband to Costco JUST for blueberries last weekend. We've been eating them everyday and we STILL had a ton left.
I sent this picture to My Lovelies with the caption, "What's a gal to do with all this???" [The yellow squash didn't make it into the pic because I hadn't planned to use it initially. Same with the apple.]
One of My Lovelies responded, "Muffins, BABY!!!"
Zucchini Squash Apple Blueberry Muffins were born!!! Soooo good! Just enough tart from the lemon to be bright and enough spice to hint at Fall.
You'll need:
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 apple ** you may need more of the 1st 3 ingredients to make 3 cups of shredded/chopped amazingness
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
1 snack size (1/2 cup) container of lite cinnamon applesauce [or whatever kind you like]
3 cups all purpose flour (mine is actually half all purpose and half whole wheat - can't get The Menfolk to do all whole wheat no matter how hard I try) [Use the flour you and yours prefer]
1 cup packed brown sugar [I used the Splenda Brown Sugar Blend to save calories]
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon apple pie spice (optional - I would easily substitute pumpkin pie spice as well)
3 whole eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 cups fresh (or frozen) blueberries
I may have mentioned in the past how much I ADORE my food processor. It's my favorite kitchen appliance after the stove...
Chop 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, and 1 apple in the food processor. (You need 3 cups of veggie/fruit mixture for the muffins). Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and apple sauce. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, blend all of the dry ingredients. Once blended, mix in the zucchini/squash/apple mixture. Add the vanilla. Blend well. Add the eggs. Mix until batter is well blended.
Pour the batter into muffin tins. I like the line the tins with cupcake wrappers (liners?) to avoid a mess. Pour about a 1/2 cup into each. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes.
Let cool. Or try to...
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