* Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies *

Are you sick of all the zucchini recipes yet? Sorry about that...you can tell we have a lot of zucchini, right? There might be a few more coming...I apologize in advance. This recipe came from here and it's pretty good! The recipe doesn't have any salt in it and I kind of think it could've used it but I had no idea how much to add so if you have any suggestions, I would love them!

* Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies *
1/2 C. butter
3/4 C. white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (About 1 1/2 zucchini's, oddly)
1 1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 C. quick cooking oats
1 -1.5 C. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350* F.

In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in the egg and vanilla, mix well, then stir in the shredded zucchini. Sift together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon, stir into the zucchini mixture. Finally, stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

Drop dough from a teaspoon onto an unprepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 11 minutes in the preheated oven. The cookies will stay soft and moist because of the zucchini.

* Sauteed Zucchini and Tomatoes *

Another zucchini recipe, as promised! :) This is really so good...I love the sweetness of the tomatoes paired with the zucchini. We usually leave the cheese off (mostly because we don't usually have mozzarella cheese around--although we have put colby jack cheese on it before and it was good too). The recipe comes from here.

* Sauteed Zucchini and Tomatoes *

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 medium zucchini, cut into approx. 1/4"-1/2" slices
a handful of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in halves
1/2 cup (approx.) shredded mozzarella cheese
kosher salt and coarse ground pepper

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, season with salt and pepper. Let cook until golden brown on one side, about 3-5 minutes then flip and cook on the other side, 3-5 minutes more.

Add the tomatoes and heat through. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and heat until cheese melts. Season again with salt and pepper if desired. Serve immediately.

* Chicken Rollatini Stuffed with Zucchini and Cheese *

My sister told me about a food website called SkinnyTaste.com and can I say that this website makes healthy foods look YUMM-O!?! So as I was browsing through the recipes, I found this one here. It is so good and different from anything I usually make. I did make a few changes though...I didn't have mozzarella cheese so I used cream cheese (which of course makes it less healthy but tasty anyway). I also didn't use the lemon juice but I do think it would've tasted wonderful. Give it a try...your tastebuds and wasteline will thank you...unless you use the cream cheese.

* Chicken Rollatini Stuffed with Zucchini and Mozzarella *
(click on the link to see the picture that sold me on it...mine just doesn't do it justice.)
1 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 cups (1 medium) zucchini, shredded
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Romano cheese (or parmesan)
3 oz part skim shredded mozzarella
salt and pepper to taste
8 thin chicken cutlets, 3 oz each (I just used the frozen tenderloins)
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1 lemon, juice of
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and fresh pepper
olive oil non-stick spray

Wash and dry cutlets, season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450°. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat. Add oil when hot then saute garlic a minute, or until golden. Add zucchini, 1/4 cup Romano cheese, salt and pepper and saute about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool. When cool, add mozzarella cheese and mix to combine. ( I cooked the zucchini with the garlic and then mixed it in with the cream cheese).

Lay chicken down on a working surface and spread 3 tbsp of zucchini-cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one and keep seam side down.

Combine breadcrumbs and grated cheese in one bowl; in a second bowl combine olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper in another bowl.

Dip chicken in lemon-oil mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down in a baking dish (no toothpicks needed). Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spraywith oil spray.

Bake 25 - 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

* Zucchini Brownies *

Have I ever mentioned how awesome I think Allrecipes is? If not, I'll say it again. I think Allrecipes is pretty sweet! Anyways, I needed to make some more stuff with zucchini (since we have A LOT of zucchini coming our way) and I decided to make zucchini brownines. I'm sure everyone has their own zucchini brownie recipe but mine is just so-so. So I typed "really good zucchini brownies" into google and this recipe popped up...and, with a 4.5 star rating out of over 1000 people, how can this recipe not rock? We tried it and it was delicious! (It is a little bit more like cake than a brownie just FYI) So if you need to use up some zucchini and want to branch out from your stand-by zucchini brownie recipe, try this one!

* Zucchini Brownies *1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan. (batter will be very dry and weird looking...I promise it is normal)
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.
To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

* Zucchini Fritters *

Wow...two zucchini recipes in one week. I never thought that would happen. I don't really care for zucchini and neither does my hubby. Don't ask me why he has 5 zucchini plants growing in our garden. I usually have to hide it in something...think bread, brownies, cookies, etc. I saw this recipe and it actually sounded good to me--weird, I know. And guess what! It was actually good! Even my picky almost-three-year-old loved it and ate 1 1/2 of them! I found this recipe here at Real Mom Kitchen. She is having a "Zucchini Week" this week so go check out her recipes!

* Zucchini Fritters *
2 cups grated zucchini squash
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 small onion, finely chopped (I just sprinkled onion powder generously over the top)
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
1 egg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place zucchini inside a tea towel or flour sack towel and squeeze out excess moisture. (I forgot this step and it still turned out yummy!)
In a bowl, add zucchini and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the remaining ingredients. The mixture with be sticky and thick. Continue to stir, it will thin down. You want it to look like a thick cake batter.
On a parchment lined baking sheet, divide batter into 6 mounds on the parchment using a spoon or ice cream scoop. Then flatten each mound with a spoon or your hand to form 4 inch rounds.
Bake for 15 minutes or so, until the fritters are deep golden brown on the bottom. Then turn to broil and place on the second highest rack in your oven. Broil on high for a few minutes, you want to crisp them up but watch carefully so they won’t burn. Serve with ranch dressing or marinara. Makes 6 fritters.

* Zucchini Bread or Muffins *

We got our first zucchini out of our garden this week so I decided to make muffins for breakfast one day. The kids LOVED it and it was a nice way to get rid of our zucchini...how sad is it that I am already saying "get rid" of our zucchini when it was our first one? :) I got this recipe out of a cookbook we received in Young Womens years ago.

* Zucchini Bread or Muffins *
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 c. vegetable oil
2 c. shredded zucchini
3 T. vanilla
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder

Beat the eggs and then add the oil and sugars. Add vanilla and zucchini and stir well. Add dry ingredients. Bake at 325* for 35-45 minutes in greased and floured bread pans ---or--- 25-28 minutes in lined or greased muffin tins.

I actually halved this recipe and it made 12 muffins and a small loaf of bread. If you do the whole recipe, I believe it makes two loaves.