Another Zucchini recipe.....

Hi Everyone!!  Yesterday we celebrated Helen, my oldest sister's 79th birthday at a little party at the home of her son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Val's, home.  Her actual birthday was on July15th.  I made Meatballs in Spaghetti sauce and Italian bread.  After I started these two things, I started thinking about the huge zucchini that was setting in my fridge.  So I pulled up a recipe I had found the day before for a warm apple cake with a warm caramel glaze and did my quirky little thing I like to do with some recipes and transformed it into Zucchini Cake with Penuche Frosting.  So long story short I made it and it was an instant hit at the party!!  So I thought I'd share my recipe with you all.  If you try, it let me know what you thought of it!!  By the way, did any of you try the recipe I posted for Zucchini Cobbler?  If you did, I'd like to hear your comments on it too!  So here it is:

Zucchini Cake
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. cinnamon or apple pie spice, I used the apple pie spice
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs, beaten
3 c. zucchini,  grated
1/3 cup veg. oil


Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together egg, zucchini, oil, and 1/4 cup nuts; add to flour mixture. Spread in a greased 9”x 13” baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick tests clean. Frost with Penuche Frosting and sprinkle with remaining nuts. Serves 15.

Penuche Frosting

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3-4 cups confectioner's sugar

In a medium saucepan, place margarine and brown sugar over medium heat..  Stir until it comes to a full rolling boil.  Boil for one minute.  Remove from heat.  Stir in milk and vanilla.  Beat in confectioner's sugar until smooth and thick, I ended up using 4 cups of the sugar because it seemed too thin, you can do this right in the pan, or scrap into a bowl and proceed.  Quickly spread over cake, it starts setting fast.  Let set until frosting is firm.

Good old summertime!!

Wow, it's the 14th of July already!!  We had some really hot humid days last week, in the 90's, but fortunately it has been cooler and less humid this week.  Yesterday there was a party at my brother & sister-in-law's (Sam & Peg) house, their son Keith was home from Florida for a few days and his daughter Alex from PA was there too.  I was trying to think of some food to take.  I had a couple of zucchini that had been given to me and I was looking for a recipe to use them in and I found a recipe for Zucchini Cobbler.  The reviews said it tasted like apples so I thought I'd try it.  I was a hit with most of the people that tried it.  So I thought I'd post the recipe on here, of course this isn't quite the original recipe since I had to make it mine with my little changes here and there, as usual. LOL  Here it is, give it a try, I think you'll like it.  By the way the original recipe made a 10 x 15 inch baking dish, since this kind of an odd size dish, I changed it to fit a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

Zucchini Cobbler
Note: To save time, you can prepare  the zucchini and start cooking it, and prepare the crumb mixture while the zucchini is cooking.
Crumb Crust/Topping:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups chilled butter or margarine (2 1/2 sticks)
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°.  Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.  In a large bowl combine flour and brown and white sugars.  Cut in the chilled butter with 2 knives or pastry blender until the mixture is in small crumbs.  Set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture.  To the remaining  mixture add the oatmeal and cinnamon.  Press half of this mixture into the greased baking dish forming the crust..  Make the filling.  Pour it onto the crust.  Top with the remaining crumb mixture.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden.  Serve warm or chilled.

Filling:
7 cups peeled, seeded, thinly sliced zucchini
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. apple pie spice (or 3/4 tsp. cinnamon plus 1/4 tsp. nutmeg)

In a large pan or skillet over medium heat, cook zucchini in lemon juice until zucchini is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in the brown and white sugars and apple pie spice ( or cinnamon and nutmeg). Cook another minute or two. Stir in the reserved 1/2 cup of crumb mixture. Stir constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat.