Zucchini and Mint

It's been a long hiatus. July was an extremely busy month. Relatives over the 4th of July, visited parents twice, and tennis tournament another weekend. Plus, I finished my summer class! Now that I have a little down time before school starts, I've been cooking and baking a ton. As of late, I've been into summer vegetables and fruits. My mother gave me a huge bag of mint and a few very large zucchini so I've been working through these. With the mint, I made Vietnamese spring rolls (fresh, not fried), chicken street kebabs from Flatbreads and Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Cookbook snag off of Amazon), and two rounds of Tzatziki sauce. The recipe for the Tzatziki sauce is from the Washington Times compliments of David who saves the food section for me every week. I love this sauce! It's a little thicker than what you would get in Greek restaurant but still tastes great. You can buy the Greek yogurt from Trader Joe's or Whole Foods but go to TJs if there is one near you. The Trader Joe's brand is just as good and cheaper than the Paage brand that both TJs and Whole Foods carry. Recipe says you can serve immediately or marinate for several hours. It taste that much better if you marinate it.

Tzatziki
2 cucumbers, seeded, peeled, and grated

Salt

2 C. Greek yogurt

2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp minced fresh mint

Place cucumber in a colander, sprinkle with salt and let drain for 20 minutes. In bowl, mix yogurt, garlic, and mint. Add drained cucumber to yogurt mixture, stir, marinate in the refrigerated for several hours or serve immediately. Season to taste with salt.

With the zucchini, I made a zucchini chocolate cake, zucchini bread, and zucchini corn bread. I was looking for something different to try with the zucchini. My main staples have been the zucchini chocolate cake and bread for years now (have both recipes since high school). The zucchini cornbread recipe is from Nicole at Baking Bites. Mine came out dark than hers but that is probably from the molasses, might have added too much. It still taste great though. I love the addition of molasses. Here is the recipe for the zucchini chocolate cake. I'll post the zucchini bread recipe another day. Making another batch!

Zucchini Chocolate Cake

2 1/2 C. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 C. butter

1 3/4 C. sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C. zucchini, unpeeled, grated

1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp salt

1/2 C. vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 C. buttermilk

1 C. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric mixer on medium speed. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk into the creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini. Pour into greased 13 X 9 inch pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Baked for ~55 minutes or until inserted toothpick is clean. Cool completely pan on baking rack.