When life gives you lemons…

Now that it’s July, gardeners across the U.S. are starting to get a little nervous. This is the time of year when things get stressful, when harvests are looked upon with fear, and when every trip to the garden is filled with danger.

It’s Zucchini Time.

Yes, Eco Warriors, this is the time of year when, if you don’t visit your garden twice a day, your zucchinis will morph from cute little squashes into monsters that are heavy and could do serious damage if used on a baseball field.

Recycla is the only person in her family who actually really likes zucchini, so she doesn’t grow it.  Instead, she stocks up at the farmers’ market.   She likes her zucchini battered and fried, but mostly just lightly sautees zucchini in olive oil, which is simple but quite delish.

A little zucchini goes a long way and this particular vegetable can really overstay its welcome every summer. Gardeners everywhere are delusional in the spring when they put out their zucchini plants, thinking that one can never have too much. Come July, however, they’re begging neighbors to take some, as much as they want, please.

Did you know that you can easily and quickly preserve some of that excess and save it for the winter? There are two ways to do this:

• The easy way: Cut it into half-inch slices, blanch it in a pot of boiling water for three minutes, transfer it to a bowl of ice water to cool, drain it, and bag it.
• The super easy way: Grate it and freeze it in bags. That’s it.

You can use it in soups, sauces, casseroles, and anything you want to bake it in. Either way, you’ll have zucchini in January that is far superior to anything you could find at your grocery store at a fraction of the price, plus you didn’t have to buy a vegetable out of season.

How about the rest of you Eco Warriors? Any good zucchini recipes or stories to share?