Happy National Zucchini Day and Recipes

August 8 is National Zucchini Day or "Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's' Porch Day." Due to overzealous planting of zucchini, citizens are asked to drop off baskets of the squash on neighbors' doorsteps. This might annoy some neighbors, but a nicer holiday than the "Place a Flaming Brown Paper Bag with Dog Poop on You Neighbors' Porch Day."

National Zucchini day is not to be confused with the April 24th; this is National Zucchini Bread Day.

How did this holiday originated?

Tom and Ruth Roy of Pennsylvania came up with the holiday along with 90 plus holidays that are out of the ordinary. Read more of this on the Roy's website at Wellcat.com

A few years ago, my sister-in-law brought me some very large zucchinis from her garden (18 to 24 inches long and several inches around.) She told me that she had more of these than she knew what to do with and would bring more if I would like.

I didn't ask for more. The three zucchinis were more than enough.

We made zucchini bread...enough to share with my neighbors. We had zucchini spaghetti, stir fried with onions, baked zucchini and even froze some zucchini for later. Though the problem I have when freezing any food item is that it is often forgotten and later thrown out.

Our backyard has a sand base. This makes it difficult to have a garden. We do have a small area where we have filled it in with the proper gardening dirt. In this garden we have grown tomatoes, watermelon, sunflowers (this blown in from our neighbor's yard), peppers and potatoes. Last year I talked my husband into planting zucchini in this small little garden. We bought two plants. One plant would even be more sufficient. Soon we found that the zucchini had taken over the garden. It was blocking off the watermelon and pushing into the peppers and tomatoes.

We ended up with more zucchini than we knew what to do with it. My husband brought it to work. Our daughter brought some back to her college apartment. Some was frozen a year ago and is still there. Do you think it is still good???

Husband had spoken, "Absolutely no zucchini this year!" My sister-in-law said she wasn't planting any this time around. This means only one thing...buying it at the store.

Zucchini is like buying gold in the supermarkets. I've seen them smaller than cucumbers, but are sold for 2 or 3 times the price. (At least here it is.) If this type of squash is so easy to grow, then why is it so expensive to buy? And why are they so tiny?

Since I refuse to buy this gold, I will have to go without it or pay the price. Now more than ever...I want zucchini!

I bought a coffee gift basket (Hawaiian collection) from 3DRose for some friends, like this one. My friends told me the coffee was good and I was able to see the mug and coasters. They looked real nice.

Bake some delicious zucchini bread. The apron will keep your clothes clean while baking.

Zucchini Flower T-shirt Available in all sizes here

Click Here to See all Zucchini gifts by Sandyspider on Zazzle

Or otherwise ridding yourself of unwanted surplus summer squash

Courtesy of Tom and Ruth Roy of Wellcat.com Their site is linked to Wellcat Herbs and Wellcat Holidays.

I had corresponded with Mr. Thomas Roy on using this list. His reply was, "Absolutely. Please send me a copy, too?"

1) Carefully place a dozen or more zucchini in a large, sturdy black plastic trash bag, then add a couple layers of unwanted clothing. Drive to nearest Goodwill or Salvation Army, hand over bag to nearest volunteer. Politely refuse any offered receipt. Leave quickly.

2) Look for out of the way places which have signs posted, "Clean Fill Wanted."

3) Reserve 1/2 of the space in large, upright freezer, gather all available plastic containers & freezer bags. Drink a vat of your favorite caffeinated beverage, in preparation for staying up round the clock to puree large quantities of zucchini. This can then be packaged neatly and artistically labeled: "For Zucchini Nut Bread Recipe." These packages can be freely given, along with copies of recipe, to anyone on your Christmas list. [Ed. note: I solemnly promise that I will eventually post this recipe.]

4) Under light of full moon, either stark naked or wearing full army camouflage, carrying a machete or any garden implement, run amuck in your zucchini patch, cutting and slashing. Be sure to thank mother nature for her bounty before and after this cathartic experience.

5) Buy a large roll of freezer paper--the kind that sub shops use to, you know, wrap up their subs & other sandwiches. Then proceed to wrap each zucchini which has managed to grow to a foot or more in length. Next time your child has a fundraiser, send him or her out supplied with these phony subs. Tell child to drop them off with neighbors or relatives and leave quickly. It's advisable that a responsible adult hover nearby in a get-away car.

6) Gotta run! Time to order my seeds.

Click on the links below to view these flower and food mugs on 3DRose. Find all this designer's products when going down 3/4s of the product pages until you find my name.

Sandy Mertens Flower Designs Mug Page

Sandy Mertens Food Designs Mug Page

Ingredients:

* 2 small to medium zucchini

* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, 4 turns of the pan

* 4 cloves garlic, chopped

* Salt and freshly ground black pepper

* 1 pound spaghetti, (cooked slightly chewy to the bite)

* 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano

Directions:

Pile up 2 or 3 layers of paper towels on a work surface. Working on the paper towels, shred zucchinis using a box grater holding the zucchini at an angle.

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil to the pan Add chopped garlic to the oil. When garlic speaks by sizzling in oil, add shredded zucchini. Season zucchini with salt and pepper. Sauté shredded zucchini 7 to 10 minutes. Add hot, drained pasta to the pan. Toss spaghetti with zucchini and garlic oil. Add a couple of handfuls of grated cheese to the pan. Adjust seasoning and serve.

Cook time: 15 min. Serves 4.

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