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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Zucchini Fritters, Meatloaf, Green Bean Casserole

Do you want your kids to eat more green vegetables? Try this recipe for a real treat, they call them Zucchini Patties, but to my mind they cook up more like a nice thick fritter. The recipe here includes 1 C of Bisquick, which is an ingredient I never seem to have on hand, to make up a nice substitute for Bisquick simply mix 1 C of flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of either lard or shortening. Any leftover mix must be stored in the fridge (unlike real Bisquick) but it will work just as well, alternatively you can mix up 1 C of self rising flour with the teaspoon of lard, that's basically what it is. I never have self rising flour on hand either!

So you mix up all the ingredients (flour, shredded cheese, egg and 3 whole cups of shredded zucchini!) I added a little water to get a very thick batter and then I shallow fried them in an iron skillet set on medium in about 1/2 an inch of vegetable oil. When I pulled them out of the oil I set them on a plate covered with paper towels to drain and topped them with a tiny sprinkle of coarse sea salt. YUM!!!!

Another place I put unsuspecting fruits and veggies is into meatloaf. I mixed 1 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef with 1 C of shredded zucchini, 1/2 C of mashed blue berries (I KNOW! but seriously, very good like this) and 1 small onion chopped small. I also added 3 egg yolks, plus 1 whole egg (I had some leftover egg yolks to use up normally I use 2 whole eggs) some Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and bread crumbs I made from 2 pieces of sugar-free whole wheat bread. I have also used oatmeal or seasoned bread crumbs in the recipe too.

My green bean casserole recipe is basically a layer of green beans topped with half a can of cream of mushroom soup, handful or two of shredded cheese, some onion rings, and repeat layers till you are out of beans. I bake it in the oven alongside the meatloaf, or throw the whole thing into a slow cooker for 4-6 hours on high.

2 comments:

  1. You've got to be kidding - blueberries in a meatloaf?!

    I like to mix spinach into my meatloaf, but it is visible and therefore my son won't eat it. Sigh.

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  2. Well, the way I look at it, nobody bats an eye if you put ketchup in a meatloaf, and tomato is a fruit and almost all ketchup is further sweetened with sugar or corn syrup, pureed blueberries are less sweet than that. I read about using them in ground beef years ago to keep the meat moist and to add a bit more nutrition. I only do this during high season for berries when they are super cheap and plentiful and we can barely eat them fast enough. It uses up excess berries. :)

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