Kids Cuisine

It’s officially lock-your-door season here in Wisconsin.  It also happens to be the season of the Grocery Bag Dash, as you drop a brown paper bag on a neighbor’s porch and run away as fast as you can, hoping that they didn’t catch a glimpse of you. Yes, my friends, it’s zucchini season. 

So far, we’ve been doing a fairly good job of keeping up with the two zucchini plants in our garden.  A baby zucchini here and there is easy to add to just about anything, unless your children decide to become members of the “I hate zucchini” fan club.  So for a few days, I halted the zucchini production in the kitchen and now I’m completely regretting it, as I have a small pile of zucchini which is certainly doomed to become a large pile in no time.  Once again, I have to resort to sneaky mom tactics, and fortunately for me, zucchini is an easy one to hide. 

Shredded zucchini disappears easily into a pasta dish or a baked good.  Cakes, muffins, quick breads, even pancakes make excellent hiding grounds for those shredded green monsters.  A quick whirl with an immersion blender and the zucchini completely disappear into a delightful potato soup or a delicate marinara. Heck, I’ve even ground the little buggers up into pizza sauce, just to get them into my children’s tummies.  Today I decided to go the simple route and add sliced zucchini to some quesadillas a’la Freddie. These quesadillas were declared the best ever by my daughter, who didn’t even bother asking what was in them.  Simply sharp cheddar cheese, sliced zucchini, and flour tortillas, browned lightly in a skillet.  Lunch can’t get much easier than that, or more delicious, in fact.  Served up with the tiniest of tomatoes fresh from the garden, hiding zucchini never tasted better.