when life gives you zucchinis...

...stare at them in confusion.

So, growing up, zucchini was a vegetable that pretty much never made an appearance in the house. It's not really found in Asian cooking and I just never really been acquainted with this green summer squashy entity.

If you may recall, on our recent peach picking excursion, we picked up two hulking zucchini specimens and then also received a couple more from a family friend. Apparently, once you start growing zucchini, you'll have enough in one season to last you a lifetime. That's why we're never growing zucchini.

Of course, being rather dessert oriented, the first idea was to make zucchini bread! And make zucchini bread I did, for the most part following this AMAZING recipe. I used whole wheat flour instead, halved and used brown sugar.

The first batch resulted in one plain loaf and one loaf loaded with chopped up pieces of a 70% dark chocolate bar. UM HEAVEN.

The second batch was, shall we say...naughtier. It may or may not have involved this. Lots of this.

Oooh yes I did. First, I took half a cup of raisins and soaked it in warmed rum for a couple of hours until the raisins plumped up with alcohol infused goodness.

But wait, that's not all. After baking and cooling off for a bit, the entire loaf was then doused in a ridiculous RUM GLAZE:

• -1/2 cup butter
• -1/4 cup water
• -1 cup sugar
• -1/2 cup rum
• 
  
• Heat butter, water, and sugar in saucepan until boiling, stirring frequently. Simmer for 5-10 minutes and then remove from heat before adding rum. Let cool for a few minutes. Poke some holes in your loaf and brush glaze over entire loaf, letting more dribble into the cracks.

I die.

Maybe combine them both for a dark chocolate rum raisin loaf next time? Hehehe...

If zucchini bread doesn't do it for you, you can always chop up the darn thing and sautee it with a little EVOO and garlic.

Or slice it up, rub with a little salt, pepper, oil, and Italian herbs and roast it.

Or use a spiralizer or peeler to make long pasta-like strands and top with your favorite tomato or cream sauce. Raw zucchini strips make an excellent and healthy pasta substitute!

Pasta with chopsticks? Sure, why not.

And with that, I'm off to deal with our one remaining stash. Bring on the zuke!