My 7 month old enjoyed eating whole chunks of soft, steamed zucchini slices and homemade purees like one I made with zucchini, black beans, sweet potato, and cumin.
I often go simple when it comes to zucchini, like cutting lengthwise and grilling, or slicing and sautéing with onion & garlic. This time, feeling adventurous, I looked up some recipes and found two that I will definitely make again.
The first was a chocolate zucchini bread (see this post for a slightly healthier of version Chocolate Zucchini Bread). I used this recipe as my guide:
http://www.realmomnutrition.com/2016/07/25/chocolate-zucchini-bread/
Changes: I used less sugar, greek yogurt instead of regular, cacao powder instead of cocoa, 63% dark chocolate chips, coconut oil instead of vegetable, and added 1 tsp vanilla extract.
This moist, dense, but not too heavy, cake---errr, bread, was excellent on it's own, but the night I made it we also happened to have some Caramel Salt Lick ice cream from our favorite local shop Lick Honest Ice Creams so we threw a scoop (or two) on top of the bread. Oh. My. Goodness.... that was heaven!
The next recipe I made was a Zucchini-Tomato-Rice Gratin (YES! I finally got to use my Le Creuset gratin dish). I used this recipe:
https://smittenkitchen.com/2012/07/zucchini-tomato-and-rice-gratin/
The recipe seems to have a lot of steps, but it's really not that difficult. And once you get the steps down, there is a lot of room for adjustment/substitutions. It would be especially easy using leftover rice instead of making it fresh. I let my zucchini and tomatoes roast a bit longer than the recipe states- until the zucchini was golden and the tomatoes were starting to shrink down. I also let the onions caramelize instead of covering/steaming as the recipe instructs. I did not have fresh thyme on hand, so I used dried, but I would just omit if I don't have fresh in the future. I added fresh basil which was an excellent addition.
I served this alongside roasted salmon and asparagus which all went wonderfully together!
