Dinner Plan #1

For dinner tonight we had some yummy Gumbo over rice made by my friend Lynn. She had such a big batch that she gave us a sample of it. Very tasty. For our veggies I steamed some asparagus from Costco. I used Tony Roma's cajan seasoning, parmesan cheese and a little butter spread. Delicious! Vivi requested corn on the cob. The girls love it. So I made that and this new Pinterest recipe. This recipe was good. I did it without the onion in hopes Vivi would eat it. Both the kids liked them.

Zucchini Bites

Recipe adapted: The Naptime Chef

yields: 12 mini muffins

1 cups zucchini, grated

1 egg (1 large egg equals 3-4 tbsp when whisked together)

1/4 yellow onion, diced

1/4 cup cheese (cheddar or Parmesan work the best)

1/4 cup bread crumbs - I used Italian style

Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray, set aside.

2. Grate the zucchini and then place in a dish towel to squeeze out the excess water- like when using frozen spinach; if you skip this part, the middle of the zucchini tots will be really soggy while the outside gets crispy and no one wants that.

3. In a bowl combine, the egg, onion, cheese, bread crumbs, zucchini, salt and pepper.

4. Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups to the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top is browned and set.

Some Tips  from others:

>Egg Allergy? Try an egg-replacement product or a mixture of 3 tbsp water to 1 tbsp ground chia or flax seed (it will look gelatinous) and let it sit for 10 minutes before adding into the recipe.   

> Gluten Free? Try almond flour, coconut flour, cooked cauliflower, potato flakes, Corn Chex cereals (g.f), or cooked Quinoa. 

>Flavors: Like I do with any recipe I make, I adjust the ingredients to what I have on hand and what I prefer. You can add fresh herbs, use a different (or even dairy free) cheese, keep the skins on or peel the zucchini, add a bit of heat with red pepper flakes ,or even mix in bacon which on reader did. 

>No mini muffin tin? Some have just placed the mixture onto a baking sheet which has worked okay, but you can use a regular muffin tin. If using a regular muffin tin, fill the mixture to 1/2 full or a little less and press down using your fingers or a tbsp measure. Bake for 18-22 minutes and broil to get the tops crispy.

>Salt: Salt helps draw out the moisture in foods which can help in this recipe. After grating your zucchini and placing it in a towel, sprinkle with salt, and let it sit for 10 minutes or so to draw the excess moisture out. Squeeze the towel really good to get as much of the moisture as you can out of the zucchini. 

>Freezing: I have not tried freezing these so I can't say how they will exactly turn out, but here it goes. Sometimes with zucchini that has been cooked, frozen, and reheated it can tend to be squishy so you have have to turn the broiler on for a few minutes.  

1. I would bake the zucchini tots first before freezing since freezing may change how much moisture the zucchini holds and can result in a mushy tot. Let the tots cool completely before storing in a freezer bag. To heat, you could place each tot on a baking sheet or back into the mini muffin tin to bake at 400F until hot and switch to broil to remove any excess moisture. -Again I have not tried this so I can't guarantee how this will work. If you do freeze and successfully reheat these, let me know what you did so I can give y'all the right information.