Baked Zucchini Fries
I had plans for yesterday. Big plans.
I made myself a nice balanced breakfast, heavy on the protein so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat a wildebeest or fellow employee as a mid-morning snack. It consisted of a eggs with fresh hasbrowns. Delish.
I also prepared a favorite hot lunch: stir fried udon noodles and vegetables with a little light sesame ginger salad dressing. I am tragically out of tofu, so I did the unthinkable and tossed in a few of those Morningstar chik’n strip grillers. I am not fond of them, but they balanced out the meal. I also packed a snack of fresh cherry tomatoes from my garden. YUM!
Having avoided cannibalism or any sugary snacks, I proudly trotted into the employee cafeteria with my Tupperware container filled with stir fried goodness then promptly chucked it in favor of the special of the day: cheese enchilada with rice and beans
To my credit, I did layer lettuce and fresh vegetables over the rice and beans, topped with the most amazing spicy salsa made fresh in house each day. I also tossed in a small spoon of sour cream. You know, for texture.
It was good. Very good. And as a bonus, I still have my stir fried noodles for another day. It of course went over the calorie goal for lunch and sort of spilled into dinner and my work out snack.
I spent much of my afternoon pondering my dinner options because of course, I knew I would need to eat something otherwise the local wildebeest population would be in danger by 8 pm.
I decided to give zucchini fries a try. Why? Because I had just seen what sounded like an amazing recipe for them at Sarah’s Gazing In AND my little urban garden has been producing zucchini of epic proportions. I love zucchini. Thank goodness because I have loads of it.
I have to be honest. My little urban garden has been doing only okay. Apparently I have seriously underestimated the difficulty of actually growing anything in Nevada. However, my zucchini plants are growing like weeds. Giant weeds. Seriously, the leaves are so big that they look like something out of Jurassic Park.
And the zucchini? It is delicious, but who knew that two plants could produces so much. Case in point: On Monday I wandered out into the jungle that is the squash patch and pulled out three overgrown zucchini that quintupled in size over the weekend, plus a several normal sized ones. I cooked up a few. I tossed the terriers a few (they too share my love of fresh zucchini). I tossed some in the fridge. Last night I selected for larger zucchinis for the purpose of fry making.
I set about cleaning, chopping and coating my zucchini, tossed them in the oven and baked. I give this recipe extra points for not only being delicious but super easy and quick to make. I give bonus points for the fact that the recipe yield is quite large, as in I had a heaping pie plate full of crispy on the outside, delicious squashy on the inside zucchini fries…for all of 200 calories. Because I like to dip things, I made a nifty little veggie dip out of Greek yogurt, lime juice and fresh herbs (also from the garden). In total, dinner’s very filling, very satisfying and oh so bountiful dinner was a whopping 250 calories of goodness.
Take that cheese enchilada.
By the way, said zucchini fries in no way interfered with my gym work out. Super extra bonus points for that!
The verdict on baked zucchini fries? They are delicious and I will be making them many, many more times. I should have taken photos but I was hungry. And busy. But mostly hungry. Let’s be honest, I ate them all before I even thought “Hey, I should really take a photo of these.”
You should try them. Thanks, Gazing In, for the brilliant idea!
I am so going to make zucchini fries now!