Its that time of the year when Zucchini is showing up in our gardens or in some cases on our porches!   

If you have lots of zucchini, you can shred it with a food processor and freeze it in 2-cup portions for zucchini bread or cake any time of the year.

Brian and I enjoy spriralizing it and just blanching it for a minute.  You want it to remain firm.  Then we use a sauce.  Sometimes a marinara made with fresh tomatoes or with garlic and olive oil.

Being gluten free breads that are made with bananas or shredded zucchini hold together in a way that gluten free breads often do not.
​Orange Cranberry Zucchini BreadThis delicious zucchini bread is flavored with orange zest and cinnamon along with dried cranberries and optional chopped nuts. Sour cream adds to the richness of this zucchini bread.  
The recipe makes two small loaves. Wrap the second loaf and freeze it for up to four months.
Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons orange extract
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
• 2 cups zucchini (shredded)
• 1 cup dried cranberries or craisins
• Optional: 3/4 cup chopped nuts

Steps to Make It

1. Gather the ingredients.
   
2. Heat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 3-inch loaf pans.
   
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.
   
4. In a large mixing bowl, beat or whisk together the sugar, oil, eggs, and orange extract.
   
5. Stir in the dry ingredients and the sour cream until well blended. Fold in the orange zest, zucchini, cranberries, and optional chopped nuts.
   
6. Spoon into the two loaf pans, dividing equally.
   
7. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the center.
   

During the hot days of August—especially during these Covid-19 times—a cooling summer drink may shorten these long days, especially when accompanied by a morsel as tasty as Chile Peanuts, either Red or Green.  This recipe has been in my file for a long time, that is, the recipe for Red Chile Peanuts.  As I remade it, I thought “Why not Green?” and suggested, in my first draft, that my EnJoy readers experiment with this and let me know the results.  Daughter Lisa, visiting with me, suggested I experiment with Green, and so I did.  Here is my result along with the tried-and-true Red version.
Food Styling and Photography by Lisa M. Joy

We'd love to hear from locals.   Send your favorite family recipe to info@abiquiunews.com.  If you have a picture of the dish so much the better.

It's going to be a scorcher this weekend.  I've been looking for recipes that involve no stove time or grill time.  This one fits the bill.

Ingredients

• 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
• 1 cucumber, roughly chopped
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 cup seedless red grapes, halved
• 1 cup Smokehouse Almonds, roughly chopped
• 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed, skins removed
• 14 ounces white albacore tuna, drained and flaked (two 7 ounce cans, or three 5 ounce cans will work)
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I use full-fat but 2% will work)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 lemon worth of lemon juice
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Whisk Greek yogurt, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl until smooth.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and Greek yogurt mixture in a large bowl. Stir until well mixed.
3. Eat in a tortilla, on a sandwich, or on lettuce wraps! Store sealed in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Our very American Fourth of July culinary celebration can be enhanced by reaching across our Southern border to our Mexican neighbors and borrowing one of their well-known street foods, Eliote, but adapting it to please several people.  After all, we corn-consuming Americans owe Mexico thanks for its agricultural gift of maize.  The word ‘Eliote’ derives from ‘Elote,’ a Nahuatl word meaning ‘corn on the cob’ or ‘tender cob.’
 
Having grown up in Chicago with its large Mexican population, I learned to appreciate Mexican food at an early age.  The first Mexican food I ate as a child was a tamale sold by a street vendor in our neighborhood.  This inauthentic treat, wrapped in paper rather than in a corn husk, acquainted me with masa and a spicy filling and gave me a life-long taste for Mexican food.  I did not know about Eliote until much later in life when I was strolling along one of Chicago’s beautiful Lake Michigan beachfronts and getting hungry.  I bought a cob of Eliote and fell in love with it and am still smitten by it.
 
You might not find an Elitero from whom you can buy a single cob on the street, but you can easily grill this dish in a quantity to feed your family and/or friends.
 
EnJOY