Round-Ball Zucchini Muffins

Tags

8 ball squash, baking, eightball squash, muffins, postaweek2011, Recipes, Round French Zucchini, round squash, squash, summer squash, zucchini

This is my own personal recipe for zucchini squash muffins. There’s oodles of squash muffin recipes, but I needed to make one that wasn’t terribly sweet or very spicy.

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I’m using 8 ball squash in this recipe (and will also use round french zucchini squash when it matures)

I use the round squash because I didn’t plant any regular zucchini varieties.  Regular zucchinis would work just as well in it.

1  1/2 cups shredded round or regular zucchini squash
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup olive oil
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1  1/4 cups self rising flour
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Preheat oven to 400°
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Peel & scoop out the seeds of squash.
It’s easier for me to slice the squash and then peel each slice and de-seed it.

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Shred squash
and set a side

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I use my old salad shooter to shred the squash.

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Beat egg with mixer on low speed for 10 or 20 seconds and set aside

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Put allspice, sugar and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.
With mixer on low speed, mix them together until the sugar is  moistened and it resembles grainy damp corn meal.
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Add the pre-beaten egg to the grainy mixture and mix until well blended

Add the vanilla to the milk and then add it to the above mixture

blend well

Add self rising flour a little at a time to the mixture.
Beat on low/medium setting until well blended

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With a large spoon, fold shredded squash into the mixture

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Line a 12 section cupcake pan with cupcake liners
Fill each cup about 3/4 way full

Place cupcake pan on the middle rack in a preheated 400° oven.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until done

These muffins  won’t rise much.

You can test for doneness by taking the pan out of the oven and inserting a toothpick in the middle of a muffin and then pull it out: if it comes out clean the muffins are done. I always test at least a half dozen of them to be sure.

Let muffins cool and serve.

My husband says these are delicious.  I agree I think they’re pretty tasty. 

Round French Zucchini, variegated Squash leaves, white mold & hydrogen peroxide

Tags

gardening, postaweek2011, squash, variegated leaves, white dust, white marks, white mold, white spots, zucchini

This post is in reference to my friend Pip’s comment on a squash photo in my post: Gardening Photos pre-rain (& heart shaped wild flowers)

*note: I borrowed Pip’s photo and included it in her comment quote.
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Piglet in Portugal June 6, 2011 at 12:19 pm #

“Your lilies are beautiful!

I notice on the zucchini
Your leaves have the same white markings as mine

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Mine are worse, but this is how they started.”

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I’ve moved this post to my Squash blog:
You’re welcome to visit my new blog & read the rest of this post there for information and photos
Round French Zucchini, variegated Squash leaves, white mold & hydrogen peroxide

Round Squash – My Favorite Garden Veggies to grow

Tags

8 ball, french round, gardening, green, green stripes, one ball, piccolo, piccolo squash, Piglet in Portugal, postaweek2011, round squash, summer, summer squash, yellow, zucchini

(The striped squash in this photo is called a piccolo.)

This is another post inspired by my friend Piglet in Portugal, she’s a marvel for getting my old brain cells to spinning.   Thank you Pip,

Pip made a post, Growing Fruit and Veg in Pots and Plot, about her beautiful and successful gardening techniques and methods. Her photos are great and her thoughts are very clever and helpful ideas on gardening in containers and plots.
She asked us readers of her blog the question:
“Which fruit and vegetables are you growing in your garden or in pots? Please share your successes and failures…we can all learn from each other”

My favorite veggies to grow are round squash also known as orb squash.   The round squash are from the summer squash variety of zucchini. My favorite ways to cook them are microwaved, grilled or fried.  They’re good for making breads, salads, stir-fry or most anyway you’d normally use a squash.

One of the most attractive aspects of the round squash is that they’ll keep for a couple of weeks or longer in the refrigerator, whereas regular zucchini/summer squash only keep for a few days to maybe a week or so.  Last year, I had more than a few that kept for a couple of months.

Round squash are as easy to grow as regular summer squash.  They come in at about 45 to 50 days depending on the soil and weather.
I try to harvest them when they’re about 3 or 4 inches in diameter because they are more tender… but sometimes they get away from me and grow a bit bigger.

I’ve been growing them a couple of years now. I just love seeing them in my garden.  They’re so festive and fun looking.  The round fruits shining in the sun makes me happy. I can hardly wait to get my seeds planted this year and get some of these enchanting and delicious veggies growing.

Here’s a few pictures of some of mine.

8 ball – dark green
One ball – beautiful rich yellow
French round medium light green

Microwaved one ball squash stuffed
with cheddar broccoli rice
and garnished with a slice of cucumber

Microwaved 8 ball stuffed with pinto beans,
American cheese slice & yellow tomato wedges

Here’s wishing you all a Happy
& Productive Gardening Season!

I posted an edited version of this post on my other blog:
About Round Squash