Farmers Market Zucchini Salad

A couple Saturdays ago my good friend Vanessa over at I Never Grew Up introduced us to the Salt Lake City Farmers Market. We had so much fun pushing a double-wide stroller through the crowds that we only made it halfway around the park. Looks like we'll need to head back for part two in a couple weeks. We did manage to pick up some super fresh zucchini, basil, cantaloupe and of course tasty treats like pastries, asiago cheese bread, kettle corn and honey butter (which I swear I could eat with a spoon).


We manged to finish off the cantaloupe before it became too ripe but the golden zucchini suffered the fate of most of the fresh veggies in my veggie drawer (i.e., mushy, moldy and inedible). I knew I had to do something with the rest of the zucchini and quick, but at the same time I didn't want to eat a whole pan of zucchini brownies and a couple loaves of chocolate zucchini bread myself. (Okay, I wanted to but knew it wouldn't be very good for me to do so.)

So what I ended up doing was taking three of the four zucchini, shredding it with my food processor and freezing it in two-cup portions, the perfect size for most any zucchini recipe. I plan on using some of it in a Pineapple Zucchini Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, a new recipe I found on The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen site. Can't wait for that one! As for the remaining lone zucchini, I created this simple salad using some leftover tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil--also a yummy find at the Farmers Market.


Here's a simple recipe; feel free to tweak it as you like. It's actually a take on my Quick & Easy Italian Salad:

Farmers Market Zucchini Salad
1 zucchini, sliced and quartered
2-3 roma tomatoes, sliced and quartered
1/2 to 1 cup diced mozzarella
10 to 12 basil leaves, chiffanade
1/4 cup or so of Wild Harvest organice Rustic Italian dressing (my all-time favorite Italian dressing)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and toss with dressing. Serve immediately or refrigerate for 30 minutes to chill and intensify the flavors.

This was even better the next day--yummy and refreshing and not nearly as blurry in real life! (Sorry, Quinn...I just don't have your food photography skills.) You can add a little red onion, olives, cherry tomatoes or even a variety of tomatoes. And if you have a non-mushy golden zucchini, throw that in there too! --Emily

"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie." ~Jim Davis