Grated Zucchini Pancakes - 3 Ways

Have you noticed that Spring zucchini has been on sale lately? I'm eager to experiment with this vegetable over the coming months. Currently one of my favorite recipes using zucchini is my "Zucchini Frittata" recipe.  As much as I love that recipe, I would like more "go-to" zucchini recipes. After a week of zucchini pancakes for breakfast everyday and twice with dinner, my husband is happy that I'm done tweaking my new recipe for "Grated Zucchini Pancakes."  The best part? If you use the appropriate ingredients this recipe qualifies as a Phase 2 South Beach recipe. I love "Potato Pancakes" and this makes a great "lower" carb substitution.  You can make a personal pancake in an 8-inch frying pan (my favorite and what is pictured below), a giant pancake that you can cut in pizza-like slices, and small cakes like small pancakes. What's your favorite?

Grated Zucchini Pancake - Individual 8-inch
1 large zucchini (mine weighed 11 1/4 oz)
6 scallions
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons of flour (I've been using gluten free)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons of unsalted butter (use substitute for South Beach)
3 tablespoons (or so) of microplaned parmesan cheese
sour cream, yogurt, creme fraiche - optional (use low fat or fat free for South Beach - I use regular)
fresh herbs like basil, parsley, chives, mint, oregano (optional)

1. Grate zucchini with a large box grater or similar device into a large mixing bowl.

2. Finely slice white and green parts of scallions and add to the zucchini. (Optional - reserve some green ends for garnish).

3. Mix the zucchini and the onions together by hand.

4. Using paper towels squeeze dry the zucchini mixture.

5. Mix pepper and flour into the zucchini mixture.

6. Lightly beat 1 egg in a small bowl.

7. Add the lightly beaten egg to the zucchini mixture and stir with a fork.

8. Heat butter in an 8-inch oven-safe non-stick frying pan over medium heat. I love ScanPans for this type of cooking. Also, pre-heat the oven on the low-broil setting.

9. Spoon the zucchini mixture into the pan and press flat. Press around the entire edge to form an even pancake and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until the bottom is golden brown.

10. As the pancake is cooking in the pan (in step 9) salt generously and grate parmesan cheese evenly over the top of the pancake using a microplane.

11. When the bottom is golden move the oven-safe frying pan to the second-to-the-top shelf under the broiler. Broil 8 to 12 minutes or longer depending on how golden brown you want the top.

12. Serve immediately with sour cream, yogurt, or creme fraiche. You can also add fresh herbs.

Family Style - Variation 2
Double the basic recipe listed above for a 10-inch oven-safe non-stick frying pan or triple the recipe for a 12-inch oven-safe non-stick frying pan. This version needs to broil on low (second to the top rack) for a little longer than the 8-inch pancake. Serve in wedges. Note: these go great with "Greek Smyrna Meatballs" from Whipped the Blog.

Small Individual Pancakes - Variation 3
The recipe for the 8-inch pancake listed above will make 8 small pancakes.  Depending on how many you want you may want to double the recipe. After the bottom is golden brown you could just flip these over and cook the same way on the other side. However, I decided to keep the same basic method. I placed the pancakes on a parchment lined cookie sheet, grated the cheese over the tops and placed under the broiler.

Baked Eggs (Individual Servings)

You know how when you are shopping for a new or used car, and you've got it narrowed down to a couple of makes and models, and then you start seeing those cars on the road everywhere? Have you ever had that experience with recipes? I don't know where in the world I've been that I haven't tried baked eggs until now.  I'm sure I've perused many baked egg recipes before I took notice of them. Now I'm seeing baked egg recipes everywhere. I've discovered many of my favorite magazines and food blogs have recipes for baked eggs. Bottom line, as my husband and I periodically revisit "Phase 1" of  "The South Beach Diet" baked eggs make a great addition to our repitoire. Using some greens, a couple of eggs, some leftover bacon, sausage, beef, or pork, and some cheese makes a great combination.

Baked Eggs (for each individual serving)
1 teaspoon of butter (pure South Beach would call for fake butter but I use real)
1 tablespoon of milk or half and half (pure South Beach would call for low fat but I use whole)
1/2 cup of raw greens, roughly chopped or torn (I've used spinach and baby kale)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese
1 - 2 tablespoons of crumbled bacon or sausage (pure South Beach would call for turkey but I use pork)
salt and pepper

1. Butter a small two-cup capacity oven-safe casserole dish.

2. Add 1 tablespoon of milk.

3. Roughly chop greens and arrange them in the casserole dish.

4. Crack 2 eggs over the greens being careful not to break the yolks.

5. Sprinkle with grated cheese, salt and pepper.

6. Add any leftover meat you have preferably bacon, sausage, or ham. I would have used more bacon but we usually don't have a lot of leftover bacon in the house.

7. Bake at 350 for 15 to 18 minutes depending on how you want the yolk.  I like a 17 minute egg which gives me solid white with a semi-solid yolk.

From other websites:
"Herbed-Baked Eggs" by Food Network's Ina Garten
"Baked Eggs with Bacon and Spinach" by Epicurious
"Baked Eggs" by Use Real Butter (I think I was mostly inspired by this post)
"Soft and Pretty - Eggs en Cocette" by the Kitchen
"Recipe for Baked Eggs with Mushrooms and Parmesan" by Kalyn's Kitchen (Plus, Kalyn has loads of South Beach Phase 1 recipe egg dishes on her site. I highly recommend checking those out)

Cinnamon Tea (Iced or Hot)

My husband and I had the privilege to vacation in Costa Rica a couple of months ago. One of many activities that we enjoyed was going to Rainforest Spices.  Of all the things people can do on vacation you probably wouldn't think that going to a large spice garden would be an the top of the list. However, I'm happy to say that my husband was more than willing to do this with me, and we both had a great time, tasted great food, and learned so much. Rainforest Spices is a large sustainable, organic spice garden that cultivates vanilla beans (more recipes with those later), Ceylon cinnamon (the allegedly true cinnamon), ginger, cardamom, and cocoa. Our tour was able to sample some great foods made with these spices. By far the most exciting and eye-opening taste experience was the iced cinnamon tea! I bought a bunch of Rainforest Spices' Ceylon cinnamon so that I could make the tea at home. My recent house guests were wowed and delighted by this beverage choice.  I think this will have to be a staple in my refrigerator. You can contact Rainforest Spices to see if you can purchase from them directly or use google to see what other sources you can find.  If you can score a good quality Ceylon cinnamon to make this tea, I don't think you'll be sorry.

Cinnamon Tea (Iced or Hot)
1 1/4 oz cinnamon bark pieces
2 quarts of water


1. Measure 1 1/4 oz. of Ceylon cinnamon bark pieces.

2. Place cinnamon sticks in 2 quarts of water breaking the sticks into smaller pieces (yet not creating powder). This will help to create better flavor in the tea.

3. Bring to a boil for 2 - 3 minutes.

4. Remove from heat, cover, and let simmer for 3 - 5 hours (the longer the better)

5. Pour the steeped tea though cheese cloth.

6. Chill in clean container in the refrigerator.

NOTE: There is some debate over the differences and health benefits between
different species of cinnamon. You can get some basic background about that on here (on Wikipidia).

Bottom line there are at least four major species to consider:

• Cinnamomum verum ("True cinnamon", Sri Lanka cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon)
• C. burmannii (Korintje, Padang Cassia, or Indonesian cinnamon)
• C. loureiroi (Saigon cinnamon, Vietnamese cassia. or Vietnamese cinnamon)
• C. cassia (Cassia or Chinese cinnamon)

BOTTOM LINE: At Rainforest Spices they cultivate Ceylon cinnamon which they informed us takes longer to grow than Cassia cinnamon. We watched as someone took a large knife to a tree branch to peel the bark just like someone would peel a potato.  

Once the layer under the bark was exposed they peeled the next layer - the cinnamon layer -  into another container.

That's the part that ends up in a bag for sale in the spice shop.