Mmm Farmer's Market Zucchini

I love Farmer's Markets for a couple reasons. First, I always enjoy supporting local businesses. I'm a total mom & pop business kind of gal and I really, truly despise Wal-Mart (but no hate on Target...It's just better as a store & company...in MY opinion) Plus I'm really into the, hey let's not throw chemicals on our produce strong enough to kill an ox, produce movement. Farmer's Markets are the easiest way to get your fresh produce without the Whole Foods price-tag. WF, I LOVE YOU! But you're just so darn pricey!

And I digress.

So I got this huge zucchini the other weekend. I'm talking UUUUGE. (Please tell me one of you watches Cake Boss. If not, disregard...) So I knew I wanted to make Paula Deen's chocolate chip zucchini bread because I love carbs, I love chocolate, and zucchini is nice too :)

So off I went to make the bread.....it was so gooey and delicious. Only recommendation for you is that I would bake it for a little bit longer than Paula suggests. Mine was a bit too gooey in the middle and had to be thrown back in for another 7 minutes or so.


.....and after making it I realized, yowzas! I still had 2/3 of this zucchini left. I knew we were having brats (bratwurst) for dinner so I thought some grilled zucchini would be a nice addition. I cut the zucchini into thick slices and threw them in a gallon sized zip-lock bag. Then I put about a 1/3 cup or so of Italian dressing in a bowl with a tsp of garlic powder, some dried basil, thyme, and oregano. Mixed it together. Threw it in the zip-lock bag and shook it like I was Shake & Bakin'! Then I let them chill in the zip-lock in the fridge for about 5 hours. Grilled them on high heat for about 4-6 minutes on each side and rotated them for the fun grill marks.

The zucchini turned out beautifully! They were tender and had a sweet and flavorful taste to them. It was too easy not to share!

I picked up a lot of grapes, too many actually, so I'm looking for a fun grape salad recipe or something. We'll see!

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. We're enjoying fabulous fall-like weather here in Chicago. Tomorrow is our family's 2nd Fantasy Football Draft. I'm sure it's going to get a little out of control :)