I have to admit that I was a notorious picky eater as a kid. There were many an argument at the dinner table “Eat at least 3 bites of everything on your plate” my mom would say. Or “There is not going to be anything else to eat tonight.” Another common threat as that if we didn’t clean our plate we wouldn’t get dessert.
Well, I remember one particular incident when I was about 5 years old. My cousin came over after school and was staying for dinner. For dinner we were having zucchini and squash. My cousin and I had eaten every thing else on our plates, but my mom said that if we didn’t eat at least 3 bites of our vegetables that we couldn’t have dessert, which was ice cream.
We cried, and yelled, and threw temper tantrums. We tried our best at negotiating and then tried to trick my mom by putting the nasty stuff in our napkins or slipping it to our dog. But none of that worked. My mom was strict and was not going to budge.
So I sucked it up, plugged my nose, put as many of those damn green and yellow veggies that I could in my mouth and began to chew…. or at least tried to chew…. but the next thing I knew I was gaging and running to the bathroom… I guess because I was so worked up, or because I tried to fit so much in my mouth, or what but there was no way that night I was going to eat that zucchini and squash (my cousin tried to do the same thing, and ended up running outside- since I was hogging the bathroom- and ‘got rid of’ his dinner veggies there).
Sorry to be so colorful on my food blog; but according to this little story you would probably think there would never be any squash or zucchini recipes here… that I had been scared for life. But I actually over came my veggie fears and now LOVE squash and especially zucchini. I like to eat it so many ways….
And these Zucchini Chips are one way I LOVE zucchini. These little things are soooo yummy. I actually made them as an appetizer for dinner one night and ended up eating them all and not any of my dinner (if mom could see me now)!
Zucchini Chips
by Heather of Kitchen Concoctions
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
About 50 small pretzels, finely crushed to equal ½ cup
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ cup flour
1 egg
1 large zucchini, cut into thin circles
Mix first eight ingredients into bowl. In two separate bowls add flour and egg. Dip prepared zucchini first into flour and then into egg and last into seasoned bread crumb mixture. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange prepared zucchini on baking sheet and bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with ranch dressing or marinara.
OH, and I know you are all wondering….. my mom really can’t stay tuff for long especially when she looks at my cute little face- I still scored ice cream that night (cookies and cream to be exact) despite all my antics!