Savory Zucchini Muffins

When we got married two years ago, Rem and I got Topsy Turvy planters as gifts.  We were pretty excited to start growing some fruits and vegetables, and last summer we had the best intentions, but they never went up.  This May, we finally planted some strawberry, Serrano pepper, and tomato plants!  My dad also gave us some zucchini and squash plants that we planted in our front beds.  So far the plants look pretty good and have lots of flowers on them, but we've only gotten about 5 strawberries and 3 Serrano peppers so far.  Hopefully we’ll have some more produce soon!  I’m just excited that we finally started growing some of our own food.

Tomato plant

Strawberry plant

Serrano pepper plant

Zucchini and squash plants

My dad, who is a very experienced and successful gardener, has a fantastic garden right now!  He grows kohlrabi, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, squash, and cucumbers, just to name a few.  This weekend he gave us some HUGE zucchini and squash from his garden, which I promptly put to good use!

I used the shredder blade on our food processor to shred the zucchini, which made the whole process quick and easy!  I froze part of the shredded zucchini and used the other half to make these savory zucchini muffins.  I don’t think I’ve ever made savory muffins before, as I have a tendency to prefer sweet baked goods.  These muffins were awesome though, and had a very complex flavor.  The roasted peppers, sautéed onion, rosemary and oregano all come through in layers as you chew each bite.  These were delicious straight from the oven, but they can be refrigerated for up to a week.  I also froze some and plan to reheat them in the toaster oven.  Today I ate a refrigerated muffin reheated in the toaster oven for about 8 minutes at 400 degrees.  It was just as delicious as the one straight from the oven!  Of course they’re also good cold if you don’t want to wait that long!

I love cooking and baking with zucchini this time of year!  Other than these muffins, we like to sauté zucchini, squash, onion, green beans, and cherry tomatoes with some olive oil, salt and pepper.  Yum!  What do you like to make with zucchini? 

Savory Zucchini Muffins

Adapted from Thyroid Diet Coach

½ jar (6 oz.) roasted red and yellow peppers (I used TraderJoe’s brand), diced 

1 large onion, diced

1 very large zucchini, shredded (about 3 cups)

½ c extra virgin olive oil

½ c plain, fat free Greek yogurt

1 egg

2 c oat flour (I processed Bob’s Red Mill gluten free oats in the food processor until finely ground; 2 ½ c whole oats gave me 2 c oat flour)

½ c cornmeal

1 tsp salt

3 T fresh rosemary, chopped

1 T dry oregano

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line muffin tins (you will need 2 tins) with liners or coat with olive oil.  (I used muffin liners.)  Sauté onion on medium high in a little olive oil until brown and soft (caramelized).  Combine all dry ingredients (oat flour, cornmeal, salt, rosemary, oregano, pepper and baking powder).  Combine all wet ingredients (chopped peppers, shredded zucchini, sautéed onion. olive oil, yogurt, and egg).  Mix wet and dry ingredients together until fully incorporated.  Spoon into muffins cups.  For me, this recipe yielded 21 muffins.  The muffin cups can be pretty full because they don’t rise very much.  Bake 25-30 minutes or until the tops are firm.  Eat right away, or cool in pan 20-30 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool the rest of the way.  Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator, or take remove muffin liners and freeze. 

Note: There are approximately 2590 calories in the entire recipe.