Zucchini and Tomato Skillet

Zucchini is a summer squash. Meaning zucchini harvested while immature. The rind is tender and edible. Botanically zucchini is a fruit. In the culinary world it's treated like a vegetable. It's harvested when it reaches 9 to 10 inches long, it loses taste if it grows longer than 9 to 10 inches. 

Zucchini was developed in Italy in 19 century near Milan. Their name comes for an Italian word, squash ("zucca"). The other name courgette comes from French for this vegetable. Zucchini came to North America in 1920s, may have been brought by Italian immigrants. Good chance is was first cultivation in California. People in USA, Canada and Australia call it the Italian name, Zucchini. In South Africa is called "baby marrow." 

Zucchini like the temperate climate and is easy to cultivate. Farmers try to control production by harvesting the flower, which can be sold at high cost, due to it's consider a delicatessen. They required a great number of bees for pollination. 

Zucchini very healthy, because they contain folate, vitamin A and potassium. As mention, they are harvested when very young for good taste. 

Zucchini can be eaten raw in salad, or grilling, frying, steam, boil and baking. 

Zucchini flowers are stuffed, battered and than deep fried. Tempura, Japanese dish.  

Mexicans like to use zucchini in soup. Quesadillas for a filling. 

Easy way to cook zucchini is slice it with skin on cooked in butter or olive oil with seasonings.

In Bulgarian, they cook zucchini as a snack, serve with dip. 

Egyptians, cook zucchini in tomato sauce with onions and garlic. 

History by Vegetable Facts

Ritzy Chicken Nuggets with Honey Mustard Sauce

The inventor of chicken nuggets has been forgotten. Eighteen years before fast food started selling chicken nuggets, a food science professor, Robert C. Baker was whipping up batter coated chicken bites from his test kitchen at Cornell University. 

Homemade Ranch Dressing

More than 50 years ago, cowboy Steve Henson, born in Nebraska, dreamed of being rich. With his sweetheart Gayle, he did what so many young men before him had done and headed west.

Sauteed Mushrooms

Look for crimini mushrooms that are firm, plump, clean and brown in color. Those that are wrinkled or have wet slimy spots should be avoided. If your recipe calls for caps only, choose mushrooms that have short stems to avoid waste. Fresh and dried button mushrooms are available throughout the year. 

Mushroom Swiss Burgers

Button mushrooms have grown wild since prehistoric times, having been consumed as food by the early hunter gatherers. 

Debo's Shrimp Pita

While shrimp may be small, they are huge in their appeal as these deliciously clean and crisp tasting crustaceans can be served hot or cold and are the most popular seafood in the United States, next to canned tuna. Fortunately, we able to enjoy fresh and frozen shrimp throughout the year. 

Italian Sausage And Peppers Over Rice

Olive oil has been and still is a staple in the diet of many Mediterranean countries.

Potato Packet

Whether mashed, baked , grilled or roasted, people often consider potatoes as comfort food. It is an important food staple and the number one vegetable crop in the world. Potatoes are available year round as they are harvested somewhere every month of the year. 

Chicken Sandwich With Rosemary Mayo

Panko is a variety of flaky bread crumb used in Japanese cuisine as a crunchy coating for fried foods, such as tonkatsu. 

Homemade Applesauce

The sweet orange does not occur in the wild. It is believed to have been first cultivated in southern China, northeastern India, or perhaps southeastern Asia (formerly Indochina). 

Debo's Triple Nut Butter

The almond is a native to the Mediterranean climate region of the Middle East, eastward as far as the Indus. It was spread by humans in ancient times along the shores of the Mediterranean into northern Africa and southern Europe and more recently transported to other parts of the world, notably California, United States. 

Beef And Cheese Manicotti

Native to central Asia, garlic is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world and has been grown for over 5000 years. Ancient Egyptians seem to have been the first to cultivate this plant that played an important role in their culture. 

Turkey And Rice Casserole

Celery has become a common household staple along with carrots, onions and potatoes. Its crunchy texture and distinctive flavor makes it a popular addition to salads and many cooked dishes. Although it is available throughout the year, you will enjoy the best taste and quality of celery during the summer months when it is in season and locally grown varieties can be easily found in the markets. 

Roasted Veggies And Smoked Sausage

While bell peppers are a very popular vegetable, they have not always shared the health research spotlight with other members of the pepper family due to their very minimal content of the phytonutrient capsaicin, the well-researched pepper compound that gives hot peppers their "heat." Once active in the body, capsaicin can bind onto nerve cell receptors and change pain sensation, and it may also have important anti-cancer and blood-sugar balancing properties. However, the lack of "heat" or significant amounts of capsaicin in bell peppers does not mean that this vegetable should be denied the health research spotlight! 

Chicken Tostadas

Chives are the smallest species of the edible onions. The name of the species derives from the Greek skhoínos (sedge) and prason (leek). Its English name, chive, derives from the French word cive, from cepa, the Latin word for onion. 

Smoked Cajun Style Turkey Grilled Cheese

Food historians generally agree that cooked bread and cheese combinations (in many different forms, textures and tastes) were ancient foods known across most continents and cultures. The earliest recipes for food like these are found in Ancient Roman cookbooks. Modern grilled cheese sandwiches descended from these ancient recipes. 

Pie Filling Cake

Photo by Debo

Cranberries weren't always cranberries. For Eastern Indians, they were "sassamanesh.” Cape Cod Pequots and South Jersey Leni-Lenape tribes called them "ibimi," or bitter berry. And the Algonquins of Wisconsin dubbed the fruit "atoqua.” But it was the early German and Dutch settlers who started calling it the "crane berry” because of the flower’s resemblance to the head and bill of a crane. And finally, that was the name that stuck.

 

Beefy Rice With Ketchup Sauce

Ketchup a sweet and tangy food sauce, typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, a sweetener, and assorted seasonings and spices. 

Debo's Chicken Fried Chicken Burgers

Aside from being a contributing factor in the development of civilization, salt was also used in the military practice of salting the earth by various peoples, beginning with the Assyrians.

Chicken And Rice

The cheese originates from the village of Cheddar in Somerset, South West England. Cheddar Gorge on the edge of the village contains a number of caves, which provided the ideal humidity and constant temperature for maturing the cheese. Cheddar cheese traditionally had to be made within 30 miles (48 km) of Wells Cathedral.