What do you do when you're getting ready to leave town for a week and your fridge is nearly bare? Go to Chipotle! That's normally my answer, but I knew I'd be eating out a lot in California and Canada, so I opted to get creative with the ingredients on hand. I found a zucchini and...not much else. Zucchini pancakes it is! I'm not sure where this idea came from, seeing how I've never made or even eaten zucchini pancakes. A google search led me to an Ina Garten recipe with decent reviews so I went with it, making a few adaptations based on what I all had.

For beginning as an experiment, these were awesome! I get tired of eating zucchini the same old ways and will absolutely be making this side dish again. Now that I've had success, I want to try it again and spice it up a bit with fresh herbs or other spices. I topped mine with some parmesan cheese & sour cream, but I think there are a variety of sauces that would be great on these (I also saw online that some people top these with applesauce. It sounds weird, but I can totally see it working!). A note to those who are funny about textures--these may freak you out. The outside gets nice and crispy in the skillet, but the insides remain rather moist and almost mushy. I liked the contrast, but I can see how people wouldn't. You may want to be extra vigilant about removing excess moisture and perhaps make your pancakes pretty thin.

Zucchini Pancakes
adapted from Ina Garten
*made 8 pancakes


Ingredients:
-1 medium zucchini
-1/8 cup red onion
-1 cup fresh spinach
-1 egg
-1/4-1/2 whole wheat flour
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-pinch of salt
-1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Add spinach and onion to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Attach the grating piece and grate zucchini (could also use a box grater). Using paper towels, press excess moisture out of zucchini.
2. Add zucchini, spinach, and onion to a large bowl. Mix in beaten egg, 1/4 cup flour, baking powder, salt, and parmesan cheese. Mix well. If mixture seems too liquidy, add additional flour.
3. Grease and heat a skillet over medium-high heat (I just sprayed with cooking spray and let it get hot). Drop spoonfuls of batter onto hot pan. Cook until pancake is browned and crispy. Flip and cook other side until browned and crispy (I left mine on there at least 2-4 minutes a side).
4. Serve warm with desired toppings.