One of the best parts about working (mostly) from home is that it rarely feels like work. So much of the fun of weelicious for me is not only being close to my kids but that I can actually let them participate in helping me create some of the recipes (whether you feel confident making a recipe that a 4 year old helped me to create is entirely up to you)!
I had been working on a recipe for zucchini cakes last week when Kenya came into the kitchen with his grandmother and asked me, “whatcha got” (translation: what are you making for me to eat)? I don’t know why I always feel a little hesitant whenever I offer my kids something I made that contains a green vegetable. Even though I am beyond blessed with two great eaters, I somehow am still guilty of believing that all kids are pre-programmed to not like green veggies. Anyway, Kenya always tends to ask me what’s in whatever it is I am offering him, and so I told him_ parmesan (I always list the cheese first for him, no matter how little is in the recipe!), breadcrumbs, eggs and finally, under my breath I added “zucchini”, to which he literally screamed, “I love zucchini”.
Kenya took a taste and when I asked him what he thought it needed he said most matter of factly, “it needs some cheese on top”. I guess it is worth trusting a 4 year old because just that extra sprinkle of cheese took these Zucchini Cakes from good to great. So great, in fact, that I didn’t even get to serve them as I planned to at dinner that night because Kenya and his dad finished the entire recipe right then and there.
What’s the lesson for me here? Giving your kids input into what you’re making isn’t such a bad idea. On the contrary, allowing them to feel like they contributed something to the dish can be a great way to let them feel some pride of ownership and inspire them to eat things you might have thought they would never be into!
Zucchini Parmesan Cakes
Ingredients
- 2 Medium zucchini, grated
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- 1/4 Tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 Cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese, plus extra to sprinkle on top
- 1/4 Tsp kosher salt
- olive oil
Instructions
- Grate 2 medium zucchini and place in a towel and blot to remove excess liquid.
- Place the grated zucchini in a bowl along with the whisked eggs, garlic powder, breadcrumbs, parmesan and salt and combine.
- Heat 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Drop about 2 tbsp of batter into the skillet and flatten with the back of a spoon to form a cake. Cook for 2 minutes on each side.*
- Continue to making the remaining cakes and sprinkle with parmesan cheese on top.
- Serve.
- * You can use a small cookie scooper to portion the batter into the pan
I made these Zucchini Parmesan Cakes for a potluck lunch at my work place and it was a huge, huge success.
Thank you Catherine
What would you pair this with for dinner?
I would also love to know how many cups the shredded zucchini is equal to; it would be much easier than guessing what size a medium zucchini is. Thanks!
Hi, can the leftover batter be kept in the fridge for a couple of days to later use?
Try this for getting the water out of the zucchini:
Grate the zucchini and add the salt that is called for later in the recipe. let it sit for 5 min or so then squeeze it all out in a towel
I learned this from another recipe that calls for cornmeal instead of the zucchini…i think my little guy will like the texture of this one better!
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I made these and my husband and 18 month old daughter adored them! Thanks for the great recipe!
i made these this weekend and we loved them! especially my 14mo who ate 4! great recipe thx! =) i just used two zucchini frm the farmers market they looked medium n they came out great!
Could I use shredded zucchini from my freezer for this? (Thawed and drained before cooking, of course.) Also, how many cups would 2 medium zucchini equal? Like others, I use garden zucchini, and they’re monsters. 🙂
Yes, please do tell either in cups or (preferred) weight how much grated zucchini is 2 medium…zucchini vary quite a bit in size! I’m hoping if I peel the zucchini first, my kids might actually eat this! 🙂
Just made these for myself for lunch as a trial before feeding them to my family and I really liked them. My 1 yo really liked them too and I’m curious what the hubs and 3 yo will think. Thanks for the recipe!
mmm sounds awesome! I doubt my kid will even touch them, but I’ll try it anyway. 🙂
I know it didnt say to do this in the directions but I put the shredded zucchini in a towel and squeezed lots of liquid out. I squeezed then fluffed the zucchini pieces up. I repeated this process 15 times. There is a lot of liquid in there 🙂
I just made these. I followed the directions except instead of bread crumbs I swapped in 1 piece of toasted whole wheat bread and several shakes of Italian seasoning. I put them in the Magic bullet till it looked like soft bread crumbs. I heated 1 tbsp of evoo in a non stick skillet and they turned out great. My son helped me add ingredients to the bowl and also added the oil to the skillet. He was very into helping make this recipe. He enoyed 1 and a half cakes for tonights dinner along with 1 orange.
any tips to help me make these, I followed the recipe but they were falling apart on the pan and i had a hard time flipping unless they were very black.
These cakes were great! Inspired by your “let kids have input” speech. I asked my 4-1/2 year old daughter what she would like with them and she said “in a hummus sandwich!” Ok…turned out yummy! We used whole wheat bread, your hummus recipe and put the zuke cakes in the middle. It was fabulous! Thank you for inspiring a great evening 🙂