It's a bird, It's a plane, No it's a giant zucchini!

Pictured above: Zucchinius Enormous with penny comparison

What do you do with a zucchini the size of a brontosaurus thigh? Make zucchini bread of course! ...lots of zucchini bread. Half of the mama zucchini pictured above was enough for me to make 8 loaves of zucchini bread, and a dozen zucchini latkes. Yipes!

If you're facing a bountiful zucchini harvest - here's what I made:

Zucchini Bread
Recipe courtesy Paula Dean, tweaked by Jenny C

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves

3 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tbsp lemon zest

*Optional add-ins:
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans or walnuts
1 cup whatever your pantry or imagination inspires

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl (or your Kitchenaid Mixer) beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, and lemon zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer (or uncooked spaghetti) inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing.

Zucchini Latkes
Recipe courtesy Mario Batali (via Serious Eats), tweaked by Jenny C

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30-45 minutes
Yield: 24 latkes

*Note: I halved this recipe because I had about 3 cups of shredded zucchini left over from making zucchini bread and couldn't fathom shredding any more that day.

6 cups shredded zucchini, squeeze out excess moisture
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I used canola oil)
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped

*Optional:
1/2 - 1 cup coarse breadcrumbs (I smashed up some croutons I had on hand). Add in if your mixture looks too wet.

In a medium bowl stir the zucchini, onion, eggs, scallions, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper together. Add bread crumbs if you like.

In a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place golf ball sized handfuls of the zucchini mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick patties. Brown on one side (about 2-3 minutes), turn and brown on the other. Let drain on paper towels. Serve hot!

I hope you enjoy these recipes! Now, what to do with the other half and it's brethren in my Dad's garden?! Ideas?