Fat Friday: Zucchini Pie

I know, I KNOW.

It isn't Friday. Wait - I usually blog about food on Friday, right? I thought that "Fat Friday" thing seemed familiar, but I missed it last week and this week I'm going to be gone as well, so . . . there ya go. I hate disappointing you guys.

But you should probably get used to it.

Seriously, the last few days - heck, weeks - have been a blur. School shopping, gardening, training for Portland to Coast, worship team, Wii night - I'm pretty sure I'm the busiest person in the universe. And I discovered Facebook. Oh joy. More time on the computer.

So, I need to get back in my groove again. My cooking groove. My cooking and taking pictures of cooking groove. Here's another thing that's thrown me off - I broke my favorite lens for taking food pictures. I wish I could blame it on someone other than myself (Can I spin it? Uh, no. It's all me. It's all graceful, balanced me.)

Anyway, please forgive the less-than perfect pictures. I'm back to using my old, standby lens and therefore back to taking my old, standby pictures. Meaning, I feel like a beginner again. I'm a dork.

OK, now I'm going to quit with the pity party and COOK! Yay! You want to cook something that's summery, easy, tasty and makes excellent breakfast food the next morning? Plus, it's an awesome recipe for using up the bazillion zucchini sitting on your kitchen counter.

Follow me to . . . Zucchini Pie Land.

You'll need:

1 large onion, finely chopped

1/3 c. oil

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

4 eggs, slightly beaten

1 t. parsley

3 c. grated zucchini

1 c. Bisquick

1 c. shredded cheese

I usually use homemade bisquick but in this recipe I used the reduced-fat "Heart Smart" kind of Bisquick. Then I feel like I'm doing something healthy. Plus, that way I can add more cheese. I'm all about rationalizing adding more cheese to my diet.

Moving on. Chop up your onion and GUESS WHAT? Today is Home Ec day at Karenpie. I'm going to show you how I chop onions.

Slice off the blossom end, to make a flat end so you can stand the onion up.

Stand it up and cut it in half, end to end.

Peel off the inedible parts. . . .

. . . and begin slicing lengthwise - from top to bottom. The skinnier the slices, the smaller the onion will be chopped.

Turn the onion and begin slicing at a 90 degree angle to the first slices - again, the skinnier the slices, the smaller the pieces.

Once your onion is all chopped up, begin sauteing it in a bit of the oil. I usually measure out the 1/3 c of oil in the recipe, then pour some of it in a pan to heat - however much you want to use to lightly cook the onion.

The original recipe, from a Taste of Home magazine, didn't call for cooking the onion. As I've made this recipe over the years, I've found that I prefer cooking it instead of tossing it in raw. Seems to taste better!

While the onion is cooking, combine everything else in a large bowl. Stir in the cooked onion when it's cooked to your satisfaction. Pretend I took a picture of this part of the process. You may also pretend, at this point, that I actually know what I'm doing when it comes to food blogging.

Pour everything into a greased 9-inch pie plate and bake 35-40 minutes at 350F.

It will be golden brown across the top and your house will smell heavenly!

This makes a fabulous light, summer supper. I serve mine with a green salad and fruit. I also pile on the salsa. And oh baby, the leftovers make a fantastic breakfast!

My kids will even eat it.

Enjoy!