The Zucchini Bandit Strikes

Never turn your back on a home garden in August. Years ago my family came back from a week’s vacation to find scores of zucchini the size of Little League bats.

Since I devoutly disapprove of wasting food, we packed a large plastic bag of the overgrown squash and took them to a Sunday brunch that would be attended mostly by gardenless weekenders. Into each unlocked car, we deposited a sample of the overgrown vegetable/fruit.

Back home, we made ratatouille and zucchini bread and pancakes, of course, but also devised a nutritious new low-calorie use, slicing them diagonally and substituting the zucchini for pasta in baked lasagna.

Neighbors of avid gardeners, beware. This is the time of year the Zucchini Bandit may strike.