Baked Veggie Fritters: a new favorite!

Last week, I showed you our small veggie garden.  Tiny, huh?  Well, like I said in that post, it's a trial run for us first time gardeners. 

In addition to the trial garden, I've also been on the look out for different ideas for using vegetables. 

If next year's garden is bigger and better like we have planned, I don't want us to get sick of looking at (let alone eating) another squash, zucchini, tomato, etc. 

So, I figure looking now and having a plan might be a good idea!  :) 

GetHealthyCheap.com is one of my favorite places to check out new recipe ideas!  For me, though, recipe blogs tend to be like my cookbooks that live in a closet in my basement.  I flip though the pages and never get around to trying the recipe.  I have good intentions, but I guess I'm easily distracted, too!  The "I want to try this" recipes are often forgotten! 

Sooo not the case with Julie's Baked Summer Squash Fritters!   Once I saw that recipe, I just KNEW I had to make them!  Especially since I just picked one zucchini and one summer squash from our trial garden! 

I followed the original recipe almost all the way through without making any changes but at the last minute, I made a couple of adjustments.  But that's just the way I am!  Again, good intentions and all!  :) 

Baked Veggie Fritters 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 yellow summer squash
• 1 1/2 zucchini
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese 
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 1 tsp. Mrs. Dash
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup oats (ground)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Shred summer squash, zucchini and carrots.
• Add shredded vegetables to a strainer.
• Place a large bowl under the strainer.
• Sprinkle the shredded vegetables with 1 tsp. of salt. 
• Let sit for about 15 minutes. 
• Saute onion in olive oil, add garlic. 
• Cook until tender.
• Allow to cool. 
• Pour liquid from the bowl under the strainer. 
• Use the back of a ladle to press as much liquid as possible from the vegetables.
• Sqeeze with hands to remove more liquid. 
• Add the shredded vegetables and the onion/garlic mixture to a large mixing bowl. 
• Add remaining ingredients.
• Mix well with hands.
• Form into patties.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes on a foil covered cookie sheet that's been treated with cooking spray. 

Notes: 

• Use a food processor or hand grater to shred the veggies.  I used my vintage Tupperware food grater, because I don't know how to use the grating attachement on my food processor! 
• I shredded and drained the liquid from the veggies the night before and placed the covered bowl in the fridge over night.
• Squeeze as much liquid from the veggies as possible.  This will help your fritters get crisp in the oven.   
• I added the roughly ground oatmeal to the mixture because I couldn't seem to  get as much liquid out of the veggies as I would have liked.  Not sure if I just didn't squeeze enough out or if it was because I stored in fridge overnight.  Either way I really liked the addition of the oatmeal. 
• I used 1/4 cup less of the parmesan cheese than the recipe called for since I'm not overly fond of parmesan cheese.  Also, I didn't use a fancy parmesan, just the one in the green container in the supermarket. 
• I made small patties, each one approximately the same size.  Think silver dollar pancake size! 
• Since I made these in such a small size, we had a lot of little fritters.  We ate these hot as a side to our main meal.   
• For a quick and healthy lunch, I served them cold with a bit of Chipotle Mayo for dipping! 
• These would be great to serve as an appetizer at your next party!  Perfect for your friends and family that are vegetarians, watching their weight or just looking for healthier options! 

These veggie fritters were amazing!  I thought for sure that this recipe was going to be something that Joe wouldn't go for at all.  But he fooled me!  I was in the middle of making the rest of dinner when the timer went off on the oven.  Joe was just walking in the door from work at the very same moment, so I handed him the oven mitt and asked him to remove the cookie sheet. 

He took them from the oven and ate one immediately!  I'm surprised he didn't burn his mouth!  He ate several before we even sat down to dinner! 

This recipe is definitely a keeper!  I'll be making them again very soon! 

Since this is Julie's recipe (just slightly adapted), I thought it more than fitting that I link this to her weekly blog party, Family Food Fridays! 

I'll also be sharing this recipe at the following blog carnivals:

• Homemaker Mondays
• Mouthwatering Mondays
• My Meatless Mondays
• Just Another Meatless Monday
• Monday Mania
• MMMmonday
• Anything Related
• Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Two For Tuesday
• Tuesday Night Supper Club
• Delicious Dishes
• Tuesday Twister
• Works For Me Wednesday
• What's on the Menu Wednesday
• Gluten Free Wednesday
• What's Cooking Wednesday
• Ultimate Recipe Swap
• Pennywise Platter Thursday
• Make it From Scratch
• Frugal Friday
• Food On Fridays
• Foodie Friday
• Vegetarian Foodie Friday
• Ultimate Recipe Swap (Zucchini)