From pancakes to fritters

Something good to eat - there are times when it seems almost impossible to come up with something interesting and tasty to eat.  Those are often the times when I neglected to think about dinner until the very last minute, or when I have no responsibility to prepare food for anyone other than myself.  I hate to admit it, but I get kind of sloppy about proper meals when I am alone.  Today was one of those days.  I'm alone.  I fooled around and snacked all day, until suddenly it was getting dark and I felt compelled to come up with some kind of dinner.

I had made zucchini cake earlier in the day and had about a cup of grated zucchini left.  I also had some buttermilk pancake batter left from breakfast.  Voila!  Zucchini Fritters.  They were soooo good!  You may want to try them. A friend had given me a beautiful Pineapple tomato from her garden. (Thank you, Jill)   I added a cucumber and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  Here's how I put it together:

First, the batter
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tbsp oil
Mix flour, baking powder, soda and salt together.  Mix buttermilk with oil and egg.  Stir into dry ingredients.  This is a great pancake recipe, so you may want to do what I did and have a few pancakes for breakfast.

For fritters: 

1 cup grated zucchini
2 tbps slivered Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp slivered basil
1 tbsp pine nuts
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
salt to taste
2 tbsp oil for frying
1 cup batter

Place zucchini in a large bowl, stir in batter.  Add parmesan, basil, pine nuts, and lemon pepper, and salt.  Heat oil in a frying pan. When hot, drop in large spoons full of the batter.  Cook until brown on one side, then turn and repeat.  Drain on paper towel if necessary.  Nice served with a tomato chutney or salsa.

The small addition of cheese and the pine nuts definitely lifted these fritters out of the ordinary.  I would happily serve these to friends.  I hope you like them.