Too bad Barry Bonds didn't hit his record-breaking home run with a zucchini bat. It would have been just in time for today's Sneak a Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch celebration! Even if you thought you were planting fewer zucchini plants this year, you probably still have a few surprisingly large squashes lurking in your garden. I swear that I check my plants every day, and then I go out and the godzilla of gourds is lurking in the underbrush for me. So I'll sneakily wait around until my neighbors are asleep and then heave one onto their porch tonight. Hee-hee! Think they'll guess who did it?

If you have just enough zucchini to enjoy yourself or you want to endear yourself to the neighbors by giving them a recipe to go with that free fruit, then try one of the following:

Heidi Swanson's 101cookbooks blog had a neat-sounding recipe for zucchini bread with crystallized ginger and curry powder.

I like to do something extremely simple but very delicious (and it uses up gobs of zucchini in one dish):

Quick Sauté of Zucchini
Recipe from The Red Cat restaurant, NYC, via the Almond Board of CA

Serves 2 to 4 as an appetizer

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 ounces sliced almonds
1 1/2 pounds zucchini, skin on, shredded (a food processor or a mandoline works well for this)
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, shaved or grated, or other hard cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the almonds and sauté until golden brown. Add the zucchini and sauté for 30 seconds or until just crisp-tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mound on a plate and top with shaved cheese. Serve immediately.