Zucchini and Rice Salad

We got A LOT of zucchini at the market a couple of weeks ago so here is another yummy zucchini recipe. This recipe was inspired by a recipe I found in Real Simple Magazine (which I love), but I had to change a lot of it so I could eat it. Since my version is so different from the original I'll just give you my version here. I love this dish because I love rice, but I like things in my rice. I rarely eat raw zucchini and so this recipe was a little bit of a leap of faith. It turned out great (if you ever had sushi rice it has a similar flavor) and Nate thought the zucchini was cook so I think it was a win!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 - 1 cup rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 1/4 pounds small zucchini (3 to 4), cut into thin half-moons

Cook the rice. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, red pepper, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the zucchini and let marinate, tossing occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add the rice to the zucchini mixture and toss to combine.

Notes: We use a cute little red rice cooker by Rival that cooks the rice really well without needing to watch it. As a bonus, it goes with our red appliance theme and it's small so it doesn't take up a lot of space. If you don't like an olive oil taste, use vegetable oil. Also, it is important to toss the zucchini pretty frequently or else some the the zucchini will be nicely marinated and other pieces will just be raw, tasteless little buggers (I'm really not a fan of raw zucchini). I ate this both warm and cold the next day and I don't know which I liked better!