4 Reasons Why I Will Never Grow Squash Again!!!

[tedln]

Alex,

Thanks for the memories! Your mother in laws recipe for squash is my oldest memory of cooked squash and my mouth starts to water thinking about it. It did have the most intense flavor that only the combination of squash and butter cooked into a paste could produce. I grew up thinking my favorite flavor was "burned". It was the only way my mom could cook. Her method was to cook everything until it couldn't be recognized. It was the perfect method for the yellow squash.

Ted

[nes]

Stella you have the best stories!!

I'm going to force hubby to read that one when he gets home, he likes to complain about his 50 hour work weeks as an apprentice while I "stay at home on vacation with the child" (he had to take care of DS for 1 1/2 hours while I was at the eye doctor on the weekend, he had help & still had a complete about-face "how do you do it!?" ). Poor guy works hard, but I keep trying to explain to him it's nothing compared to what our grandparents had to go through!

For next year their are several varieties of squash that grow in a more "bush-like" manner, Um, I'm thinking acorns (very delicious as well) like Celebration (bear with me, I haven't grown these yet, maybe next year) from Vesey's "...Compact bush plants do not take over you garden..." or a dumpling variety like Bush Delicata (again Veseys say) "...A space saving, open pollinated, bush-type plant that spread only 3-4 feet and produces a beautiful crop...".

Also if you know anyone with babies who are in need (that's fantastic you're growing it all for the church!) squash is an EXCELLENT baby food. My MIL thought I was insane for making all my own baby food, but you cut the darn thing in half, fill the scooped out seed bit with water, tinfoil, 400F for an hour & it's $2 for more food then my son could eat in a week (I froze LOTS).

[stella1751]

Tedlin wrote:

Is it possible the plants you are talking about are in fact zucchini plants. In my garden, the zucchini plants (which I no longer grow) were usually twice the size of the yellow squash plants. If they are zucchini, it's possible more people will agree with you about their likes and dislikes.

Nope. But it's interesting that you bring that up. I bought these seeds from Burpee because they were supposed to be a compact plant. I can handle a compact plant. The last thing they are is compact.

What's interesting, though, is that this is a variety pack, including seeds for Peter Pan, Creamsicle, and Sunny Delight. The only plants aborting their fruit are Sunny Delights. The Peter Pan and Creamsicle are giving me tons. I've only picked maybe a half-dozen Sunny Delights

I would hate it if people agreed with my likes and dislikes. Those are what makes a forum fun: people disagreeing, all in good humor. We are shaped, I think, by our early environment. My mother hates squash because her grandmother used to serve it at every meal, boiled and mashed with a fork. I think they put salt on it

This is a fun thread, Tedlin. People are jumping in like mad. Those are the good ones

[tedln]

Stella,

"We are shaped, I think, by our early environment. My mother hates squash because her grandmother used to serve it at every meal, boiled and mashed with a fork. I think they put salt on it "

I agree, and the memories of my early environment are some of my treasures. I can tell people about my early childhood and it sounds depressing, but for me they are good memories.

I mentioned in my previous post that my mom cooked things until they couldn't be recognized. In fact, if your were color blind in our house; you would starve to death. Since there were six of us kids and everything was cooked into submission, you simply said "pass me some of that brown stuff please". or " is there any of that green stuff left?"

We always avoided the red stuff because it was always beets. Mom simply couldn't cook beets into submission. They still tasted like beets.

Those are wonderful memories. I try to duplicate some of my moms tastes and I can't do it. Burned is the closest I can get and I guess that is why it is still my favorite flavor.

Ted

[kgall]

How wonderful Stella! To grow and give to people in need...People on limited incomes can't afford nutrient rich foods like veggies and tent to eat foods void of nutritional value! Bravo! Your parents must be proud!

On a side note...I put tomato cages around my squash and they tend to grow up not spread out! It has saved me a ton of space.

[gixxerific]

How wonderful Stella! To grow and give to people in need...People on limited incomes can't afford nutrient rich foods like veggies and tent to eat foods void of nutritional value! Bravo! Your parents must be proud!

On a side note...I put tomato cages around my squash and they tend to grow up not spread out! It has saved me a ton of space.

You wouldn't have to have any pics of them would you? I have a roll of cage and could make some for those as well. Just like to see how it works for them myself.

[stella1751]

Kgall wrote:

On a side note...I put tomato cages around my squash and they tend to grow up not spread out! It has saved me a ton of space.

If you look very closely at the photo, Kgall, you'll see the tomato cages I tried. I like them in terms of support--they keep the plants from flattening during one of our plant-toppling blows--but early on I could tell that squishing all those leaves upward would kill the plant and make it impossible for it to produce. Then again, there's an idea . . . Kill 'em with kindness!

I've a germ of another idea, though. Those of you who like squash could contribute your least expensive recipes. The fewer the ingredients, the better, keeping in mind the impoverished state of my recipients. I could type up a list of recipes and include copies with my deliveries. Like, for example, Nes wrote about using it for baby food, which I'm betting is very expensive in the jar. If Nes could write a brief description of how to fix the baby food, and if I could put "Nes" on it with a state or a country, I think that would be cool.

I can imagine how many times my 27-year-old mother, lost and alone in that huge, alien state with no support group, them all being back in North Dakota, wept when the nuns brought her another delivery to feed her hungy young children. (Mom didn't learn how to drive until Dad was diagnosed with PSP, which would put her at about 60 then.) I think she probably sent many a silent "thank you" to those who helped her fulfill her responsibilities as a mother.

Well, if anyone is interested and if the webmaster has no problem with it, I could print up two or three pages of inexpensive ways to fix squash, crediting The Helpful Gardener members, just in case the people getting them feel as I do about the beastly stuff

[kgall]

Yep. I see them now. I tried to be choosy about keeping only leaves in the cages that wouls encourage the main vine to go straight up. The other leaves I led fall where they may. I found that keeping the vine in the cage and the leaves where they want they still take about a third of the room as the ones I let sprawl. I did try stakes with trellis netting wrapped around them and found it too constricting.
Gixx...Here is the pic. Ignore the powdery mildew. I think i am finally getting a handle on it and am getting squash again. You can see one of the vines on this one has escaped on me. It's hard to get a good pic of the structure. My vines aren't too tall yet but they are growing...We had rain 29 days in June and all of my veggies are behind!

[nes]

It's not that baby food is so expensive by the jar (it's like 40c for a small jar of organic baby food at our grocery store) it's just that if you buy a squash it's like 1c for a small jar of baby food .

Really there is absolutely nothing to making baby food, you roast/boil the food with no spices then blend it down until it's smooth. As the baby gets a little older you start mixing flavours (like carrots & peas) and blend the food a little less. If anyone is interested a quick google search will give you TONS, I got most of mine out of a garage sale book entitled "cooking for babies and toddlers" (including home-made baby biscotti, yum!).

I never buy DS anything pre-made because I'm stay at home I have more then enough time to cook everything myself, it's WAY cheaper & he doesn't mind when mommy experiments a little with her cooking .

I really think a HG Squash Recipe collection is a grand idea!! I never touched the stuff before DS came along, but he won me over to the dark side!

[tedln]

Here you go Stella,

Baked Summer Squash Casserole
5 pounds medium size yellow squash
2 eggs
1 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs
4 ounces of butter or margerine
¼ cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
1 medium onion diced
dash of pepper to taste

Cut squash into chunks. Place in pot with enough water to cover squash. Cook until tender. Drain in colander. Add the rest of the ingredients except bread crumbs and gently mix with the squash in a large bowl. Pour mixed ingredients into one large or two small casserole dishes. Cover with generous layer of bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned (about fifty minutes). Yield: 10 servings.

Ted

[kgall]

OK Stella Here is a receipe:

2 zucchini
2 tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 garlic cloves minced
oregano (can be fresh or dried, they both work)
grated parmesan cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 425. Thinly slice zucchini and tomatoes into rounds. alternate placing slices of zucchini and tomato into a casserole dish, overlapping each by 1/3. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic and oregano. Bake uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes. Zucchini should be slightly tender. Sprinkle with parmasan cheese and return to oven for 5 minutes, until cheese is just brown.

This is a really tasty side dish. I am a bit heavier with the garlic myself!

[green~acres]

Squash Dish

6 small tender squash

1 cup herbal stuffing crumbs

½ cup grated sharp cheese

Margarine

Salt and pepper

Small onion

Parboil squash until done.slice in halves.place halves in one layer in glass baking dish. Sprinkle with stuffing crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper. Grate a little bit of onion on each squash.Squeeze enough margarine to season. Place in microwave on high only long enough to melt cheese.makes 4 servings.

[green~acres]

Squash Fritters
4 cups grated, squash (fresh or frozen)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Squeeze as much moisture as possible from the squash. Mix with flour and eggs to form thick paste. Fry at medium heat in oil or butter until golden brown and crispy on both sides. Serve warm with sour cream if desired. Makes 15 small, appetizer-size pancakes. Grated zucchini can be used instead of squash

[nes]

mmm squash fritters those sound good!

I'm still trying to think of my favourite squash recipe I could actually share, I was thinking about it this morning & my favourite of favourites is the pumpkin pie from Joy of Cooking, but there is a copyright issue on that one . Still mmmmmmmmmm!!!

[Gerrie]

mmhmmm, just smell those fritters-as one country singer said once "if it ain't fried, it ain't food" The recipes all sound good and I will try some but here's a question for everyone-I forgot to check my zuchinni for a few days while I had company and then this morn when I did check I have five 'baseball bats'-how can they be cooked? They wont be tender like the small ones and I'm embarrassed to take them to the local food banks and elder lunch programs like I usually do with excess [/quote]