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First Veggies: Need ways to Cook/Preserve Squash

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 8:43 am
by lakngulf
Picked four baskets of green beans and one of yellow and zuchinni squash on Sunday. Veggie supper tonight!! The bean plants are full of blossoms and little squash are EVERYWHERE.

We will be freezing some of the green beans, but will eat a lot of them during Memorial Weekend. But, what are some creative ways to prepare and preserve squash? Looks like I will have a lot in the next week to 10 days.

[img]https://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab104/lakngulf/2010_May_M01020.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i854.photobucket.com/albums/ab104/lakngulf/2010_May_M01004.jpg[/img]

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 9:52 am
by jal_ut
Summer squash are best fresh in season. I don't like them bottled (pressure cooker), nor frozen.

Good in stirfry or steamed.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 10:02 am
by garden5
My favorite way to have zucchini is to slice them into disks, bread them, and deep-fry them. Certainly not the healthiest, but still very tasty.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 10:58 am
by twrh111
I'll take rolling the yellow squash in flour with a salt n peppa mix then pan fry. m m good.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 11:52 am
by tedln
We don't eat fried foods so we tend to steam a lot of veggies. Our favorite is steamed yellow squash. Add a little butter with salt and pepper. We love it.

We also freeze a lot of squash for future use. I drop the squash slices in boiling water for probably 30 seconds, rinse in a colander under cool water, fill a ziplock bag and freeze. Works great for us.

The following link is to some squash recipes I posted on the "Recipes" forum for you.

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=136729#136729

Ted

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 11:58 am
by gixxerific
How about slicing them and marinating in your fav spices that putting on the grill. Mmmmmm! Yummy.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 12:02 pm
by applestar
:lol: I read about your grandson's secret admission to his mommy about last year's squash. :lol:

Try this [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=131550#131550]recipe for my all-purpose Banana-Nut-Berry-Veg Bread Recipe[/url]. It always goes over well with my kids. :wink:

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 12:57 pm
by rkunsaw
Slice squash and dip in an egg/milk mixture,roll in flour and fry until crisp.
Squash dressing is good too.Larger ones can be cut in half lengthwise and baked.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 2:14 pm
by kgall
Let a squash or two get big enough and try this.
Stuffed Zucchini

12 ounces pork sausage
1 large zucchini
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup shredded Colby cheese
2 cups ricotta cheese
1½ cups Italian cheese blend
½ cup onion, chopped
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup tomatoes, chopped

Heat oven to 350°. Partially cook zucchini in microwave for 5 minutes, remove and cool for 10 minutes. Slice in half lengthwise, remove seeds. Sprinkle with garlic powder.
Place crumbled sausage in a large skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown, drain and set aside.
Combine eggs, Colby, ricotta, Italian cheese blend, onion, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Layer sausage, tomatoes and cheese mixture in sausage halves.
Bake 40 minutes, then broil 5 minutes to brown cheese.

I usually use less eggs or you couls substitute. I halve the sausage too.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 3:15 pm
by tedln
In the United Kingdom, Zucchini are called courgette and marrow. Many people make "Marrow Wine" by hollowing the center of large courgette and filling it with sugar and spices. Replace the top removed for hollowing.They then hang the courgette in a stocking and let fermentation occur in the center. You soon have a rum like beverage.

Ted

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:10 pm
by Dixana
This stuffed squash recipe with the meat needs to get moved into the recipe section!!! I had to hint forever to find it. I'm making it for dinner tomorrow night seeing as I missed a yellow squash and it got HUGE. I'll let everyone know how it turns out :)

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:22 pm
by garden5
I made a very similar stuffed squash except I used sauteed peppers and onions, Parmesan cheese, and seasoned Italian bread crumbs......delicious.

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 1:29 pm
by Dixana
:D do share the recipe! I have 4 squash plants with like 6 squash per plant! 3 zucchini plants and only 2 zucchini so far :( I need more to make choco zucchini cake. My favorite!

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:06 pm
by garden5
OK, I did this with a flying saucer squash (shaped like a grapefruit), so you may have to improvise a little to do it with zucchini.

I take the squash and put it in a little water in a pot to steam so that it gets softened up.

Meanwhile, I take some onion (cut in pieces) and a pepper or two (also cut in pieces) and saute them in butter. At this point, you can add your garlic, spinach, basil, or whatever else you like for flavor.

Once the squash is softened, I take it out and cut the top off, hollow it out, and cook the "meat" of it in with the saute. As I did this, I added about 1/2 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs. Also, I added the Parmesan cheese at this point and cooked it all until it was melded.

Next, put it back in the squash, and threw it in the oven for a few minutes (with some more cheese on top).

Although there is no meat, it's still really good. (I think this thread's about ready to be moved to the recipe section :roll: )

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:31 pm
by lorax
You can make sweet pickles using young zucchinis and summer squashes cut into rounds, with carrot and dill....

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 3:03 pm
by timberjet
When our zukes are in full swing and we have way too much, we grate them up and freeze the grated squash in vacuum sealed bags for future bread and soup bases. Works pretty darn good and lasts well. I am going to try making sweet pickles with the small ones we have right now. I'll let you guys know how they turned out.

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 3:16 pm
by Dixana
:shock: Healthier pickles?!?! SCORE! My kid loves pickles! Rock on Lorax! Are they still crunchy?

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 4:33 pm
by lorax
More so than cuke pickles, actually, as long as you soak the zucchs/squashes in brine overnight before beginning the canning process.

Posted: Fri Aug 06, 2010 5:17 pm
by kgall
Dixana. If you go by my recipe I was wrong with the amount of Italian seasoning it'd 2 teaspoons not tablespoons. I discovered this when I made it this week! I will go edit it now!