"Waste not, want not"

[Chris C]

Okay, so last Thursday I harvested about 50 pounds of Zucchini and Yellow crook-necked Squash out of my garden. Left that night on a short trip out of town and came home late last night. Went to the garden this morning and I've got some Zucchini that's 18" long and about as big as a softball in diameter at the largest end. Are they too "woody" at that point? I don't want to waste them, so what's the best way to cook them?

[sjohnson9206]

I don't know how good they'll be for sauted squash, but I make all my zucchini bread and cake from my monster zuccs that have gotten away from me.

I think I've read that they're still good if you pull all the seeds and roast with butter and ___ ? I forget, it was sugar, or something.

Personally, I only like zucchini for baked things, so all my friends get the good cooking ones.

[crobi13]

WOW, I wish my berries & cukes would do that!

[VeggieGrower]

I use the big ones for baked goods too. I usually shred them and measure it out in 2 cup portions (enough for 2 loaves of bread) and freeze it in zip loc bags.

[jaredeatsworld]

What my grandma used to do with the big huge Zucchini's: skin them, and then take the seeds out. Saute them in some butter, garlic, and onions. Once everything became almost cooked through, she's add water and cover to steam everything. Once everything in the pan became soft, she would add breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

My grandmother was from Italy... so it was a peasant dish from her small farming village.

Trust me, its not gourmet, but it was good.

-------------------

You can always make bread with them too.

[Chris C]

Thanks for the tips. My girlfriend uses shredded Zucchini for baking bread, but there's just so much baked sweet bread we can eat!!!!! We give a lot away, but I'd like to be able to eat all the stuff out of the garden we harvest.

[sjohnson9206]

Thanks for the tips. My girlfriend uses shredded Zucchini for baking bread, but there's just so much baked sweet bread we can eat!!!!! We give a lot away, but I'd like to be able to eat all the stuff out of the garden we harvest.

Two words.... chest freezer

[pepper4]

Chris C, there's alot of great recipes on the forum that you can do with zuchinni also. One is for what tastes just like apple pie. Would of never believed it if I hadn't tried it. There's alot of other great recipes you might want to check out.

[2cents]

Try cross cut an inch thick. Leave the seeds.
EVOO, salt, pepper, season to taste both sides.
Cook on th grill like egg plant or portabellas.

Try it they are delicious.

[garden5]

There is actually a recipe sub-forum on this site which has a lot of recipes in it.

Personally, I like to slice them into disks, batter them, and deep fry them. I don't do this too often, not the healthiest thing in the world.

[LindsayArthurRTR]

Pickles! Chutney! Relish! Pasta sauce! All are yummy and will take care of the toughness!

[Chris C]

All good ideas. Thanks. Believe me, I don't plan on wasting them. I've been cutting up the really large ones and feeding them to my chickens and they love them.

[DoubleDogFarm]

This is about the time of year people rollup their car windows and lock the doors. If you don't, you'll often find zucchini in them.

[jal_ut]

On Sunday, go to the church parking lot and every car with a window down gets a zucchini. Every pickup truck too.

If you have leftovers, you can always make boats.

Make zucchini milk. Peel, take out the seeds, cut the flesh up some and put it in the blender. Liquify it. Use the "milk" in place of the water in any pastry or bread recipe.

Feed it to the chickens.

A few ideas.

[LindsayArthurRTR]

This is about the time of year people rollup their car windows and lock the doors. If you don't, you'll often find zucchini in them.

HAAAAA HA! We have noticed people are rolling their windows up and locking their doors more frequently! . Hehehe... We have resorted to hanging grocery bags full of them on peoples mailbox handles when they see me coming with grocery bags, they don't wave hello anymore

[jmoore]

I don't have any growing so I'd be happy to take some off your hands. Just put them in the bed of my truck. They'll be fine.

[green~acres]

the squash is making quite good, right now. I get all I can in the freezer.. eat it fresh a few times a week,plus give it away.I got ,my first picking of lima beans this morning. got more than enough for a meal.
hope you all have a bountiful harvest.

[applestar]

I'm loving all the comments!

[cherishedtiger]

Wow... I would take a bag, a few thrown on my seat anything!
My dog ripped out the zucchini from my garden and I couldn't get it replaced in time. I am minus zucchini and squash this year

Oh well there is always next year!

[kgall]

Wow! I love the church parking lot comment. I might try it myself!

I f the windows are up and the doors locked try you're local food pantry...The kids are out of school and so many families are having such a hard time right now that with the schools not feeding some breakfast and lunch they go without.

[LindsayArthurRTR]

THAT'S a great idea!!!