What to do with frozen yellow squash?

[amalgamate]

My mom sliced, blanched, and froze a bag of summer squash, and now we're looking at it in the freezer wondering "what now?" There's probably around 3 cups in the bag. My first thought was squash bread, but my recipe for that only calls for 1 cup. I don't know what to do with 3 cups of thawed mushy squash. Any suggestions?

[applestar]

Puree into a creamy soup? I'm thinking onions and some potatoes, maybe cauliflower with chicken stock and cream, half-and-half, or milk.

[gumbo2176]

Puree into a creamy soup? I'm thinking onions and some potatoes, maybe cauliflower with chicken stock and cream, half-and-half, or milk.

Good call. I do a potato/leek soup in a chicken stock base with a bit of garlic for some extra tang. I'll cook all the stuff until very tender and then puree it for a creamy soup. The squash would go good in this type soup.

[amalgamate]

Yum. As cold as it's been this past week, a hot soup sounds good.

[Green Mantis]

Marlingardener.....When you say you use a heavy skillet, do you mean CAST IRON? Can you use Olive Oil in cast Iron pans?

Somebody told me you can't??? Is that true?

Sorry to get off subject here.

[gumbo2176]

Marlingardener.....When you say you use a heavy skillet, do you mean CAST IRON? Can you use Olive Oil in cast Iron pans?

Somebody told me you can't??? Is that true?

Sorry to get off subject here.

I won't answer for MG, but for me, a heavy skillet is one with a nice thick bottom to better distribute the heat more evenly. I do have several cast iron pots and pans that I use occasionally and have never heard anything about olive oil not being used in a cast iron pan.

There's only 2 things I cook regularly that I won't cook in a cast iron pot. They are red gravies and red beans. The red gravies take on a bit of iron taste from the pot and the red beans cook very dark in cast iron. I love to cook gumbos and jambalaya in my cast iron pots and my 12" frying pans are ideal for corn bread.

I mostly use bacon grease for making my roux or cooking down my seasonings for cajun dishes I love to cook. If I'm cooking Italian, I'll use olive oil.

[Green Mantis]

gumbo2176.............Thank you very much for the information. I love cooking with cast iron pans. Glad to hear I can use olive oil after all. Your information is much appreciatted.

Don't know how true it is, but I read somewhere that in 2013 they are banning coated pans?

[hendi_alex]

Yuk, frozen squash. We try to use seasonal foods. During the summer months from May through November we keep a continuous stream of squash that are eaten several times per week. Needless to say, we are ready for a break from the squash routine by the time winter rolls around. So no freezing or canning for us. In the winter the regimen is hearty soups, greens from the garden, nice winter salads, and other items that continue to be in season, are readily available, and which don't appear on the heavy pesticide list. I do dehydrate tomato slices every other year. Those add bold flavor to pizza and sauces. Two or three quart bags easily last for two years as it probably takes 20 pounds of tomatoes to dry and fill a quart. Each year I'm tempted to freeze our high quality pesticide free tomatoes to use in soups and sauces, but so far haven't taken the plunge. IMO fresh picked sweet corn, cut from the cob, freezes about as well as any vegetable, and is oh so delicious during the winter time. May decide freeze a few dozen ears this year. And all you asked about was squash! Sorry for the blathering response, but when I start thinking about fresh garden produce and food, ..............................

[gumbo2176]

gumbo2176.............Thank you very much for the information. I love cooking with cast iron pans. Glad to hear I can use olive oil after all. Your information is much appreciatted.

Don't know how true it is, but I read somewhere that in 2013 they are banning coated pans?

Out of curiosity, I googled about using olive oil on cast iron and that is one of the oils recommended to initially season your cast iron cookware to help prevent sticking. So, I sincerely doubt there is much validity to the olive oil/cast iron myth.

[gumbo2176]

Yuk, frozen squash. We try to use seasonal foods. During the summer months from May through November we keep a continuous stream of squash that are eaten several times per week. Needless to say, we are ready for a break from the squash routine by the time winter rolls around. So no freezing or canning for us. In the winter the regimen is hearty soups, greens from the garden, nice winter salads, and other items that continue to be in season, are readily available, and which don't appear on the heavy pesticide list. I do dehydrate tomato slices every other year. Those add bold flavor to pizza and sauces. Two or three quart bags easily last for two years as it probably takes 20 pounds of tomatoes to dry and fill a quart. Each year I'm tempted to freeze our high quality pesticide free tomatoes to use in soups and sauces, but so far haven't taken the plunge. IMO fresh picked sweet corn, cut from the cob, freezes about as well as any vegetable, and is oh so delicious during the winter time. May decide freeze a few dozen ears this year. And all you asked about was squash! Sorry for the blathering response, but when I start thinking about fresh garden produce and food, ..............................

I wish I had that much success with squash. I've been plagued for the past several summers with SVB's taking their toll on my summer squash crop.

I've decided to heed the advice of this talented group and am going to use the winter varieties to see if their solid stems hold up better than the hollow stemmed summer squash. I'll plant a few zucchini and yellow crook necks just for the heck of it to see if I can gather a few before the destruction begins. My wife and I love those things grilled.

[hendi_alex]

Some years my vines get hit worse than others. But I've noticed several things about SVB and have several successful strategies in place. First if the critters appear to be active, a large black wasp with orange band, I cover any small plants with a mesh barrier. That will keep the plants from getting infested prior to bloom. After the plants start to bloom they are uncovered, but within a week, a fresh batch of seeds get planted, to serve as replacements when the original plants get tired or succumb to pests or disease. If a plant reaches the bloom stage without get hit by SVB, then it will likely give at least 3-4 weeks production, even if the pests move in as soon as the plant is uncovered. I've noticed that SVB wasps are typically active in waves however. So another advantage of succession planting, is that at least one grouping is likely to start producing during a break in the adult SVB breading cycle. Those plants will usually give six weeks or longer with good production. So anyway, with a combination of covering young plants, and succession planting, I've moved from almost yearly frustration, to almost guaranteed success. I usually plant between 3-5 plantings each year, with each planting consisting of 2 crook neck and two zucchini pants. With four plants in almost continuous, vigorous production, we have plenty of squash including for sharing, from late May usually through October or November.

[hendi_alex]

I forgot to mention, a couple of years ago I began using transplants which are started six to eight weeks before planting time. Those plants don't always produce as long as direct seeded plants, but they did move my first harvest up by at least a month. That change has worked well for the past two years.

Also, inexpensive sheer cloth acts as a great light weight floating barrier that will protect the plants until you need to open them to the pollinators.