Yellow Squash & Zucchini Season

 Not sure about in everyone else's garden but every year  about this time my counters are overflowing with yellow squash an zucchini. And inevitably every year I get emails asking what to do with this over abundance. 

 I traditionally make a squash casserole called French Market Squash Casserole with them. This casserole can also be made with frozen squash, canned squash or even dehydrated squash. This casserole is one of my husbands favorites. 

Here are some links to different squash casseroles I have made:

French Market Squash Casserole

Picadilly Style Squash Casserole

Lady Bird Johnson's Shrimp and Squash Casserole

We also enjoy them brushed with olive oil and grilled to add to our summer meal preps. A great and easy low cal addition. Don't forget sliced and frozen for winter eating smothered with bacon and onions in a big old cast iron skillet. 

I have canned them and before you ask "Yes" they do get mushy. But for recipes like the French Market casserole it requires you slicing and boiling till soft anyway so it just saves you a step. They are already soft and just drain and add to casserole. 

I also cook them down and mash like mashed potatoes  and freeze in containers then remove from containers and while frozen put in vacuum sealed freezer bags. These mashed squash squares are defrosted and added to sautéed onions and garlic, and  homemade chicken broth in a pot. I simmer for a bit and run my immersion blender through it. Then while hot I make a white roux in a separate pan out of butter and flour and then add cream to the room. This I add to the hot squash mixture for a cream of squash soup. You can add cheese or bacon bits to it. This is one of my husbands favorite "cream of" soups. 

I also dehydrate them which is super easy to do. Once dry they can be a cracker substitute with you favorite dip. We like them with a spinach dip.  A great way to cut back on some of those carbs and yet still enjoy dips or even salsas.  They can be dehydrated and ground to a powder also. Then you can add them to smoothies, soups and casseroles for the added vitamin benefits.

One cup of raw, sliced yellow squash contains 18 calories. The carbs in yellow squash amount to 3.8 g per 1-cup serving which provides you with 2.9 percent of the 130 g daily recommendation. 

1 cup of sliced squash  contains 1.2 g. Fiber. Each 1-cup portion contains 19 g or 32 percent of your daily recommended intake of vitamin C  an antioxidant that blocks cellular damage from free radicals, helping to slow aging and possibly decreasing your risk of heart disease, arthritis and cancer. 

A 1-cup serving of yellow squash also supplies you with 32.8 mcg, or 8 percent of the daily recommended value of folate, a B vitamin.

 The nutrition in yellow squash includes beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in your body. A 1-cup serving of sliced squash contains 136 mcg of this provitamin. Beta-carotene helps ward off certain cancers, as well as heart disease and vision degeneration associated with aging.

And in that same family let's not forget zucchini made to taste like shredded pineapple with the addition of pineapple juice and a bit of sugar. Great in baked goods and cakes. 

Pineapple Zucchini

And don't forget 

Zucchini Pineapple Cake

And a recipe for slow cooker pork made with zucchini pineapple chunks

Slow Cooker Pork

So don't waste that bumper crop of squash and zucchini put it to good use. I replant squash about every 3 weeks. When they get ratty and drop off on production I just pull them. Cuts down lots on squash bugs that way. 

Everyone stay safe in this heat and don't forget the water and sunscreen.

Blessings from The Holler

The Canned Quilter

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https://thebackfence.freeforums.net/