Friday Five: Summer Squash

Hey!! It's Friday, and the Friday Five is back.  This weeks Friday Five is all about summer squash.  Yes, those sunny, gloriously yellow veggies that are kin to zucchini.

Months ago, as part of a lesson for Earth Day, we reused some old beach buckets as planters.  It was a simple project.  Drill holes in the buckets, fill with gravel first (for better drainage), then soil, and add some store bought seeds.  This project, which was really just supposed to get Ace's interest in reusing something old.  I thought maybe he'd get a little confidence boost by growing something himself.  It has become so much more than that.   He is so proud of himself, now that we are eating food that he actually grew.  Our little bucket plant has produced some awesome produce.. lol!! We've got squash coming out of our you know whats!!  So now what, what do we do with all this squash?  Kind of reminds me of a story I used to read my class in October... Too Many Pumpkins.  Anyway, at first I was just cutting our yellow squash and adding it to out tomato sauce... But that got old.  So I've done a bit of research and tried a few things and I have come up with Five Things To Do With Summer Squash.

1.  Add It To Tomato Sauce.  As I said before, when I first began harvesting our squash (kind of giggling that I'm harvesting anything), I just chopped it up and added it to our tomato sauce.  More veggies never hurt anyone.  My favorite has been to make a really chunky veggie and turkey tomato sauce,   and top some cheesy pasta with it.  Yes, just pasta with melted sharp cheddar cheese.  Comfort to the max!!

2. Squash, Onions, and Brown Sugar.  This was delish!!  I added a bit of fresh nutmeg as well to give it more of a nutty flavor.  It was everything you want in a veggie dish: buttery, sweet, and gooey.  At least that’s how I like my veggies.  Even Ace braved eating it.  He claimed to have liked it, although he didn’t ask for seconds. 

3. Baby Food.  For me this was obvious,  since I make a lot of homemade baby food.  Why should we (us teeth having folks) enjoy all the squashy deliciousness?  For little CJ I made a few different baby food concoctions.  Yes, I'm like a mad scientist with the baby food maker.  His favorite had to be the sautéed squash with pear. Now, there is a fine line that differentiates his yells that say, "Give me more, faster woman!!” and his yells that say "put another spoon full of that slop in my mouth and your laundry will pay!”  But, I am very confident he loved it.  I used about a cup of the Sautéed Squash recipe and 1 peeled and steamed pear.  Blended and voila... Happy baby.

This was actually squash, carrot, and tomoto puree

4.  Yellow Zucchini Banana Walnut Muffins.  I actually made these this morning and had the absolute pleasure of drinking a cup of tea and nibbling, okay... devouring these warm cinnamonny, dare I say, Healthy muffins.  I will admit I tweaked this recipe a bit.  In the past I have attempted to sneak super healthy muffins on a plate for the guys in this house and I ended up eating a dozen no butter, no sugar muffins by myself.  So I added 2 tablespoons of melted butter, and used 1 cup of brown sugar instead of the 1/2 cup Truvia, 1/2 cup brown sugar.  I also used pecans instead of walnuts.  They turned out incredible.  I think I will do a separate post and give them their own spotlight.  They are that good.

5.  Squash Stamps.  I know you were ready to read one last foodie thing right?  Nope.  This is a good ol' art project for the kiddos.  This too will have it's own post.  It's just so fun, and the boys loved doing it... who am I kidding, they love anything with paint.  Quick overview: Slice the squash into about 2 to 3 inch pieces.  Place each piece on a separate plate with different colored paint and let the kiddos go to town stamping some really funky circles.

Hope you've enjoyed!!  Please feel free to share any other things to do with Summer Squash!  I'll leave you with this beauty, a Summer Squash Flower of course.