Fortunately for us, we do have some friends who have managed to have some garden, with their regular watering. And, also fortunately for us, these same friends have been very generous with us and others with the fruits of that garden. We have, therefore, been feasting on garden potatoes, onions, turnips, cucumbers, okra, zucchini and yellow summer squash (also some home made bread and rolls!).
I have been putting many bags of this fresh produce into our freezer.
Did you know you can freeze cucumbers? I didn't, but read it in my "old" how-and-what-to-freeze freezer book. So, I gave it a try and, sure enough, you can. :) In case you'd like to know about the cucumbers: the book says to just chop them up in the blender, then freeze the chopped-up cucumber in ice-cube trays and freeze; than you can defrost a cube or two and pop them into winter salads - and the cucumber will actually still taste like cucumber. Well, I decided to try it. I froze two trays-worth of cucumber, popped them out of the trays and put them into a freezer bag ... defrosted a couple to see, and they DID taste like fresh cucumber! Learned something new from that old freezer book after all these years. Actually, when we lived in France, I learned to also COOK cucumbers ... saute them, sliced or chopped up, with a little onion, bacon and bacon grease (or, olive oil). Yum! I decided to also try freezing some peeled, cut in half, and seeded for cooking. Will see how they turn out.
Now, back to the title of this post: squash. Summer squash is one of my favorite things. I love cooking them. I love eating them. So does my husband. They are such a versatile and easy to fix vegetable. My absolute favorite is the yellow squash. As I blanched slices of yellow squash to freeze I would snitch a piece here, a piece there, pop it into my mouth and, mmmmmmmmmmmm, good! Just plain like that. That may sound strange to squash-haters, but you squash-lovers will surely understand.
Probably my favorite way to cook the squash (zucchini or yellow) is to cook a few slices of bacon, add some sliced onion and then the sliced squash and stir it all around, cooking, for just a few minutes. Talk about "fast food" - this is it! And good for you, too.
This basic stir-fried squash can be eaten as is, as a side-dish, or used in various other ways as a main dish. Some of my tried-and-true uses:
Do the cooking in a skillet (I use cast-iron), then spread the mixture out over the skillet ...I then
crack eggs, individually, over the squash mixture (I usually do 4 eggs) - sprinkle with grated cheese (or not, we like it both ways), cover and let cook two or three minutes until the eggs are set. I also often top the eggs with: chopped cilantro, chopped parsley, chopped green onion,finely-chopped red pepper, etc. ...use what you like. We've had this for both breakfast and supper, with a green salad added. It's a quick, economical and delicious dish.
Another way I use this mixture is to use it as the topping for rice, mashed potatoes, or pasta. I've put it on top of rice, adding some salsa on top of the squash mixture and then some grated cheese, for a Mexican "flavor". It's very good with spaghetti, too - adding some Italian-flavored pasta sauce on top, if you'd like. Haven't tried this one yet, but have thought it would be good: mix the squash mixture with some cooked rice and use as stuffing for bell peppers ... with (again, or without) some tomato sauce and grated cheese on top. Sounds good to me.
