Hey, Mom

Even one zucchini plant can be a prolific producer. If everyone in your neighborhood has planted zucchini, you may find you can’t eat it fast enough. This easy to grow squash is, thankfully, a versatile food in the kitchen. It can be cooked, eaten raw, added to baked goods, soups, salads, and more.

It is best to pick zucchini when it is relatively small, like about 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches diameter. This is the best size for cooking, as it is tender. But sometimes we can’t get out in the garden and before we know it we’ve got a giant squash. The big ones are fine for grating for cakes or bread. It is best to take the seedy middle out before grating, but you can and should leave the skins on.

Finding recipes:

The Internet is great for recipe hunting. I found a nice cake recipe that my family enjoyed. It’s a lot like a spicy carrot cake. I used cream cheese frosting. It was very good, but there are many, many more out there. I will try another recipe next time. This one from All Recipes looks good and it uses more zucchini, which appeals to me.

There’s no harm in experimenting either, or inventing your own recipes. I wanted to cook just zucchini for supper one night, but I wanted it to have a lot of flavor and be somewhat filling. My brother in law made something similar to this one time, but I didn’t have his recipe. I made my own and it turned out great. Feel free to try it or add it to your recipe file.

Zesty Skillet Zucchini (Serves 2-3)

1 green zucchini
1 yellow zucchini (or summer squash)
1 medium tomato, cut into one inch pieces
1/4 cup chopped red onion
4 slices (thick sliced) bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
kosher salt to taste
crushed red pepper
fresh grated parmesean cheese

Wash zucchini and cut ends off. Quarter zucchini lengthwise, then cut into one inch pieces and set aside. In a large skillet, brown the bacon until not quite crisp. Drain off some fat if desired, but leave about two tablespoons in skillet. On medium heat, add the onion and saute two minutes. Add the tomato, the zucchini and salt. Saute, stirring often, until zucchini is tender (not translucent). Stir in red pepper to taste right before serving. Top with parmesean cheese.

Variation: Blend in 1 cup cooked farfalle pasta

Fresh from the garden tomatoes are one of the simple joys of life. I always overplant just to make sure I will have enough tomatoes. We are just about to start getting ripe tomatoes and I know that once they start ripening, I will have more than I can handle.

I try to use as many of them as I can fresh. But if they start to go bad, the idea of tossing them out is simply abhorrent.

One of the cardinal sins of tomatoes is putting them in the refrigerator. You may think that you’re preserving them, but what you’re really doing is robbing them of all flavor. Just keep tomatoes out on the counter or in a decorative bowl on a table or in a basket.

Give extras away before you put them in the fridge. Or preserve them for later use.

I do not can. Instead, I freeze. It’s very simple. I wash the tomatoes, core them, and then cut into cubes. Usually I cut them in half, then the halves into four pieces (or six if the tomato is larger). Then I place the “cubes” skin side down on a cookie sheet and plop them into the freezer. Once the tomatoes become “ice cubes,” I put them into quart sized freezer bags and they go straight into the deep freeze.

If you will store them in a regular freezer, they won’t last as long. Frost free freezers are always heating up and cooling down, which is why you get freezer burn. But tomatoes stored in a deep freeze will last for about a year (maybe even a little longer).

I use my frozen tomatoes in a couple of ways:

• add a few to soups or sauces (simply remove unwanted skins that slough off before serving)
• use as a base for chili
• use a a “fresh” tomato sauce for pasta

It’s best to add them to recipes in their frozen state. If you thaw them out first, you will lose a lot of juice.

Thawed tomatoes are never good for simply eating. They will be mush, so it’s best to use them for sauces and soups.