Around Our House: Squash Gone Wild!

ONE days harvest! I am so sick of eating summer squash!

This is the year of the squash! We planted several varieties, but ONE has managed to take over nearly our entire back yard... Zucchino Rampicante Squash.

It IS delicious. It is firmer than regular zucchini, and it is hilarious and slightly pornographic (we like to wear the big ones around our necks while we stroke the swollen bulb at the end for comedic effect).

I was happy to see OTHER neighbors with squash gone wild. I suppose it likes the super wet summer we've had.

Tonight I shall make stuffed squash blossoms. We'll see if we can't stop the reproduction for a few days!


Here is our plant. Taking over the world. Look for it in your neck of the woods any day now...

Recipes: Dried Zucchini

Ahhhh Zucchini!

This year we've planted three hills of summer squash (cocozelle, black beauty, and yellow crookneck), so now we are faced with what to do with it all. One of my favorite and most interesting ways to put up the harvest is to make Dried Zucchini Chips. I make mine a little spicy and find that they are a perfect mid afternoon snack since they are full of flavor and crunch (and fiber so WATCH OUT!)

You will need a food dehydrator or you will need to be able to keep your oven at a low temp for a prolonged period of time (I've done this by cycling it on and off).

We bought our dehydrator at a garage sale a few years back, and there seems to be no shortage of them, so keep your eyes peeled.

Here is my recipe for Spicy Dried Zucchini Chips

5-6 medium to large summer squash (zucchini or other soft fleshed squash)
1 cup cold water
2 T Sriracha (A.K.A. Rooster Sauce)
2 T Soy Sauce
1 T garlic powder
1 T salt
2 T toasted sesame oil

Slice the summer squash into 1/4" chips. Mix together all ingredients except the squash. Coat the chips well with the marinade (I often let them soak while I set up the dehydrator).

Lay your chips out in a single layer on the dehydrator trays. My dehydrator will hold about 5-6 medium to large squash worth of chips, but yours may hold more or less.

Turn on the dehydrator and open the vent holes wide. Allow to dehydrate for about 24-36 hours. Rotate the trays several times during this process.

When your chips are completely dry, they should be quite crunchy. Store in a well sealed container. This will yield about 1 - 2 cups of chips.

Around Our House: Garden Booty

Big crop of the week.

In spite of the wilt plaguing our tomatoes, we are starting to get a good crop. I think I might try to can a few this weekend.

Our peppers are super happy. I think it may have been the extra fertilizer we tossed in when we planted them. I actually had enough to freeze about a pint. I usually just get a bag started and add to it until it is full. Seems to work well.

Our zucchini and squash are slowly coming, which is good, we are not yet overwhelmed. I baked a delicious zucchini cake last night and we had sauteed squash and zucchini for supper.

We get about two cucumbers a day which seems perfect for daily consumption, however, I will have to buy cucs to do any pickled this year. We used up the rest of our lime pickles, which are a necessity for chicken or tuna salad. I think I'll make the bread and butter pickles out of zucchini again this year, we tried it last year and worked great!

We also picked a giant bucket full of turnips. Hmmm. I have decided to try to make some Middle Eastern Turnip pickles (those funky bright pink pickles they serve at good falafel places). The recipe is fermented so I'll let you know how that goes!

Here are a few pics of our bounty.