When the Squash takes over your dining room.....and a recipe to use it up. :)

                                Good Morning, everyone!

What a crazy weekend we had here at the real Welcoming House!

First on Friday we had the county fair. We also had the blessing to be able to attend the rodeo and take a gander at the rabbit barn, which made my day. My rabbits would have rocked the fair, and knowing that just makes me happy that I have good stock for my rabbitry.

My adorable Cowgirl in the making....

But the whole time I was there I was thinking about my dining room at home.

Sounds weird, right?

Except you have no idea what my husband had brought home, unceremoniously filled the table up with, and then asked me if the family was ready to go.

And remember, I have two large gardens already.

Here is the list.
40 lbs zucchini
40 lbs yellow summer squash
40 lbs cucumbers
meat
5 lugs of peaches

and this after a friend dropped off her generous gift of 15 lbs of cukes that she was ready to be done canning from HER garden.
Too Blessed to be stressed I guess, but I bet you know what I have been doing all weekend!!!

Canning and baking.

And so today, you are going to have a short but sweet post on one of the things I canned up for our pantry this fall and winter.

If you read the Blue Ball book, you will not find a current recipe for canning up summer squash, but that is because it is simply one of those vegetables they don't do enough research into. It is a low acid vegetable, and so needs to be pressure canned, but it is simple and easy to make up jars for the winter months....and summer squash is incredibly versatile!

You can add it into soups, stews, casseroles, breads, pasta sauces or just plain pasta. Use it as a vegetable that you add into your pot pies or crockpot meals. Really, as a versatile vegetable, it is easy to throw a little in just about anywhere.

But my favorite way to eat it is with a spicily seasoned ground turkey sausage, all drained and heated up together, and served over homemade noodles in an alfredo sauce.

Not just ANY summer squash, 
but my Summer Squash Medley...
home canned and absolutely delicious.

Let me know what you do with squash at your house when you begin to get an abundance!

Summer Squash Medley Recipe

To make nine pint jars:

One sweet red pepper, cut into small dices
6 medium zucchini
8 medium yellow squash
2 medium onions, diced
1/2 tsp basil and sea salt per jar

I wash and clean the jars, then start with all items raw and diced up. In a bowl I mix the veggies, but place the salt and herbs at the bottom of the jar. Top those with the veggie blend, using a funnel to make sure that you are getting everything into the jars neatly. I pack tightly, then fill jars with filtered water. Wipe rims, place warmed lids and rings on. Put into a pressure canner and fill with recommended amount of water for your canner (most are between 2 and 3 quarts). Bring up to temperature at medium until everything inside the jars is warmed up (seal lid, you will know it has all reached temp when the steam begins to push up the pressure regulator (looks like a turkey pop up thing but is metal). At this point, I vent for ten minutes, then once the whole thing is up to pressure, I process for 30 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts. You can change out the herbs to what you like, we have tried it with both marjoram and tarragon, and both had a wonderful flavor.

My canner handles nine jars at a time, regular mouth jars, so that is why I came up with these measurements for you. :) Yesterday I processed over 40 jars of this recipe, and they are gorgeous going in and coming out of the canner.

See you tomorrow!
Blessings to you and yours,
Heather

PS--to process just regular jars of squash, I add salt, and chunked squash. Fill jars with water, wipe rim, cap and process for 35 minutes for pints, 40 minutes for quarts. :)