Tag: squash

Food, Recipes, Buying & Growing Your Own

Yummy Pumpkin Recipes

Suzanne Hollifield-Eller
pumpkins
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com. Photographer:  Jill111.

Pumpkins are a versatile food in the squash family. Most people are familiar with their traditional use to make pies, but they are good in just about any recipe you would use sweeter squashes or sweet potatoes.

Canned pumpkin has become seasonal in many supermarkets, so if you like it, you need to stock up during the holidays when canned pumpkin is plentiful and relatively inexpensive. You can also prepare and freeze pumpkins from the patch to use later. Be aware that sometimes the water content and consistency of frozen pumpkin can vary, and you may need to adjust your recipe to accommodate that.

Cooking a Whole Pumpkin in the Oven
Cut your pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds.
Place the pumpkin halves face down on a cookie sheet or baking dish. Add 1/2″ of water to pan to keep the pumpkin flesh moist.
Bake at 450º for about 45 minutes to an hour or until you can pierce the skin with a fork.
Scoop flesh with a spoon, and drain in a colander. Then place in freezer bags or containers.

Pumpkin Pie
1 3/4 cups pumpkin
1 cup hot water
1 can sweetened condensed milk.
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix above ingredients and bake in unbaked 9 inch pie shell at 375° for 30 minutes.

Easy (and Delicious) Pumpkin Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
4 beaten eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
Mix all ingredients in large bowl until well-blended. Pour batter into greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup
4 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch ground cayenne pepper
3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin
5 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
Melt butter and saute onions and garlic until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir a minute more. Add pumpkin and broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat; simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Puree soup in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return soup to saucepan and low heat. Add brown sugar and slowly add milk then cream while stirring. Adjust seasonings to taste. If too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. Salt to taste. When served, add a dollup of sour cream and sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin-Gingerbread Trifle
Two 14 ounce packages gingerbread mix, prepared and cooled completely
5 ounce package vanilla cook-and-serve pudding mix
30 ounces canned pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 ounces tub Cool Whip
1/2 cup gingersnaps
Prepare pudding and set aside to cool. Stir pumpkin, sugar and cinnamon into the pudding. Crumble one batch or gingerbread into trifle bowl. Pour half the pudding mixture over the gingerbread and layer half the Cool Whip on top. Repeat layers and sprinkle with crushed gingersnaps. Refrigerate overnight.

Food, Recipes, Buying & Growing Your Own

August Vegetables: In-Season Favorites

Suzanne Hollifield-Eller
USDA corn
Public Doman USDA

Although corn often gets negative press because of its connection to GMOs in field corn, most local farmers produce sweet corn for eating. Produced on a small scale, most sweet corn varieties are free of GMOS. If you are concerned, ask the grower at the farmers’ market or the produce manager at your grocery.

Fortunately, we’ve had rain in this area. Now is a good time to purchase local vegetables that you can put up for the winter when prices may be higher. You can eat most local sweet corn without worrying about ingesting GMOs.

Corn is one of the easiest vegetables to freeze and retains the flavor nicely. It’s a bit harder to can because you need a pressure canner, but canning can save space if you don’t have room in the freezer.

Another August vegetable that freezes well is squash. The directions are basically the same for any type of summer squash, and then you can use the frozen squash in recipes such as casseroles or breads.

Below are directions for freezing corn and squash and a some of my favorite recipes with these vegetables. Let yourself enjoy healthy local vegetables all year long.

Freezing Corn

  • Start with fresh, local sweet corn and freeze as soon as possible. If you have a delay between picking and freezing, put the corn in the refrigerator or ice it down so the sugars in the kernels won’t start breaking down.
  • Husk the corn and clean as much of the silks from the ears as possible.
  • Place the ears in a large pot of boiling water to blanch. The water should return to a boil within a minute. If it doesn’t, you have too small a pot or too many ears. Blanch for 4-7 minutes.
  • Immerse the corn ears in ice water. Leave them in the ice water as long as you did in the boiling water.
  • If you are freezing ears, put them in freezer bags and mark the date. If you are cutting the corn off the cob, cut to a depth of 2/3 of the kernel for niblets or 1/2 the kernel for creamed corn. For creamed corn, scrape the cob after cutting the kernels. Then bag the kernels and mark the date.

Freezing Squash

  • Choose your squash. Like the corn, put in the refrigerator or in ice water if you have very long to wait between harvest and freezing.
  • After washing, slice your squash into 1/2 inch slices. (Throw the ends away.) Slice enough squash for one blanching at a time so the pieces won’t discolor while waiting.
  • Place the slices in a large pot about 2/3 full of boiling water to blanch. The water should return to a boil within a minute. Blanch for 3 minutes and begin timing as soon as you place the slices in the water. You can use the same water for up to 5 blanchings, just add more water as needed to keep the level to the 2/3 full mark.
  • Remove the blanched slices from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and place in ice water for 5 minutes.
  • Drain the slices thoroughly and place in freezer bags. Mark the date.
  • If you are freezing zucchini for baking, you can grate it instead of slicing. Then use a steam blanch instead of a pot of water. Measure into amounts convenient to your recipe and pack the grated and drained zucchini into bags or in containers, leaving 1/2 inch of space at the top for expansion.

Corn Souffle

  • 2 C. frozen or fresh sweet corn
  • 3 eggs, well beaten
  • 1 c. milk
  • 2 tbsp. butter
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 tbsp. self-rising flour
  • dash black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Blend melted butter, flour, salt, pepper and sugar. Gradually stir in milk, and heat to boiling, stirring until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Let cool slightly, and add corn. Beat egg yolks until light and stir into the corn mixture. Beat egg whites and fold into the corn mixture. Pour into greased 2 quart casserole and bake 30 Minutes. Serves 6. (Thanks to my friend, Nancy Allison, for this recipe.)

Squash Casserole

  • 2 lbs. frozen squash, cooked
  • 1/2 c. melted butter
  • 18 oz. package herb seasoned stuffing mix
  • 1/4 c. chopped onion
  • 2 carrots, grated
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 2 oz. jar chopped pimentos (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook squash, drain, mash, and set aside. Mix together stuffing mix and melted butter. Pour half of stuffing mixture in bottom of 2 quart flat casserole dish, and set aside. Mix together onion, carrots, sour cream, cream of chicken soup and pimentos. Add mashed squash. Pour on top of stuffing in casserole dish. Top with remaining stuffing. Bake for 30 minutes.