Watch Me Grow

Jade has been growing lots along with our garden. We had two zucchini that we over looked. Jade was happy to demonstrate just how big they were compared to her size. This summer our garden was amazing. We harvested lots of squash, zucchini, cucumbers tomatillos, tomatoes, and pumpkins.

With all the yellow squash we grew, I was struggling to find some recipes we really liked with the yellow squash. Our top 2 favorite for the yellow squash was the squash bread and the squash boats.

Summer Squash Bread

3 Eggs 3 C. Flour

2 C. Sugar 3 tsp. Baking Powder

1 C. Vegetable Oil 2 tsp. Cinnamon

2 tsp. Vanilla Extract 2 tsp. Nutmeg

2 C. Shredded Summer Squash.

Beat eggs til fluffy. Then add the sugar, oil, and vanilla. Gradually mix in the other powder ingredients. Fold in the squash. Bake @ 325 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Summer Squash Boats

One Large Squash or 4-6 Regular ¼ tsp. nutmeg

½ C. Bacon or Ham ¼ tsp. cayenne

1 TBSP Olive Oil 1 C. Shredded Cheese

1-2 Onions 1 C. Cream Cheese with Chives

2-3 Cloves of Garlic ½ C. Bread Crumbs or Stuffing Mix

Cut squash in half. Scrape out the seeds. Sauté onions and garlic till tender. Place cooked meat in bowl with the onions and garlic. Add the nutmeg & cayenne. Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature and mix in with the onions, garlic, & meat. Add Shredded Cheese. Add the bread crumbs last. Dish the mixture into the squash boats. Place pour ¼ cup hot water in baking dish. Place the boats in the baking dish and cover with foil. Cook for 25 minutes. Last 5 minutes uncover and sprinkle cheese on top.

Some of you might be wondering what we did with the tomatillos. We made Salsa Verde and lots of it (about 16 jars). I’ll save our recipe for another day. With the tomatoes we made several things. Sun dried tomatoes, salsa, and spaghetti sauce. With the cucumbers we tried pickling. They turned out great! We also had a friend call us up and let us pick her grapes to make grape juice. Earlier in the summer and we made dried apricots, apricot jam, apricot syrup. Our aunt and uncle in Bountiful let us pick their apricots.

Does it sound like we’re bragging ‘cause we are! I have never canned so many things in my life. Once Gary helped me become comfortable with the canning process there was no turning back. I am so grateful for all the new things I have learned this summer about gardening and canning. Takes lots of time, but once you get your system down it goes pretty smoothly. I never thought I could become so domesticated.

Our Growing Girl

Once upon a time I wore this dress.

Jade loves to clap her feed together.

Gotta love her hair. Has a cute tint of red that she got from her mom.