Freeze Extra Zucchini

You may have noticed that I'm posting a lot about summer squash, zucchini, etc. My garden this year is EXPLODING!! My husband & his friends are a little bugged about it taking over our horse shoe pit :)

We have pumpkins, watermelon, zucchini, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, acorn squash and another squash that I haven't figured out what type it is. 

In this box we did herbs, peppers and tomatoes. 9 herbs, peppers, jalapeño and 6 different types of heirloom tomatoes. So my posts will continue to revolve around these ingredients for a few more months. I'll be sure to pepper in other recipes - but if you have a garden - check here often for different ideas and preparations.

Which brings me to this: what do you do when you have squash coming out of your ears? We really try to eat most of what we grow. The kids really enjoy going out into the garden to get the ingredients, herbs, etc and then also love washing, prep work and cooking. It's a source of pride for all of us! 

This year is the first time that I am going to try to freeze zucchini (or any kind of squash you have) - to be used in Sept/Oct.

Then we give it away to neighbors, friends.

Get your zucchini, squash, pumpkin, whatever and dice them into rustic chunks. I did it in batches for a couple hours one day. I separated the zucchini from the squash, since I have a few different squashes - I separate them from each other too.

When the water comes to a boil, add your cut vegetables to the pot and begin timing. You're going for crunchy al dente. For small wedges like those shown here, test them after a minute. For larger rounds, it will take more like 1-2 minutes.

Scoop the vegetables out of the water and transfer them immediately to the water bath to stop the cooking and then drain. 

Put them in a freeze tight bag - label the front with what it is "Zucchini 8.01"

Then when we get a little fall snap - you know that you've got all that delicious stuff just waiting to comfort you!!