The canning/freezing season is now upon us. Every summer is my busy season when it comes to fresh produce. I do a lot of freezing to be able to make healthy smoothies for S all year long. In each smoothie he gets 8 servings of his fruits/vegetables and 1 dairy serving. There are always 4 veggies, 4 fruit, and 1 yogurt.When S was a baby I started by making all of his baby food from produce we grew in our garden or what I was able to get at our local farmer’s market. As a baby he ate all kinds of fruits and veggies you can’t find in stores. For example fruits and veggies not normally found in stores he ate would be: cauliflower, red beets, zucchini, summer squash, pumpkins, raspberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Of course, I made the regular fruits and veggies: broccoli, peas, green beans, carrots, plums, bananas, peaches, pears, applesauce, and I am sure there is more I forgot.
B harvested about 8-12 summer squash from the garden (I forgot to take a picture of them before I cut them up. First thing I do is scrub them really good with soap because I leave the skins on the squash. There are a lot of nutrients in it. I have found the easiest way to break them down is to cut them down the middle and deseed them. You can eat the seeds, but sometimes they are tough and do not create a smooth texture that I would want for baby food or smoothies.
Once the squash is broken down I put it in the food processor on slice and it makes for much faster cooking time. S loved helping me this year by pushing the button for me on the food processor.
Sliced-Summer Squash
There is not real science as to how long to cook it. I cook it until it becomes transparent. When I start with a batch it is all the way to the top of the pot packed tightly. You can see how much it cooks down.
Steaming-Summer Squash
Fully cooked transparent-Summer Squash
Once it is cooked down it goes in the blender and I add some of the liquid that it steamed in to help make it smooth and creamy. (I was slacking on taking pictures but you can check out the Freezing Strawberries for visual reference.)
Then I sieve the liquid through the screen strainer and pour it into ice cubes. (Again, forgot to take a picture, but click here for visual reference.)
Here was what I got out of 8-12 summer squash. This year so far I did not puree zucchini, but I make it the same exact way I make this.
9 Ice Cube trays and tomorrows serving-Summer Squash
I got 6 bags of summer squash. If we get another big batch from the garden I will cook more otherwise this is all we are getting this year. (Will picture after I get them out of the freezer and bagged.)