Got Zucchini?

Question:  What do all of these photos have in common?

Answer:  Zucchini

All of these zucchini were picked on different days, except for the last 2 photos - they are both from this past Monday.  There have been more that weren't photographed, including 3 yesterday.  

Like I mentioned in my Garden Update post on Tuesday, the zucchini in the bottom picture are waaay overgrown.  The largest one (and there were 2 others nearly the same size) weighed in at 3 pounds 7 ounces and was 15 inches long!

What do you do with all that zucchini?  Lately, my Go-To recipe has been baked zucchini sticks.  I can't remember where I found it (somewhere online), but here it is:

Baked Zucchini Sticks

ingredients:

3 medium zucchini (about 1 1/4 lbs), cut into 3 inch sticks
1 Tbsp salt
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
2 eggs, scrambled
olive oil spray
salt

directions:

Place the zucchini sticks in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with salt. Let the zucchini drain for 1 hour. Combine the bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and seasonings in a bowl and set aside.. Preheat the oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Blot the zucchini dry with paper towels. Dip them in the eggs, roll them in the bread crumb mixture, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Once all the zucchini are on the baking sheet, spray the tops lightly with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 12 minutes, then turn the sticks over and bake for 8 more minutes, or until gold brown and crispy. Serve immediately with marinara sauce for dipping.

Several weeks ago I also made zucchini muffins and zucchini chocolate chip cookies {recipe here}.  I'll be making more of those soon.  And a couple of weeks ago I dehydrated zucchini.  You can read about that {here}.  But this week I've been working on slicing, dicing & grating zucchini for the freezer.  I had already sliced & diced some a few weeks ago for freezing, but this week I added more to the freezer.  

I sliced zucchini for layering into lasagna ~ 5 bags- 1 pound each 

I diced zucchini for adding to spaghetti sauce ~ 12 bags- 8 ounces each

I shredded zucchini for baking cookies & muffins ~ 15 bags- 1 cup each

I'm thinking of making zucchini pickles as well.  I see recipes for them everywhere.  I mean you can pickle just about anything, right!?
I know there are a lot of zucchini recipes out there in the web-o-sphere land, but if you have any favorites, feel free to share them in the comments.  I have several zucchini in the fridge and there are more in the garden.  What should I do with them all?  If I had a pig, I know what he'd be eating for dinner every day.

Canning Green Beans

Our Romano Italian Bush Beans have been producing very well.  After 2 harvests, a few days apart, I had
5 1/2 pounds of beans.  I wanted to can them to save for later use.

The first harvest of Romano Italian Bush Beans

I rinsed the beans in cold water, trimmed the ends off and cut them into 1 1/2 - 2 inch pieces.  Then they were placed in a large stock pot with cold water, brought to a boil and simmered for 5 minutes.

5 1/2 pounds of beans waiting to be trimmed, cooked & processed

I then filled 4 hot pint jars with the beans and then filled with the hot cooking water, leaving 1 inch headspace.  Lids and bands were placed on the jars and then the jars were placed in a pressure canner.  A pressure canner is a must for processing low acid foods.  A water bath canner can not reach the high temperatures needed to kill bacteria in low acid foods.

3 of 11 pints processed

The jars were processed for 20 minutes (follow instructions for your particular pressure canner). After 20  minutes, the pressure canner was removed from the heat and left to sit while the canner depressurized.  This took an hour.  The lid of the canner was removed and again the jars sat for a few more minutes.  Once the jars were removed, they were left to sit for 24 hours at room temp.
*Once the jars are removed from your canner, begin filling 4 more jars -or however many jars your canner holds- with beans and repeating the process until you've canned all of your beans.

Labels clearly indicating type of bean, date & batch number

After the jars sat for 24 hours, I removed the rings, checked the seals and gently washed the jars to remove any residue from leaking liquid during processing.  I washed and dried the rings as well and then labeled the jars.  I decided to label mine with their batch number (batch #3 in this photo).  In case there is a problem with a jar, we can easily check the other jars processed in the same batch.

On this particular day, I processed 11 pints of beans.  It took a full day, but is well worth it.  As I type this, I have plenty more beans in the refrigerator waiting to be processed and more in the garden that will need picking in the next day or so.

If you decide to pressure can low acid foods, follow the instructions for your particular pressure canner and recipe.  There was definitely a learning curve with processing these beans.  I hadn't used my pressure canner in about 6 years.  Adjusting the heat on the stove to maintain proper pressure was tricky in the first batch and the jars lost a bit of liquid.  The 2nd and 3rd batches came out better, but still lost a little liquid.  The beans are still safe to consume, however the jars with the lower liquid level should be eaten first.

Check back for news on blackberries & zucchini........

Garden Update for August 11th

August 11th- Garden Overview- Still no rain, I've resorted to using the sprinkler instead of hand watering.  There are too many chores and not enough time in the day....If only I didn't need sleep. 

August 11th- Path between the squash, dangerous territory here unless you're wearing long pants.

August 11th- Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes beginning to ripen

August 11th- Black Cherry Tomatoes ripening

August 11th- German Green Tomato

August 11th- Hot Peppers

August 11th- More Hot Peppers

August 11th- Parsnip tops are growing taller each day

August 11th- Pole Beans still filling out

August 11th- Christmas Pole Lima Bean, This pod is at least 6 inches long, waiting for it to fill out

August 11th- Florida Speckled Lima Beans

August 11th- Gourd Tepee

August 11th- One of several gourds

August 11th- The largest gourd so far

August 11th- Primrose Apples, still waiting for them to ripen

August 11th- Bartlett Pear

August 11th- Bartlett Pear, looks like we'll be harvesting soon

August 11th- More Bartlett Pears

~Harvests Since the Last Update~

August 6th- Beets, Romano Italian Green Beans

August 6th- Our first Spaghetti Squash harvest, Blue Lake & Landreth Green Beans,

Romaine Lettuce, Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Peas & Broccoli

August 6th- Romaine Lettuce, Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Peas & Broccoli

August 11th- I had been really busy for a few days and hadn't checked to see what needed cutting, only setting out the sprinkler each morning.  Wouldn't you know it, the zucchini just wouldn't wait for me and grow slowly.  I found huge zucchini yesterday morning!

August 11th- Collards, Parsnip, Zucchini & Yellow Squash, Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Peas & Beans

August 11th- Since the parsnip tops are so tall, I pulled one to see the size.

Not a bad size, but I'll leave them a bit longer.

August 11th- Our first bell peppers, We're getting a few peas, The yellow ball- Lemon Cucumber

August 11th- Romano Italian Bush Beans, I recently canned 5 1/2 pounds of these, 

I almost have enough to process again

August 11th- Blue Lake Stringless, So far these are producing very well, Will need to can some soon

August 11th- Kale.....There's always kale

August 11th- Last, but certainly not least, the overgrown zucchini.  These are huge! I've already cut them all up, except for the largest.  I think I'll weigh & measure it before cutting.  Since these were so large, I sliced & diced them to freeze for adding to spaghetti sauce & layering into lasagna.

**Update...I measured the largest zucchini and it weighed 3 lbs 7 oz and was 15 inches long**

That's the garden update for this week.  I picked wild blackberries 2 mornings last week & spent Sunday making jam & syrup.  I'll be sharing photos of that this week as well as photos of processing the green beans.  I'm hoping to pick blueberries sometime this week as well....and maybe more blackberries.  I need to do all the extra picking & preserving that I can before the tomatoes really begin to ripen since once they do, I'll be spending all my days in the kitchen processing those.  Happy Harvesting!  :-)

Dehydrating Zucchini

Did you know that August 8th is National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day?

It sounds like fun, but maybe you could try dehydrating some instead to use later in the year........

It's the time of year when gardeners who've planted zucchini are trying to be creative with ways to use up the excess.  I've frozen quite a bit to use later in spaghetti sauce and lasagna, but wanted to try dehydrating some as well.

Sliced zucchini ready to dehydrate 

I'm not exactly sure how many zucchinis I used.  I just kept slicing and filling the trays and didn't stop until the trays were full and I'd used all the zucchini I had on hand.  I followed the instructions in "The Dehydrator Bible"....slice zucchini (or yellow squash) to 1/4 inch thick and place on mesh drying trays.  Dry at 130 degrees for 6-10 hours.  I needed to dehydrate mine longer than 10 hours, about 14 hours.  It all depends on the humidity level in your house/kitchen.

Crispy thin dehydrated zucchini 

They're finished drying when they're a little crispy and no longer spongy feeling.  If they're not completely dry, dehydrate again for another hour.  If they aren't completely dry, they'll mold and you don't want that. Store them in airtight jars or vacuum sealed bags.

Dried zucchini filling 2 quart jars

The Dehydrator Bible is full of recipes for using dehydrated foods.  I'll be marking several recipes and dehydrating tomatoes & eggplant once they're ready to harvest from the garden.  The key to following recipes like the ones in this particular book is planning ahead and making sure you've dehydrated all the ingredients for any dishes you may want to try.

Making Refrigerator Pickles

Only a few simple ingredients needed

I planted 4 different kinds of cucumbers this year.  They haven't really taken off yet (could be the summer squash overtaking them), but they've been producing a few here and there. Last week I decided to make some refrigerator pickles from a variety of cucumbers I'd picked.

Cucumbers & onions sliced and packed in jars 

I searched online and very loosely followed a recipe for refrigerator pickles.  With this type of pickle, no canning is required.  Only a few simple ingredients combined and just a few days to wait for the flavoring to take place.

Here's what I used (roughly):

5 cups of sliced cucumbers (I used a crinkle cutter to get that "pickle" look)

1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onion

2 cups distilled white vinegar

1 cup sugar (I use organic sugar, that's why my vinegar mixture is a darker color)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pickling spice

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if you like)

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 garlic gloves, thinly sliced

Dry seasonings ready for vinegar to be added 

Layer cucumbers and onions into 2 wide mouth quart jars.  Combine vinegar and remaining ingredients in small sauce pan and stir well.  Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute.  Pour mixture evenly over both jars of cucumbers & onions trying to evenly distribute seasonings.  Let cool, cover and refrigerate at least 4 days to meld flavors. May be refrigerated up to one month.

Seasonings cooking & dissolving sugar  

I left my jars in the refrigerator for 5 days before trying.  They passed the taste test of my husband and daughter.  They both love pickles and have been eating them daily.  I don't think we'll have a problem with eating the 2 jars before the one month time limit.

Ready for the fridge

In fact, I picked more cucumbers today and plan to make more pickles in the next day or so.  They are so easy to make.  It takes maybe 30 minutes to slice the cukes and onions, get the seasonings ready & pop the jars in the fridge.  It's so simple to do. If you don't have cucumbers growing in your backyard, pick some up from your farmer's market and give it a try.  They're Yum!