1001 uses for overly prolific squash

Actually I'm only kidding, I'm not planning on giving a thousand and one uses for our lovely friend overly-prolific squash. And to tell you the truth, I haven't tired of my seemingly endless crop of 3 ft long beauties. I haven't resorted to gifting all my friends or putting them in freeboxes in front of the house.

I've actually succeeded in eating most of them. My usual trick is just to put a little bit of squash in whatever I'm already eating. So far it's been pretty effective. The rest, I cut up and freeze, because during the winter, the season of endless soups and pasta pasta and more pasta, summer squash is a much more welcome friend. In the spirit of the amazing bounty of squash (I've got at least 3 lying around the kitchen (taking up as much space as the toaster oven), here's my favorite squash recipes:

1: A simple side dish of corn and summer squash.
A. Cut up squash into small bite sized pieces, however much you think you need. For a side dish I do about a cup per person.
B. Put some oil in a skillet.
C. Saute squash until it begins to soften (but don't let it get too mushy).
D. Add a little bit of soy sauce (maybe a few tsps if you're into measuring-I'm not).
E. And then add the corn. You can use canned, frozen, or fresh-your choice. I like frozen best for this.

2: Summer vegetable stew (a good way to use up a bunch of vegetables when you're a bit overwhelmed with them)
A. Really, you can use any types of vegetables you have on hand, but for this batch I used tomatoes, squash and kale. It's also a good idea to have some herbs and onions/garlic for this.
B. Start with your firmest vegetables and cut them up into chunks.
C. Toss them into a slow cooker (crock pot) with a little water, or if you don't have one of those, you'll just have to use your biggest pot on the stovetop. Cook them down until they're just mush. (Tip: peel veggies with firm skins first) It's a good idea to throw the garlic and onion in at this stage. In a slow cooker, you can simply chuck everything that'll fit, turn it on high and ignore it for the rest of the afternoon.
D. Once they're cooked down to mush, transfer to a food processor and puree. Add a few tomatoes (or a little tomato sauce if you have any if you need to balance the flavor by making it a little more acidic). If you don't have a food processer, mash everything with a potato masher.
E. Return this to the pot, and add some herbs (I use basil, oregano, and rosemary because that's what's growing in my back yard. Stir them in, then add the rest of your veggies (cut into bite size pieces). It's a good idea to have a good balance between the stuff that got pureed and some chunkier stuff, it makes a more interesting soup. If it's all too thick, add a little bit of water or broth.
F. Feel free to eat some if it's soup weather, otherwise, freeze most of it, and enjoy it later when it's cold outside. (BTW: pint sized mason jars make great single servings)

3. Pasta Enhancement. If you're anything like me, when you get busy, you find yourself over-relying on quick and easy meals like pasta where all you're doing is boiling noodles and opening a pasta jar. Well when you start getting bored to death with what's in the jar, pasta enhancement is what's gonna liven things up a bit. Since we're planning ahead, this is a recipe for freezing.
A. Assemble any vegetables you have that might be good in pasta, and cut them up into bite sized pieces. It's a good idea to peel veggies (like squash) with thick skins first-when they freeze, they get weird.
B. Acquire 1 jar/can of your favorite pasta sauce. Dump that in with the veggies, just enough to coat everything a little bit (this keeps things from getting freezer burn.
C. If you have any fresh herbs like basil, throw them into the mix. They freeze well and you'll have the sensation of fresh herbs during the colder months.
D. Stir everything together and put in whatever freezer containers you prefer, in quantities that are good for single meals.
E. When you're ready to make the pasta, just thaw, and add some more pasta sauce, and voila, you've got some pretty awesome pasta sauce with very little effort, and you'll be amazed how good the herbs still are.

Well those are my three of my squash favorites. Hope you'll be inspired to look at your squash "problem" as a blessing in disguise.