Summer Squash and Tomatoes

      I love summer cooking!

Bountiful, robust, fabulous tomatoes (25 lbs. worth -  I weighed them!)

     I'm finally ready to post pictures of my squash and tomato recipes. I had a bumper crop of Italian squash/zucchini and tomatoes this summer. The sauces and dishes I made were so tasty!

Coring and preparing my tomatoes to be added to boiling water then ice water for easy skin removal

Squishing the peeled tomatoes to prep them for making a sauce was fantastically fun! I could play with my food and not get in trouble!

     After squishing my tomatoes, I let the water drain out of them by putting them in a colander. I placed them in quart-size freezer bags and then pop them in the freezer. When I need stewed tomatoes for any recipe, I just take these out and put them in my recipe. Sometimes I'll defrost them beforehand, or not. They taste great!

     I also sautee onions and fresh-chopped garlic in olive oil then throw in a package of these tomatoes to the pot. I make seasoning my sauce super easy by adding a packet of spaghetti seasoning mix from the grocery store as well as extra basil and oregano. This sauce coupled with any pasta and a generous helping of mozzarella and parmesan cheese is very delicious and really cheap!

Lightly breaded and fried zucchini dipped in ranch dressing was oh-so-delectable

(Ignore my messy stove top!) I was preparing zucchini boats stuffed with brown rice, beans, tomatoes, cheedar cheese and seasonings topped with tomato sauce, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and olive oil. I baked them at 350 degrees till they were softened and the cheese was melted on top.

These could not have been MORE delicious!

    I'm including a link to a recipe for fabulous blueberry zucchini bread. This is probably one of my favorite quick bread recipes.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Blueberry-Zucchini-Bread/Detail.aspx

     I am still having a blast using my zucchini that I chopped, blanched and then froze. Gardening and cooking is a great combination of activities. Now I'm working on my winter vegetable garden. So far, it's looking like lots of salads are coming our way....I'll keep you posted.