I Heart Squash!

This is a squashy post.

It's Autumn time, and although I don't have a garden, squash is still a bit part of my life right now. Squash is cheap because it went on sale. $1.49/lb. I don't know about where you live, but that is a great deal for us. And I bought a medium pumpkin (16 lbs.) for $12 - about 75 cents per pound.

So today I have conquered my fears... prepped the pumpkin... dug out my pressure canner that I've never used before... and I am about 20 minutes away from *pinging* jars!

There is normally no reason to can things I buy, because, really, who wants to spend more money and time on canning a fresh item than you have to when there is a cheaper, pre-canned product out there??? But it was just worth it, since canned store-bought pumpkin is at least $3.75/pound up here, and I had a free Saturday.

I have a few pictures from this week to share with you. I hope you enjoy squash as much as I do!

Spaghetti squash with a butternut squash, onion, and tomato sauce. I roasted it all together with massive quantities of butter, then mashed everything except the spaghetti squash into a big pot with a can of stewed tomatoes. Served it up like pasta. SO good!!!

I always, always, always use gloves when handling squash. Some squash has a secretion that really bothers my hands, so I just wear gloves with all of them I am cutting up.

They say it isn't safe to can pumpkin puree. So, The next best thing is to open it, gut it, slice it, peel it, dice it, and boil it for about 2 minutes before canning.

I was able to fill a big mixing bowl twice with the flesh from this pumpkin.

This is the All American Pressure Cooker Canner #925 that I was given years ago and have never used. I'm pretty handy around the kitchen, and my grandmother is the Canning Queen, but I have to admit I was shaking in my boots at the prospect of actually using this monster.

This will actually fit 9 pints on the bottom and another 9 on the top, but I only had 12 pints, so I decided to even it out a bit.

This is how to pack in the pumpkin. Pack as much as you can...

...then fill it up with the water from the pot you boiled it in. Make sure ALL the air bubbles are released.

Almost looks like peaches, apples, or pineapple, huh? Wipe down the tops and edges VERY well or you won't get a seal.

Jars ready to go into the top of the canner.

And this is where I freaked out. I turned it on and immediately called my grandma to make sure I was doing it right!

 Well, the jars are still cooling in the cooker, so as soon as they are done, I'll let you know how they turned out!

While we're waiting, I had a bunch of leftover pumpkin. I froze a little bit, and made some into pumpkin pancakes. I used the little bit of water left with the vitamins and pumpkin goodness and boiled it down, added sugar, and made a syrup for the cakes.


I'd like to get your favorite pumpkin recipes! Since I have about 13 pints available, and I'll probably can more later this week, I need some fabulous recipes! The more unique, the better!