More Winter Squash information

Hello, My family loves squash. In my teens we would have squash for the Thrashing crew and for the Shredding crew. So making squash was a must to serve on our tables. Winter squash is one of our favorites. (I hope this missive makes since.) I also learned about squash in Microwave cooking class. Butternut squash is about the only one you should cut up thinner to cook it. The summer squash has a thinner outer shell. So you can also eat the skin. I freeze summer squash mainly for stir-fry and to mix with other vegetables with sauces. I canned some this year again, so I can mix it in for summer squash bars. Tends to keep the moisture in the bars. Summer squash breaks down faster so you do not have to cook it as long. Making it lovely to add to other veggies. Summer SQ. can also be used raw and eaten with dip or what ever you would like. I have dried and used it that way also. Had a nice light soup that was good also, served that while I catered. Learned to add summer squash in the last of cooking time. Have made quick breads, bars and pies. Summer Sq. is a new world food. If I remember right, there are several kinds of cookbooks for the Summer Squash. Spaghetti Squash has always seem to not have flavor for us. So I do not use it. I have had it served to me where it was to die for. But it has been years since that experience with spaghetti squash. Winter Squash is old world food. You can do plenty with winter squash also. Winter squash keeps for months in a stairway or basement. Where the summer squash does not. Summer squashes flesh is more of a moisture texture , where winter has a lot dryer flesh. Soups, breads, bars, pies and mixed with some other foods as just veggies on table. Winter squash usually has a hard outer shell that does not favor eating. Same as pumpkin. There are a lot of different winter squash. Green and Orange Hubbard, Butternut, Buttercup, and Acorn to name a few. Acorn and butternut are a couple of smooth outer shells. The others must of the time look real ugly and you wonder how you could eat something with what looks like warts on it. But the meat is so delicious. I do acorn in the microwave by piercing the outer shall to allow steam to escape to it does not explode in the micro. Cutting in half and scooping out the seeds and putting back in micro. for finishing of cooking with butter and brown sugar. If you put a bowl of water in oven while cooking can help reduce the drying out process. My Mom would cut it in half and set it in a pan of water and bake it. Making sure the water should not touch the flesh part. You can do Hubbard in the microwave also as long as you pierce the shell. Any that has a thinner flesh between the shell and seeds can be cooked in microwave. Doing Butternut I cut it in half lengthwise and in widthwise half again. Wrapped in tin foil. Place in oven on 350* for an one hour for large ones. Not sure where it takes hours to bake in oven unless you leave it whole. Check with a fork by piercing in flesh of squash, if it goes though the flesh part real nice, it is done. Then scooping out the seeds. Scrape out the meat and do what you want with it. We love it with butter and brown sugar. Try winter squash with marshmallows mixed in. I sort of lump winter squash with sweet potatoes. Winter sq. and sausage for breakfast. Peeled and added to soup. Peeled and cut into chunks then mixed with pineapple and baked for 30 minutes is good. Asparagus and winter squash mixed with a sourcream or yogurt served hot. Yummy!!!! Instead of using pumpkin for your pie use squash. Slice it and dry it after it has been soaked in a sweet marinate. I have a mean great tasting cranberry, nutmeat and winter squash muffin recipe. Young winter squash has always seemed on the bitter side to me so I do not use it then. I prefer the mature winter squashes. Check out the seed catalog's as to what is out there on both summer and winter squash.