Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers?

It's hot outside, the sun is high, and the pepper plants are producing.  Last year my pepper plants did so well that I got more than I could eat.  That's when I learned you can easily freeze bell peppers!  I froze so many last summer (more than a dozen) that I haven't had to buy a single green pepper for cooking in the last year!

Pepper plants in the middle, growing tall!

To freeze your peppers, start by rinsing them.  I like cutting my peppers so that I can be lazy later and pull them out and cook them right away.  For freezing, I chop them in large pieces for stir fry and others I dice small for using in chili and soup.  I met a lady once who said she just cut the top out of them and pulled out the pit and seeds, then froze the pepper whole.  

Two of my garden peppers

After I slice or dice, I divide them into freezer bags, suck all the air out, and label the bag with what they are, how I cut them, and about how much it is.  Then just plop them into the freezer.  So easy!  They are ready for your next quick recipe.  I really enjoy using them in spaghetti sauce on a cold winter night.  First, I start by sauteing the diced peppers and onions with a little olive oil and minced garlic and I brown some meat.  For the meat, I typically use very lean ground beef and sometimes I add some sausage for a little kick.  Then add a favorite store-bought spaghetti sauce base and some Italian seasoning.  Heat everything until it's hot and prepare your spaghetti noodles.  Then you are ready to serve a warm homemade spaghetti meal using your pre-diced peppers from the garden.

Sliced, packaged, labeled, and ready for the freezer

Using all the garden veggies

At this point in the summer, I am over-run with squash and zucchini.  My cherry tomatoes are coming in and I've pulled multiple onions.  My peppers have started growing and I'm wondering what in the world I'm going to do with all these veggies!  Thankfully I found out that the local food pantry accepts fresh vegetables, so I took them over 25 lbs of squash, zucchini, and cucumbers, but that still left me with quite a bit as more comes in every day.

Squash, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes

 When searching online for an easy recipe that used lots of vegetables, I came across this great recipe for corn and zucchini salsa.  I'm not a huge fan of jalapenos, so I doctored the recipe a bit.  I added chopped squash to the zucchini and sauteed both with the onion, garlic, and olive oil.  Due to the large amount of vegetables in my kitchen, I didn't measure anything out and simply chopped what I felt like including - the recipe still turned out fine.  Instead of including the jalapenos,  I used a can of Mexicorn (instead of plain corn), which has green and red peppers in it.  Alternatively, if your peppers are already coming in, you can chop those up and include them, but I would put them into the sauteed mixture to soften them a bit. I squeezed a fresh lime instead of using lemon juice and chopped cherry tomatoes from the garden.  After combining everything, then it was chilled for a few hours.  The result was delicious!  It was a great way to use zucchini, squash, peppers, corn, and onion for a quick, healthy recipe!

Corn and zucchini salsa result!

Squash and Zucchini Goodness

About the time the zucchini took off this year we got bombarded with tons of rain and cloudy weather. I would get small zucchini started on the plant, and then it would soon start rotting from the bloom end and turn smushy before ever growing large enough to eat.  What a let down!  I did some research and realized a couple things.  The first was that there are male and female blooms on zucchini and squash.  It was so rainy that the bees were not out and the blooms weren't getting pollinated.  To fix this, you can find a male bloom (skinny stem and long center inside the bloom) and pluck it from the plant.  Carefully peel off the outer petals so you are just left with the center portion.  Then go to each female bloom (will look like a baby zucchini below the bloom and the portion inside the bloom will have multiple ends) and dab it with the male bloom.  Ta-da ~ you pollinated your zucchini!  

The bloom on the left with a skinny stalk is male, the larger bloom on the right with a "baby" zucchini as a stalk is female.

Finally, my zucchini started to grow.  That's when I discovered issue two.....due to all the rain and lack of sun, my zucchini got bloom rot.  Again, more research.  The trick to attempting to avoid bloom rot is to pluck the bloom off the end of the zucchini after it starts growing (and therefore has been successfully pollinated).  It doesn't always work, but it definitely seems to help.  I now do this with all my squash and zucchini.

A healthy zucchini in the middle, with a rotten zucchini at the bottom center of the image.

If you can get a zucchini plant to grow, then you will quickly be overrun with zucchini.  Of course, there is always the go-to zucchini bread recipe, but zucchini can be used for so much more!  Tonight, I tried making zucchini and squash fritters.  I looked up some recipes, but most of them called for large amounts of squash and zucchini and I was the only one eating them.  Instead, I made my own mix (and it isn't very scientific).

So much zucchini and squash!

Zucchini and Squash Fritters

Ingredients
- your favorite shredded cheese (or cheeses)
- zucchini and/or squash
- black pepper
- salt
- all-purpose flour
- an egg
- olive oil

Start by grating your zucchini and squash, then mix in a little salt (to pull the water out, not to taste) and allow it to drain while you mix the rest.  Fix as much as you think you want to eat. 
Put shredded cheese in a bowl (equivalent to about 1/4 of the amount of zucchini/squash you have) and add the egg.  Sprinkle with black pepper.  You can also add some flavorful spices if you wish (garlic, italian seasonings, etc).  Amounts can be adjusted based on how you want it to taste.
Squeeze additional water out of the grated zucchini and squash and add this to your bowl.  Add flour little-by-little, but amounting to about 1/3 to 1/2 of the amount of zucchini/squash you have included.  Mix everything well.  It should be the consistency of typical muffin-type mixes.  Add flour if it is too runny.
Heat a skillet (medium) and add some olive oil to the pan.  Put a spoonful of the mix in the pan and flatten it with a spoon.  Once the first side is browned, turn it over and brown the other side. When both sides are browned, your fritters are done and ready to eat. 

Browned fritters

I made enough to result in 6 fritters and topped them with homemade tzatziki sauce~ delicious!
Let me know how you revised the recipe when you try your own version.