Winter Storage Crop {Tips & Ideas}

Here's an example of a weeks worth of storage crops in our weekly Fruit & Vegetable share. I've found that keeping them in a pile somewhere that I'll see them everyday reminds me to make the best use of them.

At some point during the week when I've got a skillet of bacon fat or olive oil I'll caramelize the onions.  I like to cook them on low so that they get a great flavor and so that I can walk away and do something else without worrying about them burning.

I'm in love with preparing winter squash in the crockpot. I'll add some onion, diced apple, and cooked sausage to the winter squashes (simply cut in half and seeded) to the crock pot and cook for a few hours.  I'll check back in on it every hour or so to make sure that it's holding it's integrity just fine.  As soon as the outside of the squash seems to be getting a bit soft I'll get them out of the crock pot and store them in the fridge until we are ready to eat them.  Some of my family will just eat the squash/apple/onion mixture from the inside leaving the squash, but that's okay.  I figure they get a bite or two mixed in without knowing it.

So far we're just eating the pecans out of the bag.  I've crushed and thrown a few on salads, but I'm so thrilled that the kids love them so much that I'll probably save the rest for them.