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00:00Howdy folks and welcome to the Hillbilly Kitchen. It's squash season and today we're making a crunchy,
00:08tasty, absolutely delicious, easy squash fritter. Yes, these are a little bit big. I know that's
00:15going to get a lot of comments. I had to leave for a couple of days and I came back
00:20and I found
00:21these monsters in my garden and you can actually use these in the fritters that we're going to make.
00:27You can use the great big ones for that. You can also, especially the zucchini, you can stuff them
00:32and make zucchini boats which we did in another video. But don't ignore those squash once they
00:37start growing. You got to collect them every day. Before we get started cooking, if you have not
00:42already, would you please take just a second and click like and subscribe on the video. We'll have
00:48lots more squash recipes and we'd surely like to have you join us. Now to start these squash fritters
00:54and you can make them with your zucchini or with your yellow squash or a combination of the two.
01:00And this is about the right size. Somewhere between this and this is about where you want your yellow
01:05squash to get. And your zucchinis, this is about the littlest and then, you know, on up which you can
01:13let them get a little bit bigger than the yellow squash. But that big old yellow squash over there,
01:17I could peel it and seed it and I could use some of the meat out of the center of
01:23it. But that would
01:24be it. You want about three squash this size and you want to grate them. You can chop them finely
01:30if
01:31you don't have a grater and you can also use a food processor. I had kind of a small onion
01:36and I minced
01:37it up really, really small. And you can grate it too, but grating an onion is just a good way
01:44to cry
01:45way more tears than you need to shed in a day. So I diced mine up. And you need an
01:52egg. A lot of
01:53people are making these like low carb and gluten free, but this is the comfort version. And you can
02:00use just flour in them. But what I like to use is my self-rising cornmeal mix. I like the
02:08flavor of the
02:09cornmeal with the squash because when I fry my squash, I usually batter it in cornmeal. And I got
02:17that video up too. We'll link some of these other squash videos in here because I know y'all have
02:22got
02:22squash if you've got, like I said, a garden or a neighbor. You can use regular flour. You can use
02:30something like an almond flour if you need, um, something gluten free. You can leave the flour
02:37totally out. It's going to make a much thinner fritter and you're going to need to add an extra
02:42egg to it, um, to bind it together. But, you know, fritters are a comfort food. If you need the
02:52low
02:52carb version though, you can, like I said, totally leave it out or you can use almond flour.
02:57And I like the cornmeal mix. Now, if you're using plain flour, if it's not a self-rising flour or
03:03the
03:03self-rising cornmeal mix, I would add a little bit of baking powder to it. A lot of folks don't,
03:09but a fritter is basically a pancake. And, you know, who likes flat pancakes?
03:18Almost every recipe for squash fritters say to remove the water. And they all say,
03:25put it in a strainer like this and then squeeze it, squeeze it, squeeze it, squeeze it.
03:29Well, if you watched our fried green tomato video, we showed you the secret to removing
03:38some of the moisture from vegetables like this. And that secret is salt. You want to salt it and let
03:48it
03:48sit for just a few minutes. And that salt will sweat it. And I'm not measuring this. And you don't
03:57need to
03:57be real careful with this because most of it is going to come out in the, oh gosh, now I'm
04:04going to get
04:04my salt grinder messed up. Anyway, most of it's going to come out as the vegetables sweat. So, most of
04:14this
04:14sodium is not going to be staying in there. Now, of course, if you've got a low sodium diet,
04:21you might not want to do it this way. You might just want to squeeze it.
04:26But those three little squash are going to give you about three cups of squash, which is about what
04:31we want for this recipe. Now, just kind of mix that salt in there and we will let that sit.
04:40And we will mix up everything else. And then we can squeeze most of the moisture out of it without
04:46having to do a whole lot of work. I made a mess. I should have mixed the salt in it
04:54in the big bowl
04:55and then dumped it in here, huh? Goodness gracious. All right. While that sits just a minute, even before
05:03I mix the rest of this up, because this is going to mix up really quick, I want to preheat
05:07my pan
05:08before we get started. I'd like to take just a moment to thank Quince for sponsoring this video.
05:14If you have never heard of them, check out their website. They work directly with manufacturers
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05:30high end, but a very discounted price. These pots and pans here are ceramic coated,
05:37nonstick. They're very heavy. They have nice handles, the pot handles and pan handles. It's
05:45all oven safe. They have these wonderful steam vents, but the lid is domed so that what you're
05:53cooking, if they're steaming it, it's going to drip back down into your pan and not get all over your
05:58stove. And the steam vent is going to help prevent boil overs as well. They're very heavy duty and they
06:06have thick bottoms that are going to help distribute the heat evenly so that if you are frying in
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06:35365 day free shipping return policy. So if you get anything from them and it fails within the first
06:43year, you can return it free of charge. And that is quality that you can count on. Now I'm preheating
06:51the pan because a preheated pan is the secret to a good crispy fritter. And it's also the secret to
06:59a
07:00fluffy fritter. Because if you put it in a pan when it's hot, it'll fluff up a little bit rather
07:06than
07:06just going everywhere. And it will get crispy on the outside and it won't stick. If you try to start
07:15everything in a cold pan, you're going to end up with a stick mushy mess. And like I said, this
07:21is
07:21basically a pancake. So that's kind of the secret to a pancake too. Anyhow, we're going to dump our egg
07:26in here. And I'm going to beat that up. I'm going to go ahead and dump my onions in here.
07:37I saw a couple
07:38of recipes where they were sweating their onions to get the juice out of their onions. Now that just
07:43ain't necessary and it takes out way too much flavor. And you don't really have to sweat the squash
07:50either. You can just fry it like it is. It'll just take a second or two longer to fry it
07:54because you'll
07:55have to fry the water out. So if you don't want to do this messy step here, you don't have
07:59to. And
08:00I'm going to flavor these with salt and pepper. And well, I already got salt in here. I ain't adding
08:05any more. Um, but that's the only thing you need. Now you can add other spices to it. You can
08:14make
08:14them spicy. You can also add cheese and I am going to add some cheese to about half of these,
08:20but I'm
08:21going to start cooking them first. I'm going to start with like half of a cup of the cornmeal mix.
08:27And then I'll see how much it needs when I get my squash in there. Because how much it actually
08:35needs of the cornmeal mix or the flour depends on how much water is in my squash. And we're getting
08:43a little bit out. It's really better if you let this sit at least 10 minutes, which I have not
08:49let
08:50it sit 10 minutes. But if you let it sit 10 minutes, that salt will really pull the water out.
08:56Oh, there we go. You can see that kind of oozing up in my hand there. That's what we're trying
09:03to do.
09:05We'll just squeeze it a little bit and add it by the handfuls.
09:11The water will actually start dripping out of this if you let it sit with that salt on it.
09:18You won't have to squeeze much at all. Um, and like I said, you really don't have to even take
09:24the
09:24water out unless you just want to. They will cook quicker. And you won't have to put as much
09:32flour or cornmeal or whatever you're using in it.
09:38And if you're going to fry them without any flour or cornmeal or anything like that in it, you're
09:42definitely going to have to do this. And they're still going to be very thin, but they will be
09:47very, very healthy. And you can see there, we removed quite a bit of water, probably half cup
09:53anyway. So the salt does help. Let it sit a little bit longer, at least 10 minutes. You can also
09:59wrap
09:59that up in a piece of cheesecloth and squeeze it out through a piece of cheesecloth if you want to
10:05instead of using the little metal strainer. Yep. I think that half a cup of cornmeal mix there is
10:11going to be plenty because I took a lot of liquid out. I don't think I said this, but you
10:18do want to
10:18wash your squash. Even if you've got an organic garden and you want to wash it. And I'm going to
10:24put a little butter in here. Yep. My pan's good and hot.
10:30And now we're just going to put some little scoops of our fritter batter in here.
10:41My goodness. I wish y'all could smell these.
10:47And just like pancakes, the first one always either is flat or it breaks.
10:56There. Second one looks a little bit better.
11:00Now you can use anything you want to to fry these in. I just like the taste of butter like
11:06I like the
11:06taste of the cornmeal with the squash. It's entirely up to you. And there's a million different variations
11:14on this recipe. But fritters are generally some sort of fruit or vegetable. And you can make them with
11:23squash, onions, apples, taters, I mean
11:29peaches, pears, pineapples, just about anything. And here's another little tip where I use the
11:37cornmeal and I said you can use the flour. You can also use pancake mix. If you've got some
11:44complete pancake mix and you need to use it up, you can use complete pancake mix to make any fruit
11:51or
11:52vegetable fritter. It makes excellent fritters. And you don't have to add hardly anything into it.
11:58So, you know, basically if you've got eggs and you've got the basic thing you're making it out of
12:06and a little bit of flour or some sort of a starch or something, it kind of helps bring it
12:13together.
12:13It holds it together. Now the egg is of course the binder in this. But fritters are very, very easy
12:20to
12:20make. And you can make them out of anything. And fritters are one of those foods that has just been
12:24around for an eternity. They're, you know, got our grandparents through the depression and through
12:31some really, really hard times. And people have been making them forever. These are an excellent
12:39side dish for any meal. Really good with one of them old-fashioned meals like some fried taters and
12:45some beans. They're, um, they can replace the bread because you have the flour or cornmeal or whatever
12:52in them. They're also a really good appetizer. And you can even make these for an appetizer at one of
12:59your summer cookouts. And if you're doing fruit, the fritter is your dessert. So fritters are great.
13:06Get you a stack of fritter recipes. And we have a few. And I'll stick a few of them in
13:11here,
13:11especially the apple fritters. They're so easy and so good. Now as you're frying, if your fat starts
13:17to dry up, your oil or your butter or whatever you're frying them in, just add a little bit more
13:22as you go. Because you do want to keep a little fat in your pan, no matter what kind of
13:26pan you're
13:27using. Even if you've got one of these porcelain coated non-stick pans, you want to continue to keep
13:32a little fat in there because that's what's going to make them crispy. And I said you can add some
13:37cheese to this. And I've made about half of them. So I'm going to add, oh, about half a cup
13:44of cheese
13:44or so to it. And this is totally optional, but you know, squash and cheese kind of goes together
13:50like the squash and the corn. That's why I do the cornmeal in them. And you can add other stuff
13:56into
13:56these too. Mixed fritters are great. And we're going to do some mixed fritters as garden season goes
14:00on. I've got a lot of fritter recipes for y'all. In the whole batch, I probably would have done
14:07probably a cup of cheese. I don't know. It's kind of up to you. And that maybe wasn't quite a
14:13half a
14:14cup of cheese, but it's plenty in what we got left. Something else you can adjust to. If you're doing
14:20these for like appetizers, you can make them little bitty, almost like bite-sized.
14:26Um, and if you're making them for a side dish, you know, you might want them bigger,
14:33but, uh, you can adjust just about everything about them.
14:38You know, uh, when I started this, I showed you my overgrown squash over there. And I said I was
14:45away for a few days. Well, I was away for a few days, spending some time with some kids.
14:50Um, and I think we are failing our children. Somehow they all think that they have to win at
15:03everything. They all think that they should be strong enough to endure whatever's going on,
15:10on their own strength. Um, that any sign of weakness somehow means that they aren't good enough.
15:21And it absolutely broke my heart to hear the way some of these children talk about themselves.
15:29And I was around the girls mostly. I, and, but I'm assuming that this is not just a girl problem.
15:38I kind of think that this is the current teenage generation. We're not letting them know that it's
15:47okay to have a bad day. And we're not letting them know that it's okay to be weak, that it's
15:54okay
15:54sometimes if you can't do it. Uh, and, uh, and we're not letting them know where their true strength
16:06should come from. In second Corinthians 12, nine, Paul quotes Jesus. He says, and he said unto me,
16:14my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. And then Paul goes on to say,
16:22most gladly, most gladly, therefore, I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest
16:30upon me. So Paul in the start of this is saying that God's grace is sufficient and his strength
16:42is perfect in weakness. And I've done that, that before when I've talked, but I've never gone on
16:52to what Paul said, where Paul says, therefore, he's going to glory in his infirmities, in his weakness,
17:00because when he is weak, and I've said this, not Paul, but when he is weak, God can show his
17:10strength.
17:12And I think we really truly need to teach our young people. And these were all young people who were
17:20in
17:20church. These were all people who know the Lord, but we need to teach them that it's okay when they're
17:28weak, lean on God, call on him, let him be their strength. And I think even as adults, we miss
17:40that a lot.
17:42And I think that's part of what's going on right now, where we're just losing so many of our young
17:50people and their self-worth just is not what it should be. If you are a child of God, don't
17:59worry
17:59about what you can't do. Give it to God. That's, that's the whole concept, the whole principle of it.
18:06Give your weakness to God and let him deal with it. Your problem, the thing you can't fix, give it
18:15to
18:15God because he says his grace is sufficient. His strength is made perfect in your weakness.
18:21So don't worry about it. If you can't do it, don't worry about it. If you can't overcome it,
18:27give it to God and he will overcome it for you. He will help you overcome it. And we need
18:34to stop
18:35treating ourselves like failures. But even more than that, we need to stop treating our children
18:41like failures. And we need to let them know that we are not perfect either. And we stumble too.
18:49And I think this inability to look human in front of our children is part of what has given them
18:57this
18:58totally unrealistic expectation. But I spent a week with these kids and it literally broke my heart to
19:05see the way that they see themselves. See yourself the way Christ sees you. See yourself the way that
19:13God sees you through Christ. And rejoice in your weakness because his strength is made perfect.
19:22Even though you can't do it, you can do it with him. He will do it through you. Just
19:28give it to him. And don't beat yourself up about the things you can't do.
19:34Give it to God and let him have the glory for it.
19:39And that's kind of the difference between living for our glory and living for his glory too.
19:45Live for God's glory, not your own. It's much, much easier.
19:55Encourage a child today. Tell him you love him. It's important. And you may not know how important
20:04it is until you meet the Lord and he tells you. I wish y'all could smell these. They smell
20:12wonderful.
20:13The onions and the squash and the butter. Okay, that's kind of all there is to it. You just keep
20:19frying until they're all fried. Uh, let's see. There's three in there. One's kind of little.
20:25We got seven on the plate. Ten. So, three squash. Well, some of them were a little bit smaller than
20:30this. Made ten fritters, which is, you know, if you're serving them as a side dish, you want a person.
20:36If you're serving them as an appetizer, you probably want a person. And you can make them smaller for
20:41appetizers. You can make them bigger. You can make them whatever size you want them. If you're serving
20:46them as an appetizer, though, you might want to serve them with a little sour cream or even some
20:50ranch dressing and let folks dip them in it. Not necessary, but people like to dip. But these are
20:58absolutely delicious, especially with the cornmeal mix. Use the cornmeal mix. I know nobody else does.
21:04Trust me on this one. It's better. Give these a try. They'll use up some of your squash or your
21:10zucchini. I'll put some more. I'll have carbs mixed off of here for y'all with other squash
21:16recipes because I know it's coming in. I mean, good heavens, you ignore it for a couple of days
21:21and it just will overtake you. Thank you so very much for joining us again in the Hillbilly Kitchen.
21:28Thank you for being a part of our family. And until next time, remember to put God first.
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