I grew a nice big Blue Hubbard squash plant in my garden this year. I ended up with five good sized squash, the largest one weighing right around 25 pounds. They are extremely lovely, but I didn’t grow them to just display (although they have been a great fall decoration). I have yet to deal with a squash quite this intimidating, but after a little bit of Google search and the desire to make a winter squash pasta sauce I was ready to give it a try.

I picked a medium sized squash and washed off all the dirt. I then tackled the daunting task of getting it open. Methods I read about included opening it with a saw, cooking it for a bit and then go at it with a knife, but the one I was most willing to try was to just drop it on the floor. I stuck it in a plastic grocery bag, dropped and…

Ended up with two pretty evenly sized halves. Scooped out the insides, and dropped it several more times to get nice eighths. One half of a medium sized squash fit in my large crock pot. I cooked one part on high for 2.5 hrs and the other on low for six. In the end I had soft, delectable squash perfect for any pumpkin or winter squash recipe. I’ve made a pasta sauce and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so far.

So my advice for the day (besides growing Blue Hubbard Squash) is to forget the saw or knife and drop the squash on the ground.