Have you ever wanted to prepare squash and okra without all the fat? Well, this is a combination of my mother’s recipe and my own combined together, because she would have used bacon grease instead of olive oil.

Preparation

10 – 15 Yellow medium fresh squash
2 – 1 1/2 pds. of fresh okra
olive oil
water
real bacon bits (for okra only)
Fat Free spray butter
Everglade Seasoning (Great for vegetable flavoring)
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation…

First you wash both fresh vegetables before cutting to remove any excess dirt. Okra also has an outside texture that feels sticky and you need to make it feel smooth. Set okra to the side on a think paper towel to drain. Cut just the top and the bottom of the squash off and discard. Then slice the squash in desired slices for easy fork 1/8 inch slices so that you see the soft seeds in the middle surrounded by the outer layer of the squash. Once cut, do the same to at least one large or two small vidalia onions.

When cutting the okra, just cut the top of the crown off that connects to the vine. Then slice in 1/8 inch slices without cutting the fingers!

Cooking the Squash…

In a boiler with lid put about two tablespoons olive oil and about 1/4 cup water in the bottom of boiler. Rinse off both onions and squash in the strainer and dump into the boiler on top of boiling water/oil combination. Sprinkle everglade seasoning starting from the left of the pot lightly to the right to cover slightly all across the to of the squash and onion combination. Cover to boil, then turn down the heat to medium and stir occasionally while you get the okra going. Watch he bottom of the boiler and add water as needed. Also, add 1/4 cup of spray butter (no fat or calories, but lots of flavor). Cook to desired consistency and either smash to make it mixed or leave in whole pieces to enjoy the texture of the squash while eating. You can add spray butter, everglade, salt and pepper to taste while covering to wait for the okra to cook. Hint: also watch for water to evaporate, you have to generally add water to the bottom of the pan to prevent from scorching. Remember, we are not boiling the vegetables we are steaming them.

Stewing the okra…..

In a frying pan of your choice, either non-stick or stick pan (you have to stay on top of a stick fry pan to add water or spray butter and scrape from the bottom so not to burn). Add two table spoons of olive oil and 1/3rd cup of water. After it starts to boil, then add the cut okra. Cover. Keep okra cooking just below high. Stirring frequently to boil out the slimy texture that comes with stewing okra. Once you boil out for about 10 min. pick up the frying pan and pour into a strainer and allow some of the slime to fall through the strainer with the hot water from the faucet.

Shake and watch slime fall through as shown on the picture. Leaving some for stewing with the water, allowing the green outer layer to be the vegetable your looking to taste. Pour back into the frying pan and add 1/4 cup of water and one tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 cup of spray butter after taking off the sprayer to pour. Turn heat down to slow boil and cover. Stirring occasionally. Once it cooks for about 10 min. Add a tablespoon of everglade seasoning and cook about 10 min. longer stirring frequently. Smash okra with potato masher and then sprinkle bacon bits and salt and pepper to taste cooking only about 5 to 10 min. more. Cover and sit to the side for the bacon bits to flavor the okra.

Don’t forget your favorite corn bread!