Small Batch Preserving

 

I arrived home from our family reunion to find that the produce in my fridge needed some attention. We all have times when what we purchased at the grocery store begins to languish and the plan for it being eaten has changed.  This week we are unexpectedly down a few family members to help eat the fresh produce, so rather than have it spoil, I spent a few minutes to process it.

It really was a few minutes.  I had a head of cauliflower, a 1/2 pound of bacon, a bunch of asparagus and a red pepper to process. With just a little effort, all of those things are in my freezer, saved for another day's use. We always think of canning, drying or freezing when the harvest is on and the abundance flows in, but this can be done throughout the year. If you try it, you will be surprised at how easy it is.

To freeze the cauliflower and the asparagus (and most other vegetables), you need to blanch it.  Set a pot of water boiling while you wash and  cut your veggies, then pop them into the boiling water for a minute or two. You are not cooking it, you blanch to kill bacteria that deteriorate your produce while in the freezer. After the couple of minutes are up, you plunge the veggies into a cold water bath to stop the cooking process. Drain well, pack into freezer bags, label and freeze. I used my saucepan for this, since it was such a small batch. (When I have large batches--although it sounds kooky--my favorite tool for blanching is my wok; with the large surface area you can get a lot of peaches or tomatoes done quickly.) Different vegetables are blanched for different amounts of time. There are online tables for blanching times, or you can refer to a Ball Blue Book.

To freeze the bacon, Brown and drain on a paper towel, let it cool, then crumble and put it into a freezer bag. Squeeze out all the air. It is super handy having cooked bacon in the freezer! This same method is used for most meats. You can read more on this here.

To freeze the pepper: Wash, slice, put them in a freezer bag and place in the freezer. Peppers and onions don't need blanching before freezing. I slice mine for ease of use. It allows me to take out the amount I want, and further dicing is really easy when they are frozen, you can even break them into cubes for cooking. Use these from a frozen state.

General guidelines: berries can be frozen like the pepper, wash and freeze. Here is a how-to for freezing zucchini and one for winter squash. There are a some other small batch preservation recipes on the blog, here are a few: 

Refrigerator Pickles, Freezing Tomato Paste, Family Spaghetti

Once you start thinking this way, you could even have a double-preserve situation, like stashing a bag of cranberries in the freezer, and later using them to make Cranberry Orange Butter! So smart and yummy!

Jenny

Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins

These are deluxe yummy perfection! The cake is tender and rich and the tart cranberries make a nice contrast. I think the batter would lend itself to some experimenting with other berries, especially tart ones like raspberries or black berries.

Cranberry Cream Cheese Muffins
1 c. butter, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in cranberries and pecans. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 min. Cool 5 minutes in pan before removing to wire rack. Yield 2 dozen muffins.

Notes: Frozen cranberries go into the batter straight from the freezer, don't thaw them, just stir them in. Also, to freeze cranberries when they are in season, just take the bag of cranberries out of your grocery bag and place it right in the freezer. Use within a year. This recipe is from Taste of Home 2008.
Jenny

Refrigerator Pickles

I tried these at a friend's barbecue and they are so yummy!  I was glad they are also SO EASY! They are bright, fresh tasting and keep a good crunch.  This recipe is also great for end of the garden, as it only takes a few cucumbers and a few minutes time.

Refrigerator Pickles
1 c. water
1 c. sugar
2 c. white vinegar
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. dried dill weed
1 tsp. minced garlic-optional (I used the kind in a jar- maybe use less if fresh)
cucumbers

Wash and slice cucumbers to fill three jars (mine made 2 pints and one quart). I like to take a thin slice off the ends of the cucumber and then slice into spears, but you could also slice them in rounds. In a microwave safe dish, combine water, sugar, vinegar and salt.  Microwave on high for 2 min. and stir.  Continue heating and stirring until the salt and sugar have completely dissolved.  Stir in dill weed and garlic.  Pour hot syrup over sliced cucumbers and cap with a lid. Place in the refrigerator and wait at least 3 days before eating (this is the hard part!).  The pickles get better over the next two weeks. They should last several months in the fridge.

Notes: You can use whole dill heads if you have them 1-2 heads per jar.  I made two pints and one quart out of the first batch, but packed the pickles different for my 2nd batch and had enough syrup to cover 1 quart and three pints, so your cucumber packing will determine your quantity. I like to put some in quarts because my cucumbers were so long!  I also tried replacing the dill and garlic with celery seed, whole cloves and mustard seed.  That made good pickles too, but I prefer the dill. You could also use whole, peeled garlic cloves in this.

Jenny

Freezing Heavy or Whipping Cream

Cream is expensive, so anytime I find it at a good price, I like to stock up.  I found some clearanced at my local grocery store between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and brought it home to the freezer.  It is easy to freeze and lasts for several months, you just place the cardboard container in the freezer and you are done with that part.  It is a little trickier when it is time to use the cream.  If you want to use it to whip, you need to place it in the refrigerator for a day or two to thaw, then shake the carton a few times before opening and pouring out.  There may be some separation of the milk solids, but this usually isn't a problem.  I have noticed some reduced volume after whipping cream that has been frozen, but not enough to keep me from doing it.  If you are going to use the cream in anything that will be warm, a chowder, alfredo, or creme brulee, here is my tip for defrosting in the microwave.

When I first started doing this, I would open the box and place it in the microwave, but I was irritated by the inability I had to stir while it was only melted around the edges in the box.  I won't tell you how long I did this before it occurred to me to just peel the box right off of the frozen cream after you take it out of the freezer, but that is what I do now.  Place the frozen cube in a microwave safe container.  Microwave a minute at a time, turning the block and stirring until you have a nice warm cream.  Maybe you don't need this tip, but I wish someone had shared with me!

Jenny

Cranberry Orange Butter

Remember when I made the Cranberry Gumdrops that I said I'd share the cranberry butter recipe if it turned out great? Well, it is great!  Tasty and a cheery color. I've included the how-to on making the cranberry juice used in the gumdrops, but you could also use it in beverages or other cooking.  It is incredibly sour, so it will need to be treated accordingly.  This butter is not a flavored butter, it is in the same idea of a spiced fruit spread, like apple butter.

Cranberry Orange Butter
1 pkg. (12 oz.) cranberries, fresh or frozen
4 c. water
pinch of salt  (opt.)

Pick over and rinse the cranberries.  Combine with water and salt in a saucepan.  Cook over moderate heat, stirring and mashing often until all the berries have popped and become very soft, 5-10 min.
Pour into a sieve lined with two layers of fine cheesecloth and set over a bowl.  Let the juice drain, pressing very lightly on the pulp.  Reserve the juice for another use.  Refrigerate the cranberry pulp until cool.

Place the cranberry pulp in the bowl of a food processor, fitted with a chopping blade (or you could try using a blender)  add the following:
1/2 a large orange, peeled and segmented
2/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cardamom
3 drops orange oil

Process until well blended and to desired consistency.  Store in the refrigerator.  Makes about 2 1/4 cups.  Serve on toast.

Notes: You could use ginger or allspice or cloves in place of the cardamom, or you could make it your own by adding whatever you like. Start with a pinch at a time for some of the stronger spices. I'm pretty sure you could freeze this if you didn't want it all now. If you try it, let me know if it was successful.

Jenny

Mandarin Sauce

I tried this recipe two years ago, while facing a huge crop of tomatoes that I had bottled until I was out of ideas--then my aunt posted this recipe on our family web site.  I have found it a handy thing to have on the shelf.  See notes after the recipe for ideas on using this.

Mandarin Sauce
9 c. tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained
4 c. onion chunks
4 c. green pepper, chopped
2 (20 oz.) cans chunk pineapple and juice
6 c. sugar
8 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 c. vinegar
1 c. water
1 1/4 c. cornstarch

Peel tomatoes, squeeze them to remove some of the juice and seeds, coarsely chop.  Cut onions and green peppers into chunks.  Mix sugar with cornstarch in a bowl and stir together. Combine tomatoes, pineapple and juice, onions, and peppers in a large pot.  Add soy sauce, vinegar, water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Slowly add sugar/cornstarch mix while stirring and boil until thickened.  Put in pint jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space and process immediately in a boiling water bath for 35 min.  Makes 12 pints.
To serve: Brown boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pour sauce over and bake in 350 oven for about 45 min.  or put this in a crock pot.  Serve over rice.

Notes:  This is a bit of an old-fashioned recipe for canning, as it calls for cornstarch.  Most new publications will not publish recipes with cornstarch because the resulting food product deteriorates in appearance over time.  It is perfectly safe to use, it will just separate, causing a clear liquid to gather on top of the food in the jar.  This may not happen for a year or more, but if it does, don't be alarmed, just use as is.  Alternately, you could make this without the cornstarch and thicken it before you use it each time.

I use the food processor to coarsely chop my vegetables.  To peel tomatoes, cut a small x in the bottom of the tomato. Put tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds then plunge into cold water.  The skins will begin to curl and you can pull them off easily with your hands.

My favorite way to use this sauce is over a pork roast in the crock pot.  When the meat is tender, I shred it back into the sauce and serve over rice.  This is also yummy over meatballs.

Jenny

Frozen Peach Delight

This is one of those things you tuck in the freezer with a smug little smile, knowing that in a few weeks when it turns downright cold, you will have a summer memory in your mouth.

Frozen Peach Delight

12 c. peeled peaches, sliced or chunked (your preference)

1 can (20 oz.) crushed pineapple with the juice

1/4 c. lemon juice

1 c. sugar

Stir all together.  Let sit for about 10 min. for the juices to run and the sugar to dissolve, stir again.  Put fruit in a freezer container and freeze.  You can freeze it all together or in smaller servings. 

To Serve:  Let the peaches sit out of the freezer for about 15 min. to soften.  Scoop some peaches into a cup and top with a bit of Sprite or 7UP.  Eat with a spoon.

Ready for the freezer.

Notes:  Taste your mix before you freeze it, you may have to add more sugar if your peaches are not very ripe.

Jenny

Lessons Learned: Food Storage and Unemployment

I think it is wise to record lessons we have learned, so we can remember them.  Our family has been struggling with unemployment or under-employment for 3 years now.  During this time, I have relied heavily on our food storage to sustain us through financial reversals.  Today I write some of the things I have learned in hopes that they will be of use to you or me in the future.
First, I believe in having a supply of food on hand.  It is a useful principle for every day living as well as protection against emergencies. When our first job loss came, we were emotionally unprepared, but not physically--there was plenty of food. These are a few things I have learned about the food:

People like to eat what they are used to eating.  It is a good thing that I have always cooked from my storage so that it wasn't completely foreign to my family to eat what was there. Seasonings of various kinds have helped make the basic foods taste like they are "supposed to" in our minds.  I have still struggled to keep all the people happy all the time.

We are not living on this storage exclusively.  I have been to the store for milk and fresh produce and eggs. It has been important to our emotional health to have this little representation of 'normal'. Whenever a little money comes in, I evaluate what is depleted and try to replace necessities first.

Though I buy milk to drink and for cereal, I have been diligent in using powdered milk in baked goods and canned milk in casseroles and soups to help stretch what we have.  I buy only the tiniest container of buttermilk and use this tip to make it from powdered milk as well.

Knowledge and creativity are my friends.  Cookbooks and a continual open-minded looking for good substitutes has helped a lot.  You can blend a can of diced tomatoes and use it as a reasonable substitute for tomato sauce.  Mayonnaise and sour cream and even buttermilk can be interchanged in lots of salads and casseroles.  Bread bags are food grade plastic, therefore they are easily reused to cover leftovers instead of using plastic wrap.  Most beans can be substituted for other beans (kidney beans for black beans in chili etc.).  Oatmeal, wheat berries and mashed beans all work as meat extenders in casseroles.

The toughest thing to replace on a constant basis has been snack foods.  We are really used to packaged pretzels, crackers, cookies, cake and brownie mixes, and even microwave popcorn.  Making all of these things from scratch takes time and effort, plus basic ingredients--but we have done a lot of it.  One of the things I have learned is that when you are baking more, you need more of the basics.  Oil and baking powder are the baking items I have found I need to replace most often.  Cornstarch and baking soda are other items that seem small but are important. I have learned that in the future, my food storage should contain more of these goods, especially those dry goods which store well. (Note to self: store a bunch of baking powder--it goes in everything!)

I have learned that I prefer a bit of whole wheat flour in most muffin recipes and many cookie recipes.  It imparts a deeper, nutty flavor that is pleasant.

Applesauce is very useful stuff: making muffins, cookies, cakes, and as an instant side dish.  It can also be used to replace part of the fat/oil in baked goods.

Plums can be juiced and the leftover pulp used to make a delicious jam!  Cherries too, but you won't get near as much juice.  Cherry juice is best made into syrup.

People are wonderful!  We have been given food of all kinds.  It has been a blessing to see how kind and generous concerned family, friends and neighbors have been about our welfare.  It has also been fun to challenge myself to learn to cook something new that just showed up.

Money does ebb and flow.  It is important when there is a little money to invest in re-stocking the pantry, because tomorrow you will be glad you did.

Dried beans are so much more useful when you cook a big bunch and freeze them, or when you take the time to bottle them.  Then you can use them instantly like the canned beans from the store.

Making my own mixes saves time, and helps with the mental strain that comes with kids who want snacks.

I make good granola bars.  We prefer them.  (Who knew?)

A good attitude helps.  (My attitude often needs help.)  If I can look at this as a challenge to be met with a bit of spunk I do so much better than if I pity myself.  I have so much!  I am not facing starvation, others probably are, but I am temporarily tight on funds, that is all.  In exchange for this trial, I have learned so much!  I am thankful for prophets of God that counsel us to put food aside against just such a time as this.

Jenny

Freezing Tomato Paste

Tomato paste is an ingredient often called for in only 2 tablespoon increments, but it comes in a 6 ounce can.  You can freeze the extra tomato paste for another day and another recipe.  Drop tomato paste by tablespoonfuls onto a bit of parchment paper on a freezer-safe dish.  Put them in the freezer for a couple of hours until frozen, then remove from the parchment and pop them into a freezer bag, squeeze the air out and label it.  When you need tomato paste for the next recipe, just remove what the recipe calls for.  You can thaw them in the microwave in just a few seconds, or if you are making something that needs to simmer for awhile, you can toss them in frozen.

Jenny

The Fierce Pantry

Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard to fetch her poor dog a bone.

When she got there, the cupboard was bare and so her poor dog had none.

I want to write today and in the near future addressing the topic of saving money by staying home to eat.  Eating out is a money and peace sneak.  (Mostly it sneaks our peace by sneaking our money.)  It can also lead to health problems and steal away family togetherness at meals. Let me be clear that I do not feel eating out is in any way morally wrong, just in our culture we have come to rely on it heavily and now as we face recession and tighter belts, we need to remember how to cut back on what is really a luxury.

The first idea I have on this is to avoid Mother Hubbard's predicament: an empty cupboard.  If you look at your eating habits and you are ordering pizza on the day before the big grocery shop is scheduled, you are facing a bare pantry.  What to do? You want a pantry that is dedicated!  You want it to be 100% on your side! Lets talk about stocking your pantry boldly in layers so it is your favorite ally in the dinner-time decision war.

The Layers: basic food stuffs; seasonings and condiments; canned/bottled goods that your family likes; convenience foods (both homemade and store purchased); snacks and treats; perishables; frozen foods.

Basic Food Stuffs: Flour, sugar, rice, pasta, potatoes (dried), oil and shortening, peanut butter and oatmeal.  This is the basis of what you make.  Most are dry ingredients that store well and are the staples of your pantry.  Do not run low on these, and do not underestimate their value.

Seasonings and Condiments:  How bland life would be without ketchup and her cousins!  I find that barbecue sauce, mustard, flavored vinegar, good olive oil, dried herbs, ground spices and various cultural seasoning sauces are many times the key to making the basic food stuffs work.  Salsa makes anything nice.  Worcestershire sauce and oyster sauce are all happily co-existing in my fridge.  Stock your favorites!  Be bold.

Canned/bottled goods that your family likes: Fruits and veggies stored this way are so useful in so many recipes!  I stock canned corn, beans, pineapple, tomatoes and tomato sauce, mandarin oranges and mushrooms.  Soups and chili too. In my bottles are applesauce, fruit pie fillings, peaches, pears, jams and syrups and juice.  Don't stock something that you don't like.  This should go without saying, but we have all had the sad realization after bringing home something new that it is unwelcome.  Give it to your local food bank.  Otherwise it taunts you from your shelves when you are hungry.  You automatically think, "Nothing here but that old sauerkraut again."

Convenience foods: This is what you need when you are physically and emotionally tired.  It can be boxes of cold cereal, a box of corn dogs or a casserole that you made a month ago and stashed smugly in the freezer for just such a rainy day.  This is a very important layer in your pantry.  We tend to go through these items fast in stressful times, so keep up on this one!  Pre-cooked meats are excellent here.  Cook a chicken and shred it off the bones and freeze in two cup portions.  Do the same with hamburger, brown 3 lbs. at a time, use one in tonight's meal and freeze two of them. You will thank yourself for this gift each time you are able to make a casserole in minutes.

Snacks and Treats: When my husband opens my pantry and stares into it, he wants snacks to answer.  If there are no treats, his mind tells him there is no food.  Plain and simple. Some ideas for this one are crackers, popcorn, pretzels, yogurt, carrot sticks and Popsicles. Treats are a bit like snacks, only sweeter.  Cake and brownie mixes or cookies stashed in the freezer are all in this category.  This is one area I find coupons very helpful, I watch for the sales and then I hide goodies ninja fashion until they are "needed".  Keep basics for making treats on hand too: chocolate chips, coconut, raisins and cocoa powder.  I like to store sweetened condensed milk and graham cracker crusts in my stash too.

Perishables: When you go to the grocery store, try to stock up on enough of these items to last you until your next planned trip.  Milk, bread, eggs, butter/margarine, fresh fruits and veggies and root vegetables with a little longer storage life are all part of this layer.  Yogurt and buttermilk and sour cream are nice to have on hand as well.

Frozen Foods: If a dog is man's best friend, a freezer is a cook's.  Stash just everything you can here.  An assortment of meats (especially when you find them on sale), vegetables and fruits, sauces, frozen potatoes and other convenience foods as well as left overs or planned overs should all appear when you open your freezer.

When you have built this layered supply in your kitchen and couple it with a menu plan, you are well prepared to take on whatever may come in feeding your family.  You don't need to stock your pantry overnight, but if you can look at your finances and take a bit of what you are spending to eat out and put it toward your pantry each week, you will soon have that fierce friend.

Notes: If you are a new reader, and this is an important topic to you, you might find these posts useful:
Cheater Pants Meals
Crockpots and Friends

Jenny

Baked Apple German Pancake

An easy way to present an elegant breakfast.

Baked Apple German Pancake

1 qt. apple pie filling

1/4 c. melted butter or margarine
6 eggs
1 c. flour
1 c. milk
pinch of salt
cinnamon sugar

In a 9x13 pan, spread apple pie filling and place in oven.  Heat oven to 450 degrees.  In a blender, combine eggs, flour, milk and salt.  Blend until smooth.  Remove hot apples from oven.  Drizzle with melted butter, then gently pour batter over apples.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and return to oven.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Serve warm.  Dust with confectioner's sugar or additional cinnamon sugar if desired.

This is what it looks like, straight from the oven.

Notes:  I use my home-bottled apple pie filling. 

Jenny

Bottled Peach Pie Filling

Last year I wanted to bottle peach pie filling and found this recipe.  It is yummy!  I like the fact that it uses no thickening agent in the bottle, it seemed to stay nicer looking than other pie fillings I have made, easy too.  We have used this over the last year for pies, over ice cream and as cobbler and crisp fillings. Fresh out of the canner this year to be enjoyed again!

Peach Pie Filling

6 lbs. fresh peaches

1 c. + 2 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice

3 3/4 c. water

5 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. almond extract

fruit fresh or ascorbic acid

Loosen the peach skins by dropping gently into boiling water for 45 seconds, then submerge in cold water.  Peel off skins, pit and slice peaches into water that contains ascorbic acid until all peaches are sliced.  Combine lemon juice, water, sugar and spices in a large saucepan.  Stir and cook until mixture boils.  Drain peaches and add to the syrup.  Cook for 3 min.  Ladle into hot, quart sized canning jars.  Release air bubbles, clean rims and adjust two piece lids.  Process in boiling water bath canner for 30 min. Yield 7 quarts.

To use filling: Empty contents of jar into a saucepan and stir in one tablespoon cornstarch, heat, stirring occasionally until filling is thick.  Use in your favorite pie crust or cobbler.

Jenny

How to Bake a Squash

Baking a Winter Squash
My mother was here to visit recently and bought a light green winter squash for me at the local farmer's market.  I'm not sure what the variety name is, but my mom calls it the belly button squash, for when you turn it upside down, it has a distinct belly button.  The flesh was wonderful to work with!  Not stringy and needed no blender or food processor, the baked squash scooped out in a happy, just-right puree of its own.

Winter squash get their name from the tough outer skin, so when working with one of these, use a sturdy knife.  It is easy to prepare them for the table and other recipes, you can boil, microwave or bake them.  I prefer baking, as it is simple and in the fall, warm! The trickiest part is cutting them open. My mother once watched her grandma take an axe to a particularly stubborn Hubbard!  Cut the squash in half or quarters, whichever will fit on your baking sheet.  Scoop the seeds from the center and place the squash upside down on a greased baking sheet. I use my Pampered Chef stone, which cleans up no matter what I throw at it, but you can also line your sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean up.  Prick the outside skin many times with a fork.  Set the oven to 350 and bake for an hour, then check it.  It may take longer for a larger squash.  I baked this one for an hour and a half.  You are looking for the squash to be super soft.

When I turned this one over, it fell apart.  At this point, let the squash cool until you are comfortable handling it.  Use a spoon and scoop out the flesh.  If it is stringy, process it in a blender or food processor until smooth.  Texture is a matter of preference. Pumpkins are generally stringy, but Hubbard and Banana will be smoother.

  At this point, it is ready for the table with a bit of butter and brown sugar, or for the freezer.  I freeze my squash in 2 cup batches in freezer bags.  You can do what you like, but consider the size portions called for in your favorite recipes, or the size portions your family will consume at one meal.  I usually heat the squash straight from the freezer in the microwave.

You can try these recipes with your squash: Winter Squash Fritters, Squash Bars, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Cookies

When it cools off a bit more, I'll share Pumpkin Pie, and Pumpkin Soup. Do try substituting these more flavorful varieties for pumpkin! I think you will be pleased.

P.S.  After posting this, I again attended the farmer's market where we bought this squash, and the man that sold it to us was there.  He informed me that it is called a Sweetmeat squash.  Glad to know, it is my new favorite to work with!

Jenny

Fruit Cobbler

My mom gave me this recipe to try this week. With the weather cooling off, I was so happy to see it!  I bottle pie filling, cherry, apple and peach, so this is a perfect way to use a quart of fruit.  If you bottle fruit, you can easily make it pie filling by pouring a quart of fruit into a saucepan and adding a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch and any spices you like.  Heat, stirring occasionally until thick, then use it in this recipe or use it to fill a pie crust.

Fruit Cobbler Dough

1 stick margarine

1 c. flour

1 c. sugar
1 c. milk
2 tsp. baking powder
1 quart pie filling

In a 9x9 baking pan, melt the margarine. (I do this in the microwave or I place the pan in the oven while it is preheating and I am mixing batter.) In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, milk and baking powder.  Stir out the lumps, batter will be thin.  Pour batter carefully into melted margarine, do not stir.  Add pie filling over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

This is what it looked like before baking. I was using cherries and just spooned them over the top of the batter.

Another note:  I made this in a 9x13 using the same batter proportions but adding 8 cups sliced fresh peaches, sweetened with a little sugar.  It was beautiful and scrumptious.

Jenny

Plum Sauce

The first time I had lettuce wraps, my mouth was so happy!  But my favorite bit was the plum sauce the restaurant served alongside.  I found this recipe several years ago and I make a batch every fall for dipping egg rolls and won tons.  The recipe comes from the Ball Blue Book, and the spiced version is from Taste of Home.  My children hate the way it smells while it is cooking, I tell you as a warning not to make it when you have company coming. :)

Plum Sauce

4 lbs. plums
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
3/4 c. chopped onion
2 Tbsp. mustard seed
2 Tbsp. chopped green Chile peppers
1 Tbsp. ground ginger
1 Tbsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c. cider vinegar
(Opt. for spiced sauce: add 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. cloves)

Pit and chop plums. Combine remaining ingredients in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Add chopped plums. Cook until thick and syrupy, about 1 1/2 hours. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust two piece caps. Process 20 min. in a boiling water canner Yield 4 pints. Note: when cutting or seeding hot peppers wear rubber gloves to prevent hands from being burned. (I prefer the spiced version with the cinnamon and cloves.)

Jenny

Freezer Meals

We all have a time when mom is down for the count.  New babies, surgery, a trip away from our loved families--all of these are times when you need to know how to freeze a variety of meals that can be popped into the oven or microwave.  Even when mom is around, it is so nice to have something stashed away for a hectic day.  Here is a list of entrees from this blog that can be frozen for later use.  Don't be limited by the list, almost any casserole type dish will freeze well.  Dishes with frozen potatoes are best if you add the commercially frozen potatoes to whatever sauce and pop them back in the freezer without actually thawing them.  Frozen cookies (if you hide them well) and frozen breads or Quick Breads can also be helpful.

A few words on baking/reheating.  Dishes can go straight from the freezer to the microwave.  A casserole frozen in a glass dish can also go straight to the oven, but it must go into a cold oven.  So general directions are to place the dish in the cold oven and then turn on the heat.  As long as they heat up together, there will be no shock to the dish.  Casseroles heated from a frozen state usually will cook in the same amount of time straight from the freezer. Lots of these can be as simple as taking a recipe that fills a 9x13 dish and separating it into two 8 in. square dishes.  Bake one tonight, put one in the freezer.  I once had an afternoon with a friend where we assembled 3 chicken dishes and froze two.   It was fun to work together, and only one mess to clean.  Here is a list to get you started:

Sloppy Jo Meat- Make it with 2 pounds of hamburger and freeze half/leftovers.
Jenny's Enchiladas- Freeze after assembly and before baking.
Lasagna- Freeze after assembly and before baking.
Tater tot casserole- Assemble with frozen tots and pop it back in the freezer.
Chicken Sausage Gumbo- This always makes a lot and I generally just freeze leftovers.  They are so handy for a comfort food in the fall or winter.
Chicken Pot Pie- Freeze after you top it with a crust.
Pork Barbacoa- This one also makes a big batch, and the frozen meat can be used thawed in the microwave and served in tortillas, or heated, drained and served on a bun like a pulled pork sandwich.
Taco Soup- Freeze leftovers.
For breakfast you can freeze leftover waffles and pancakes, then toast or heat in the microwave.  Frozen muffins are one of my favorite things, just put two on a plate and micro cook for a few seconds, and Presto! comfort food. 

Best of luck to you!  We moms have to stick together!
Jenny

Freezing Zucchini

Zucchini grows well around here.  Really well.  My husband always teases me because I always plant two zucchini plants and we always have it coming out our eyes.  I tell him I plant two in case one plant dies.  One has never died....until this year.  He has teased me so long, and no plants have ever died, so this year I only planted one.  And a snail ate it.  I think my husband paid the snail.  Never fear, neighbors and friends to the rescue and we are not yet hurting for zucchini.  Our favorite ways to eat it are young, sliced and sauteed, or in baked goods.  When a zucchini gets away from you and suddenly you have one the size of your leg, this is how you can enjoy it through the winter.

Zucchini freezes with very little preparation.  First, wash the outside well, cut of the ends and split the squash horizontally.  If the seeds are large and mature (they usually are in a big zucchini) take a spoon and scoop out the seeds, leaving only the squash and rind.  Discard the seeds. Shred the zucchini, I like to use my food processor for this, and measure 2 cups into each freezer bag.  Squeeze out the extra air, making the bag flat.  Label and freeze.  When you want to use frozen zucchini in a baked item, you thaw and then drain a lot of the extra liquid off before using it.  Freezing bursts the cells and you will have more water when it thaws than when you started fresh.  After draining, use just as you would fresh.  Use within about 3 months for best taste.  Try this recipe for zucchini bread.  I like that it takes 4 cups of zucchini, makes 4 loaves (which also freeze beautifully) and has chocolate chips! (The best part.)
Jenny

Preserving the Harvest: Freezer Methods

The freezer is an easy way to keep what is fresh now for a later date.  This week, I found green peppers for a great deal and some blueberries.  Both of these things are freezer friendly with only a few steps, so I thought I would share.

Blueberries can be frozen after a good washing and inspection for stems or gross berries.  I like to fill my freezer bag just enough so the contents can be frozen flat in my freezer, like this. It saves space and allows me to remove whatever amount I need for a recipe as they are not all clumped together.  Frozen blueberries are nice, because they can be used in most recipes interchangeably with fresh berries straight from the freezer.  This is a general method that can be applied to all the berries I know of.

Green peppers just get washed, stems, seeds and veins removed and then sliced thin.  I like to freeze my peppers in wide mouth canning jars, this keeps the odor of the peppers from permeating other freezer items.  When you are ready to use these, you can pull out the amount of slices you need.  They can be added as is to sweet and sour or "diced" by using a knife or just breaking them up with your hands for anything else.

These two items and most fruits are ready for the freezer without blanching.  They require only cleaning and any desired preparations like slicing or sweetening beforehand.  Both of these should keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months.  Another post will discuss freezing vegetables that require blanching.

Jenny

Swedish Apple Pie

This recipe comes from recipezaar.  It is a delicious and different apple pie!

Swedish Apple Pie

3 1/2 c. slice apples (baking apples, like Granny Smith)

2 Tbsp. flour

3/4 c. sugar

1 pinch salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sour cream
1 unbaked pie shell

Topping:
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. cold butter

Boil apples until they just start to soften. Drain well.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix drained apples, flour, sugar and salt.  Beat eggs and vanilla together and add to apple mixture.  Fold in sour cream.  Pour into pie shell and bake approx. 40 min. or until set.
While pie is baking, prepare topping as follows:  Combine dry ingredients and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs.  Remove pie from oven and sprinkle with topping, return pie to oven for an additional 15 min.  Cool.

Notes:  This is really nice made just like it says, but last time I made it, I wanted to try making it with my home-bottled pie filling.  I mixed together the sour cream, egg and vanilla and added them to a jar of filling.  Fill the crust with this and bake as directed, then top.  Worked like a charm!
Jenny

Do the Cooking

This is the next idea in the series for saving money on your grocery budget.  I start out with a disclaimer, lest you get the impression that we do not pull hot dogs, buns and fries out of the freezer on a regular basis.  We do.  And we eat mac and cheese out of the box etc.

However, it is important to remember that food is usually cheapest in the least processed form. Every processing step ups the price tag. For instance, I can pay $1.29 for 2 lbs of large carrots, or I can pay $2.50 for a 2 lb. bag of "baby" carrots, that are already peeled and cut. This is a tricky area, because we are trading time for money.  Time is worth money too, so if it is not worth it to you to peel carrots, fine.  But the general principle is sound and looking for things we can do, will allow us to save money.  Respect savings of a few cents, it all adds up in the end!

One of my favorite ways to apply this is with pre-cooking meat.  It is so convenient, but expensive to buy pre-cooked, frozen chicken breasts,  or pre-cooked bacon, or meat balls.  But all of these things are easy to cook at home, and you can freeze them for a later time.  Take a package of boneless, skinless chicken, season and bake. It takes almost no time for preparation, and you can be busy with something else while it bakes. When it is done, and cooled, you can package it in meal-sized portions, label and freeze.  I love to have already cooked chicken or ground beef in my freezer! 

Another way to do this is to make extra and freeze it.  Children at my house love cookies.  They will eat as many as I bake at any given time, but there are several recipes in my stash that make many dozen, so after I bake part of the dough, I take part and roll it into a log and wrap it in plastic wrap, and pop it in the freezer.  When the next cookie panic sets in, we pull it out, slice it while frozen and bake the exact same way as if it were not  frozen.  I even write the baking instructions on the package, so I don't have to look it up. Work once, eat twice or more. Now we have saved time and money (and, most importantly, we STILL HAVE COOKIES)!

Just some ideas to get you thinking.  I would love to hear how this works in your home!  I am always looking for new ideas too.  I will try to actively point out ways to apply this principle as I add to the blog, so look for them.
Jenny