Summer Bounty

Last week the boys were visiting Illinois for the week...it was their first trip there without us.  I took advantage of only having one little at home and worked at unpacking and organizing my office, deep cleaning the house, and generally getting caught up.  It was at least 1 1/2 weeks of work on its own.  But then, I went to Shipshewana, to the market to buy blueberry plants for my mother in law...5 for $20--and she is starting a berry farm, so a great deal for her!  I happened to find some major deals which detracted from the original goal of getting things done.  I bought 2 boxes of very ripe tomatoes for $1 each, 2 bags of very ready onions for $1, and 2 eggplants for $.50 each.  I went to another stand and they had green beans 2 pounds for $1 and they needed to be cooked immediately, I bought 5 bags (10 pounds).  Then, I went to the bulk foods store and bought a box, I think about a 1/2 peck, of apples for $17 (not fantastic, but not bad!).  On the way home, and Amish farmer was selling sweet corn for $2.50 a dozen and I bought 2 dozen.   Let's just say, when I got home...Aaron was leery about how we were going to get it all done and finish the monumental list of to do's.  This is how we got it all done, and yes, I said we--because my awesome husband took care of the apples all on his own!

I started by cutting the tops off the tomatoes and cutting the spots out, I don't peel them because I have a great machine (a victorio strainer) that you'll see later.  Plopped them in the pot, and added a little bit of salt.  I cooked it on medium until they looked good and cooked down.

Meanwhile, I cut the ends off of the greenbeans and made 2 piles--blanch/freeze and cook immediately.  Then, I blanched the beans and laid them out to dry.

place them in boiling water, for 3 minutes and add to cold water to stop the cooking process.

this is the cooling process...

drying

Then, I put the others in the crockpot with onions and bacon, and cooked them on low overnight for dinner the next day.  Next, I went outside to shuck the corn and brought it in for blanching too!

after cooking and cooling

I use my super sharp cutco knife to cut the corn off the cob

I freeze in one big bag and just take out a cup or two when I need it!

In the meanwhile, Aaron was busy cutting the cores out of the apples and putting them in my awesome applesauce pot to cook down and get super soft.

I just throw my apples in the pot, add a little bit of water, and turn it on.

this is a super heavy pot, it's an old pressure cooker and doesn't burn the apples.  This is the apples almost done cooking.

After the tomatoes and apples are done cooking and cooled, I put them through my Victorio...it looks a lot like THIS but is a much older model.  It strains out the skins, and seeds, etc.  It makes my tomatoes into tomatoes into juice and my apples into applesauce. 

before it starts doing its thing

here it is spitting out all of the yuckies

I filled gallon sized bags about half way up, folded them over, and froze them in the pan so they would stack well in the freezer.  

I chopped up the onions and froze them like I did in this post.  I just pull them out by the handful when I need them.  I also put the tomato juice in bags and froze them flat, for easy freezer organization.  How have you been doing on preserving your summer foods?

Blessings to you,

Amanda
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Weekend Recap and a little Zucchini Salsa

I love weekends!  I know most people do too, but I really do love weekends!  Friday night came and we headed out to our favorite little Mexican restaurant in the next town over, our town has only a couple of places to eat that only serve breakfast and lunch.  We headed home and had planned to do family movie night, we always do on Fridays.  But, the weather was just too nice, so we let the boys ride bikes outside until dark and then headed home.  Saturday was beautiful too, so we loaded up the bikes and went to Ft. Wayne.  It is a little ways from our home, so we don't go too often-but it was nice to explore their greenway bike paths and ride a little.  We only went 8 miles.  I said that same statement to Aaron and he giggled...only 8 miles?!  We have come so far this summer in the biking department.  It used to be that 3 or 4 miles was enough for me and I would be perfectly content with that.  But, this year I promised Aaron that I would ride in some races/organized rides with him--so we have been riding a lot!  To be quite honest...I started out this winter on the stationary bikes, usually doing 8 miles or so...but I don't think we've done less than 8 miles in any of the rides we've done outside this year.  Anyway, Saturday was a nice casual ride--so much so that Aaron kept asking me to slow down and enjoy the ride!  We had pre-ordered the new Veggie Tales movie--Pop Star Princess, so we went to pick that up and found some great deals on some other movies for our family movie night too!  Then, we had a late lunch at Chick-fil-A....LOVE that place!  We headed home, and everyone else sacked out.  I took that opportunity to get out of the house and get some deals at Walgreens and CVS (click the links if you want to learn more about saving a LOT of $ at both of those stores).  That night, after dinner (salisbury steak and mashed potatoes)--Aaron cleaned the kitchen and made his famous Caramel Popcorn (a recipe I'll share later this week).  Later, we sat down and watched our new movie and ate popcorn...it was a ton of fun!  Aaron and I watched Soul Surfer after the kiddos went to bed--what a great, clean movie, it was better than expected! Sundays are always a nice relaxing day--worship with the family and BLT's for lunch.  While everyone was napping, I whipped up some zucchini salsa (since my plants FINALLY produced enough zucchini for a batch--they've been struggling).  It is a recipe my mother in law gave me and I thought it was amazing!  So, here it is:

Zucchini Salsa

Ingredients

• 5 cups shredded zucchini (about 5 medium)
• 4 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 medium green peppers, chopped
• 1 small sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 teaspoons ground mustard
• 2-1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon each ground cumin, nutmeg and turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 40-50 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
• Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until chilled. Serve with your favorite snack chips or grilled meats. Yield: 7 cups.

Ok...I guess I can't actually follow a recipe, so my changes are this--we went out to eat in the middle of cooking this down, so I put mine in a crock pot--lid off,on low, until it was thick enough and reduced down.  I sterilized my jars on the stove and after I canned the salsa, gave them a hot water bath--for about 25 or 30 minutes.  It made 2 large quart sized jars and two pint sized jars.  I also added a second jalapeno for heat...it is a little spicy, but not too much! You don't have to can it, but I didn't want to consume it all or have it take up precious space in the already overflowing fridge.  

Tonight Aaron gave me a "night off"--I went out to the christian bookstore, went shopping, and enjoyed the peace.   I have a totally amazing husband! 


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Blessings to you,

Amanda

I just love summer foods!

I have made it my goal to freeze and can this year a lot of foods to make it through the winter and "off" season without spending tons of money on the foods we love and because it is just plain healthier!  So far, I made strawberry freezer jam and froze whole (with stems removed) strawberries.  Today, I purchased 20 pounds of peaches for eating, freezing and making some "baby" friendly treats (we'll see how this goes). These will also be good for adding to plain yogurt for flavor. And, I purchased 6 more pounds of strawberries.  Also, last night I got a great deal on onions, $1.40 a bag.  I plan to prep these tonight, lay on a pan to flash freeze and divide them into 1 cup baggies for quick cooking later.  Today, I also got some sweet corn from a local farm stand that we will use for meals tonight, and I am hoping to do some corn freezing later on this summer.  I dropped by the local berry patch and red raspberries are ready and black ones will be ready by this weekend.  I hope to get out there Saturday morning to pick some!

Here is my to-do list for the summer:  (most of these items will come from our own garden)

Freeze: 

Fruits (strawberries, peaches, black and red raspberries, blueberries)

Apple Sauce (I could probably can this, but freezing is just as easy)

Pear Sauce

Spaghetti Sauce (made from garden tomatoes)

Savory Pastry Crust

Corn

Onions

Green peppers (I dice some and cut others length wise for fajitas--just makes for less prep later)

Canning:

Tomato Juice

Diced tomatoes in juice

Tomato Sauce (seasoned and plain)

Zucchini Relish

Chicken and Beef Stock

Blueberry Syrup

Salsa (a request from my husband)

Roasted Romas

Green Beans

I use the Ball Canning Book for my recipes and directions. 

It is certainly the old standby. 

This last weekend I also got over to the local honey farm and picked up some local spring honey.  

I forget what type of honey the stuff on the left is, but it is not supposed to soak in as much when you put it on toast, etc...I bought it for the boys to try. 

What is your plan for the summer? Do you can and/or freeze? Any recipes that you would like to share? Let me know! I am always up for a challenge..

Blessings to you,

Amanda