Freezing Fruit and Vegetables

This is kind of a cop-out, but when researching methods for freezing vegetables, I came across a link that had everything you need to know about it. Basically, most things can be blanched (quickly boiled for 3 minutes, then immersed in an ice bath to immediately stop the cooking and set the color) and then packed in freezer bags/containers and frozen (after being cooled - which will mostly take place in the ice bath).

I would use this method to take advantage of this week's produce sales on asparagus (Whole Foods) and Zucchini and Mushrooms (Stop and Shop and Shaw's).

Fruit can also be frozen...here's an article on it. Basically, most things are well frozen in a container, and things that go brown are dipped in lemon juice and then frozen. I love using frozen berries and bananas in smoothies. I usually buy my berries frozen, but if they ever go on a sale that's too good to be true, you can bet I'll be stocking up and stocking my freezer with these babies. I break bananas up into 3 pieces, then I put them in a freezer bag. I always re-use this bag and keep it stocked with frozen banana pieces for smoothies or baking.

Frozen veggies and fruits are usually almost always cheaper than fresh, but when fresh occasionally goes on sale cheaper than frozen, I will buy a bunch of fresh and freeze it myself. This is also a great technique for when you just happen to buy too much produce and won't get a chance to use it all up. Ooh, and if you have a garden, and just have way too much (you could give it away to friends - like generous people do - but screw that, I grew it, and I'm keepin' it!) you could use these freezing techniques to have garden fresh veggies all year long. Just freeze it, and take your time using it! Voila!

Frozen Veggies are great: added to soups, stirfries, fritattas and omelets (just steam them quickly - don't add them frozen), stews, and rice/other grains as a side dish.

Frozen Fruit is great for making: fresh ice cream and pancake toppings, muffins, pies, ice cream, smoothies, and snacking on. I love to take a cup of frozen mangoes or cherries and eat them for dessert. Since they're frozen, they take forever to eat, and since it's fruit, it's filling and low calorie.

I hope you find the above 2 links helpful. I will work on developing recipes that use frozen fruit and veggies to share with you!

Ooh, and in case you're wondering about the nutrition of frozen versus fresh, I found this from Elaine Magee, a WebMD Weightloss Clinic:

"Nutritionally speaking, frozen veggies are similar to -- and sometimes better than -- fresh ones. This makes sense, considering that these veggies are usually flash-frozen (which suspends their "aging" and nutrient losses) immediately after being harvested. Frozen veggies were often picked in the peak of their season, too.

I ran a nutritional comparison on both fresh and frozen broccoli florets (uncooked), and the frozen broccoli contained a bit more vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin C, and folic acid. A recent government study found no change in amounts of folic acid found in veggies after 12 months of freezing. So don't let nutrition stop you from buying frozen!"

Ooh, and I'll leave you with a recipe I just got in my inbox: Turkey and Spinach Manicotti (you could also use shells and stuff them with this filling). This is a pantry-friendly meal, and contains ingredients on sale in Boston this week. If you're crunched for time and have no sauce, just use 1 1/2 c. pureed canned tomatoes. The flavor won't be exactly the same, but it's just as good in a different way.

7/9 ingredients in this recipe are already in my pantry (stay tuned for my upcoming posts on building your pantries):

-pasta
-romano cheese (that I substitute for parmesan in all recipes - you can too!)
-frozen spinach
-tomatoes (for sauce)
-garlic
-onions
-italian seasoning (make your own with mix of 1 part dried oregano + 2 parts dried basil + 2 parts dried parsley)

*Sorrento ricotta is also on sale $3.49/2 lb. That's a great deal. 1 lb is usually $2.49 at TJs (which would put TJs at $5 for 2 lbs...if the prices beats TJs it's usually a steal. Ricotta can be frozen, too!)

*Turkey (on sale this week at Shaw's - their natural brand is $4.29/lb and S & S - $2.99/lb...it may even be on sale at Whole Foods, but I'm not in the city so I can't check. If anyone knows, please leave it as a comment!)

If you stock up on sale meat, turkey may already be in your freezer pantry, too.

This meal is freezer-friendly, as well.


Goodnight :D

Natural Cleaning Product Recipes!

Good morning, everyone! I usually like to get a good amount of decent cleaning done on Saturdays, because I have Mike's help with the baby. During the week, it's all I can do to just keep up with the minimum of cleaning, because Dylan needs me! Anyways, it's nice to have my hands free on Saturday and be able to clean up real nice :).

In my research, I came across this site that is way better than anything I could put together. I'm going to just write my recipe for favorite all time cleaning tricks. I'm a bare minimum type of girl, because why use more ingredients than absolutely necessary, right?



Taylor's Favorite Homemade Cleaner

1/4 c. vinegar ($.05)
4 c. water ($.00)
30 drops of any essential oil you'd like (lavender, eucalyptus, tea tree...) (optional) ($.23)

Mix this all together and pour it into a recycled (or new) spray bottle. Vinegar is a great disinfectant and deodorizer. The vinegar smell goes away so quickly, even if you don't use essential oils. Personally, I don't even use the essential oils, because I'm trying to keep the cleaners superscrimpy. But, I know that you can get bottles of lavendar essential oil pretty inexpensively on amazon.com. I think I'm going to invest in some so that I can experiment a little more, and make some really nice home cleaners. You should, too! I buy a gallon of vinegar for, like $3 at stop and shop, which makes these cleaners $.05/windex bottle (32oz) without essential oils.

OK, so that link above for amazon, ok here it is again, is for 4 oz. of tea tree oil for $18.40 (with . shipping). That would mean that every 30 drops are $.23. So, an entire thing of this cleaner would cost you $.28 and would be all natural and safe for your family.

Total for a windex sized spray bottle full is $.28. I use it for:

• Countertops
• Stove Top (just spray, let it sit, and come back to it, spray again, and wipe)
• Dylan's high chair tray
• Bathroom
• Sink
• Floors
• Um, everything

Another great idea from treehuggingfamily.com that I had never thought of is boiling citrus peels with some essential oils or spices or fresh lavender or romemary on the stovetop!

I also like the method of simmering fresh rosemary, thyme, or sage and straining. This makes a disinfectant water. Adding a few drops of castile soap or other natural soap will help cut grease.

Anyways, as you can see, there are a ton of options, but above is the easiest, cheapsest, most multipurpose cleaner I know of. Make a batch and let me know what you think!

Making your own cleaners is a great way to keep crap out of the air and your environment. I love knowing that my family is not exposed to any chemicals.

Oh, and PS. Baking soda. Yes, baking soda. So cheap, and is a great non-abrasive yet so abrasive scouring agent. It won't scratch things and is amazing for getting ANYTHING off of ANYTHING. Once I realized this, I went crazy on some pans that I thought were past the point of no return, and guess what? They weren't. Baking soda beat their asses. Try it.