Putting Food By

Yesterday it was a cool 56 degrees out up here in Wyoming. Which means that autumn is upon us. The garden season is almost over for us and that means harvesting and putting up for the winter months so that we can enjoy the bounty throughout the year. And while the grasshoppers have decimated my tomato crop this year I still have been able to get quite a bit of green beans, sugar snap peas, zucchini. The carrots this year have been lots of fun. I have a full crop out there now, but I cannot seem to get them out of the ground without them breaking off in the ground. I have tried digging them up with a shovel (cuts them off) and with a weed digger (bent my weed digger!) The watermelon and pumpkins we planted this year (a first time for us) have lots of leaves and vines but as of yet no fruit. Although the pumpkins have flowers so if the cold holds off we might get something...

This past weekend I spent a little time putting up food from both the garden and the grocery store too.

From the garden:

• Baked 2 batches of zucchini bread and froze (4 loafs total) - Great for snacks or a quick breakfast.
• Steamed green beans and froze (1 gallon sized freezer bag) - We like these sauteed in garlic and olive oil.
• Steamed snap peas and froze (1 gallon sized freezer bag) - Perfect for stir fries.

From the store:

• Raspberries! Albertsons had them on sale last week for $9.99 a flat (a flat is six 6 Oz. containers) and so I purchased 4 flats and frozen (1 gallon sized freezer bag plus 3 large Ziploc twist top containers) - I would have loved to freeze raspberries from my own raspberry bushes but alas my dog at the bushes, thorns and all!) - These will be used for yogurt and muffins.
• Vidalla onions. I had bought a big bag at Sam's club 2 months ago and hardly had made a dent in them so I chopped up the 6 I had left and froze them. - These are good in soups, casseroles, meat loaf etc...any dish where you are cooking the onion.

All of these items were flash frozen before putting in their respective containers. I flash freeze by getting out my two big baking sheets and lining them with my Silpat silicone pan liners (you can use plastic wrap, wax paper or even tin foil.) and putting the prepared fruits or veggies on the baking sheet and placing the sheet in the freezer for 5-6 hours till frozen solid. Then I put the frozen food into bags or containers. For the onions I tightly wrap the whole tray in plastic wrap before putting into the freezer so that my freezer does not smell like onions.

I will continue to look for deals at the grocery stores for items that I can freeze and there might be more from the garden...only time shall tell!

In other notes while I had the kitchen and freezer in work mode this weekend I went ahead and made up some meatballs, baked them in the oven, drained the fat off and flash froze them too. I had some ground turkey in the freezer and hamburger meat was on sale thanks to Labor Day sales. Pre-made meatballs are great to have on hand for quick spaghetti & meatball dinner, meatball sandwiches, or even my kids favorite...meatballs and mac-n-cheese!

So readers...did you garden this year? What are you putting up for the winter?