August 3, 2013

Ok, so it was a pretty busy week.  As a result of working long hours, I didn't cook much.  We had leftovers one night, went out to eat super late one night and had dinner with Russ great aunt and uncle another night.  On Monday and Tuesday I went by the Robinsons and picked a couple cucumbers while I was up near Cedar Hills.  I found a hidden Zucchini that was about 6 inches around and 2 feet long.  I made 15 loaves of Zucchini bread with it tonight.  She also told me that I could pick some corn.  Yum.  Fresh corn in the best.

I have dehydrated tomatoes non-stop all week.  I now have 1 1/2 pints of powder.  My tomato plants are coming on strong.  It is awesome.  My green beans and broccoli are really starting to produce now and I love watching the plants.

As a result of having a garden I am learning new ways to use, keep, and preserve my produce.  I have to say that while making Madalynn a PB&J sandwhich tonight I tried some of my freezer jam for the first time since I made it a couple months ago.  Wow!!!  Yum.  I couldn't really believe the difference between that and the store bought.  The flavor was amazing.

So tonight while Russ watched the kids, my brother and sister-in-law dropped their kid off for us to watch (he slept the whole time) and Aunt Bonnie visited I:

Pureed and froze baby food in ice cube trays: green beans, carrots and zucchini
Blanched and froze corn on the cob
Got a new batch of Roma tomatoes in the dehydrator
Sliced and froze 15 Bell Peppers
Prepared about 3 pints worth of green beans for canning in the morning
Shredded and made now 23 loaves of Zucchini bread.  We will freeze most of this for breakfasts come Sept when I go back to work.

If I had some more time I needed to chop up and freeze 12 onions.

My feet are killing me from being on them sooooooooooo long.  I really can't wait to sleep.  As I was putting frozen zucchini in the deep freezer tonight I was realizing just how different our deep freezer is now.  When Russ and I bought our first deep freezer it was full of mostly pre-packaged frozen meals from costco.  Our favorites were the chicken/pasta meals and frozen lasagna.  It wasn't terribly bad stuff, but it wasn't great either.

Then we started freezing milk and breads.  I have learned how to thaw both of those and it works out great.

I remember the first time that I froze zucchini and it just didn't work.  Now I know better that it did and I was completely crazy.

Then Madalynn was born and our whole freezer was full of breastmilk.  Ya, so glad that those days are over.  I could never find anything in the mess.

That is when I invested in some baskets for our deep freezer to help separate each of the foods to keep order and help rotate.  Two years ago we purchase my grandparents deep freezer from my grandpa.  I am glad that we did.  Now I can keep all my milk and my meats in one deep freezer and all my fruits/veggies/jams and other stuff in a 2nd deep freezer.  This made it so that we could store a lot more meals and breads and pre-cooked meals for easy cooking.

Last August I went through and cooked and froze 3 months worth of meals so I didn't have to cook when I went back to work.  It was a blessing.  I was 7 months pregnant when I went back to work and those meals really saved our lives.  When I am pregnant I just can't get the energy in any way to cook ANYTHING!!  We stopped eating out so much, saved tons of money and that was the beginning of our new eating habits and lives.

I am planning a cooking week in two weeks.  I have to wait to use my costco coupons that start next sat. for some new ziploc bags before I do a cooking fest.  For the 1st august in our entire married lives we actually have enough money to spend on groceries this month.  Usually we just live off all the things I have been putting aside all year while we use our money to pay for the other bills.  As a result I will be able to fill up our freezers with everything that is low before I go back to work and I just don't have time to do anything anymore.  It is a blessing, truly.

Well, it is only 1:30am and I think that my last loaves of bread might be cool enough to put in a container, so good night all and see you tomorrow.