Month: April 2011

It was pretty productive day.  I can only do about half of what I normally do and I’m twice as sore.  I guess the baby isn’t much for weeding! Guess I better do an extra good job with my mulching this year.  😉

Well, this is my first week dropping back to part-time at work.  That means today was my first Tuesday at home!  I made myself quite a to-do list to help me stay on task and not kill too many brain cells on the computer all day.  I actually crossed off every single thing on my list!! Jobs worth mentioning… I got all of my tomato seeds planted.  I had worked on some on Sunday & Monday but finished up today.  Roma, Big Month, Amish Paste, and Rutgers.  All together there are over 250 of them if I’m counting right.  I’m starting them almost a month late but considering the weather I’m not too concerned! I slowly started to work on organizing the basement too.  My two goals for that today were 1) get all the storage containers put up on the shelves I built last year and 2)build a shelf for the extra sink and countertop to set on.  We’ve had this sink top leaning against the wall down there for years.  Eventually we’ll have a canning kitchen down there so we’ve been holding on to it.  I built a shelf to hold the top that will also hold 4

If you do it right you can have ground beef already browned and packaged loosely enough that you can scoop out however much you need for any particular recipe.  Here’s how I do it. Ingredients: Fresh or frozen ground beef A NOTE ABOUT USING FROZEN BEEF: If you’re buying your beef from the grocery store you should try to time it so you’re cooking with fresh beef.  It is not recommended to thaw beef and then refreeze it.  However, if you are buying beef from your local farmer it will usually be frozen solid already when you pick it up.  In that case I have no concerns about thawing it and then refreezing it this way.  This is because it has been frozen so quickly and in such a fresh state.  If you question how your beef was handling don’t be afraid to ask your farmer and/or your processor. Thaw beef completely.  I thaw mine by placing the frozen packages in a large metal bowl and filling with hot water.  It will thaw in several hours setting out on the counter or a couple days in the fridge.  I wouldn’t set it out on a really warm day, other than

I did my freezer cooking day a couple weekends ago.  I had intended to get together with some family to do it but when that didn’t work out I decided to post it all here.  This way anyone who would like to follow along can plan their own day of cooking. I started with 20 pounds of our homegrown frozen ground beef. Contrary to modern food safety practices I thawed it by starting with a bowl of hot water, setting the plastic bagged packages in it, and leaving the whole thing out of the counter for several hours.  I set it up before I left and stuck it in the fridge when I got home about 6 hours later.  A few hours later I pulled it out of the fridge and the meat was mostly all thawed enough to be workable.  I would not feel comfortable thawing at room temperature during the summer: our kitchen that day was about 60-62 degrees F.  Do it your own way. Another thing… I would not recommend buying fresh beef from the grocery store, freezing it, then thawing it to use for freezer cooking.  Either get your meat direct from a farmer so it

These are great for getting that last bit of zucchini out of the freezer.  We just happen to have some applesauce that turned out kind of blah so I’m using that up too. Ingredients: 3 eggs 1/2 cup oil (I use Canola or Soybean oil) 1 2/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 cups zucchini*^ 1 cup applesauce* 3 cups AP or bread flour (or whole wheat, but expect a heavier product) 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. baking powder 1 tablespoon cinnamon dash of nutmeg 1 tsp. salt 1/2 cups nuts of your choice (optional) *Amounts of applesauce and zucchini are interchangeable so long as your total equals 2 1/2 cups.  Use what you have. ^I used thawed zucchini out of my freezer and did NOT pour off the water.  If using fresh zucchini you may want to add a bit of water to ensure of moist muffin. Preheat oven to 325 F. Beat eggs.  Add oil, sugars, zucchini, and applesauce.  Mix well gradually add in the dry ingredients saving flour until last.  Stir in nuts (if using).  Ladle into greased muffin pans.  Store in airtight container.  I keep mine in a Pyrex baking dish. Yields 24