food storage Archives - MarriedtotheFarm

Cornbread Mix from Scratch {Sealing Jars with Foodsaver}

Here’s a quick video showing how I prepare cornmeal mix from scratch, and then use a Foodsaver Jar Sealer to seal it in jars. The recipe I used can be found here…

August 3, 2009 canning / food storage / garden / green beans / pressure canning

Pressure Canning Green Beans

I spent the day with my Mom yesterday and she taught me how to pressure can for the first time ever. I went in to this completely blind and was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was. Now I have a new skill to add to my list! Yay! Thanks Mom! While this is in no way meant to be a guide to pressure canning I’ll share a few pics and the basic process. That way if you find someone to teach you it won’t be so mystifying. The black pot has a strainer in it and boiling water. The silver one is the pressure canner with a few inches of water in the bottom. We snapped the beans in 2-3 inch pieces and removed the ends. Next, we rinsed them under cool water and put them in the black pot of boiling water. Once the water comes back to a boil they stay in for 5 minutes. At that point we pulled out the strainer, allowed the water to drain back in to the pot, and poured the beans in to the plastic strainer in the sink. Then it is time to put the beans in the jars. I

January 20, 2009 food storage / homemade / recipe

Waste Reduction and Chocolate Muffins

I am very excited to be taking on the the Food Waste Reduction Challenge hosted by Crunchy Chicken (see sidebar for link). To start out I tossed any old food that I found in the fridge so that we can start fresh. Most of what I tossed were old dressings and sauces that we never use and brought here with us from the old house. I also threw out some shrimp and cocktail sauce from Christmas and one thing of leftovers from a restaurant. I plan to use my postal scale to weigh anything we throw out in February. When I got to the freezer I was relieved not to find much that needed to be tossed. I did pitch some leftover cheesy potatoes we had frozen from our wedding. Then I came across the several bags of frozen shredded zucchini from last years garden. I had yet to use any of them. So, what’s a non-wasting girl to do with all that zucchini? Make muffins! Yeah, chocolate muffins to be exact. I pulled together a recipe from a few different ones to come up with the following: Chocolate Muffins with (Shhh!) Zucchini2 2/3 cups whole grain pastry flour (or

January 8, 2009 bread / flour / food storage / homemade / local / local flour

A Local Loaf

Today I picked up another order of local flours from Hampshire Farms (see sidebar for link). I got: 25# 100% whole grain bread flour10# 100% whole grain pastry flour2# cornmeal5# sunflower seeds (dehulled) Randy Hampshire, who filled my order was more than happy to show me around their farm. They have a USDA approved kitchen on site along with the brick oven that Randy built himself. It was very impressive! The farm also boasts a nice warehouse in an old grainery, where all of their flour and wheat is stored. They also have, meandering around the pastures, a family cow. She is a nice looking Jersey and had a few other cattle keeping her company. I have given a lot of thought to having our own family cow and have thought about it more and more seriously lately. I don’t think it is the right time for us, and it would take a lot to convince my husband. He probably has a point – it is a lot easier to find someone to throw in some grain for our animals then to milk twice a day when we want a vacation. In any case, of was jealous of Randy’s family

November 15, 2008 carrots / food storage / root cellaring / saving seed

How to Store Carrots, and Save them for Seed

Today it was supposed to starting raining/snowing at around noon. I was determined to get some work done outside before the bad weather hit so I headed outside about 10AM. First I finished landscaping a spot near our back door. Now I have lawn edging and stone around two sides of the house. I’ll do the other two sides in the spring. I’m still amazed at the difference – it looks so much nicer. I’ll have to post before and after pics sometime. I really wanted to get the garden mulched today but that didn’t happen. Both of our wheelbarrows are full, one has a flat tire, and I really didn’t feel like opening up the big shed doors to lug out a bunch of hay for mulch. So instead, I dug up all of our carrots. The book Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel is a great one to study in regards to food storage. Since the book said carrots can be left in the ground all winter in milder climates, I figured mine were safe out there for awhile. However, with lots of freezing temps in the forecast I needed to get them out before the ground