Homemade Frozen Hasbrowns

I was down in our basement yesterday and noticed the buckets of potatoes we had harvest earlier this fall.  I have a tendency to forget about what is down there and decided I needed to something with the potatoes before they went bad.  I know that they can last pretty long, but I didn't want to take my chances.  Besides we have cans and cans of potatoe flakes in our pantry so I wanted to to something with them other than use them for mashed potatoes.  HASHBROWNS!  I figured there had to be a way to make your own frozen ones since you can find them in the stores.  And of course google came to the rescue. 

To make your own hashbrowns you will need:
Potatoes!!! Yep that is it.  Well you will need some equipment and water, but no preservatives.

You can buy your potatoes or harvest your own.  These are ones from our own garden, but in the past I have gotten those big bags of potatoes and then wasted them because we didn't know what to do with all of them.  Now I know!

Wash and peel your potatoes.

Cut them into large chunks.  Place them into cold water and bring to a boil.  Boil for 10 mins.  This will keep them from browning in the freezer.

I forgot to take a picture, but after they have boiled. Drain them and place in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Keep them in water and place in the refridgerator overnight.

Using a food processor grate or shred your potatoes. You will notice how dry they come out.  This is a good thing.  Dry potatoes are what make your crispy yummy hashbrowns.

Place in gallon ziploc freezer bags.  I put 2 pounds in each bag.  This way if I have a recipe that calls for hashbrowns they are in the same size bags you would buy from the store.  Lay them flat and get all the air out of them.  Lastly place them in your freezer.  Easy Peasy.  And Cheap too!

Thanksgiving Turkey Veggie Platter

Need a last minute way to make your veggie tray cute for your Thanksgiving table?  How about turn it into a turkey?  I found this cute little idea on pinterest and knew I wanted to make it.

The original was cuter but I wanted to add celery and tomatoes and didn't want as many peppers that they had on their tray.  It doesn't matter the veggies you use, it is the color that really makes the turkey.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Apple Crisp Recipe

I have apples coming out of my ears right now.  Earlier during the summer months I prepared bags and bags of pear puree to turn into pear applesauce.  I have been dreading the applesauce making because I have been feeling so icky.  Well with the help of my mom and brother I went and picked baskets full of apples.  I have been slowly working on them and have made 10 quarts of pear applesauce, 5 pints of apple butter, and I still have lots more to do.  Well last night I decided to take a break and make something other than applesauce.  The kids and I found a yummy recipe and got to work.  I am excited to share it with you.  It smells delicious and tastes even better. 

Apple Crisp

10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored, and sliced. 

1 cup white sugar

1 TB all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup water

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, melted

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2.  Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan.  Mix the white sugar, 1 TB flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples.  Pour water evenly over all.

3.  Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together.  Crumble evenly over the apple mixture. 

4.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 45 mins.  (If your topping is getting too brown you can cover with aluminum foil.  I did this for the last 5 mins)

5.  Let cool for a little bit.  Serve with icecream!

Stay tuned for Pear Applesauce recipe.

To Brood or Not to Brood

Meet Broody Judy

It is kind of late in the season to be letting one of our chickens go broody.  But I just couldn't resist. Broody Judy has been toying with the idea of becoming a mother for the past month.  She would act like she wanted to brood then change her mind.  Then a week later I would think she was ready and then nope.  Two days ago I found her sitting on 4 eggs in the hen house.  She stayed on those four eggs and allowed other hens to sit in her box with her then she would take those eggs and situate them under her body.  I checked on her at night and she was still there.  So yesterday I went to walmart and bought her a 30 gallon Rubbermaid bin, cut a hole in the side, layed some bedding and waited.  I didn't want to move her until night because I wanted to get her to accept her new nest.  JBody helped me move her and her clutch after dark and this morning she was still there.  I guess it looks like we are going to have some baby chicks in about 20 days or so. 

This is really exciting for us.  The last time we had a hen go broody she hatched about 12 eggs. That was our dear Mama Fluff. She was our favorite chicken.  She was killed by a hawk last spring.  We have since added 10 more birds to our flock since she hatched her eggs.  6 of them are Buff Orphingtons like she was. Broody Judy is also a Buff Orphington.  They are known to go broody.  We were just not expecting her to go broody at only 7 months old. 

Picture of mama fluff.  She looks like she is a cranky little thing.  But she actually was quite sweet. Her and her sister Zebra would follow us around the yard, when it was just the two of them.  She would let the kids pick her up and not peck at them.  She is still talked about with from the kids.

Mama Fluff with some of her babies.

We will keep you updated on Broody Judy's progress to Motherhood.

How to Can Peaches {tutorial}

First off I have to apologize for this tutorial.  It is a NON PICTURE tutorial.  For those of you who have ever canned peaches before you know how sticky and messy it is.  For those of you who will soon can for the first time, you will see why there are no pictures in this tutorial. So let's get started.

Before you Begin

The best way to can peaches is with a friend.  Trust me it makes the process alot quicker and enjoyable. JBody and I had about 100-125lbs of peaches to can this year.  There is no way I could have done it without him.

1. Start by putting your jars and rings into a dishwasher on the sterilize setting. If you don’t have a dishwasher, you can easily place your jars in your boiling water canner and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. I like to leave them in the dishwasher on heat dry until I am ready to use them. You can also place them in the oven at 250 to keep them hot.  Keeping your jars hot will prevent them from cracking when you add hot fruits and liquid into the jars.

2. Place the lids in a small saucepan and heat to a simmer, but don’t boil. You only need to do this for about 5 minutes.
3. Wash your peaches by rinsing in a colander. Use lukewarm water and be carefull not to bruise.

4. Place the peaches into a pot of boiling water and blanch for 30 to 60 seconds.

5. After blanching, place them into a ice water bath to keep them from cooking.

6. Then the skins should slip right off. You won't even need to use a knife. If they don’t slip off, you may need to put them back in the boiling water for 30 more seconds. If they still don’t slip, your peaches might not be ripe. Put a ripe banana in the box and check them the next day. The banana usually does the trick and the peaches ripen right up.

7. Cut your peaches.  We like cutting the peach into eight pieces.  You get more in a jar and it makes it easier for little ones to eat.  You can cut them in half, quarters, eights. If you are working with regular mouth jars you will want to at least quarter your peaches. 

8. This step you can choose to omit.  If you want to keep your fruit from turning brown you can use fruit fresh or lemon juice.  I did some with and then the second day I chose to skip that part. 

9. Pack your jars.  We cold or raw pack.  This means the fruit goes in cold or raw. If you want to hot pack, don't put into your jars quite yet.  When placing your peaches in jars, try to put them in pit side down.  This will allow you to get as much fruit into your jar as possible.  Pack tightly without squishing your fruit.  You will want to leave 1/2 inch headspace.

10. Prepare you syrup.  We like light syrup.  Kids get lots of sugar already and we don't think we need to pack alot of sugar into our fruit.  For our syrup we use 5 1/2 cups water to 2 1/2 cups sugar.  Put the sugar and the water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Once boiling you add the hot liquid to your jars. *** Here is where you will start your hot pack if you choose to hot pack.  You will want to boil your peaches in your syrup for 5-7 mins and then place the fruit and liquid into jars.

11.  If cold packing add your liquid to your fruit jars.  Fill to 1/2 headspace and then run a butter knife to get any air bubbles.  This will let the bubble escape and the fruit settle a bit.  You will probably need to add more liquid.  Make sure you cover all your peaches. 

12.  Wipe the rim of your jars to make sure there are no juices or fruit on them. Put your lids and bands on your jars. Do not over tighten your bands.  Just finger tight them.  What does that mean? Only use your fingers to tighten them.  When you involved your wrist the go on way to tight.  You want to allow air to be released. 

13.  Place your jars into your hot water bath. You water should be hot and at or close to a boil. Make sure to place your jars in one by one and opposite sides of the canner rack.  This will minimize tipping.  A canner rack can hold 7 pint or quart sized jars.  Once all jars are in submerge them into the water.  When water comes to a boil start your time. We process our jars because we are at a low altitude.  You may have to alter your processing time depending on altitude. 

14.  After processing time is up, remove your jars.  Place them on the counter and try not to move them for 12-24 hours.  During cool down you may hear a popping sound.  This is good.  It means that your jars are sealing.  After 24 hours, jars that still pop when the lid is touched mean they were not sealed.  Just place in the refrigerate and eat!

There you have it.  It really is not all that bad.  It does make a giant mess.  JBody and I actually canned outside on our camping stoves.  All the mess was kept outside and we had lots of room to move around. 

Pickling Beets {Tutorial}

Step 1- Selecting the Beets

The best beets are fresh beets.  Select firm, crisp beets.

Step 2: Trim the Tops and Wash your beets.

Just take a sharp knife or a pair of kitchen scissors and trim off beet tops, leaving an inch of stem and roots to prevent bleeding of color.

Step 3: Cook the Beets

Place beets in a large pot and cover with water.  Cook them until they are tender.  This depends on the size.  I did mine for around 20 mins. Drain and discard the liquid.

Step 4: Cool the Beets

Place the beets in a bowl of ice water.  This is to cool them off for handling.

Step 5: Cut Beets into smaller pieces

You can cut your beets into wedges, slices, or leave them whole.  You just want them small enough to place into your jars.

Step 6: Prepare your Pickling Solution

4 cups vinegar (5% acidity)
1½ teaspoons canning or pickling salt
2 cups sugar or Splenda
2 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves - about 1 tsp
12 allspice nuts (whole) - about 1 tsp

Place vinegar, salt, sugar, and water in a large pot.  Put spices into a cheesecloth and tie off.
***tip- baby food holders work great to hold your spices. 
Bring to a boil.
 

Step 7: Boil Beets in Pickling Solution

Add beets to solution and simmer for 5 mins. 

Step 8: Place Beets in Jars

(forgot picture sorry)

Add beets to clean, sterile, hot jars. I like to keep mine in the oven at 250 degrees until ready to use.  Fill your jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace at top.  Then add liquid leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Place lids and bands semi tightly on. 

Step 8: Water Bath

Place jars in an open water bath for 30 mins. 

Step 9: Let Jars Cool

Cool your jars for 24 hours before removing bands.  Any jars that didn't process right, place in the refridgerator or eat.



Raspberry Cheesecake

The other day the kids and I went raspberry picking. I didn't want to turn all the raspberries into jam because we just got done doing 18 pints of strawberry jam. Instead I decided to make a cheesecake. This was scary for me because I have never made cheesecake before. I am so glad I did because it turned out beautiful.

I found the recipe from a whisk, a spoon. Can I just say that her cheesecake is gorgeous. All credit for this recipe goes to her.

For the recipe visit a whisk, a spoon or you can find it on my cake blog, Peach of Cake.

More on Blanching: Green Beans and Broccoli

Today I decided to do a little more blanching.  We had some Green Beans and Broccoli that were ready.  For your information I am posting the how to on the blog.  I didn't take any pictures, but it is all pretty much self explanatory.

All fruits and vegetables contain enzymes and bacteria that, over time, break down the destroy nutrients and change the color, flavor, and texture of food during frozen storage. 


Blanching Green Beans

Ingredients
A bowl of green beans -any amount.  I do about a handful per person as a serving. 

Equipment
What you will need:

A pot of boiling water with a lid
A bowl of ice water
A collander
Freezer bags or Vacuum Seal

Step 1- Go get your beans. You want them as fresh as you can get them. The best is to pick your beans right before you prepare them for freezing. Morning is also the best time to pick your vegetables. Make sure your beans are ripe, but not too ripe. You don't want dried out, bruised, or too ripe beans. They won't taste very good later on.


Step 2- Wash and cut your beans.
To cut your beans, simply cut the ends off.  I also like to cut my beans to about an inch and a half.  This way they are easier for the kids to eat. If you want french cut beans cut them lengthwise.
Step 3- Blanch Beans.
Place your beans into boiling water for 3 minutes.

Step 4-Cool Beans (typing that just made me smile)
Immediately remove from boiling water and place in ice water to stop the cooking process. Keep in water until completely cooled. A general rule of thumb would be to keep in water as long as it was in the boiling water.
Step 5-Drain your peas.

Step 6- Seal and freeze.
Now you are ready to seal. I love my vacuum sealer. Things tend to stay fresher and don't get freezer burned. However, if you don't have one you can place your beans into freezer bags. Just make sure to get out as much air as you can before placing in the freezer.

How to Freeze Broccoli

Ingredients
fresh broccoli - any quantity. When freezing veggies I generally do about 1 handful per person as a serving.
Salt

Equipment
1 Large pot of boiling water
2 large bowls, one filled with cold water and ice.
1 sharp knife
Vacuum food sealer (You can also use Ziploc baggies if you don't have a sealer.  Use the heavy duty baggies)
Instructions
Step 1 - Harvest your broccoli. We didn't grow broccoli this year, but I did get some in my Bountiful Basket that I didn't want to go to waste. Make sure your broccoli is FRESH and CRISP.  Using limp, old broccoli doesn't taste good before freezing so it of course will taste nasty frozen.

Broccoli are of the best quality when they are tight, before the florets start to open or turn yellow.

Step 2 - Wash the broccoli!
You do know how to do this without me explaining how to right?


Step 3 -Split the broccoli
Split lengthwise so florets are no more than 1 1/2 inches across. Remove leaves and woody portions. Separate the heads into convenient-size sections.

Step 4 - Soak the florets in brine (salt water)
Brine= 4 teaspoons salt to 1 gallon tap water
Soaking in a brine will help remove any creepy crawlies that may have found a home in your broccoli.  Soak for 30 minutes and then rinse under running water.
Step 5- Get the pots ready
Fill a pot 2/3 full with water and bring to a boil.  Fill another large bowl with ice and cold water.

Step 6 - Blanch the broccoli.
Blanching times for broccoli is 3 minutes
Begin counting the blanching time as soon as you place the broccoli in the boiling water. Cover the pot and boil at a high temperature for 3 minutes. You may use the same blanching water several times (up to 5). Be sure to add more hot water from the tap from time to time to keep the water level at the required height.

Step 7 - Cool the broccoli
Cool broccoli immediately in ice water.
After vegetables are blanched, cool them quickly to prevent overcooking. Plunge the broccoli into a large quantity of ice-cold water (I keep adding more ice to it). A good rule of thumb: Cool for the same amount of time as the blanch step. For instance, if you blanch sweet broccoli for 3 minutes, then cool in ice water for at least 3 minutes.

Drain thoroughly.

Step 8 - Bag the broccoli
I love my FoodSaver for this step.  However you can use Ziploc bags.  Make sure you use the heavy duty freezer bags and get all air out to prevent drying and freezer burn. 

Step 9 - Freeze and enjoy later!