Farmers Markets will be ending soon (a couple of weekends left at our Fergus Falls Farmers Market), but it's a great time to get produce and products for the winter...and to pickup some great Christmas gifts as well!
Last weekend my Sis Karen and I, as is our usual gig during Farmers Market season, met up to buy some produce. And I came with a plan.
I wanted to get some extra onions and peppers to freeze for winter soups, stews and hot dishes. (In this area we don't beat around the bush and call it like it is...a hot dish. Because what is a casserole anyways if not a hot dish.)
Homegrown Gardens and Sowers Harvest Farm had great locally grown onions, R&D Gardens had a variety of potatoes (love the blue ones! ) and Loads of Crop had peppers. Now these peppers equal probably two of the regular ones you get at the grocery store. These are big, crisp and flavorful.
So what do I intend to do with all of this?
The onions and peppers I am chopping up and freezing. Yep. You can do that without blanching. I did a few quart-sized freezer bags a few weeks ago and decided to use them when I made scramble eggs. Works great. Some people prefer to lay the freshly chopped onions and peppers on a sheet tray and freeze it first before putting into the freezer bags. Their take is that that particular method prevents clumping.
Someone else said that when you use the frozen onion or peppers, without doing the pan freezing method first, you just bang the bag on the counter and it separates.
This is the first time I have mass frozen peppers and onions and plan to use both methods. I did like the convenience of the onions being at the ready, though, so whatever method, it's nice to have the onions prepared and on hand.
While this is great when cooking for a family or when cooking for one or two.
My husband and I are empty nesters. All of our kids and their families live in the same community that we do so there are often gatherings and larger meals, but most of the time, it's just the two of us.
It took me a while to quit making meals large enough to feed a threshing crew. The leftovers became quite tiring. Day after day after day...well, if you've ever been in that situation, you understand. I like eating leftovers, but quickly discovered there IS a limit.
Hubby and I have also discovered we have different eating times and different diets. There are things he enjoys that I am not crazy about and vice versa. I have gout and shouldn't eat organ meats and he enjoys them for a meal. Yet, when I may make a stir fry, he will ask if there is enough for him to have a portion and if he fries fish, I am there with my plate.
Bottom line, we certainly don't cook like we used to whether it's for two or one. And the fact I can take some of the frozen onions and put in a meal without cutting up an entire onion and having it go to waste in the fridge - despite my best intentions - having that at the ready is great.
Over these next few weeks I am going to stock up on a few vegetables and look at freezing and storing. It might not carry me through the entire winter, but it will help over a section of time and also provide some great meals.
And I will look to RKM Candles for their beeswax candles as well as local honey and maple syrup for some great Christmas gifts.
