Avocado Blessings

Our daughter and her family were blessed with a large amount of produce yesterday. She passed on two nice cantaloupes and two 5-count bags of large avocados to us. 

The cantaloupes needed to ripen a few more days, but the avocados were at peak and needed to be used. How was I going to use up ten large avocados in a hurry?

In talking with Amber about them a little while ago, I discovered that she had frozen her avocados in halves. I didn't realize that avocados could be frozen! Wow! 😲

After talking with her, and doing a little further research on the California Avocado site, I decided to turn our avocados into guacamole and freeze it that way.

I saved back two avocados to be eaten fresh. We love them in salads, made into deviled egg filling, baked in the oven with bacon and eggs (see recipe below), and a variety of other ways. 

The remaining eight avocados I turned into guacamole (avocados peeled, pitted, and mashed mixed with lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt to taste).

Then I divided it into half-cup portions and wrapped each portion tightly in cling-wrap and flattened to about the size of a deck of cards.

Out of eight large avocados I ended up with twelve pre-made packages of guacamole. 

To be used they just have to thaw in the fridge overnight.

To find out more about avocados and how to freeze them visit the California Avocado page by clicking HERE.

AVOCADO, BACON, AND EGGS

1 avocado
2 eggs
2 strips of pre-cooked, crumbled bacon

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out enough avocado to make a hole that matches the size of your egg.

Stabilize avocado halves by balancing them upright, and level, on the top of a muffin tin. Crack an egg into each avocado half and top with crumbled bacon. I added a sprinkling of black pepper over ours, but you can season, or not season, as you choose.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes or until eggs are cooked through.

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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31 Days of the Joys of Autumn - Celebrating the Harvest

Over the weekend we were blessed with a couple of bags of freshly picked green peppers and tomatoes from a family member's garden. I really didn't have the time or inclination to can them, so, when I got home from work last night I jumped right in and set to work on freezing them. 

Freshly Picked Green Peppers and Tomatoes

After going through the tomatoes, to make sure there weren't any bad spots, I threw them into the food processor, skins and all, and worked them up into fresh tomato sauce. I poured them into freezer bags that had previously been labeled and popped them right into the deep freeze. I ended up with four quarts of fresh tomato sauce. These will be added to soups, stews, or chili in the coming days.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

When I was done with the tomatoes, I started on the green peppers. I cleaned and halved some for stuffed peppers; others I cut into strips for stir-fry. Still others I chopped up small to be put in omelets and other dishes by the handful. I gave a few away and still ended up with six quarts of green peppers in the deep freeze. 

Green Peppers

In addition to the green peppers and tomatoes, we have been blessed with an abundance of potatoes...100 pounds, in fact! I've given most of the potatoes away, but am getting ready to freeze what's left of the 20 pounds that we kept. I wasn't aware that you could freeze potatoes, but you can as long as you parboil them first. When I'm finished I should end up with about 15 pounds of potatoes in the freezer. All of these things will help carry us through the long winter months ahead, while saving on the grocery bill at the same time.

Celebrating the harvest is definitely one of the joys of autumn!

Until next time...

~Rebecca

Addendum...

Ended up with nine quarts of potatoes in the freezer.

Potatoes Ready For The Deep Freeze

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Making Zucchini Noodles (Zoodles) For the Freezer

In My Thrifty Week Post #5 I shared a bit about the squash that I purchased last week and told you that I'd be sharing a post on what I did with it. 

This is it... 

As stated  in my previous post...I purchased zucchini and yellow squash from a friend who grows vegetables and sells them at a farmer's market. Bigger squash were 2 for $1 and medium ones were 4 for $1. My friend threw in several smaller squash for free. I spent $10 and came out with a boatload of squash! I shared several of them with my daughter and her family.

The yellow squash that I kept I saved to use and serve fresh. One of my favorite breakfasts is to saute yellow squash in a little butter, put it on a plate, and top it with fried eggs. Delicious!

The zucchini I ran through the Veggetti, turning them into noodles (or Zoodles, if you prefer) for the freezer.

Some of the noodles I cooked and served that night with Chicken Parmy (page 161 in the THM Cookbook), which, by the way, was absolutely delicious and gourmet quality in every way. It tasted like something that you'd pay big bucks for at a restaurant and it was so easy to make. My husband enjoyed it, too, so I'm sure it is a recipe that I will make again and again! 

The rest of the zucchini I spiral cut and prepared as per instructions in the video at the bottom of this post. The process is simple...spiral cut the noodles, sprinkle with salt, and work it in. The salt draws a lot of the moisture out of the squash and firms up the texture of the noodles, making them fit for the freezer. I ended up with 4 gallon bags of zoodles and 2 quarts of liquid off of it to add to soups this winter. 

I saved all the zucchini end pieces that were left over after making the spiral-cut noodles

Using my Vidalia Chop Wizard I cut the rounds into cubes and sauteed them that evening for use later in the week.

Here is the video that I watched that gave me the idea in the first place. I'm really glad that I ran across it. This will save us lots of money in the future and give us garden fresh zoodles in the middle of winter! 

Thanks for dropping in and, please, take a moment to say, "Hello!"

Until next time...

~Rebecca

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How To Use Strawberries

How To Use Strawberries
http://www.LivingOnADime.com

Sinking in Surplus Strawberries?
Ah June! In the spring we think of a mouth-watering strawberry patch. Now it has turned into a forest with enough strawberries to feed most of the U.S. Undaunted by the mounds of berries in our kitchen, we have visions of row after row of beautiful jars of strawberry jam on our shelves. Then it happens! The first pot boils over leaving a red mess all over the stove, up on the walls and on the counters and floor. Hours later, after the kitchen looks like World War III was fought in it, we stand in our kitchen and proudly display our 2 pints of strawberry jam. Don't despair. Canning isn't the only way to use excess strawberries. Here are some other suggestions to use those mounds of berries:

• Think small. Don't plant too many plants in your garden. Plant just enough for what you need.
• If you don't have a garden, shop early in the morning when the store marks down their produce. You can find great deals when things are marked down. I found 4 lbs. of strawberries $1.49. Only 2 strawberries were bad. Just wash them and freeze the ones you won't eat right away.
• File all your recipes for fruits and veggies in order by the name of the fruit. Then when you need to find recipes for all the extra produce you can easily find several recipes.
• Throw extra strawberries into a bag and freeze. Don't waste time freezing them on a tray, they do just as well thrown in a bag.
• Use extra strawberries in milkshakes, fruit smoothies, popsicles, and fruit gelatin.
• Use them to top cereal or oatmeal. Add milk for a cream flavor.
• Mix leftover jam with 3/4 cup of hot water and shake. Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze.

Easy Strawberry Jam
3 quarts fresh strawberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
In large microwave-safe bowl, combine strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Cover loosely and microwave on high 15 seconds. Stir mixture to dissolve sugar. Microwave on high, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Stir mixture well and check to see if it is done by putting a little on a spoon and placing it in the freezer for 5 minutes uncovered. Look at the preserves on the spoon. They should be thick but not hard. For slightly thicker preserves, microwave on high for another 5 minutes. For sweeter preserves, stir in a little more sugar then cook another minute. Spoon preserves into jars and refrigerate or cool at room temperature. Spoon into plastic bags and freeze. Makes 7 cups.

Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper are frugal living experts and the authors of the Dining On A Dime Cookbook. Dining On A Dime will help you save money on groceries and get out of debt by cooking quick and simple homemade meals. For free tips & recipes visit http://www.LivingOnADime.com , sign up for our free Living On A Dime Newsletter and learn to save more!

Freezer Meals

I had a good deal of spaghetti sauce left over from the weekend, so I decided to cook up a couple pounds of spaghetti, add the sauce and some cheese, and dish it up into disposable pans for freezer meals (I can buy the pans by the dozen at the Amish store for next to nothing!). I also made four pans of brownies (three of those went to the civic group for Prairie Jubilee tomorrow) and, thanks to a friend who blessed us with fresh pears, four pans of pear crisp. (I forgot to take pics of the crisps, but here is the spaghetti and the brownies.)

Freezer Meals - spaghetti

Brownies