Wordless Wednesday May 30

Happy Wednesday!

#wordlesswednesday

Preserving Fresh Lettuce - Salad from a jar

I'm a salad-lover!

I could eat a salad every day,

and I usually do.

Yet I'm always throwing away

lettuce that has turned brown or wilted.

note: I don't actually throw it in

the trash bin, it goes to the chickens/compost.

Well, no more!!

(cue dramatic "ta-da"music here)

I now preserve my lettuce in canning jars

with my handy dandy FoodSaver vacuum sealer.

We purchased jar sealers for both regular

and wide-mouth. These use the accessory 

hose that comes with most FoodSaver models.

Here's how we do it!

We use a mix of lettuce, whatever

we're growing along with store-

bought.

1. Chop it into bite-size pieces.

2. Wash and DRY it really well

     in your salad spinner or with

     paper towels.

3. Pack your mix of lettuce into 

    mason jars. Push in as much

    as you can!

4. Place a lid* on the jar.

5. Place the jar sealer over the lid.

6. Attach the hose to both the jar

    sealer and your machine, hit

    the vacuum button.

7. When it is finished, DETACH 

    the HOSE from the jar sealer 

    first. You should hear a ping.

8. Then remove the jar sealer from

    your mason jar. Test the lid to make

    sure its sealed!

9. Keep your jars in the refrigerator

    for up to seven days. 

That's it.

* you can use new lids (and still use them for canning later) or

you can reuse old lids as long as they aren't too banged up.

Also, this works for quart or pint jars. 

I use a pint because that is a perfect serving size for me.

We have been doing this for well over a year now. 

You can experiment with different lettuce. More delicate leaves/spinach, I know just starts to turn by the seventh day. However, more sturdy leaves such as romaine will last longer.

This is a huge time saver during the week. For lunch, I simply 

grab a jar, empty it onto my plate throw on a few toppings and 

I'm good to go!

I have a friend that takes a jar with her to work each day, she puts

her toppings in another container; grabs both on her way out the 

door. 

I'm all about prepping for one day,

so I can eat for a week.

Do you have any prepping shortcuts

to share??

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Easy Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - Printable Recipe

Last week I talked about my 
stockpiles of shredded zucchini!

So, this week, I wanted to share one

of my favorite recipes to make with

that shredded goodness!  

Easy Zucchini Cake

with Cream Cheese Frosting

(printable recipe)

2½ cups  all purpose flour

2    cups  sugar

1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

1    teaspoon  salt

½   teaspoon  baking powder

½   teaspoon  baking soda

1    cup     vegetable oil

4    eggs

2    cups   zucchini, shredded

½   cup    walnuts, chopped (optional)

directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder & baking soda in mixing      bowl

2. Combine oil & eggs; add to dry ingredients, mix well

3. Add zucchini; stir until thoroughly combined.

4. Fold in walnuts, if desired.

5. Pour batter into 13 in. x 9 in. x 2 in. baking pan.

Bake @ 350° for 35-40 minutes.

~Maria Matter http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/

Frosting

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions:

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in vanilla extract. 

note:

If you're using your frozen shredded zucchini,

there may be quite a bit of liquid in the freezer bag

after thawing.

DO NOT DRAIN! The zucchini "juice" helps keep

this cake super moist!

Check out some of my other

 Zucchini recipes and ideas.

How to preserve your summer squash-zucchini.

Zucchini Bread Gift Set idea

Super Moist Zucchini Bread

My pickiest eater actually requests 

this recipe for his official birthday cake!

Yea, it's that good!!

I hope you'll give it a try (:

Have a blessed day!

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Preserving Your Summer Squash - Zucchini

If you're someone who likes 

to share, grow summer squash. 

It's a very prolific plant!

We grew green & golden 

zucchini summer squash 

this season. 

Unfortunately, we started

our garden a bit late due

to our May/June vacation

this year and it was just

when the squash "moths"

were laying their eggs.

We didn't notice in time,

and their larvae feasted

on our plants!

#sadface  :(

We were able to pick a few before

the vines started dying off.

Most of my zucchini is shredded,

preserved in FoodSaver bags and

stacked in the freezer for later use.

Although you can add shredded

zucchini to a number of recipes

to increase your veggie intake,

our main uses are...

*Zucchini Cake with Easy Cream Cheese Icing,

*Super Moist Zucchini Bread and

*Zesty Zucchini Relish.

I'll provide links above as I share my recipes here on the

blog in the coming days.

We use a food processor with

a shredder blade.

If you have a shredder for your

Kitchen-Aid mixer great, if not

a hand grater would work too!

Then we bag it up in 2 or 3 cup portions.

3 cups for the bread, 2 cups for the cake

and relish. Freeze it flat then stack it to

save space. No blanching required.

You could also slice your zucchini in

rounds and dehydrate it for use in soups

and casseroles.

Sprinkle on some seasonings before 

drying them for variety.

Whether you shred it, freeze it or 

dehydrate it, Zucchini is easy to 

preserve and a great veggie to keep 

on hand.

Now, I'm off to bake a zucchini cake!

Do you grow squash 

in your garden?

What is your favorite

way to use it?

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Road Trip, a New Journal and Coming Soon on Five Simple Things!

Gosh, life gets busy, 

days go by and all of a sudden half the year is over.  

Stop this crazy, spinning world for a moment, 

I need to get off!

Virginia IS for Lovers!

So much has happened since I last spoke with you! 

We've traveled the highways and by-ways of the U.S.A.

Visited some lovely folk and saw some amazing sites!

Arizona...but it's a dry heat!

Then came home to massive gardening chores.

Daniel built me more garden boxes to fill!

Planting veggies, herbs, trees and bushes.

We're starting a bit late since we didn't want

to plant everything before we traveled, so 

we'll see how it all turns out. 

purchasing trees & bushes at the nursery.

I also started a new planner system to organize & 

journal our exciting life {{grin}}

More on that later.

And

I bought a new faith journal. I have always

just used a plain notebook but during our travels

I came across this lovely little notebook and it 

called to me & reminded me that I was on the last

pages of my current journal. kinda.

Isn't it pretty???

Wanna see what my personal faith journal looks like

inside?  Stay tuned.

I have some other fun things to share with you now

that I'm back home and settled into my air-conditioned

lair for the summer.

Have a great Wednesday!

Super Moist Zucchini Bread - printable recipe

I'm sharing a long-time family 

favorite recipe today!

When our garden explodes with 

zucchini every summer, I work

feverishly to process it for the 

freezer. 

Shredding, measuring and bagging

it with my beloved Food Saver!

The uniformly bagged zucchini 

occupies a designated corner of 

our chest freezer to be used in a

variety of dishes throughout the 

year!

zucchini bread

Adding shredded zucchini to recipes 

is a great way to increase your veggie 

consumption as it doesn't have a 

strong individual flavor.

However, there are two main recipes 

in our home that quickly deplete my 

pretty little frozen piles; this super 

moist zucchini bread and our rather

sassy zucchini relish.

Both are well loved by adults, children

and assorted family & friends!

Today, I'll share our bread recipe...

Zucchini Bread

(printable recipe)

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

3 cups zucchini, shredded

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking Soda

¼ teaspoon baking Powder

3 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees (Fahrenheit)

2. Beat eggs until foamy

3. Add sugar, mix well

4. Add remaining ingredients, mix well.

Grease & flour 8-9 mini loaf pans, fill half full.

Bake @ 350° for 40-50 minutes.

~Maria Matter http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/

So delicious!

Be sure to pin it for this summer's

zucchini harvest!

Are you a

Zucchini lover?

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From Cookies to Muddy Boots - DIY Drying Rack

My "About Me" page claims that I re-cycle, 

up-cycle and repurpose for the sheer joy of it. 

Here's my latest joy...

We've all seen the boot drying racks with 

pretty stones, rocks or pebbles in a pan on 

Pinterest, right?

So pretty, yes, however, every time you want 

to clean out all the accumulated mud & dirt you 

have to dump out all the stones, wash them and 

let them dry a bit before putting them back in the pan.

Not very practical for this country girl.

I needed something I could rinse off  easily 

with my hose and put back in place before 

the muddy boots started arriving again!

So here's my solution; old cookie sheet, 

cooling rack and pretty spray paint.

The cooling rack is easy to rinse & dry and 

allows maximum air flow for muddy/wet boots.

Honestly, I did not over think this too much, 

so it was a really quick project. 

I did not "prepare" the baking sheets in any way 

prior to painting. We've been using them now for 

over two months. Works perfectly! 

Have you used the pebble/stone drying racks?
Do they work for your family?

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Homemade Spaghetti Sauce - printable recipe

We've been making spaghetti 

sauce over the last few days. 

It's SO good!

I know this is normally a summer activity 

for most gardeners, but cooking & canning 

all day doesn't appeal to me while I'm melting 

in the warmer weather. So I throw all my 

tomatoes in the freezer and wait for 'wood stove' 

cooking season.

With the latest cold front bringing in this chilly 

weather, mid-November, it appears the season 

has arrived!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

(printable recipe)

½ bushel of tomatoes (more or less)

½  cup olive oil

6 - 8 garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon salt

pinch of black pepper

8 - 10 ounces tomato paste

¼ - ½ cup sugar

¼ cup oregano

¼ cup parsley

¼ cup basil

1 cup zucchini, shredded (optional)

1. peel tomatoes

2. puree tomatoes in blender/food processor 

    for a thinner sauce

    OR mash them if you like a chunky sauce.

3. In a large pot (at least 10 quart) cook garlic in oil.

4. when garlic is tender, add tomatoes and 

    remaining ingredients.

5. IMPORTANT- taste periodically. 

6. Boil until sauce cooks down to desired thickness.

notes:

1. Paste tomatoes such as Roma or Amish have higher

levels of sugar and acids along with less moisture,

making them a better tomato to "cook down" than other 

tomatoes. They are sometimes called sauce tomatoes.

If using only sauce tomatoes, start with less sugar

than listed above.

Personally, I use whatever tomatoes I have on hand,

(Roma, Amish, Beefsteak, even Large Red Cherry) and

just adjust the seasonings as they're cooking.

2. To easily peel tomatoes, dip in boiling water for 

about 30 seconds or until skins begin to crack.

This is the personal recipe of Maria Matter @ Five Simple Things.

If canning, when your sauce reaches your desired

thickness, pour hot into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch [6mm]

head space. Process pint jars 30 minutes in boiling 

water bath.

one more note:

As I mentioned above, I put my fresh tomatoes

in the freezer until I'm ready to process them.

I core them first and cut off any bad spots, then

fill up a freezer bag, removing as much air as

possible.  

When you remove them from the freezer, place

them in a colander in the sink. As they start to

thaw, some of the water will drain reducing your

cooking time and the skins will crack on their own

eliminating the need to dip in boiling water. Let

them continue to drain for a while longer after 

peeling.

If you've never made your own sauce, I encourage

you to give it a try and I would be happy to answer 

any questions you may have.

Enjoy! 

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What to do with Extra Large Turnips - dehydrating turnips

Turnips are certainly a welcome crop in my garden!

However, there are always a few over-achievers in the bunch!

While I prefer the small to medium size turnips for their more mild flavor in many of my recipes, I certainly do not let the larger (less tender) ones go to waste! 

I dehydrate my extra large turnips to use in my crockpot soups & stews as they add a nice robust flavor!

If we have a plentiful harvest, I'll store a reasonable amount of fresh turnips for our family and dehydrate the rest. 

The dried turnip chips can be eaten as a snack (like potato chips) or crushed to be used in sauces, dips, soups, etc.

Drying turnips.

1. Wash, cut off the tops & root and peel as you would a potato. 

2.  Slice, as thin as you can.

I used this mandolin slicer we found @ Walmart for $10.

Mainstays multi produce slicer

3.  Blanch your slices in boiling water for 3 minutes, then plunge into icy cold water to stop the cooking process.         

4.  Spread out turnip slices & towel dry.

5.  The slices are now ready to be dehydrated using your preferred method.

I use 2 fan-less Ronco dehydrators.

We purchased one 20 years ago & 

another at a yard sale for $3. this past spring.

6.  Store in an airtight container.

As a fun option, try sprinkling your favorite spices on the turnips slices before starting the drying process! I use cayenne pepper.

Do you grow turnips in your garden?

How do you keep them over the winter?

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