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??

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post.

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!

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post.

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?

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post. 

Easy Melt & Pour Seashell Soaps

Ah, summertime...

sun, sand, beach, seashells...seashell soap! 

Why not!

It's a fun activity to do with the kids!

You'll need a melt & pour glycerin bar

and some seashell candy or soap molds
from your favorite craft store.

Then cut a few cubes from the bar and place

them in a glass bowl for melting.

Pop it in the microwave and heat it

for 30 seconds, stir. Continue heating

it at 30 sec. intervals until melted and

its easy to stir.

Separate the melted soap into different

glass bowls if you want to add color to

your soaps.

Once colored, you'll simply pour it into

your molds and let it sit overnight until

firm.

Then pop them out of the molds to use

or give as gifts.

Simple, huh?!

We used food to color our soaps;

brown sugar, paprika, dark cocoa and 

blue "Jello" powder.

Think of the possibilities...

depending on the molds and colors

you use; you can coordinate seasons,

holidays, sports, special events, etc.

side notes:

if you notice bubbles in your melted

glycerin soap-and they bother you-

you can put a little rubbing alcohol

in a spray bottle and lightly spray the

surface of the soap, the bubbles will

dissipate. 

Also, if you have older kids, this could be

a great fundraiser project. I've given

you the basic instructions, but you 

could get a little more involved by

purchasing soap fragrance and color

gels (a little goes a LONG way!) It can become 

rather addictive, be warned!

Have you ever made

your own soap?

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post.

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?

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post.

Easy Crockpot Mushrooms with Ranch & Parmesan - 4 ingredients

A simple mushroom recipe!

I am a carnivore!

yep, I'm a red meat eater and 

if that red meat is in the form

of a steak, all the better...

and if that steak is topped with

savory mushrooms...well, that's the best!

Only 4 Ingredients

Simply combine the four 

ingredients in a crockpot for 

four hours then serve!

You can slice the mushrooms 

or leave them whole.

I used mushrooms I had 

processed and froze from

this past year and they were

actually still a bit frozen when 

I put them in the crockpot. 

So fresh or frozen, though 

fresh is just a bit better! (:

Here's the handy dandy recipe.

Crockpot Mushrooms

(printable recipe) 

1 pound mushrooms

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1 ounce (6 tsp.) ranch dressing mix (powder)

2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese, grated

Cook 4 hours on high in Crockpot or until tender.

*note: if you're not using them immediately,

refrigerate in all their juices to reheat later.

Maria Matter 

http://asimplefive.blogspot.com/

Delicious!

Like easy recipes?

Check out my 

"Easy Recipes"

board on Pinterest.

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post.

Giant Soft Sugar Cookies - Printable Recipe

Giant Soft Sugar Cookies...are there four sweeter words?!

Excluding chocolate chip cookies, these are my favorites!

We have a local grocery store that sells giant sugar cookies, 

six to a plastic box. When the kids were little, it would be a 

treat to buy a box so we each would get one giant cookie.

Then we found this recipe...and OH are they good...and soft! 

As you can see from the title, the cookies are to be made

giant, larger than your average cookie, but I promise the

cookie police will not show up at your door if you choose

to make them regular size. (:

They just seem a bit more special when you can fill up 

a plate with four cookies. 

Here's the handy dandy recipe!

Giant Soft Sugar Cookies

(printable recipe)

makes 24 cookies

1½ cups  sugar

 ¾  cups butter, melted

 2  eggs

 1  cup buttermilk*

 1  tsp vanilla

 3  cups flour

 dash of salt

 1  tsp baking soda

  coarse sugar for topping

Cream together sugar, butter & eggs

Add buttermilk, mix well.

Add vanilla, mix

Combine flour, salt & soda.

Add dry ingredients to bowl, mix well on LOW speed.

Drop large spoonfuls of batter on parchment papered

cookie sheets. 

Sprinkle with coarse sugar on cookies before baking.

Bake @ 350°  for 10 minutes.

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

*substitute buttermilk 

with 1 cup milk + 1 Tablespoon vinegar, 

let set for a few minutes before adding to

the recipe.  works great!

Super easy to make, super easy to eat, and they share well!

What's your favorite 

cookie?

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post.

Cheesy Bacon Quiche - Printable Recipe

Quiche is one of my go-to meals!
And I have an easy one to share with you today.

      quiche: (keesh) 
              is an open-face pastry crust with a 
              filling of eggs and milk which, when
              baked, becomes a custard. It can be 
              made with vegetables, meat and seafood.

This definition tells me that as long as I have
milk and eggs, I can pretty much dump any
thing else I have in a pie crust and have 
dinner on the table in about 30 minutes!

That's a winner in my book.

And the fact that you can "customize"
your quiche for your family puts this
meal over the top!



Today's recipe is a very basic one, you could 
switch out the bacon for any meat or seafood
and use any cheese that compliments the 
protein you chose.
OR
Use whatever you have on hand; leftovers
work great!

My hubby likes to make a big breakfast for the family

over the weekend; bacon, eggs, pancakes and french

toast. Its a regular breakfast bar. 

So this past weekend, I asked him to make some extra

bacon so I could make quiche this week.

Well, you would have thought I spoke in a foreign 

language, both my son & hubby cocked their 

heads and in unison said, "There is no such

thing as "extra" bacon!"

Ooookay!

So I just bagged some up before bringing it 

to the breakfast table and no one even noticed.

This quiche starts simply by putting your pie

crust in the pie plate. Homemade crust or

store bought, both work fine.

Feel free to make a pretty crimped edge,

I just throw my store bought crust in this

time and didn't worry about the pretty part.

Then toss gently place your bacon and 

shredded cheese in the crust.

Beat your eggs, milk, salt and pepper together

and pour it into the crust.

Pop it in the oven and in about 30 minutes you'll

be enjoying a yummy meal with your family.

It's that easy!

Here's the handy dandy printable recipe.
I hope you'll give it a try.

Blessings!

Cheesy Bacon Quiche
(printable recipe)

Pastry for 9 inch pie

5-6 stripes of bacon, cooked and crumbled/chopped

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

4 large eggs, beaten

1½ cup  milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven, 375 degrees

2. Fit pie crust into pie plate, fold ends under and crimp.

3. Spread shredded cheese and bacon evenly in pie crust.

4. Beat salt, pepper, eggs and milk until well blended,

5. Pour over cheese and bacon in pie plate.

Bake 30-40 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

yield: 6 servings

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

If you like this recipe,
be sure to check out my
Sausage Cheddar Quiche
it's a bit more spicy!

What's your go-to meal?

scroll down to see where I'll be sharing today's post.