Freezer Series: Ways to use up that freezer stash.

Thought I'd mix it up today, put the next few freezer principles on hold, and throw in a couple of good recipes to help you whittle down those freezer and pantry items you may be trying to clean out.  These are what I made for dinner last night and snacks today, all from stuff I had here that needed to be used up.

The first one is a  Gluten-free White Chicken Chili, from Living Without Magazine.  Click HERE for the recipe.

Items I was able to use up: 
1. pinto beans
2. a jar of tomatillo salsa I had in the cupboard
3. frozen red-peppers
4.frozen turkey stock that I made from our Thanksgiving turkey!

The only note I would make on this recipe is that I thought it needed about 2 c. of additional stock or water...not quite enough liquid.  I swapped pintos for white beans and red pepper for green, because that's what I had on hand.  I love that this chili has so many veggies in it.

And this recipe reminds me...next summer I need to freeze zucchini in chunks for soup, instead of just dehydrating it.  For quick soups like this one, frozen would work better.  I like dehydrated zucchini for long-cooking soups though, in the crock pot.

Overall final opinion on the recipe...two thumbs up...way up!  It was quick and simple to make.  We all loved it.  I ate mine with a dollop of guacamole, because everything is better with guacamole.  Sour cream would be lovely too if you eat dairy.

Next up: Blueberry Buckwheat Muffin recipe I found at www.bestofthislife.com.  (Click HERE for the recipe.)

Muffins are a great vehicle for moving berries, nuts and fruits (and even veggies sometimes!) out of the freezer and into your family!  Who can resist anything in a cute little muffin-y package?   However they can also be a vehicle for a bunch of sugar and insulin-spiking simple carbs...so be intentional about choosing recipes that move your nutritional goals in the direction you want them to go. ;)

The flour in this recipe is simply buckwheat and ground flax seeds. Next time I am going to diversify the flour a bit though--swap in some rice and tapioca flours for a little more lightness to the texture--recipes with just buckwheat as the only flour can be a bit "rough", or "gritty" feeling to me, sort of "scratchy" in my throat...it almost makes my throat a little sore...is that weird?  My family doesn't seem to notice any problems, but I always do.  Anyone else notice that "scratchy throat" effect with pure buckwheat?  Or teff flour?  I notice the same problem with teff.  The old timers and pioneers ate pure buckwheat pancakes, right?  But those people were just a whole lot tougher than me, that's all there is to it...anyway...I digress.   So, bottom line is, I am of the opinion that buckwheat flour is great!  but needs to be mixed with other, less gritty flours.  I'll let you know if I have good success with swapping some of the buckwheat flour in this out for other flours.  And you let me know if you do, ok?

I LOVE the fact that here is NO sugar, at all, in these muffins, so you can really taste the shredded apple and berries.  (The recipe calls for chocolate chips, but I left them out...I don't want the added sugar and I don't really like how the chocolate competes with the sweetness of the fruit--shine berries and apples!  shine!) 

These muffins are tender and moist and chock-full of fiber (beware of the high fiber...if you are not accustomed to a lot of fiber in your diet, don't go crazy and eat a whole bunch of these at once, or you'll be cursing my name!!).  They are not really very sweet, except for the natural sweetness of the berries and apples, but if you want them sweeter you can always drizzle and little bit of local honey on them when you go to eat them, and that just makes them even better!

I love how these stayed beautifully moist for the next morning--these don't even really need any butter or anything on them, but a drizzle of honey is lovely.  They were a hit with the family.  Overall verdict is:  these are a keeper, but with reservations about the "all buckwheat" thing...I will absolutely be making these on a regular basis, but I do think it needs a flour tweak.

Alterations I made:  Switched the almond milk for cashew milk, switched the coconut oil for olive oil.

*Note:  If you use a dark or nonstick pan be sure to always lower your oven temp 25 degrees.

The main thing is to just keep on keepin' on with the freezer and pantry clean out...my next targets:  dehydrated zucchini and kale (from my own tiny, not super-successful, "but-at-least-I-got-some-kale-out-of-it" garden last year) and the whole peppers I have frozen that need to be stuffed...then some millet and quinoa flour, and some frozen white fish...how about you?

I'll be back later this week to wrap up the last of my freezer series with 3 more bits of freezer wisdom I've learned through trial and error, so you don't have to!  ;)

Freezer Series, Principle #3 Vacuum Seal Whenever Possible.

We've covered Principle #1: Put stuff into the freezer READY to go... and Principle #2: Be Kind to Yourself.  On to today's freezer principle (drumroll please...)

Principle #3: Vacuum Seal if Possible

It's been 5 months now since I started putting tomatoes into the freezer, and I didn't mean to, but for some reason I vacuum sealed some tomatoes and ziplock freezer bagged some.  (Oh I remember why I did that...if I only had a few tomatoes I just ziplocked...but when I had a 15 lb box I got out the vacuum sealer.)  Here are the results of 5 months in the freezer with vacuum sealing, and without.

Can you guess which one was freezer bagged, and which one was vacuum sealed?

You are correct!  The one on the left is the freezer bagged one, and the right is the vacuum sealed one.  Enough said?  

The vacuum sealed ones were as gorgeous as they were last summer.  The freezer bagged ones were o.k, but lots of ice crystals in the bag, and some freezer burned and discolored spots on the tomatoes. 

Really, it's super simple and no hassle at all to pull out the vacuum sealer...so no more being lazy on my part, not wanting to run upstairs and get the vacuum sealer, where I store it when not in use...in fact I think to make it easier next August the vacuum sealer will earn a permanent place on the kitchen counter for a few weeks.

If you are going to be freezing a lot of things next summer, and you do not have a vacuum sealer...well, you've got about 8 months to try to get ahold of one.  I got mine at Costco several years ago.  It's a Food Saver brand and works great.  I love it.  But I notice they have them all over the place in various price ranges...usually between $100 and $200.  Keep an eye open for good sales and you may even get one on clearance somewhere this time of year.  Even if you have to pay $160 for one in August, if you start saving now that's only $20/month between now and then.  Have a daily latte habit?  Make coffee at home and you'll save a LOT more than $20/month...probably $20 per week!  All for the love of fresh garden goodies in January!  It's totally worth it.

If need be you might consider borrowing a vacuum sealer, or going in with a friend or family member and sharing the purchase of a new vacuum sealer, but personally it's not something I would buy used on craigslist.  You never know what people have been carelessly vacuum sealing...like they might have gotten raw meat juices in it and not thoroughly cleaned it...ew.  Not really a risk I'd take.

Now, to vacuum seal tomatoes you'll need to "flash freeze" them whole (Simple to do:  Just line up your clean tomatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet and stick the whole sheet into the freezer for about 24 hours), then when they are totally frozen, vacuum seal them and get them right back into the freezer.  The vacuum is very strong, so if you tried to vacuum seal them fresh you'd end up with a bag full of squashed tomato juice!  You can certainly vacuum seal liquid items for the freezer, like meats in marinades, and soups and stews, just be alert and shut your vacuum sealer off before it sucks all the liquid out of your bag!  And make sure the liquid does not go up into the top of the bag where you want a nice seal.

I personally ONLY vacuum seal foods that are going directly into the freezer, but I do not vacuum seal dehydrated foods, unless I am freezing them.  (Dehydrated foods are best kept in glass jars with simple screw on lids in my opinion.)  So when you vacuum seal any kind of food I'd recommend getting it right into the freezer for food safety reasons.  And be sure to thoroughly read the directions that come with your vacuum sealer. They are fun and easy to use, but make sure you observe good food handling, as always, for safety.  (That's the mom in me talking...I'm always concerned for your safety 1st! ;)

And finally, if you choose not to vacuum seal, but want to go the freezer bag route, that's fine too....just try to get as much air as possible out of those bags prior to freezing, and probably try to use up the food within a shorter period of time.  The vacuum seal bags I use are BPA free, and if you leave enough room at the top you can cut them open, take stuff out, and then re-seal them!  And personally, I recycle them when I'm all done with them.  I always try to recycle my ziplocks too, unless they've had raw meat in them, and then, they really just need to go into the garbage, sorry. :(

Three freezer principles down...three to go!  See ya tomorrow.

Freezer Series Principle #2: Please Be Kind...

Pressing onward friends...How is your freezer quest coming along?  This is about the time it starts to get a little old, because emptying a freezer takes time, and maybe a few meals that you don't necessarily love, and maybe some meals that are, how shall we say...a little unusual.

Well today let's chat about actual freezer cleaning.  But first...a few pictures, and a few principles I've been extracting from this process.

Freezer Principle #2:  Be Nice to Yourself.

So, here's the thing.  I have three freezers.  One in the house fridge, one in a little fridge I have in the garage, and one small chest freezer.  The general plan is that I keep stuff I use all the time in the house freezer (berries, nuts, frozen packages of veggies, and all those little containers of leftovers I'm going to use up "someday".  The garage fridge freezer is for prepared freezer meals I can stack, and meat stocks and broths.  The deep freeze is for bulk stuff, like bulk beef and meat purchases, and bulk preserved items, like all those tomatoes and peppers I froze in the fall.

Now the easiest part of all this usually gets done first:  eating up freezer meals that were ready to go, and using up some bulk items (tomatoes, turkey breast, etc.) and now it's getting down to some things where I have to decide "is this worth keeping and using up" and if I decide it is, I need to make a plan and actually use it, today or tomorrow...and if not, I need to bite the bullet and throw it away.

That's where it's easy to fall into the thought pattern of "Oh, I'll just hang onto it, and someday I'll do something with it".  These are things like huge Costco-size bags of stuff that you were sure would end up saving you a ton of money, but you never made a plan to use them, and now they are a. expired, b.freezer burned, or c. a burden--you don't want to mess with them anymore. 

Prime example:  today I had to throw out a 3 lb bag of almonds, unopened.  I bought them at Costco a LONG time ago and planned to soak and dehydrate them for snacking, but shortly after that I found out that almonds were the things that were causing my throat to swell up so tight that I felt like I was breathing through a coffee stir straw!  I should have given them away, but instead I thought, "oh well I will still soak and dehydrate them for my family...", but did I?  No.  After a while they got lost, buried and forgotten about, until they became expired and too old to be of any use.  And there are lots of old packages of beef bones that come with our 1/4 beef purchases.  Oh yeah, I always think I'm going to get right on making those into beef stock...but do I?  Mmmm, not usually.  And now they are too old, so gotta toss 'em.  That's a gem I hate to waste, but often do.

So.  There are lots of things like that.  You know what?  That happens.  Don't mess around saying "oh I wish I had...", or "maybe later I will...".  Just toss them.  Yes, it's like throwing $ into the garbage, and yes, it's wasteful, but it's over and done with; don't be burdened by those things any longer.  Toss 'em.  Forgive yourself.  It's o.k., I promise.  That happens to everyone. Give yourself the same grace you give others.  Be kind to yourself, ok?  If it makes you feel any better I'll show you my pile of stuff that got tossed today. 

 

You can't see the almonds because they are buried, but you can see the leftover Halloween candy...who needs that?!?!  Why in the world would I have even kept it?  Or even bought it in the first place?  Next year any kids that come to my house are getting pencils or crayons.  And the ice cream?....ay yi yi!  That was from New Years Eve.  It definitely does not need to hang around here any longer.  The Udi's buns?  Well those are just a loss friends.  I'm not sure why we even have those...if we eat GF buns we always buy from a somewhat "local" bakery (in our home state); we must've bought these Udi's buns ages ago.  Lots of bits and pieces...leftover tomato paste, a bit of freezer burned peas in the bottom of the bag.  Yeah...a few errors in judgement reflected here.  But I'm not beating myself up...just movin' on folks.  

 

Good-bye garbage.  Hello clean freezer.



The top shelf items are bits and pieces that are still good, and they are going into a chicken fiesta soup tomorrow.  The third shelf is berries and nuts that are going to be made into baked berries (a recipe that looks scrumptious from book I have called "From Scratch" by Shaye Elliot...it involves just berries, honey, and nuts).

So after this weekend, we should have one freezer that is nearly empty, and ready to re-load with READY TO GO items (please see my previous post for Principle #1).

This freezer is frost free, so I just wipe it down when it gets dirty, no need to defrost.  However my chest freezer needs de-frosting and cleaning about once or twice a year, so I will link for you some great directions I found on Martha Stewart's website:  HERE ya go.  You can clean your freezer with baking soda dissolved in hot water (2 T. baking soda to 1 qt warm water), rinse with clean water, dry and you're good to go.

Meet you back here later for more than you ever wanted to know about your freezer and mine!

Freezer Series: Principle #1

Okey Dokey.  As I've been emptying the freezer of all last summer's market bounty (along with store bought frozen items and meat...) I've learned some things that will be helpful for next season.  Here we go:

Rule #1  Put things into the freezer READY TO PULL OUT AND USE. 

This is my defining, overall take-away from this round of freezer emptying.  Henceforth, nothing will enter my freezer unless it is prepared, and ready to just take out and cook. 

For instance:  An enchilasagna, all prepared and waiting:  HELPFUL!  Big hunks of frozen meat that come out needing preparation:  NOT HELPFUL. 

Here's an example for you...last night I had an enchilasagna (enchiladas, but layered up into a casserole, like lasagna) that I had pulled out of the freezer to defrost in the fridge all night.  All I had to do was pop that pan in the oven to bake, and warm up some frozen veggies--boo yah!  Done baby.  Dishes?  Zip.  Except the plates we ate off of, and the casserole dish.  So guess what I did with all that extra time?  Made these stylin' fleece PJ pants! 

These pants could be a whole other topic, but suffice it to say I got this fleece at Jo Ann's on clearance for $3. a yard, and they are totally warm and cozy!  I love them.  When I posted them on facebook I asked the question:  "what do you think those little creatures are?  Some sort of mutant bird/squid?"  I still can't figure that one out...

 

 

Now let's contrast last night's dinner experience with my freezer experience today:  I'm making Tomatillo Chicken in the crock pot.  I froze fresh local tomatillos in the fall, along with poblanos and jalapenos--so that's good, I had them all here, ready to use...however they did release a lot of moisture in thawing, and I still had to prepare them under the broiler and in the food processor...so really, this did not help me out that much. 

 

How to fix this problem:  instead of bagging the tomatillos and peppers up separately next year I will just go ahead and broil and process them right when I bring them home from the farmer's market.  Then bag them as a sauce, ready to use, and freeze.  Then in the winter all I will have to do is open the bag and dump it in on top of the chicken when I'm ready to use it.  Easy peasy.

 

Here's another example:  Tomatoes.  Ok, I've enjoyed having them frozen, whole.  But it would be MUCH easier if I would just make them into soup immediately when I bring them home, then freeze, and add in the "milk" (coconut or dairy, whatever you like to use...) when I go to heat it up.  My friend S.T. makes soup "concentrates" in the summer:  she does not add in all the necessary liquid, but freezes a concentrated version, then adds the water when she goes to use it.  BRILLIANT!  No need to take up all that extra space in the freezer.

 

So the essence of today's principle is this: put it in ready to go.  No more sticking stuff in there to "make" later...front-load that work and just prep it before it goes in.  No more putting chicken breasts in the freezer in their original package.  At the very least I can get them into a quick marinade before they go into the freezer, so I can just bake or grill when they come out.

 

OK, more principles coming up this week...but no time to write it all today.  I'll be back tomorrow...

Solving Breakfast: Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins

This is going to be a short one today.  I have lots to blog about, but little time, so some things will have to wait 'til later this week, but let's just get to the most important thing first, shall we?

Buckwheat Pumpkin Muffins

These muffins are by far the BEST gluten-free pumpkin muffins I've made.  And I love that they are made with buckwheat, and generally speaking, when you bake with buckwheat you don't really need xanthan gum, which is pretty much required for all other types of GF baking in order for things to "hold together".    They are spicy, and almost gingerbread-y, in my opinion.   The recipe calls for sucanat or honey as the sweetener...I used a combo of sucanat and coconut sugar (dehydrated coconut nectar, available at health food stores).  Instead of water I used apple juice.  Heavenly--ahhh, ahhh!  (Angels singing)

Go get the recipe:  http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2013/09/26/fall-recipe-connection-best-gluten-free-pumpkin-muffins-dairy-free-egg-free-corn-free-soy-free-nut-free/

I made a double batch of these today.  I'm going to save some for tomorrow, and freeze the rest for quick breakfasts next week.  I say, slather these babies up with some nut butter, add a banana, and "milk" of choice, and it works, know what I mean?

Tomorrow I'm going to be making some "egg cups"--go HERE to see my previous post about how to make those little gems.  I'm going to use some organic hash brown shreds from the freezer, some of the zucchini I dehydrated last summer, and some Roma tomatoes I froze.

I'm working every day this week on getting the freezer and pantry cleaned out and used up.  Stuff from the summer market has been in there long enough--time to use it up.  And the pantry...I'm just using up bits and pieces of staple items so I can rotate up and get fresh and organized. 

So today I used the last of my sucanat and coconut sugar in the muffins, and my 2nd-to-last can of pumpkin.  I made a loaf of GF bread for the family from a mix in the pantry, and we're having sandwiches on it tonight with the turkey breast I thawed and roasted Friday, and homemade cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving that I froze--it thawed beautifully by the way!  (Next year I'm making it up early and freezing it!  One less thing to do at Thanksgiving time when I'm busy.)  AND...we're having tomato soup to go with the sandwiches:  that uses up some of my frozen tomatoes and the bone stock I made from the turkey carcass!  Woo hoo, my freezer is looking more and more bare!  I'll post some pics in a few days. 

Meanwhile...how is your freezer and/or pantry challenge coming along?  What crazy things are you using up, and serving up, this week?