My garden was a huge success this year! I learned a lot of tips and tricks that I need to write down and remember next April. Just the other day my parents and I decided to double the size of the garden for next year. This is very generous of them because it's in their back yard!
Along with spending time in my garden I have also spent about 4-5 days a week working in my kitchen. One of my favorite things to do is prep/process fresh local produce in order to eat it all winter long. It seems that every summer I buy a new appliance for my kitchen in order to aid in my processing. This year I bought a new Kitchen Aid blender (it's red. I love it) and a food dehydrator! And, just a few weeks ago I bought a "new for me" deep freeze that is now living in my garage. I'm slowly but surely filling it with local food goodness.
I've frozen:
Blueberries -- 128 cups
Raspberries -- 58.5 cups
blackberries --29 cups
peaches -----90 cups
cherries -----44 cups
shredded zucchini - 30 cups
shredded summer squash - 9.5 cups
chopped onions - 9
corn ------- 24 cups
shredded carrots - 13 cups
grilled s. squash & zucchini - 7.4 cups
Also froze:
9x13 eggplant parm
8x8 eggplant parm
9x13 pasta casserole
(made with at least 70% from my garden!)
I dehydrated:
onions
yellow beans
summer squash
zucchini
green peppers
red peppers
apples
I canned:
2 quarts marinara sauce
6 roasted red pepper
Blueberries -- 128 cups
Raspberries -- 58.5 cups
blackberries --29 cups
peaches -----90 cups
cherries -----44 cups
shredded zucchini - 30 cups
shredded summer squash - 9.5 cups
chopped onions - 9
corn ------- 24 cups
shredded carrots - 13 cups
grilled s. squash & zucchini - 7.4 cups
Also froze:
9x13 eggplant parm
8x8 eggplant parm
9x13 pasta casserole
(made with at least 70% from my garden!)
I dehydrated:
onions
yellow beans
summer squash
zucchini
green peppers
red peppers
apples
I canned:
2 quarts marinara sauce
6 roasted red pepper
6 comments:
I just added 22 cups of peaches and 16 cups of cherries!
Diane that is insane! I can't believe how much fresh fruit and veggies you have! I'm jealous. I was proud of the few blueberries I picked and the 2 bushels of peaches I froze. I made salsa for the first time too but only 2.5 qts. I'm looking forward to picking apples and making a bunch of applesauce. We've really enjoyed following the story of your garden this summer. You are an inspiration! Lindy
You inspire me, Diane.
I am glad you have so many summer days to spend in your garden and your kitchen!
Looks like you're going to need a bigger fridge! :-)
My goodness! I would LOVE to have that much fruit tucked away, we froze 3 big bags of blackberries and they are already gone...sigh (but the ice cream they went into was delicious:)
ps. this was my first year dehydrating zucchini...now what do I do with it?
For that matter, what do you do with the frozen shredded zucchini? I just make mine into bread but since I'm the only one who eats it, a little goes a long way. I would love to find some other uses for it; we had quite a crop this year and now have loads in the freezer (probably 25 cups).
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