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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Earthgrown Market

     Finally I made it to Earthgrown Markets grand opening sale.  Okay, it was the very last day of the sale, but I guess this could come under that saying, "better late than never".  I'd like to say that I found a ton of wonderful deals, but I didn't.  In fact, I spent most of my time chasing a 2 yr. old around the bulk bins.   
    
     I'm very excited by the one deal I did find today.  The organic Roma tomatoes.  They were on sale 2 pounds for a dollar.  As I approached the produce bin where they were, I was imagining all kinds of wonderful things I could make with those Romas.  All that imagining got a bit out of control, and I realized there just were not enough tomatoes in the bin for all that imagining.  So I did something about all that imagining.  I asked the produce girl if they had cases of those Romas in the back and how much did they weigh.  She came back and told me they weighed 22 pounds each, so that would be eleven dollars a case.  Without even thinking I told her I'd take two. 

      Again, this is one of those things about me that is a bit embarrassing.  I can't help it, but really, it was quite exciting to be walking out with that many tomatoes.  I excitedly called my daughter, and she in turn got excited and was already planning a day to come down so we could do some canning.  In fact, she already knew that she wanted them diced.  That is great since diced can be used in so many dinner recipes.  I was imagining a bit of everthing.  There is sauce, ketchup, diced, whole, salsa, soup and just spiced up tomatoes.   
  
     I got home with my wonderful Romas and we opened the box.  They all looked wonderful and immediately had to try one with our lunch.  It was perfect, almost like I'd just picked it.  Which means we don't want to wait too long to can these so to ensure we have the best tasting canned tomatoes possible.  As I hurriedly checked online for a great recipe for canning my tomatoes, I realized there was one thing I wasn't very smart about.  It takes a lot of tomatoes to make a few jars.  Of course it varies depending on how much water is in the tomato and the size so there is no exact science to this.  What I did find out is that I'd get about 14 pint jars worth from 44 pounds of whole tomatoes.  That just didn't seem like enough, so after digging all my canning jars out of the garage, and doing a little bit of math, I realized, I had enough jars to buy two more cases of tomatoes.
       So, four cases of tomatoes should get us around 30 pints canned.  And here's a cheesy grin to show off those four cases.

                                                                

       If I were to buy organic tomatoes in a jar it would be way past what I would want to pay.  Usually the closest I can come to easy prep from a can is Muir Glen, and only their sauce comes in a jar.  I prefer to cut down on anything in a can because of the BPA's that are released into our food. 
  
       Well, you know what I'll be doing tomorrow.  A bit of work, easy enough, and it will be well worth it.
   
     As for Earthgrown Market, they will be having a Midnight Madness Sale on Friday, June 17 from 9 pm to midnight.  They will be closed from 8pm to 9pm to get ready for this sale.  Not sure if I can make that, and if anyone does come and let us know how it was.
     Here's a link for Boney's website in case you don't have an ad. 
 http://www.boneysmarketplace.com/events.aspx

   Oh, I'll be back to let you know how the tomato canning went, and how many pints we actually do get from 44 pounds of tomatoes.
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Freezing Foods-What Do You Freeze?

       I came across this article that could come in handy.  As you know, sometimes you find good deals and don't have space.  I just recently bought a bigger freezer, as there really was no choice.  It's really embarrassing how excited I can get over a freezer.  My daughter and her husband gave me a great response, just stood there saying, "Wow".
    I do need to learn to do better to can/preserve foods, but until then I like to use my freezer.  I have a lot of jars and usually do jams every year, and maybe tomatoes.  Most of my jars are used for storage and doing experiments in my kitchen.  Making buttermilk worked, making sourdough didn't.  Well, the sourdough might have worked, I just didn't know when it was working so I let it sit for a few more days until I was sure it really didn't work.  Now that was a pleasant aroma.
    I freeze a lot of things.  Jazzed up rice, bananas, strawberries and other fruits to use for smoothies and syrups, cooked ground beef, sausages, cooked poultry, homemade casseroles, lasagna, soups, beans all varieties, broths, spaghetti sauce, chopped onions, herbs, butter, stuff from the garden, or anything I get a good deal on. Let's just say, I have frozen things that I never knew could be frozen.  Cookie dough without the egg was one of my favorites.  Used for ice cream toppings it was just horrible to have around, no one could stay out of it.  (Reminder to myself, find that recipe) 
    Anything that can make life easier is what I freeze.  I very rarely plan a freezer cooking day but it might work for you.  I like to make double of whatever I'm cooking and eat one and freeze one.  If I'm chopping an onion, I'll chop a few.  Instead of opening a can, we look in the freezer.  It took a while for me to get into this freezer thing.  It wasn't like I woke up one day and knew what to freeze.  I started out with little things.  Tasty things.  Like ice cream.  Picking what are the most important things to freeze is an individual preference, but I would think, taco meat, beans, burritos or a casserole.
    I know that only having the freezer that's included with your refrigerator is not the best, but for years that's all I had.  I really don't know how I managed with four kids thinking back on it.  I believe batch cooking and freezing is the end result of having so many kids and little freezer space.  I always made a ton of food, and there were very few leftovers.  As the family grew smaller, it was hard to learn how to cook less.  So I'd have tons of leftovers, and would try to eat them, and eat them, and eat them.  Duh, why didn't I freeze them for another day?
    Planning out your meals a week, or a month ahead can really help with this, and just make life easier.  Okay, so I honestly can't even tell you what I'm having tomorrow.  By planning our meals we can use the stuff that's been sitting on our pantry or in our freezer before it gets too old.  Plus, we will know how to plan our grocery shopping trips.  Or in my case, a trip to the farmers market tomorrow is needed. 
       I wish I could say I freeze in only healthy containers, but I haven't mastered that skill of not shattering glass.  I use freezer bags for most things.  I also reuse containers from the store.  I do wait for any liquids to cool so the plastics do not release any harmful chemicals into my foods.  I freeze on a tray, even liquids, then after they are all frozen I can stack them nicely.  One trick I'd like to try is to stick the bag into an empty cereal box, pour your food in and freeze it.  Pull it out and your items will be frozen blocks that save a lot of space. Do not forget to label your items.   There's nothing I hate more than to open the same container fifty times to see the same spaghetti sauce, when all I wanted is broth.     
     One last thing, by cooking our meals at home it not only is cheaper, it is healthier.  Making it easier to cook at home we are more likely to eat there.  There are tons of freezer recipes and what foods freeze well on the internet.  At least think about it, toss the idea around.  I did for a long time before I actually picked something and even then I wasn't even sure what I was going to do with it.  Now I've gotten to the point where I feel the pantry is bare if I don't have some frozen meatballs to fall back on for a busy day.
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