Blanching & Freezing Vegetables

I like to eat veggies during the winter but found that my favorite vegetables are only available during the summer months.  So what should a summer veggie person do?  This is where a pot of water and the freezer come in handy.  I have blanched, packed and froze about five gallon bags worth of squash and zucchini this year.  The bags are accumulating in the freezer and will soon be eaten in stir-fry, in soup and from the grill.  Here are the steps I took when preparing, blanching and freezing the veggies.

Preparation:

• a big pot
• large spotted spoon
• colander
• cutting board
• knife
• water
• Ziploc freezer bags
• lots of veggies
•  black marker

Directions:

1. cut the veggies into thick slices
2. boil the water
3. place veggies into water for 30 seconds, stirring occasionally
4. using the spotted spoon place veggies into the colander
5. rinse veggies under cold water
6. place veggies in Ziploc freezer bags
7. write the date on the bags with a marker
8. lay the bags flat in the freezer

Sound simple?  It really is.  I had no idea how simple the blanching process is for vegetables.  The veggies I blanch do not need to be in the water for more than 30 seconds which makes the process even less time consuming.  I was told and have read that veggies which are cut too thin or blanched for too long will get mushy after thawing out.  I do not want this to happen so I am cutting the squash and zucchini into 1-2 inch slices and the bell peppers into quarters.

I have to admit that my first few blanching efforts were not too impressive.  Before doing any research I cut up thin slices of veggies and blanched them for 5 minutes.  Everything seemed to be fine until I was packing the veggies into the freezer bags.  I noticed the veggies were very soft.  I had to be extremely careful not to squeeze hard or else the veggies would fall apart.  Needless to say, the first two bags of frozen veggies will be used in soup.

On a positive note, I have created different vegetable mixtures that could be used for specific dishes.  For example, I have three quart sized bags labeled "Stir-fry Mix."  This mixture includes bell peppers, eggplant, squash and zucchini.  This mixture could be fried with meat, tofu or alone.  I prefer frying the veggies with oyster sauce, minced garlic and red pepper.  I then add cooked drained noodles and let the mixture fry for an additional 5 minutes.  This recipe makes for a good side dish during lunch or dinner.

Since the squash is rockin' this season I have many more bags of squash than any other vegetable.  In this case, I place different cuts of squash into separate freezer bags.  I am then able to use the long slices of squash for grilling or barbeques and the smaller round slices for ratatouille, soup, salads, or any other recipe calling for squash.

Chewy Nho - Mugshot

Victory Garden Alert!  Victory Garden Alert!  Bean robber caught!  The elusive bean robber is no longer hiding from the authorities.  At 12:15 PM authorities announced that the bean robber is Chewy Nho.   Chewy was caught on the surveillance cameras stealing a bean at 9:05 AM.  He was then apprehended by the authorities and charged with "theft of a bean."  Chewy was placed in the dog house for 18 minutes until he broke out with help from his associate Mooch.  Mooch, the catnip pimp, was though to be the bean robber by authorities on July 16th until a footprint found at the crime scene ruled him out.  The following images were taken by the newly installed surveillance cameras.

Chewy running from the authorities.