Sundays. . .

Last week I worked on many of my new goals.  First, to get more organized and plan and cook ahead on Sundays to prepare for the week.  That has been going pretty well so far.  Last week I made a quadruple recipe of chili which was plenty to eat on the nights that I had class after work, and to freeze a whole bunch.  Here is what is waiting for me in the freezer for the next time that I do not have time to cook on Sunday. 

I also made some oatmeal to bring to work in the morning and eat for breakfast.

Then I tried a new whole grain this week (or tried to anyway).  I bought some whole red wheat berries at the store.  I was going to try to grind them up and add them to my whole wheat flour to bake bread (more on the bread later this week.)

  

I thought that if I put them in the food processor that should be able to grind them up no problem. 

Here they are after processing. . .

Hmmm, I guess that I really do need to get a grain mill.  Any suggestions on good ones?

- Laura

Berries

My mom and I found a great sale on berries yesterday (blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries)! 

By the way, the freezing trick also works great for raspberries.

- Laura

Blueberry Picking

My sister found a blueberry farm about an hour away from us.  She invited me to come with her and my niece to pick some blueberries.

It was a lot of fun!  Or at least it would have been if the heat index was not 105!

We arrived at the farm and there was a small building where you picked up a bucket and caught a hay ride type trailer out to the berry farms.  The buckets were lined with plastic bags so that you could just take the bag out of the bucket and take it right home when you are done.  Pretty clever!

Mary picked out a bucket. 

Posed for a quick picture.

And headed for the hay ride. 

I was not even sure what kind of plant blueberries grew on.  Turns out it is a tall bush.  I was surprised how many berries grew on each bush!

We spent a few hours picking berries.

Mary helped for a while.

But then was caught red handed eating berries out of the bucket!

After we picked the berries we returned to the same building to have our berries weighted, pay for them, and return our buckets.

I think we all felt like Mary by the end of the day.  Hot, sweaty, and tired! (Notice how wet her hair looks, that is all sweat.)  But we got about 5 lbs of berries which is enough for us to freeze some to eat later.  Blueberries are super expensive during the winter! 

We felt a lot better after we cleaned up in the bathroom.  Then we got ready to head home.

I guess that we wore her out!

 - Laura

Cilantro and Pizza in the freezer

What always amuses me is that cilantro is a cold-hardy herb. I planted mine in April and it was the first thing that was edible from my garden. When I think of cilantro I think of salsas and Asian stir fries. I don't think of potato soup and mac and cheese. And I have never had good dried cilantro. Fortunately it is inexpensive to buy fresh, but then I never use enough before it goes bad.

However, you can freeze it! Very simple to do. I just took a large handful out of my garden. Here's the crazy overgrowth.


(No, I do not weed regularly)

Then you just chop it up and add some olive oil and stuff it into ice cube trays. I prefer silicone trays for stuff like this so it is easier to pop out.


I am really all about the Ziplock freezer storage bag with that vacuum pump to seal things. I would love a non-plastic version of this, but my justification is that I wash and reuse the plastic bags. I only wash by hand in lukewarm water with soap so that the heat does not cause any kind of leaching. Yes, I am paranoid.


Then, when you need a tablespoon or so of fresh cilantro, just take it out of the freezer! They thaw extremely fast. In fact, be sure to work quickly when popping them out of the ice cube trays and into the storage bag, because they will start to melt a bit.

Another thing I almost always have on hand is bread dough of some kind. I made 4 quarts of pizza dough last week and never used it. Into the freezer with that one as well!

I divided the dough into four uneven pieces. I intentionally left them uneven so I could choose a smaller or larger piece of dough to work with. Then I balled them up in plastic wrap (also looking for an alternative to this!) and smashed them into a 9x9 inch pan. I stuck them in the freezer for a day or so and then pulled them out. Now I have nice pizza dough bricks. They can thaw in the fridge overnight. So, if pizza is in the plans for the weekend, I can pull one out of the freezer and into the fridge on Thursday evening.