Re: Freezing Veggies was: Re: spinach and/or olive oil

[Guest guest]

Wow! Thanks for all the freezing tips.

Ann,

Living in Italy

Undiagnosed Crohn's since 1977 Diagnosed 15 years

Sacroiliitis 25 years

Rheumatoid arthritis 25 years

Pyoderma Gangronosum 2 years

SCD since July, 2008

Meds: Tapering Prednisone for PG

Freezing Veggies was: Re: spinach and/or olive oil

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[Guest guest]

Hi Marilyn,It was very helpful explanation in many ways !!! Thank you!!!But what about pumpkin and squashes? How to freeze them, because in the summer I miss this "family a lot.YanaUC, 1 1/2 year, SCD 6+ months Freezing Veggies was: Re: spinach and/or olive oil Marilyn would probably know the best way to do this kind of thing! Maybe she'll answer- If not I'll try and get her attention. Very good questions to ask!! Totally beneficial for me to. Marilyn was the one who told me to get a meat grinder and take my patties out a night before from the freezer- and it is really changing how I feel. Most books on freezing call for blanching -- the idea is to preserve the color and etc. of the fruit or vegetable. I never have, possibly because of vivid memories of helping my mom blanch vegetables by the bushel when I was younger. Besides, it takes a LOT of time and energy, and I'd rather use that time and energy for other things.. If you

find you can't stand the way some test bags look without the blanching, find a good cook book and learn how to blanch! For fruits like blueberries, strawberries (or other berries), I simply pour them out on a cookie tray with a lip (so they don't go rolling all over creation) and stick them in the freezer. We get some MONSTER strawberries around here, so sometimes, I cut them up into smaller pieces after hulling them and cleaning them. No stems or other debris allowed. When frozen solid (ie, like marbles, I pour them into already labeled quart bags (in fact, I typically freeze one quart per tray to save measuring when frozen and hence having my fingers go numb and want to fall off) and stack the bags in the freezer. For peaches, I dip in boiling water and remove the skin, then quarter or eighth them, removing the pit. Lay out on tray and freeze. Then bag. For apples, I'm more likely to dry them than freeze them, but I do dip

those, after peeling, coring, and slicing, in a lemon juice solution to reduce browning. For cherries, I pit, then freeze them. Lets see.... Carrots: peel, slice into coins or whatever shapes you want, freeze on tray, pour into labeled bag. Broccoli & cauliflower: break into bite size florets. Freeze. Stems may be cut into bite-size chunks and frozen separately for stews. My stems end up in the dog food. Green beans: string, cut, freeze. (Trust me: you do NOT want to try to string pre-frozen defrosted green beans....) Spinach: remove thick stems and any weedy looking stuff. Chop. Scrunch together in a brick. Freeze. (The reason I scrunch it into a brick is because the frozen leaves, left loose, have a tendency to powder when frozen, and you lose half the vegetable when you try to cook it. Celeriac: peel yucky brown exterior. Cut in slices. Boil. Cut slices into chunks or mash with a hand

blender. (When making mock mashed potatoes, I often add butter, salt and DCCC to the celeriac as I'm whizzing it up, then pour the resultant mix into portion or meal-size containers and freeze. Then it's already prepared, and it's one less thing to cook when making a meal. Onions -- peel, chop, freeze. Freeze in cup-size containers. Or whatever size you find convenient, so you can pull a block for a recipe, toss it in the pan, cook, and go. Garlic -- peel lots of cloves and place in a jar or bag in the freezer -- then you can pop out fingers of garlic as needed. Celery -- string, chop, spread out and freeze, often in cup size measures (which is how I use it) so you just pull a block out of the freezer, toss it in the pan, and cook. Green peppers -- stem, de-seed, chop, freeze, bag. Mushrooms -- I've dehydrated them for use in soups or sauces, but have never frozen them. Hope this helps!

— Marilyn New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001 Darn Good SCD Cook No Human Children Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

[Guest guest]

At 11:16 AM 9/14/2008, you wrote:

But what about pumpkin and

squashes? How to freeze them, because in the summer I miss this

" family a lot.

I bake and peel the winter squashes or pumpkin, then cut them up into

chunks or mash them. If in chunks, I freeze on the cookie sheets (can you

tell my cookie sheets get a work out?), then bag. Again, if you typically

use the stuff in certain quantities for certain favorite recipes, bag the

chunks in those quantities (labeled) and then you don't have any

wastage.

With, say, butternut squash, I bake it, scrape it out of the skin, mash

it with butter and a little white pepper and salt, and then freeze it in

meal-size boxes. (With acorn squash, it could be butter, honey, and

cinnamon.) Then I can just take a vegetable out of the freezer and heat

it up -- better than Green Giant microwave bags!

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund

[Guest guest]

Thanks Marilyn!Once again you saved the day :)Yana Re: Freezing Veggies was: Re: spinach and/or olive oil

At 11:16 AM 9/14/2008, you wrote:

But what about pumpkin and

squashes? How to freeze them, because in the summer I miss this

"family a lot.

I bake and peel the winter squashes or pumpkin, then cut them up into

chunks or mash them. If in chunks, I freeze on the cookie sheets (can you

tell my cookie sheets get a work out?), then bag. Again, if you typically

use the stuff in certain quantities for certain favorite recipes, bag the

chunks in those quantities (labeled) and then you don't have any

wastage.

With, say, butternut squash, I bake it, scrape it out of the skin, mash

it with butter and a little white pepper and salt, and then freeze it in

meal-size boxes. (With acorn squash, it could be butter, honey, and

cinnamon.) Then I can just take a vegetable out of the freezer and heat

it up -- better than Green Giant microwave bags!

—

Marilyn

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund