Day of the Turnips

What to do with a box of turnips...

I picked all of my turnips last weekend. There were so many slugs weaved in and out of my precious crop, what's a girl to do!? I threw my turnips in a bucket and the slugs in water. Cruel, yes. Necessary, yes. Will I lose sleep tonight over the nasty slugs, nope!

I scoured Pinterest for ideas for turnips and ultimately decided to blanch and freeze. We used a few of them over the last week for dinner (recipe here), but couldn't use them all soon enough; they were starting to get soft.

My adventure started this afternoon as I peeled and cut all of the turnips. I started the boiling water and by the time I got all of the turnips in the water had probably been boiling for oh... an hour?! Opps, got distracted I guess, too many shiny things in my house, and the baby!  Threw the turnips in and as expected water stops boiling. Wait and wait and wait. No boiling. Check the burner, it's on. Start zucchini chip adventure. Crap! Turnips are still boiling. Throw into cold water and they are all beyond blanched, they are cooked. Oh well. Mark em, bag em up, and freeze up! Done and done!

 

Time for Potatoes!

I finally worked up the courage to dig up a potato. Then four. Then ten. Then I decided to just dig up one row! It worked out better this way. I planted the potatoes too close together to begin with, so each time I dug up one plants worth of potatoes I ended up with the next plant and so on.  I finished the row with a full bucket (beach bucket size), super excited!





Garden Fresh!

We won't have time to eat them right away so I do what I always do, blanch and freeze! I don't have all of the equipment needed or canning yet, but that's okay with the potatoes.  We eat a lot of mashed potatoes in the winter so this will be perfect. I didn't make much from this first row: 2 bags, 1/2 full (1/2 gallon).

Directions:

1) Bring large pot of water to a rapid boil.



 

2) Cut potatoes in desired size.

3) Add potatoes to boiling water. Wait for water to start boiling again; boil for about 3-4 minutes.

4) Drain potatoes.

5) Immediately put potatoes in ice water, let soak for 2-3 minutes.

6) Lay potatoes on paper or cloth towel. Pat dry.

7) Bag em and tag em! Always write the date on frozen produce, never know how long something can get stuck in the freezer!



Done!

My idea for next time would be to add fresh herbs to the bag just before freezing. Less to worry about when I go to use them in a few months!





Freezing Sweet Peppers

I've been buying lots of fresh veggies and fruit from the co-op and grocery stores. Sometimes, after a long week (and weekend) I don't end up using what I buy.  Now, I don't mind throwing scraps into the compost pile but I really don't like putting in some larger quantities that I have over the last year. Half carton of mushrooms, half bag of potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, apples, berries, etc.  It's usually not a lot of a whole vegetables or fruit at a time. But if I add up the waste and monetary amount in my head it adds up to quite a bit of both! 

I have frozen three things so far... potatoes, mushrooms, and tonight, sweet peppers.  Last year I froze strawberries but that was simple, strawberries + baggie = frozen strawberries!

Tonight I prepared and froze sweet peppers which had been in the fridge for a week + and were on the verge of getting 'shrively'.  We'll be gone over the weekend and I won't be cooking the rest of the week so into the freezer they went!

Freezing Sweet Peppers :
(Blanching Method)

Step 1: Cut peppers in strips. Cut as close to the stems as possible. Set seeds aside.

Step 2: In small pot add enough water to cover peppers.  When water has reached boiling add peppers and boil 2-3 minutes. (While peppers are boiling set aside a bowl with ice.)

Step 3: Strain peppers and immediately add to bowl with ice.

Step 4: Mix peppers with ice, tossing until peppers have cooled. 

 Step 5: Once cooled and drained, seal peppers in freezer bag. Get as much air out of the bag as possible to lessen the chances of freezer burn.

Step 6: Freeze! 12-18 months in a deep freezer of 6-9 months in a standard freezer. 

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Extra:

Step 7: Remove seeds from pepper pulp. Let seeds 'air out' on paper plate.  Seeds should be ready after a week to store for planting. 

(I used an egg crate tonight as the last time I tried this Jeremy spilled my seeds twice...)

Step 8: Compost 'pepper waste'. Should just be the stems and pulp!

(I didn't cut as close as I should have with my stems, will use a smaller knife next time!)