Zucchini Bread

I know there are a million recipes for zucchini bread out there, but this one is our favorite.  I’ve adapted it from one my family really loves, and I made it low fat, and lower sugar so that it’s perfect for a healthy breakfast.

This a great recipe to use up all those zucchinis from the garden, since it makes five loaves.  I make this recipe several times a week, wrap the loaves in foil, and pop them in the freezer. 

They make a perfect breakfast for a busy school morning.  Just pull it out of the freezer the night before so it has time to thaw.  Serve it with eggs, applesauce, or whatever else you want.

You could also cook them in muffin tins; just shorten your baking time.  If you freeze the muffins, you can just pull whatever you need out of the freezer the night before.

Ready for the recipe?

Zucchini Bread  *makes 5 loaves

Prep Time: 15 minutes  Oven: 350 degrees  Bake: 55 minutes

Dry Ingredients:

• 7 1/2 cups flour
• 5 teaspoons cinnamon

• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

• 4 cups sugar
• 5 cups peeled, pureed zucchini
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 5 eggs

Additional Ingredient:

• 1 bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 5 bread pans.  Combine dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and mix well.  Pour wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Divide the batter evenly between the bread pans.  Bake for 55 minutes or until done.  If the edges cook too quickly, cover the pan(s) with foil.

Let the loaves cool in the pans for about 10 minutes.  Remove from the pans.

Wrap the loaves in foil while they’re still warm.  This makes them easier to cut.

Yes, I realize there are just four loaves.  I didn’t have enough zucchini for five, so I just tweaked the recipe a tad.

When the foil wrapped loaves are completely cooled, put them in the freezer.

These will last several months, so don’t feel rushed to eat them all.  I currently have about 36 loaves in my deep freezer. 

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Homemade Salsa

Sounds yummy, right?

I love homemade salsa.  It’s home grown, too!  :)

I love the salsa, but did you know you can use it as a base for several different soups and chilies?  Well, now you do! 

Now I’ll show you how you can make your own.

Ready?

I have a confession before we start--The Hubsters ran off with the camera when The Queen and I were making the salsa.  I don’t have many pictures, but I will show you this one from the four-wheeler trip that The Hubsters and his dad took with Jingus and Crocky:

Sigh…I love rural Utah.  Too bad I was bottling salsa all day and missed the trip.  Oh well.  Next time!  :)

So, since I don’t have many pictures, I’ll share the recipe with you.

 

Homemade Salsa -Makes 7 Quarts

• 25 cups of peeled tomatoes (scald them like we did the peaches; it’s easier)
• 6 large (chopped) onions  (remember the sunglasses trick!  :)
• 6 large (chopped) green peppers  (I like to add a variety of peppers.  It just needs to be 6 cups)
• 1-2 cans of green chilies
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1 cup vinegar
• 3 tablespoons chili powder (I always use more…)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 3 tablespoons cumin (Ash’s favorite…)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder (or minced garlic--you decide)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup instant Clear Jell (or other thickening agent)

Chop tomatoes, onions and peppers.  Combine vegetables, vinegar and spices in a large pot.  Bring to a boil. 

Meanwhile, combine the sugar and the Clear Jell into a separate bowl.  Boil the Salsa for 8-10 minutes, then slowly add the sugar mixture.  Cook until the salsa reaches your desired thickness.  We usually cook it for about 45 minutes.

Make sure all of your canning jars are clean and sterilized.  You need new lids, and enough rings for your bottles.

Follow all of the canning directions from the peaches post. 

Process the salsa for 40 minutes--again; that’s the recommended time for high altitude.  You may need to adjust your processing time.

As always, before you put the salsa away, admire your handiwork!  :)

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Millions of Peaches…

…peaches for me!

Please tell me I’m not the only one who remembers that song.

 

Ashlee here really quick! You may remember my obsession with washi tape? Well, Pick Your Plum has rolls for $1.50!! Halloween colors and other fun fall prints!!! Woohoo! I just ordered 3!

It's Nat again...
My lovely mother-in-law, The Queen, picked up a million peaches from an orchard north of here.  We’ve spent several days together doing all sorts of home canning.  We still aren’t finished.  We still need to bottle pears, potatoes and more salsa.  It’s a lot of work, but it’s so worth it.

 

Today, we (The Queen and I) will show you how to bottle your own peaches.  Sadly, I am not allowed to show you a picture of her.  But, she’s lovely.  And I{heart}her!  You really should be jealous that your MIL isn’t as wonderful as mine.  Oh!  And?!  She has five boys, just like me!  :)

 

Moving right along…

 

Start of with clean, sanitized bottles, lots of new lids, and rings.  The rings don’t need to be new.  You can reuse them.  We have a few metal Miracle Whip lids that we’ve been using for almost a century!  :)  I kid.  It hasn’t been that long…

Make sure you check the tops of all the bottles to be sure they aren’t cracked or chipped.  If they are, toss ‘em.  They won’t seal.

You’ll also need a canner with rack (the canner holds seven quart jars), sugar, water, and peaches.  Millions of peaches.

The easiest way to peel all these peaches is to scald them first.  So, bring a big pot of water to a boil on the stove.

When it’s boiling reduce the heat so that the water is still really hot, then put in a few peaches for about a minute.

Fill up one side of the sink with cold water.

Take a picture of your cute baby.

WAIT!!!  THE PEACHES!!!  THEY’RE BOILING!!!

Carefully remove the peaches from the hot water with a big slotted spoon or tongs.  Put the peaches in the cold water in the sink.

You can keep scalding the peaches until you have enough to work with, or you can do it as you go.  Whatevs.

Cut the peaches in half.  Peel, pit, and slice the peaches and put them into the jars.

You can’t really see her knife.  Weird.  It’s there, trust me.  You can shake the bottle so that the peaches settle.  You can add more peaches that way.

Fill seven quart bottles with peaches.  Once the bottles are filled, bring 6 cups of water and 3 cups of sugar to a boil until the sugar is dissolved.  When the syrup is ready, fill the bottles with the hot syrup leaving a 1/2 inch space at the top of the jar.

Bring all the lids you’ll need to a boil.

While you’re waiting for the lids to boil, wipe off the tops of the bottles.  If you have anything stuck to the top, your lids might not seal, so make sure they’re clean.

Use a butter knife (or tongs) to get them out of the boiling water.

Place them on top of the bottles.

Add the rings, and make sure they’re on tight.

Oh goodness.  The Queen sure is strong!  :)

When your lids are on, and the rings are tight, place the bottles in the rack and lower it into the canner.

Fill the canner with enough water to cover the bottles.  Place the lid on the canner, put the canner on the stovetop and bring it to a boil.

You can process it on the stove, but we usually do it on the Camp Chef outside.  We tried that a few years ago and loved it.  We’ve never gone back!  :)

Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down.  Boil gently and steadily for 30 minutes.  Cooking times may vary depending on altitude.  Thirty minutes is the recommended time for 5,000 feet.

When the processing time is up, remove the canner from the heat and lift the rack out of the canner.  Use a jar lifter to take the bottles out of the hot water.

Let the bottles cool.

See?!  There’s that vintage Miracle Whip lid I was talking about!  Don’t worry.  There’s a new lid underneath it.

After the bottles have cooled, check the centers of the lids to make sure they’ve sealed.  If they haven’t sealed, the centers of the lids will not be depressed.  If they’re sealed, they won’t pop when you push down on the center.

If they’re not sealed, you have two options.  You can remove the lid, clean the top, put on a new (boiled) lid, replace the ring, and process again.

-or-

Put that bottle in the fridge and feed it to your kids as an after school snack.  Or just eat it yourself.  I won’t tell.

Once all of your bottles have sealed, you can move them and put them away.  But before you do that, stand back and admire your work!

Aren’t they pretty?!  :)

 

The Queen’s #1 tip for home canning is to use the buddy system.  It goes so much faster when you do it with a friend; even if you have to do twice as much so that you can split the goods.
Always.Can.With.A.Friend.

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How To: Blanch and Freeze Green Beans

Do you have a garden?

Do you have all that wonderful, delicious produce coming out your ears?

Are you having a hard time knowing what to do with all of it?

Me too.

Today, I’m going to show you how to blanch and freeze green beans.  Do you know what blanching is and why it’s important?  Blanching is when you plunge foods into boiling water for a few seconds or a few minutes, then remove and place in ice water. This process sets the color of vegetables.  The food doesn’t cook all the way through, so it’s crisp texture is preserved.  Blanching is necessary in the freezing process.  It helps the food keep it’s color and flavor so that when you cook it later, it isn’t soggy and disgusting.

Like crinkle cut carrot slices in the frozen food section.  {{{shudder}}}

First, head out to your garden and pick as many green beans as you can.

Rinse off the beans...

…then snip off the ends.

You don’t need this exact pot, but it sure is handy.  This is just a stock pot with a potato/pasta insert.

This is the easiest way to take the boiling beans out of the pan and plunge it into the ice water.  You could just as easily drain it off into a strainer then put the strainer into the ice water.

Moving right along--

Fill the pot with water then set it on the stove and bring it to a boil.  In the meantime, fill the pot insert with the beans.

Unless you’re not using an insert.  Then just wait for the water to boil.

There it goes.  Now slowly drop your insert (or just beans) into the boiling water.  Cover them, then set the timer for three minutes; unless you’re in a high altitude.  Then set the timer for four minutes.

Now, fill up your sink with lots of cold water and lots, and lots, and lots of ice.

Notice the green beans in the other side of the sink?!  Yeah.  I did a lot of batches.  Anyway, Ice water in the sink?  Beans boiling on the stove?  Timer set?

Awesome.

When the timer goes off, take the insert out of the pan.  Slowly.  You don’t want boiling water dumped all over you.

Set the insert into the sink, then set the timer for 3-4 more minutes.  It has to sit in the water for the same amount of time it cooked.

While you’re waiting for the beans to cool, get some freezer bags ready to fill.

Now you just repeat the process until you’ve blanched all of the beans.

Just look at all of those beautifully blanched beans!

Aren’t they lovely?

Fill your freezer bags, then pop those bad boys into the freezer until you’re ready to use them.

After these have frozen, my family thinks these are the tastiest when they’re boiled in salt water.  Just FYI…

You can use this blanching process for lots of different fruits and vegetables.

Oh yeah.  And?!  I’ll definitely be doing this again in the near future.  That wasn’t even half of the beans.  Oh joy.

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