Freeze Your Veggies

Tags

blanching, fitfood, food, freezing, fresh, healthy, nutrition, storing, vegan, vegetables

  What does this pot and bag of sliced beets have to do with freezing vegetables?  Well, surprisingly, I just learned a lot about the proper way to freeze my vegetables.  Now that I load up on deals at my local farmer’s market, I have found myself with more veggies than I can eat.

On a recent trip I was given some information on storing fruits and vegetables, how timely.  It said something about blanching before storing your vegetables in the freezer which was totally new concept for me.  I assumed I could just throw them in a freezer safe bag and they’d last me.

Blanching is the process of starting to cook something and then stopping it mid stream, basically by boiling for a short time and then shocking it in cold water.  Above is how I started that process with my beets.  As usual I forgot to take pictures but this is the same batch during the shocking process.

How to Blanch and Freeze Veggies

1. Boil about one gallon of water to one pound of peeled/sliced vegetables.
2. Place prepared vegetable in water. Boiling time (see below) starts from when the water returns to a boil after adding your vegetables.
3. Prepare some ice cold water in a large bowl.
4. Once vegetables are done boiling, drain, and dump them in ice water and cool for same amount of time as boiling.
5. Drain vegetables and pack in freezer safe bags.

That’s it!  Simple right?  I’ve frozen beets, potatoes, and squash so far.  There are some vegetables that you just can’t blanch, but I have successfully frozen some, non water based, vegetables without blanching.  Try it out and do what works best for you.  I like this method because there was no need for thawing.  I threw my sliced potatoes into a pan, seasoned them, and baked them in the oven and they were done in the same amount of time they would be if they were fresh!  Great way to have seasonal local vegetables out of season, and easy on your wallet too.

Blanching Times

• Asparagus                                                          3-4 min
• Beans (lima, snap, green)                               3-4 min
• Beets                                                                    30 min
• Broccoli                                                                 3 min
• Brussels Sprouts                                                 4 min
• Cabbage                                                              1 1/2 min
• Carrots                                                                  4 min
• Cauliflower                                                           3 min
• Corn                                                                       5 min
• Greens (collard, chard, kale, spinach)             2 min
• Mushrooms                                                          3-5 min
• Parsnips                                                                 2 min
• Peas (green, snow, sugar)                                 1 1/2 min
• Potatoes                                                                 5 min
• Summer squash and zucchini                            3 min
• Turnip and turnip greens                                     2 min

 

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Veggie Tacos to Taco Scramble

Tags

breakfast, dinner, eggs, fitfood, healthy, homemade, nutrition, repurpose, reuse, taco, vegetables, yum

One of my favorite ways to be repurposeful is with food.  I, as many of you I’m sure, hate to throw out food!  I am ashamed to say that I felt like I did it a lot.  It was more often than not leftovers of another meal that ended up in the garbage or occasionally composted (which I feel way better about).

I’m not a picky eater, but for some reason I have an aversion to eating left over meals.  Maybe it’s because of how I was eating at the time.  Or it could have been the foul way microwaves warp our food (and containers).  Still, hated it and felt like it tasted bad so I knew I had to do something to change my bad habit.

In my cooking journey, that I’m still very much on, I have learned a lot of different recipes and ways to prepare foods.  I feel bold enough to experiment and so I’ve successfully turned many dinners into tomorrow’s breakfast, lunch or dinner.  I want to share one of my easiest transitions, veggie taco dinner into taco scramble.  That’s twice the recipe!

Taco night is a pretty easy go to meal in our house and we’ve recently switched from veggie wraps to romaine lettuce.  I’ve listed the fillings I used, however feel free to substitute for any veggie you choose.  Just remember cooking times vary and you may have to steam or roast some veggies before sautéing with the seasoning (i.e., potatoes, carrots).

Veggie Tacos (serves 2)

My boyfriend eats his with chicken. Womp

• 1 Zucchini chopped
• 1 Yellow Squash chopped
• 1 cup crimini mushrooms chopped
• 1/4-1/2 Onion chopped
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 6 leaves of romaine washed (or swiss chard, collards etc)
• 1 recipe homemade taco seasoning
• 1/4 cup water

For taco seasoning

• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 1 Tbs cumin
• 1 Tbs garlic powder
• 1 Tbs onion powder
• 1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Mix all taco seasoning ingredients in small bowl until combined, set aside.
2. Warm olive oil in pan over medium high heat.  Add onion and cook until tender and slightly transulcent.
3. Add zucchini, squash, and mushrooms, stirring occasionally until cooked tender, about 10 minutes
4. Add taco seasoning and water to veggies. Bring to boil, then lower heat to low and cook for 5 more minutes.
5. Serve veggies with romaine as taco shells.  I like mine with home made salsa and guacamole plus plain greek yogurt in place of sour cream.  Enjoy!

For any seasoned veggies you did not eat try this taco scramble the next morning.

Taco Scramble

1. Beat 2 eggs in a small bowl, set aside.
2. Spray frying pan with cooking spray and add 1/4-1/2 cup of leftover seasoned veggies.  Warm for 1-2 min over med-high heat.
3. Add beaten eggs and once they are starting to set scramble with spatula.
4. Serve with toast.  Optional: Add leftover salsa, greek yogurt, or guacamole to finished eggs.

These recipes are super simple and fully customizable.  With these options, who would want to throw leftovers away?

 

 

 

Banana Oat Waffles

Tags

banana, breakfast, fitfood, healthy, nutrition, waffle, yum

A recent development in striving towards a repurposeful life has been my diet rehab.  Not the kind of diet you go on temporarily to lose weight, but a real life change.  I hope to bring some of my healthy recipes and finds on here to share with you foods that taste really good, but may be good for you too.

Arguably my favorite meal of the day (besides dessert, haha just kidding…sort of) is breakfast.  The other day I was scouring Pinterest during my meal planning to find a healthy waffle, preferably using oats.  I found a lot of awesome results and went with my own adaptation of one.

I usually wing my recipes and never write down the amounts I’m using of each but I did my best to pay attention and make mental notes as I went along.

The batter comes out kind of lumpy and thick (forgot to take a picture) but believe me it comes out perfect in the waffle iron.  You can always add more of whatever milk you prefer to make it a bit thinner.

This recipe could also be made vegan easily by adding an egg substitute.  Hope you enjoy, and let me know if you try it.  I plan on making them again with some mini chocolate chips.

Banana Oat Waffles (adapted from Cinnamon Oatmeal Waffles)

Ingredients

2/3 cup whole-wheat flour

¾ cup old fashioned oats

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

1 ripe banana

2 eggs

1-1 ¼ cup coconut milk (could use almond or cow’s milk for non-vegan)

2 tbs melted butter (can use oil for vegan)

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat your waffle iron

2. Put dry ingredients in food processor and pulse until oats are ground.

3. Mash banana in medium mixing bowl and whisk 1 cup of milk with the remaining wet ingredients in bowl.

4. Add the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. If your batter is too thick for your liking, add ¼ cup of milk and stir until combined.

5. Scoop appropriate amount of batter for your waffle maker and bake as directed by your equipment.

6. Serve with 100% maple syrup, sliced bananas, or your favorite waffle topping.

Makes about 5 waffles