Freezing Blueberries, and My 2012 Preserving Goals

In May, I go through my canning cupboards and freezer. I write down in my preserving notebook what quantities I have left, and then, based on that and on previous years, I make a list of what to preserve for the year.

It's always instructive to me to look back through my preserving notebook.  I recall sources, methods, and quantities - I think I remember details well until I look at the facts!  This summer, I flat-out missed preserving strawberries and sour cherries.  To make up, I bought 20 lbs. of blueberries instead of 10.

The children and I froze the blueberries in a little window of time after supper.  They were happy to handle the washing and sorting.  I packed the blueberries in boxes and labeled them.  It took us less than 45 minutes.

Below is my summer 2012 list of essential things to preserve.  If cheap produce or energy presents itself, I will do greater quantities. 

1 batch strawberry freezer jam - now just any jam will do
freeze sour cherries or blueberries
pesto
4-6 quarts dill pickles
6 dozen corn
1 batch pimentos
1 batch salsa
1 bushel tomatoes:  8-12 pints pizza sauce, 20 quarts whole tomatoes
1/2 bushel apples into sauce
5 quarts peaches

Currently my energy is sapped by the heat.  Our house, at 6am this morning, was still 83 degrees, and the temperature outside is barely lower than that and already rising as the sun comes up.  We'll get into the upper 90s today. 

Tomato Gravy with Cream

I fumbled around with a version of this recipe early in my married years.  Then when I was reading More with Less a few years ago, I saw Brown Tomato Gravy.   (Do you own a More with Less?  It is by far the cookbook I use the most, but I am biased because I am Mennonite and because this was the first cookbook I used). 

Here is my version, which is a method more than a recipe.  I love tomato gravy!

Tomato Gravy with Cream

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large cast-iron skillet.

Dredge in flour:
2-3 firm ripe tomatoes, sliced thickly

Lay floured tomatoes in butter on medium heat.  Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Allow to fry until the flour and butter are forming browned spots.

Flip tomatoes.  Sprinkle with 1-2 Tbsp. brown sugar.  A little more salt.  Allow to fry again until brown spots form. 

Turn the heat down to low.  Pour in some heavy cream, probably not more than a 1/2 cup or even less; sometimes I've used just 2 little glugs.  Break up the tomatoes a bit while the cream bubbles and thickens with the flour.  There will be tomato skin pieces, which don't bother me, but I'm sure some people would skin their tomatoes first.  Serve over toast, biscuits, or hash brown potatoes.

We ate the tomato gravy for breakfast over oven-roasted potatoes which were room temperature.  My husband bought 7 lbs. of new potatoes this past week, so I roasted extra and I'm going to see what inspiration strikes, a la Tamar Adler.

The kids kicked a fuss over this breakfast; they wanted Cheerios.  I ignored them.  They ate heartily at lunch and supper, so everything is all right.

"Economy and Grace"

I love this phrase so much - I think it should be the tagline for my life, the thing I try to live up to.  I got it from the subtitle of Tamar Adler's book, An Everlasting Meal.  Rebecca loaned me this book and I'm only a third of the way into it, but I like it a lot. 

Adler gives credit to MFK Fisher's How To Cook A Wolf from 1942.  I somehow missed telling you about Fisher's book back when I read it in the fall.  It's fabulous - stories, advice, recipes, and all written in prose I wish I could emulate (and that hair - I would like to wear my braids on top of my head like MFK Fisher).  Her full name, as I'm sure you want to know, is Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher.

I just read the chapter in Tamar Adler's book where she advocates eating cooked vegetables at room temperature.  She has interesting ideas for vegetables and roundly dismisses the idea that vegetables are best steamed just before the meal and then eaten plain and hot.  She has also convinced me to revisit poached eggs, which I normally don't like.

bookmark by Ben

I'm in need of inspiration these days, so it's nice to read some new ideas and play a little differently in the kitchen.  I'll tell you about our room-temperature breakfast next time - desk-work beckons!

Neatballs, Buns, and Rachel

Rachel and Peter stopped by as I was fixing dinner.  They and their boys are dear friends to our family - and they are moving far away this summer.  I'm sad about it, it's true, even though I can be happy for them in a little part of my selfish heart.

But I appeared to be a kitchen goddess when they dropped in - had an oven full of vegetarian neatballs, baked potatoes, and hamburger buns.  I've decided that I'm bypassing the choice of grocery store sales or nasty cheap buns by making buns myself, so I took advantage of a cool-ish day and an oven supper to make the buns.

I asked my husband to take a picture of Rachel and me; he told us to say "buns" which, we discovered, made us look very strange.

The neatballs, a new recipe to me, were fantastic.  I'm already planning other menus around them and thinking of people I want to share them with.  We ate them with baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.

My children are in love with baked-potato-skin cups, the way we ate baked potatoes when I was a child.  I scrub baking potatoes, poke them once, and bake them for an hour.

Then we cut the potatoes in half, hollow out the skin, and put the fluffy potato on the plate.  Put a pat of butter, salt and pepper in the little potato-skin cup and that is heaven!  Is there a name for this?

 Formerly, I oiled the potatoes and put them on a tray so their skins would be soft and I wouldn't be cooking in foil.  However, I shyly introduced this childhood method of my mother's and we are all hooked.

A serving dish from my late Grandma Weaver

What To Do With Old Cotton Sweaters

I cut them up and am using them as filling for hotpads.  The only other thing I can think of to do with a stretched-out cotton sweater is make gift bags for bottles.

I also handquilted these hotpads, which was nice, to have a little tiny hand-quilting project.  The butter yellow with the forest green, against the deep oxblood binding is thrilling me.  I am never tired of playing with patchwork!

Water Popsicles for the Children

This was their idea:  fill a paper cup halfway with water, stick a wooden skewer in it, and freeze.  I think the children forgot about them, but I pulled them out when we had some time to kill between church and a picnic.

Perfect.  They were highly entertained. I was pleased that they weren't ruining a meal with a sugary snack and the drips on their clothes just dried in the heat, leaving no stains behind.

Next time I think we will use our actual popsicle molds, which the kids can fill and freeze themselves (that will thrill them).

filled popsicle molds - cherry yogurt popsicles

 I get tired of saying no to my children when they ask for candy, snacks, gum, etc. etc.  These silly water popsicles allow me to say yes to my children!  How nice.

"If you're done with it, just put it in the garden to water the plants, Ben."

A Cap-Sleeve Silk Blouse

This blouse began when I saw my friend wear a little cap sleeve sweater that tied at the back key-hole instead of buttoned.  I was enchanted.

I got some mysterious polyester out of my stash, laid my own cap-sleeve blouse on top, and traced.  I felt bold and willing to throw away a flop if needed.

It turns out the blouse is cute and the fabric is SILK.  It's good I didn't know I was sewing with silk, or I would have been anxious.

I realized that using ties at the keyhole would have made an unfortunate mashup of elements that looked like a hospital gown.  I was thinking 80s revival, not hospital.  So I added a pretty, clear button.

I bound the neck and arm holes with self-bias, finishing it with handstitching.  That was a lot of delicate stitches!

I thought the blouse was too shapeless (hospital gown fears), so I nipped it in 4 places. Are these tucks? In some patterns, these are elongated things that blend into the line - what are they called?  I thought the blouse called for something more fresh and casual - and it turns out my tuck-things can look like a maternity blouse, too.  Not a good look when you're going to your husband's 20th high-school-class reunion.

Still and all, I felt chic in my skinny jeans and homemade silk blouse. Thanks to my husband for these photos, snapped just before I left for work one morning.