Corn in the Country and July's Groceries

My husband and I just got back from a great visit with his family in Florida.  We had a lot of fun seeing family, floating in the pool, and going to Charleston, South Carolina.  

Boone Hall Plantation in Charleston

While we were visiting, a friend of the family called to invite them to come to their plantation and pick fresh corn on the cob.  This led to an impromptu family corn preserving operation that was a ton of fun.  Here are some photos:

A pile of corn in the bed of the truck

 Shucking and cleaning

 Blanching

 Cooling

 Using the Foodsaver to bag the corn

The finished product in the freezer

I loved this evening of our trip because it reminded me of how things probably used to go on old homesteads: a neighbor calls to share their homegrown produce (or trade or however it used to work), and a family puts it up all together to enjoy all year long.  Ok, they probably didn’t use freezers to put things up, but still...you get the idea.  And with corn on the cob almost in season back in Oregon, this shows how easy and worth while it is to put up your own corn when you find the right deal.  It is so much better and healthier like this than from a can.  What are you planning on canning this summer?

On the home front, I did our menu plan and grocery shopping a little later this month because of the trip.  I am very excited about this month’s menu plan for a couple reasons.  First, I have included a lot of fresh, grilled produce in the meals.  Isn’t summer wonderful for that?  Second, my mom gave me a dry blade attachment for my Vitamix blender so that I can make freshly ground wheat and rye flour for my homemade bread.  I love that I can now make unprocessed flour.  I have a dream of living off my own homestead someday and growing all of our family’s wheat for flour.  I know it sounds crazy, but the heart wants what it wants, eh?  This attachment also comes in perfect time because our coffee grinder just quit on us and the dry blade will also grind coffee.  If you don’t have a Vitamix and are thinking of getting one, I highly suggest it.  They will change the way you cook and eat.

Here is the photo of this month’s groceries (except for a Costco box of organic rice milk), which cost a total of $163.37.  I was shocked that this was all I spent this month because the menu plan suggested it would be somewhat expensive.  But then again, we keep a lot in bulk so that we don’t have to buy it every month, which saved us a lot.  

What are some of your favorite summer meals?  I would love some new ideas for next month.  My next post from the Beyond the Kitchen series will be all about coconut oil, so stay tuned- its a wonderful and versatile natural product.  Thanks for reading.