Green Beans, Green Apples, and Green Bell Peppers... A Photo Journal

It has been a couple of very busy weeks for myself and my family as we take advantage of the bounty of produce that summer brings.  We put up green beans and beets in the pressure canner, and we made applesauce for the freezer.  My mom, aunt, and grandma also made apple pies to freeze, but I decided to just can apple pie filling in a water bath since vegans require a special crust that I would rather make fresh when we want a pie.  I also found a local deal on u-pick green bell peppers, and at 4 for $1, I couldn’t pass up stocking up for the year.  Since pictures sometimes speak louder than words, here are some photos of all of the processes...

These were 15 pound boxes and we bought 4 of them at $16 a piece.  We ended up with 80 pints of green beans, which calculates out to 80 cents a jar (each pint is 16 ounces of beans).

We snapped both ends off and washed the beans in a water bath.  This is where you throw out any bad or discolored beans.  We had to throw out quite a bit this year, and probably could have ended up with a total of 90-100 jars if we hadn't lost so many.  What we learned: can the green beans the same day you bring them home, if at all possible, to avoid losing some of them.

We snapped them into fairly uniform pieces...

and stuffed them into our pint jars.  We added a half teaspoon of canning/pickling salt to each jar.

They were then filled with boiling water, leaving one inch of headspace.  The clean, boiled lids and rings were then assembled.

They then went into the pressure canner.  I have always been afraid of my pressure canner, but once I learned how to use it, I found it to be pretty easy.  Just be sure to read your directions carefully before you begin.  And also, steam burns are painful... oops.

We processed at ten pounds of pressure for 20 minutes.

The finished product.  We covered them and let them cool completely in Grandma's garage before moving them into our pantries.

Here are most of the jars of beans.

 

For the beets, we bought a 20 pound bag for $17.  We ended up with 28 jars, which breaks down to about 61 cents a jar.  First, they needed to be sorted into fairly uniform size groups, and then boiled for about 20-30 minutes to remove skins.

Then they are peeled and cut into smaller pieces to be stuffed into pint jars.  

Each jar gets a half teaspoon of canning/pickling salt, and filled to a one inch headspace with boiling water.  The clean, boiled lids and rings are then assembled, and they are processed at ten pounds in the pressure canner for 30 minutes.

The finished product...aren't they a beautiful color?  We also made one batch of pickled beets for my grandma because she loves them.  We used a simple recipe of salt, sugar, water, and vinegar, and cut the beets into about 1/4 inch slices.  We processed them in a water bath instead of the pressure canner, and they turned out great.  We are planning on making more pickled beets next year. 

We had the privilege of watching my niece overnight while we did all of this canning.  My husband was more than happy to rise to the occasion of getting her to take an evening nap so we could finish up.  We also learned that she does not like beets... at all.  

The next day was apple day.  This is a picture of my grandma's Golden Delicious apple tree.  There are more apples than leaves on it right now.  I asked my mom how long these apple trees have been feeding our family, and learned it has been about 50 years.  We did not use any of the Golden Delicious apples for our applesauce and pie.  We will save those for another day. 

Instead, we used Gravensteins. 

These apples photograph so well.  Here are two sitting on my grandpa's old wooden ladder.

I love how this picture looks like the tree is just holding the apples in it's hand.

Here are some of the bunch we collected as we were getting ready to start the peeling.

I see you!

First we cut...

Then we peeled.  These are Grandma's hands... she has been doing this for decades.

Then we cut into smaller pieces.

They went into a pot with water, and we boiled until the apples became soft.  We then used a potato masher to turn them into sauce of the right consistency.  We like our applesauce a little chunky around here.

We don't really use a recipe.  We just added sugar and cinnamon to taste, which was about a quarter cup and 1 tablespoon, respectively.  Applesauce is not a science- just make it the way you like it.  Remember, it is easier to add more than to take away, so add slowly and taste often.

We then filled our pint jars and left about an inch and a half of headspace since the sauce will expand once frozen.  Finding a broken jar in your freezer is such a disappointment, so be careful not to overfill. 

We let them cool entirely before popping the jars into the freezer.  No processing required for freezer applesauce.  Applesauce holds its texture after being frozen, so that was a few extra steps we could eliminate.  You can process your applesauce in a water bath if you would rather have shelf stable sauce, or if you don't have the room in a freezer.  We made about 34 jars, and since the apples were free from the backyard, it only cost us the price of the new lids we put on them.

Cooling... I just liked this picture.

Here are some apples that I went home with for my apple pie filling.  They are sitting next to a giant zucchini that someone brought to church for me.  That is a nickel sitting on the zucchini to give you a reference of how big it was.  I am so grateful for this family's generosity.

With flowers from a dinner guest and friend.

The zucchini was washed and peeled.

Then it was seeded.

Then cut into smaller pieces, put into three separate freezer bags, and put into the freezer.  I plan on adding it to soups during the cold fall and winter months.

The apples for the apple pie filling were washed, peeled, and sliced.  I filled three quart jars with them to be processed.

The pie sauce was a mixture of 4 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup cornstarch, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, and 10 cups water, brought to a boil while it thickens.

The jars were filled to about a half inch headspace with the sauce and processed in a water bath for 20 minutes.

I also ended up with 4 pints of just the pie sauce to freeze for later use.

 

These are the green bell peppers that I picked from a local farm.  I picked 28, and at 4 for $1, it only cost me $7.  I only use green bell peppers in my homemade marinara and sometimes in our veggie fajitas.  Otherwise, I typically use red because that is what my husband prefers.  I have yet to find a u-pick farm that has red bell peppers in our area.  But if I do find one, I will probably pick more than 28.  The green bell peppers that we usually see in our local stores run about $1 to $2, so 25 cents a piece and only ten minutes to pick all of them was a great deal.  I think I have enough to last the whole year.  First I washed them in a vinegar and water solution.

Then I let them air dry for a few hours.

Then they were each seeded and diced, and put into FoodSaver bags.

The air was then sucked out of the bags.

Here they all are, ready to go into the freezer.  I decided to do one pepper per bag because that makes a lot of sense for our cooking purposes.  You may want to put all of yours into one bag and just take from it as you need, which works great too.

Here are some other photos from my grandma's backyard:

Crocosmia in bloom.

These are the hydrangeas that I used in my wedding two years ago, and they are blooming in the same color again now.  My mom and aunt picked them the morning of our wedding, and my mom and mother-in-law delivered them to a local woman that makes wedding bouquets and centerpiece arrangements.  I loved that extra personal touch, and I was very grateful that I could share that experience with my grandma, who went home with my bouquet at the end of the day...

How cute is she?!

 

And at the end of the canning marathon, a little agave wine margarita to celebrate.  Next up is corn and pears this weekend.  Thanks for reading!

  

Waste Not, Want Not

As I sit here in my kitchen this morning, I have been reflecting on all of the changes that I have made in the past several years that have allowed me to be more mindful of the food we eat.  It is so energizing for me to be able to save money for our family by putting in extra work to can, freeze, preserve, menu plan, and build up my pantry.  And I can directly see the rewards in the amount of money and time we save each month, but also through the interest and changing habits of friends and family.  It has been wonderful to be able to can and preserve with friends and family.  I imagine that we are living more closely to how people lived centuries ago, before mass production, industrialization, and genetically modified foods.  I think of my grandmother, who is 92 years old next month, the youngest of seven children, and her mother died when she was four years old.  She, along with the other siblings who were too young to work, stayed back home while her father and older siblings went out to work.  She learned to can, cook, clean, and preserve to help feed her family as she grew up.  And she has taught her family the art of putting up food, and now she, along with my mother, have been the ones to teach me.  What a gift it has been...sometimes I wonder if I do it because I love it, or if I do it because it reminds me of them. 

But food is not the only way I have seen my habits change over the years.  I have been much more aware of the waste we produce as a family, and what we can reuse.  We do all of the usual things: bring our own reusable bags to the grocery stores, use glass food storage that will last a long time, use glass water bottles, and more.  But I wanted to share other things we do as well that maybe you and your family can do to reduce waste and save money and time.  So here is a list of several things we do and how they help us.

Around the house:

Candle warmer- when your glass jar candles stop burning, and there is still a lot of wax at the bottom of the jar, place it on a candle warmer to release the rest of the scent.  It actually smells stronger than lighting the candle in my opinion.  Don’t forget that you can also reuse the glass jars for storage or making your own candles.

Scrap fabrics- save your scrap fabrics.  You never know when you will need just a little bit of fabric for mending something or for an art project, and you’ll save money and a trip to the store.

Clothes- we donate most of our old clothes, but sometimes they are just too scrappy.  For example, I recently put two pairs of jeans with holes in the knees into the donation pile, but at the same time, I have been wanting a pair of jean shorts.  So I just cut the legs off of both pairs and folded and hemmed the ends for a custom length.  I also kept the extra denim fabric.  If you have an item of clothing that you love, but you have worn it out, turn it into something else.  I have even turned an old sweater into a pillow. (Thanks, Pinterest!)

Buttons and Belts- I combine all of the extra buttons that come attached to new clothes with the buttons off of old clothes and save them in a jar for replacing lost ones and for crafts.  I had two old belts that I turned into the handles of a canvas bag, and then I attached a vintage doily.

Gift bags, tissue, ribbons, bows- when someone in your home gets a gift, reuse any descent looking wrapping on the next gift you give.  No sense in throwing it away when it’s perfectly good.

Plastic spray bottles and glass jars-  I put my homemade all purpose cleaner in a spray bottle from an old cleaner that I bought at the store over a year ago.  Once it is empty, I just filled it again with my own recipe and it works great.  I keep glass jars from groceries items like pickles, salsa, etc.  If they are nice jars with fairly wide mouths, metal lids, and straight sides, I store them to use later as homemade soy candle jars.  Pinterest has a great tutorial on how to decoupage the metal lids with scrapbook paper to make a nice finished package that I could even give as a gift. 

In the Garden:

Coffee grounds and tea bags- these make wonderful compost, so instead of throwing them out, add them to your compost bin.

Kitchen scraps- also great compost, but make sure your scraps are vegan.

Water- save water from leaks in your faucets, cooking/food prep water, or even put a bucket in your shower to catch water as you wait for it to warm up and use it to water your plants.  This is a great way to save money and resources.

Herb overload in your garden- are you growing herbs in your garden but can't seem to use them before they wilt?  Try washing them and putting them in a plastic bag in the freezer to use as needed.  Another way to freeze them is to chop them up and put them in ice cube trays, cover them with olive oil, and freeze them.  Remove them from the tray and store in a freezer bag to use while you cook.  Or there is always drying them by hanging them upside down in a cool, well ventilated area or with a dehydrator.

Gleaning/foraging- if you know of friends or family who have an abundance of produce from their trees or garden, or if you know of plants in a public space where produce is just ripening and going bad, try gleaning or foraging.  Then use the produce to can, preserve, freeze, etc.  Just do your research to make sure plants aren’t privately owned or sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals.  Also, if a friend or family member is letting you come pick, please clean up after yourself, and even pick up rotten fruit on the ground as a way of thanking them for sharing.  My husband and I just gleaned about five pounds of blackberries which I froze, and we found an apple tree in the area where apples are just falling off the tree and rotting. I will be doing some research to make sure the apples are safe to eat, but this could mean a lot of free applesauce to last us though the year.  We have also been invited to glean from plum, pear, and apple trees, as well as gardens of friends and family members, for which I am very thankful.    

In the Kitchen:

Vegetable scraps- save your carrot, celery, onion, shallot, bell pepper, mushroom, etc. scraps in your freezer.  When you have a few cups, dump them into a large pot of water (or even a crockpot) with some salt and peppercorns to make your own vegetable broth.  This will save you money, and it comes from produce you were going to throw out anyway.

Green onion ends- place the root ends of green onions in about 1/2 inch of water and watch them grow back.  You potentially will never need to buy them again.

Brown bananas- make banana bread or peel them and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer to use in smoothies or in banana ice cream (recipe to come in a blog post soon).

Ziplock bags- I will often wash out and air dry my freezer bags if they are in good shape to reuse.  Freezer bags tend to be pretty sturdy, and I don’t like throwing them out when they are still perfectly good.  This means buying bags about half as often as I have in the past.

Unused shower caps- these work great to cover larger bowls of food in lieu of plastic wrap.  I would only use brand new ones, but this is a great option for all the times you go to a hotel and don’t really know what to do with that shower cap they usually give you.  You can even buy sets of these shower cap covers in varying sizes specifically for this purpose.  Just wash and air dry before reusing them.  

Canning mishaps- sometimes people make mistakes while canning.  For me this year, it was canning a dozen pints of plums that were not yet ripe.  I figured they would be fine since I canned them in a sugar syrup, but that was not the case...they were very sour.  Besides learning a valuable lesson, I was able to take out all the plums from this batch and turn them into a batch of vanilla plum jam instead.  Add enough sugar and some vanilla, and your fruit tastes just right.  I ended up with five pints of delicious jam from fruit that I would have otherwise just thrown into the compost. 

These are just a few of the things we can all do to reuse, recycle, and reduce waste (yes, I am fully aware that I sound like a tree hugger here, but let’s just call a spade a spade), and there are so many other ways too.  What are some of the things you do in your home?  I’d love to hear new ideas and tricks.  Thank you for reading about this mindful home.