But blueberries are sooo expensive in the grocery store. If you can find someplace where you can pick your own, you will be well on the way to have delicious blueberries all year long.

Before we moved out [...]]]>

There is no better fresh fruit than blueberries! It has a lot of nutrients and antioxidants. Plus they taste great!

But blueberries are sooo expensive in the grocery store. If you can find someplace where you can pick your own, you will be well on the way to have delicious blueberries all year long.

Before we moved out here in the country, I used to go to a blueberry farm every summer and picked lots of pounds. I would freeze them and have them to eat on my cereal and in desserts all year. Once we moved out here we planted several blueberry bushes to be able to pick our own.

If you have never picked your own blueberries or frozen them, it’s very simple.

You first start out with a quart sized plastic jug, and cut out a section, in the front, that you can use to put the blueberries in as you pick them.

Use a strap or bathrobe tie, to put through the handle of the quart container, so that you can tie it around your waist.

If you go somewhere to pick blueberries, be sure to bring a paper bag that you can put the blueberries in, as you fill up the quart container. At blueberry farms, they weigh the blueberries in your paper bag, to know how much to charge you. When I pick our own blueberries, I usually dump them into a bucket until I feel like I have enough for the day.

Look for a bunch of blueberries that you can pick – choose the ones that are dark blue or all blue – try to avoid the ones that have some red tint as those are not ready yet. Though you will see in some of my pictures that I do indeed have some of the red ones. It’s hard to avoid them

My hands are small, so I will probably drop a few as I go along – so I don’t try to pick a lot at a time. By wearing the gallon container at waist level, you can drop the blueberries in! Once it fills up, dump it into your bucket or paper bag.

And now for the freezing – DO NOT WASH THE BLUEBERRIES. Put the fresh, unwashed blueberries on a cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in the freezer. What you are going to do is flash freeze them. Once frozen, they are like marbles and you canput them in a gallon sized freezer bag and get some out to defrost, wash and eat.

Enjoy!

I think a lot of people think the only way to eat yellow squash, is to slice it, put it in a pan of water and boil or steam it! And don’t get [...]]]>

One of the foods that we grow during the summer is yellow squash. And we LOVE to eat it in a variety of ways.

I think a lot of people think the only way to eat yellow squash, is to slice it, put it in a pan of water and boil or steam it! And don’t get me wrong – it’s great that way, with a little bit of butter on it.

We also like to cut up our yellow squash into chunks and saute it with thin slices of onion – in a pan, using butter. Actually we saute the onions first, and when they start to turn a golden color – we add the squash chunks and keep stirring til everything is cooked and almost brown!

But my husband’s favorite way to eat squash, is to slice it, and then bread it and cook it in oil – just like egg plant. It’s a lot of work – but I usually make a whole bunch and then we freeze what we don’t eat – and can reheat them at a later time.

There are a number of recipes I’ve found on line for yellow squash casserole, but hubby isn’t too fond of cheese and most of those call for some kind of cheese being added. I like it that way – but…I tend to cook more for hubby than for me. I can eat it any way I fix it.

But it seems that no matter how careful I am, when I buy canned cat [...]]]>

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always make sure that the cans I pick are not dented in any way. There is always the risk of spoilage from a dented can, and I don’t want to expose my family to any bacteria.

But it seems that no matter how careful I am, when I buy canned cat food, in pre-packaged boxes, there is always at least one dented can in the lot!

Now comes the question – how do the cans get dented? I seem to remember someone telling me that the cans are stacked in the warehouse and people walk on them. Is that right? I couldn’t find anything on line about that. I can’t imagine that’s what’s happening. Anyone know?

You can buy beets in the grocery store, or if you are lucky enough to have a friend or husband who farms, you can get fresh beets from him/them.

These are from our [...]]]>

One of our favorite recipes is Harvard Beets. Today I’d like to provide the recipe and show you how to make them from scratch.

You can buy beets in the grocery store, or if you are lucky enough to have a friend or husband who farms, you can get fresh beets from him/them.

These are from our farm and the dirt washed off

The greenery is cut off - leaving about an inch of stem still on the beets

The whole beets are put into a pot, covered with water

Bring the water to a boil, and then simmer for about an hour

Pour out the hot water and replace with cold, probably about twice, so the beets cool down.

Cut the top, and bottom off, and peel the skin - it will come off very easily

The beets I am working on, are for our freezer for during the winter. So I had two bushel baskets of beets to cook and peel.

This is what the beets look like after peeling

In my case, I always slice the beets and put them in quart sized zip lock bags for the freezer. The two bushed baskets full, make 20 quarts.

Sliced beets

These are the 20 quarts in the freezer

At this point when getting ready for the recipe, I would take a bag out of the freezer and let them sit on the counter until almost defrosted. Put them in a colander and rinse them with cold water.

Harvard Beets

1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon of butter
beets

Because I use a lot more beets I double the recipe.

Mix the sugar and cornstarch together in a pot, then add the vinegar. Stir and heat until clear. Add the butter and the beets, and heat until hot and syrup is thickened.

Serve!

Ready to eat

Sandi