Preserving the Harvest

or good deals from the farmers market/grocery store! I grew these tomatoes. They're going bonkers in my garden and we can't eat them all now! My zucchini...not so much! I must be the only person in the world who had a problem with zucchini this year. I got two...yep...two little ones. I planted some more but they don't have anything to harvest yet.

But the farmers market had them so cheap that I bought a bunch! We love eating it roasted in the oven with some pesto. But we also like zucchini bread! So tasty and healthy! So I grated them all up. Here they are draining in a colander. Let's make some Low Fat Zucchini Bread! The recipe will be at the end.

O.K. Let's get these into the oven so we can take care of the rest of the zucchini and tomatoes! I like my muffins big so I always fill them to the top!

I scooped two cups of shredded zucchini into quart freezer bags. Really squeeze all the air out! I did two cups because that's what I use in my zucchini bread.

Be sure to put a date on them so you know how old they are when you go to use them. Now I just stick them in my chest freezer and when zucchini is out of season and we want some zucchini bread, I defrost them and use as I normally would. These four freezer bags will make 8 loaves of bread!

I was going to try canning my tomatoes this year but I just don't feel up to it this week. So I'm going to preserve them the way I always do which is cut them into quarters and freeze them (wash them first).

I just set them on cookie sheets and stick them into the freezer for a few hours. I can get two cookie sheets in this freezer and one in my fridge freezer. Then I pop them off and stick them in freezer bags. This way they don't stick together. They're individually frozen. I only cook with them. I think they're too mushy to use in a salad. I also puree them in the blender and freeze them that way in freezer bags (they lay flat so they take up less room than containers).

I also do blueberries this way. We grow our own but this year we didn't have enough to freeze. Also no blackberries and I usually am able to freeze a few bags of each. But I made lots of crisps, cobblers and slumps this summer. So when blueberries were 99 cents a pint, I bought a whole bunch and froze them same way as the tomatoes. Except I do not wash them before freezing. I rinse them off before using them and I usually use them frozen - they're a bit soft when defrosted. But they're perfect for baking and smoothies.

We're done for now! Just in time too! The muffins and bread are done! Let's have a nice sit down...oh that's the washer beeping....let me just pop the clothes into the dryer.

O.K.....Let's use one of my cute coffee pots! I didn't make this I got it at the thriftstore this way!

Mmmm....let's take the tray into the living room it's too muggy to sit outside today!

You don't actually have grow your own fruit and veg in order to preserve the harvest! Preserve someone else's harvest! Next week I'll show you what I do with my basil!

Low Fat Zucchini Bread

Pre-heat oven to 350

This recipe substitutes applesauce for the oil (I used no sugar added applesauce but it doesn't really matter). Zucchini has a lot of moisture in it so it still comes out moist without using any fat.

1 1/2 - 2 cups of sugar (I don't like it really sweet so I use the lower amount)

3 eggs

2 cups of shredded or finely diced zucchini

1 cup of applesauce (you can play with this and use half oil half applesauce if you like)

3 cups of flour (I change this all the time - sometimes I use part whole wheat flour part white, today I used white and some oatmeal, I've also used ground flaxseed)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

2 tablespoons of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

Mix together all the ingredients until just blended. You can now add chocolate chips if you like, raisins, craisins, nuts etc. Then pour into loaf pans or muffin pans.I made six muffins and one loaf with this recipe.

Bake at 350 for about 60 minutes (but check it - it may take a bit more). Let it rest for a bit before cutting into it. Really...the texture will be sooo much better!