Thanksgiving Corn????

What says summer more than fresh corn on the cob?!?!? And this year there was an abundance of corn! Last week we picked all of our corn (after eating it nightly for about two weeks) to freeze for the winter. Corn is a great summer crop to put away and enjoy during the colder months. Each year at the beginning of August we freeze our corn for the winter...and especially for Thanksgiving.

Each year while we'd be freezing corn, my dad, aunt, and mom would talk about freezing it for Thanksgiving dinner. Finally, one year I asked why it had to be saved only for Thanksgiving!?!?! Now it's a running joke each year that we're freezing "Thanksgiving corn." In reality we only use a few bags for Thanksgiving, the rest is up for grabs anytime.

Last year we had to buy corn from a local farmer because our corn crop didn't do as well. Luckily this year was much better! However, if you don't have room to grow corn in your garden, you can usually buy it in bulk from a local farmer! And since it stores so well, I would highly recommend buying some and freezing it!

Steps to freeze corn:

1. Pick and clean the corn


2. Blanch in boiling water for about three minutes (I'm not sure why the water is not boiling in the picture???)


3. Immediately remove the corn from the boiling water and place it in ice water to stop the cooking process. Keep it in there for a few minutes...until it's cool to the touch


4. Remove the corn from the cob. We've tried using the special tool made for taking corn off the cob but we like using knives better. We've also tried to freeze the corn on the cob but found that it was mushy when we cooked it later.


5. Place corn into freezer bags and freeze!

(Notice--another picture with Aunt Mary in it...she was complaining again!)

Final product

Notice the large bag in front...that's the specially designated "Thanksgiving corn"

Summer Lovin'

Okay, I know I just said I love strawberries (and I do) but my one true love is BLUEBERRIES! They are just the most delicious little things! I could eat them by the pounds...and I almost did last night!

Luckily there are a lot of local farms that grow these little treats! You can find them at local farmer's markets around the middle/end of June and early July. It's been so hot here this spring that they're ready a bit early. However, if you want to do a little work for your food you can find a local you-pick farm and go pick your own. I spent an hour last night picking over 8 pounds of blueberries. I was in heaven!

This is about half of what I picked!

If you get home and realize some of your berries aren't as ripe as you'd like them, you can put them in a tray and leave them out for a day. The blueberries will ripen up very nicely and taste just as sweet as the others.



I freeze the blueberries the same way I do the strawberries: clean, freeze individually on a tray, then put in a freezer bag to save for the winter. I froze 2 big bags worth last night! That should provide a lot of yummy pancakes, muffins, and treats for my cereal over the winter months.

However, I do really like to bake with them while they are fresh. My favorite recipe came from my Aunt Mary (not sure where she got it) and it's called Alabama Blueberry Bread. Enjoy!

3 Cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1-2 TB. ground CINNAMON (I usually use almost 3!)
2 Cups sugar
1 tsp. GROUND NUTMEG (optional...I don't use it)
3 eggs, well beaten
11/4 Cups canola oil
2 pints of blueberries (mash about 1 Cup of these)
2 tsp. LEMON EXTRACT
1 Cup chopped nuts, optional (I don't usually use nuts!)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 2 large (9 inch) loaf pans. Mix 1/4 cup of the sugar and half of the CINNAMON. Sprinkle pan and top of bread with this mixture (I do this now with all of my fruit bread recipes...yum!). Place flour, salt, baking soda, sugar, NUTMEG and the remaining CINNAMON in a large bowl. Make a well in center of dry ingredients. Add eggs, oil, and LEMON EXTRACT. Stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in blueberries and nuts. Mashing some of the blueberries gives the bread a nice blueberry color. If you use frozen blueberries, make sure they are frozen plain and not sugared. Divide batter between two loaf pans. Bake 1 hour.

To remove the loaves from their pans without losing the sugary topping, try this trick. Double a sheet of aluminum foil, cut it to half the width of the pan and place it in the greased bread pan, up and over the edges, then pour in the batter. This will give you a handy way to lift the bread right out of the pan, as in the photo below. (I usually fold the foil in half again so the bread gets as much of the sugary stuff on it as possible!)

This is better if not eaten until the next day (although I usually can't wait that long!). Keep refrigerated.

Yield: 2 loaves.
Prep. time: 10 minutes.
Baking time: 1 hour

Straaaawberries!!!!!!!!

I love strawberry season and hate that it lasts such a short time! Strawberries are a late spring fruit and depending on the weather the season can be very short! It's about the end of strawberry season for those of us in Indianapolis. Plus, we had a LOT of rain lately and it seems like the few strawberries that are left are rotting on the vine :(

We don't grow our own strawberries. If I remember correctly, we tried a few times when I was much younger and had little success. I rely on the local farmer's market to provide me with these delicious treats.

I know not everyone has the time, energy, land, or growing ability to have their own garden. Just because you don't garden doesn't mean you can't enjoy fresh, local, in season produce. No matter where you live, I'm sure you can find a farmer's market close by. There are tons of them in the Indianapolis area on a variety of days, times, and all around town. I personally like the Broad Ripple farmer's market the best. It's held on Saturdays from 8-12. I think there is best selection at this one. Even though it's about 30 minutes from my house, it's totally work the drive!

This week my mission was to find strawberries, buy them in bulk and freeze them for the winter months. Unfortunately, I had to go to a different farmer's market this week (stupid rain storm on Saturday morning!) and my strawberry selection was minimal. However, I was able to buy and freeze some. Here's what I do:

Buy yummy strawberries, bring them home to rinse and cut the stems off.


Then I place them on a pan and freeze them for about 30 minutes. This allows each strawberry to freeze separately so they don't all stick together in the bag.


After they've frozen, I place them in a freezer bag and save them for the winter when I'm craving fresh fruit.


Usually around February I'm dying for good fresh fruit. This is when I pull out the frozen strawberries and use them in a healthy, organic smoothie. I combine the frozen strawberries, organic yogurt (any flavor, although I like strawberry, peach, or vanilla), and organic milk. Blend and enjoy! It's so simple and delicious! Sometimes I'll add a little honey to make it sweet or even some cinnamon for added flavor.

If you thaw the strawberries they will be mushy, not so tasty! So I also use them in baking. Strawberry bread and muffins are great treats!

All in a weekend's work

As I mentioned, Race Weekend is a busy time in the garden. Over the weekend we also planted our "late" green beans. Over the past few years I have been harassing my dad about spreading out our harvest so that we have more fresh veggies throughout the year. We've been planting early and late green beans for the last few years. The early beans went in about a month ago and here's what they look like now:



Now it's time to plant the late beans. We usually plant two rows, each row is about three plants thick.



My mom only helped for about 5 minutes but somehow she ended up in a picture :) I think she wanted it as proof so we can't say she never helps!


Last year we had an amazing crop of green beans! Our early plants were still producing well into the time that our late beans started producing. We had green beans coming out our ears!!! We canned plenty to go around for the winter. I actually have about 3 cans left. We're pretty good about not wasting anything, so whatever isn't eaten immediately gets canned or frozen. I had to get a new freezer this year to hold all the goodies we put away from last years garden. A great problem to have!

This weekend we also replanted our corn. For some reason it was not coming up well. I think the ground was too wet when we planted but my dad thinks we had bad seeds. Whatever the reason, we got a new crop planted after a minor problem with the tiller...


Hopefully this time will work out! And hopefully Dad fixed the tiller :)