So Son brought from the Farmer's Market 20 lbs. of onions. They are huge. Ten onions filled each 10 lb. bag. I cleaned them, quartered and sliced them and ran them through my Vidalia chopper. 10 lbs. of chopped onions filled 14 dehydrator trays and when dry, filled two quart-sized freezer bags. The second batch is in the dehydrators now. There is about another half gallon of chopped onions to be dried when this batch is done. One can never have enough dried onions!
There were 10 nice sized butternut squash next. I halved each, scraped out the innards, placed them cut side down on cookie sheets and baked them until tender. One of them was demolished for supper. It was so very good. I scraped the flesh from the outer skin of the rest of them and let it cool. Two cups full of squash went into each bag, making 11 bags full. Those I froze.
Next came the apples. I'm not exactly sure how many I have as they were sold by the bag, but it looks like at least a bushel and a half. I cooked up a small batch of applesauce today and will deal with the rest of the apples tomorrow. It is late in the day. I am tired. And as long as I don't have schedules to keep, I can finish up at my leisure. I love retirement!
Son spent the day moving his belongings into his apartment. He still has more to do and he has some furniture to buy, but he is staying there tonight. I think maybe the smell of drying onions might have had something to do with that decision. :) Not everyone likes that aroma. I sent my TV with him. It sits here and collects dust so it might as well be there where it will get used now and then. I haven't watched TV for years.
It is time to go clean up my messy kitchen. And then I think a quiet evening with a good book is in order. Son and I were talking this afternoon. He is used to living alone, so staying with his Mom is not easy. I am used to living alone so having someone here is not easy. But we managed to get through it without a harsh word between us. I guess that says something about good relationships with family. And I think this new arrangement will work out just fine.
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Some things in life are engineered by a power much greater. Patiently taking it all in leads to an understanding only granted to those willing to let the overwhelming flow of life to bend, and never break them.
ReplyDeleteKeep knocking out those long term storage food supplies. You and yours will be able to last a long time without worrying about food because you are taking these steps now. I figure as long as we can eat, stay warm, have water, and can stay safe , we're ahead of the game.
ReplyDeleteJess...My family has always been sort of "go with the flow." Things happen. Sometimes good...sometimes not so much. But whatever it is, we just deal with it and move on. This time it all worked out really well. I don't think the end result was by chance.
ReplyDeleteHarry...I just keep plugging away at it. Some foods we use on a regular basis, but I preserve enough so that even with regular use, there is still plenty in reserve. I've got the staying warm pretty well covered. My weak spot is water and I'm working on that. And within a couple of months we will be safer than we are now. At least I know that we will not be among those who will panic when that last shoe hits the floor, but will be as ready as we can be.
ReplyDeleteHow big a freezer do you have?? Onion rings would sound great too. Not much going on and my stress level is up a bit. Talk soon.
ReplyDeleteRob...My freezer is just a small one - I think a little over 7 cubic feet. I never thought about onion rings. Been too busy making applesauce to think about much else.
ReplyDeleteI love the smell of Vidalia onions dehydrating. 14 trays?! How many dehydrators do you have?
ReplyDeleteDehydrating food is so much fun. I won two blue ribbons for my dehydrated food at the fair last week. I dehydrated two pounds of okra, five Roma tomatoes and one Vidalia onion. It all fit in one pint jar. The other was a quart jar of dehydrated bananas. Each earned a blue ribbon.
Linda...I like the aroma of drying onions, too. I have two Nesco dehydrators. My produce comes from the Farmer's Market and a couple of years ago I had lots of tomatoes that were threatening to turn bad before I could get them dried. That's when I got the second dehydrator.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your blue ribbons! I'll bet your entries looked really pretty in the jars. I like the way dehydrated foods shrink down and take so much less space to store than canned produce. Good for you!