Freezing Fresh Peppers

Summer is closing it's doors.

School has started.

Nights are getting chillier.

Days are slowly dropping in degrees.

My favorite shows will be starting soon.

Gardens are thinning out.

Since I don't live somewhere warm and mild all year, it is almost time to bid adieu to fresh produce.

Adieu fresh, beautiful, lovely produce...

When will I see you again?

Please don't go...

Hey, how about you stay? 

Let's strike deal. You will go in the freezer and I will partake of your lovely freshness all winter long.

Anyone else wondering why the heck I am talking to peppers?

Whoosh...

I am losing both my fresh produce AND my marbles.

But seriously, do you get sad when fresh produce starts getting hard to find?

The solution:

Why freeze them o'course.

Now, obviously, you can't freeze all produce. But for the stuff you can, get your freeze on and enjoy all winter long.

Let's talk about freezing peppers.

First, wash your fresh peppers.

Cut off the tops.

Cut them in half.

Careful of those spicy little seeds.

Clean 'em out by cutting out the seeds and membranes.

Then dice them all up.

Lay them out flat on a cookie sheet.

Place them in the freezer and let them chill out (hahaha...sorry I had to) until they are completely frozen..

Then put them in a labeled freezer bag and promptly store in your freezer.

Then on some winter day when you need fresh peppers for, oh I don't know, taco soup, chili, salsa, anything pepper-riffic, you will be able to go to the freezer grab some peppers, reminisce a little, and then cook them up.

Go on now, stock up your freezer. Come Winter you will be glad you did.

Beans, Beans, the Magical Fruit...

...the more you eat, the more you...

Forgive me my 10-year-old boy humor. I come by it honestly...just ask my dad who taught me all these phrases to begin with...

Anyway, back to the beans.

Last week I had one of my new neighbors ask me if I canned. My response was, "I have done water bath canning once with help". She proceeded to ask me if I would like to give it another go and can some green beans. Fear gripped my heart and shouted "NO!" But my practical and adventurous side got the words out of my mouth first with a falsely confident "Sure, why not".

The next day she brought me over two big of garden fresh green beans...

Glorious. Then she brought in her pressure cooker. AHHHHHH!!! I don't know how to use this thing. Don't these things blow up on people? What if I do it wrong and I give my family botchulism? Can you tell I am a little high strung???

Well after she gave me a quick run through, I was on my own armed only with my false confidence, a minor level of intelligence, her verbal instructions, and her cell phone number.

Middle and I snapped and cleaned all the beans. I assembled the beans in the jars as instructed. Then I turned to the pressure cooker, looked it straight in the proverbial eye and said, "I am not afraid of you."

Which of course was false.

I knew it. The beans knew it. The pressure cooker knew it.

Would you believe that thing called my bluff? No? Would you believe that I chickened out and desperately started calling all my new neighbors (the one who gave me the beans was traveling out of town that day) trying to get someone to help me not blow up my house? Why, yes you would believe that wouldn't you.

Thank heavens one of my fabulous new neighbors came and gave me another quick refresher on getting the beans in the pressure cooker. I am happy to say that I took her instruction, then she left and I still did it all myself.

Yep, after a long day and a battle with my confidence and the pressure cooker, I turned these...

Into 18 pints of these...

Pretty, right? Are you proud of me for not giving up?

With one round of pressure cooking canning under my belt, I think there may be more in my future. All these green beans are lonely in our food storage, they told me. They have requested some apple pie filling. I can't tell them no now can I.

Now that the canning bug may be in my future, I would love to know what I should can. Do you can? What is your favorite thing to can?