I started with the basic, cook it and freeze it. I filled this huge pot up three times! I ended up with 6 small bags of frozen swiss chard. We don’t typically eat frozen spinach, but it works great for adding to dishes as I need them.

Next I moved on to a tried and true recipe: spinach balls. These were a big hit last year, so I made two batches of them this year.

Spinach Balls

2 cups chopped cooked spinach
3 cups bread crumbs (I make my own)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 t celery seed
6 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 t black pepper
2 drops Tabasco
1 t dried sage
1/4 t crushed rosemary
1/4 t nutmeg
2 t Braggs amino acids

In a large bowl mix together ingredients. Chill for one hour. Shape into 1″ balls. Freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen place in freezer bags.
Bake in 350 oven for 25 minutes. (I’ve also put them in a crock pot on high for 2 hours.) They taste yummy with spaghetti sauce.

Although this made a lot of spinach balls, it only used up 4 cups of cooked spinach. So off to make a spinach loaf. I haven’t tried this one yet, but here is the recipe I used.

Spinach Loaf

1/2 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
2 cups chopped spinach
2 eggs
2 t lemon juice
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1 T grated Parmesan

In large skillet, saute the onions and garlic in oil. Add spinach. Cook about 8 minutes. Allow mixture to cool slightly and add eggs, lemon juice and nuts. Mix well and spread in loaf pan. Freeze.
When ready to bake, cover and bake 45 minutes at 350. Uncover and sprinkle with cheeses and bake 5-10 minutes.

I only made one of these because I haven’t tested it yet, so we’ll see what the family thinks when I pull it out of the freezer.

This years favorite spinach recipe goes to the Hot Pockets!

Spinach Hot Pockets

First make a batch of pizza dough or buy the refrigerator dough from the store.

Then mix together 2 cups cooked spinach, cream of mushroom soup, and 1 pound browned ground beef in a skillet.

Roll out pizza dough. I used a sandwich looking thing to make my pockets, but you can simply cut squares of dough, fill with one scoop of filling, and fold over. Wet the edges of the dough to help it stick together better.

Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes until dough is golden brown. Then let cool, place in freezer bags, and freeze. These can simply be reheated in a microwave or toaster oven. My husband loves to take these to work with him.

And that was the end of the spinach (swiss chard).

In blender place:
2 eggs
1 1/2 t salt
1 t dry mustard
1/2 t paprika

Blend well and then add:
2 T lemon juice

While blender is running add slowly:
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil

Then add:
2 T apple cider vinegar

And with blender still running, add:
1 1/2 c salad oil of your choice. I used peanut oil because it was all I had on hand. I’ve done this with all EV olive oil before, but be prepared for a strong taste.

This recipe makes a flavorful, thick mayo. Love it!

I have quite an assortment ready for me to test in my kitchen, but I’m not sure where to start. Here is what I have to work with:

Beautiful, aren’t they??

So starting at the top, we have Acorn, Blue Banana, Butternut, Sweet Dumpling, Jack-be-Little, Rouge D’Etampes, and spaghetti squash. I also have some pie pumpkins and one mystery pumpkin-looking one. I can’t find a picture of something similar, so no clue. Plan on cooking it like a pumpkin.

I have a few ideas for the spaghetti squash, as we have done that one before, but the others are all new to me. Any fresh ideas? Any experience?

So I bought the foil pans, prepared for casserole type meals, but didn’t use a one of them! Cooking casseroles is just not something we do often and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Basically I wanted my freezer like going down the frozen convenience food section at the grocery store – but natural of course. I wanted pieces of meals so that my kids could pull out what they wanted and create a home-cooked meal. Maybe I will get around to using those foil pans, but for now zip-loc bags have done the trick.

So this is what we came up with so far. I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce and froze it into meal sized portions. Zip-locs work great for sauces because if you freeze them flat, they stack nicely. I had also made pesto sauce and oriental pineapple sauce and froze those in zip-locs too. I bought 20 lbs of all-natural beef and cooked it into sloppy joes, chili, and meatballs. We ate one portion for dinner and then froze the rest. I made potato soup one day for lunch. I took the remaining broth and froze it so that we could defrost and just add potatoes one day. Since we received more squash and zucchini than I could eat fresh, I froze it too. I grated some zucchini for zucchini bread and froze it. I breaded some zucchini sticks and froze them, ready to be dropped in hot oil. Then I made a big pot of squish squash (or creamed squash) for dinner one night. We ate one portion for dinner, but then I froze the remainder. Now my husband can enjoy some squash when he comes home to visit from Afghanistan. I also froze corn on the cob as I got some each week. I ordered some organic stewing hens too so that we could create soups and dumplings in the crock pot. And don’t forget the few roasts in the freezer too.

I ordered a canning pack from our local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year, so I also have many things canned and ready to eat. Things like Pickled okra, pickles, green beans, jelly, pickled beets, whole and diced tomatoes, and canned fruit. Dried beans are also a great thing to can and have ready, but I haven’t gotten there yet.

My freezer is packed and my pantry is overflowing. I think we are ready to feed this family of soon-to-be-seven!

The second is an offer for a free downloadable copy. But here is the catch! I need detailed reviews. So I will email you a copy of the recipes and I need you to commit to try at least 2 recipes and give me detailed reviews of what you thought, how easy was it, would you do it again???? What do you think??

My daughter is one of those that likes to same thing everyday, but I’m the kind of mom that doesn’t like the same thing all the time. So she makes it easy because I don’t have to change it up a lot, but I do like to throw in surprises. Let’s start with sandwiches:
Peanut butter and honey (or jelly if you are ol’ fashioned)
Lunch meat and cheese
Fruit and Nut butters like this one
Tuna or Chicken Salad
BLT (if you are into bacon)
Egg or Ham salad

Or change it up a bit and use pita bread or tortillas. Throw in a quesadilla or a veggie pita. We also do tortilla roll ups and the kids love them.

The simplest Tortilla Roll Up

Spread tortilla with cream cheese. Sprinkle with herbs of choice (basil, dill, or lemon pepper are favorites). And roll. Slice tortilla into rolled up bites and your kids will eat them up fast!

Now we like to add a few things when we have them. You can fix it up with lettuce, tomato, meat, onion, etc. Another fun way is to spice up the cream cheese. Place the cream cheese and some yogurt into a blender or food processor. Add cilantro, black olives, a jalapeno, cumin, salt and pepper. Blend together and spread on tortilla. Yum!

We also include a water bottle in her lunch box so we can just refill it everyday. This is much cheaper and better for her than using juice boxes or sodas.

And you have to have snacks in the lunch box. We have included homemade cookies, chips (buy a big bag of chips and then pack them in baggies each day), pickled okra, pickles, cheese sticks, fruit (use real fruit and not fruit packs, these are cheaper and healthier), carrot sticks (or other chopped raw veggies), raw nuts, and fruit roll ups (there are all natural kinds or make your own).

We just decided that feeding her lunch everyday was a much better alternative to eating cafeteria food everyday. I’m all up for fresh ideas, so start sharing!

Beet Salad

Prepared beets (do this by boiling beets until soft, then drop in cold water and peel)

Dressing:

1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 t maple syrup
1 t onion powder
1 T prepared horseradish
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
5 T olive oil

Chop the beets and place in salad bowl. Mix with feta cheese and appropriate amt of dressing to your taste. Yum!
hint: Let this soak for an hour or overnight, it will soak up the dressing.

Squish Squash

Wash and slice yellow squash. Cook in 2 T water until soft. Then using a slotted spoon, pick up squash and place in serving bowl. Smash the squash with a fork with some butter (amt varies on how much squash you are using). Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. So easy, yet so yummy.

That’s all for today. I would LOVE to hear your recipes for beets, zuchinni, swiss chard, and romaine. Oh and what do you do with all those radishes??

We also got some large beets last week, so I tried my hand at pickling them. I studied some recipes and then created my own.

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Pickled Beets

Boils beets until tender. Then cool and remove ends and skins.
I then sliced them with a crinkle cutter so they would be pretty.

In a saucepan, boil:
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup white vinegar
3/4 t canning salt
1 cup apple juice

Slice some onions and throw those and the beets into saucepan with vinegar solution. Let cook for about 3 minutes.
Place beets in hot jars and pour brine over the beets. This was enough brine to do 3 pint jars.

Water bath for 30-45 minutes depending on your altitude. I did it for 45 because we are at 6000 feet.
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We are getting cherries this week for pie making. Yum! I’m ready for another week of enjoying the harvest!

Since we are currently harvesting our cold weather crops, I had a lot of spinach to work with! The day I brought it home, while it was still crisp, I made a Spinach Strawberry Salad with it.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

Chop spinach leaves into bite-size pieces. Place in big bowl.
Slice Strawberries and place on greens.
Drain one can of mandarin oranges and place on greens.
Sprinkle with pecans.

Sprinkle salad with salt and pepper to taste.
Then pour a little olive oil and vinegar over the salad.
And eat up! It’s so simple, yet so yummy! You can even add some grilled chicken if you have some.

The rest of the spinach I cooked. I ended up with 10 cups cooked spinach! That’s a lot of spinach. So I made Spinach Balls and Spinach Lasagna. I froze the remainder in 2 cup portions.

Spinach Balls

In a large mixing bowl, mis together:
2 cups cooked spinach
3 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
6 eggs
3/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1-2 cloves garlic
1/4 t black pepper
2 drops pepper sauce
1/4 t nutmeg
2 t soy sauce (I use Braggs Amino Acids)

Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Then shape into 1-inch balls. I chose to freeze my balls by placing them on cooking sheets not touching. Once frozen I placed them all into a zip-loc freezer bag. Or you can proceed to bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Spinach Lasagna

In bowl mix:
1 pound Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan
2 1/2 cups cooked spinach
3 eggs

Cook Lasagna noodles according to package.

Spread spaghetti sauce on bottom of casserole dish. Then layer noodles, spinach mixture, Mozzarella cheese, and sauce until all ingredients are gone. Be sure to cover the top of noodles with sauce.

I chose to freeze mine at this point, but you can follow thru and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

I also had some rhubarb to experiment with. I’ve never had rhubarb before, so this was fun.

First I made a Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch and the kids LOVED it! It was yummy. But I do suggest eating it all up while its warm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix these ingredients together in a casserole dish:
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 pint sliced strawberries
1 T honey

In a bowl mix together:
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 t cinnamon

Pour oat mixture over fruit. Bake for 40 minutes. Your whole house will smell like strawberries!

This week I’m gonna try Strawberry Rhubarb muffins. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

Since I’m not homeschooling I have more time to experiment and if I go raw I can avoid heating up the kitchen. And going raw doesn’t mean you have to eat salads and fruit three meals a day. There a lots of fun recipes to try. I will list a few of my favorites.

Now salad is one of my favorite foods, but that doesn’t mean it has to be boring. There are so many variations. And my favorite part of a salad is the dressings. There are so many choices! Here is my favorite classic salad:

I fill up a large plate with lettuce (go for the green kind, not iceberg) and your choice of fresh veggies. I like red bell pepper, avocado, olives (the raw kind, not the canned), onion, cucumber and tomato. Next comes the dressing! Now I make mine right on top of my salad. First I put all the dry ingredients: onion powder, black pepper, and a salt-free seasoning (or add sea salt if you want the salt). Then I sprinkle on a bit of minced garlic, a little maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Yummy!!

Now for an untraditional salad, I enjoy a base of sprouted quinoa. This sprouts very quickly, so soak in the morning and then rinse and serve for dinner. I will make a Greek salad out of this, piled high with tomato, olives, feta cheese (if you aren’t 100% raw), bell pepper, cucumber, marinated mushrooms, pine nuts, and onion. Top with black pepper, sea salt, Italian seasoning, minced garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.

And for one of my favorite salads . . . rice salad. Take wild rice and soak for 2-3 days. (Make sure you rinse the rice daily.) Once the rice is budding open, rinse and place in bowl. Mix with veggies of your choice and salad dressing of your choice. A vinegar based salad dressing suits this recipe as well. It is amazingly filling.

Other non-cooked meals (although not all are raw) that would be great for the summer months are sandwiches (get creative – you don’t have to stick to the same ol’ sandwich), marinated vegetables (let veggies soak in olive oil, Braggs liquid aminos and seasonings), fruit and yogurt parfaits, cold soups (like gazpacho), chips and dips (there are so many creative recipes for tasty dips away from the regular), sprouted beans, seeds, and rice add a nice touch, and ice cream is always good (try making your own and avoid all the artificial stuff).

For fun, I will post my favorite homemade ice cream recipe.
In an electric ice cream maker (I use a 4 qt) pour 2 cups agave nectar, 1 T lemon juice, 1 t vanilla, 2 cups half&half or heavy whipping cream, 2 qts milk, and if you want it fruity add 2 cups pureed fruit. Turn on the ice cream maker and eat when thick. So very yummy and great for those of us with blood sugar issues.

I hope I motivated you to turn off the stove and turn on your creativity!