Freezing Fresh Vegetables

If you're one of those that likes to plant your own garden, unless you scatter your planting times, it seems all the vegetables ripen at once and you find yourself wishing that you could have a fresh crop all year long.  Well you can, or almost.  I don't mean that time consuming chore of canning; I mean freezing.  You can freeze almost anything.  Just get yourself a supply of zip lock freezer bags and get to work.  Below are just a few of the vegetables you can preserve by the freezing method, and its easy.

Asparagus

Wash well and cut off tough ends.  Pack in freezer bags.  Asparagus usually grows well along a fence line and only a few may come up at a time.  That's why freezing is so great because you can just throw them in the freezer bag as they come up.  Keep doing this until you have enough for a meal.

Bell Peppers

Slice off top and clean out seeds.  Wash and pack in freezer bags.  Use for stuffed peppers, stews or in any cooked dish.

Broccoli/Cauliflower

Cut off coarse stalks and trim off leaves and blemishes.  Separate into flowerets if desired.  Pack in freezer bags.

Carrots

Cut off both ends, peel and cut into desired pieces or leave whole.  Pack in freezer bags.

Pumpkin

Cut the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds (save the seeds for next years planting if you wish).  Peel the skins and cut into chunks.  Steam the chunks until they are tender.  Puree them in a blender and pour into freezer bags.  Come Thanksgiving, you've got your pumpkin ready for your pies.  Since the pureed pumpkin is somewhat thinner than the canned pumpkin, remember to use less liquid when making your pies.  Frozen pureed pumpkin tastes so much better than the canned.

Tomatoes

Wash tomatoes and cut out small core.  Cut in quarters.  No need to peel.  When tomatoes are thawed out, the peelings just slide off easily.  Put in freezer bags, but only enough in each bag that you plan to use in any one recipe.  Store in freezer until ready to use.  Use in any cooked dish.

Zucchini

Zucchini seems to ripen all at once and one zucchini plant can produce quite a few zucchinis.  Here's what you can do.  Peel the zucchini and grate it and put in freezer bags.  Store in freezer until ready to use.  Use it in making zucchini bread.  Only store enough in one bag that you intend to use for your recipe.