Preserving

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard..........4/05/2012

This week's Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard is all about Greens.....freezing greens and drinking greens! We have had some really nice greens & spinach harvests around here lately.

First I'll talk about freezing greens. I freeze, Kale, Collards, Spinach and even Asian Greens. It's very simple and they store very well in the freezer. The only green that I have noticed doesn't taste well after about 6 - 8 months is spinach. We had one portion of frozen spinach that was in the freezer for awhile and it wasn't very good. I really forget how long it was in there, but I do believe that it was under 1 year.

How to Freeze your Greens:
  1. Go out in the garden and pick some really nice greens.
  2. Wash them and then drain them in a colander or you can place them on a towel. I wash mine off, shake them a bit and then place them on a towel.
  3. Next, I start a big pot of boiling water on the stove
  4. While I'm waiting for the water to boil, I chop off any woody parts of the stems and then chop the greens a bit. You don't have to chop them. I don't chop the spinach.
  5. When the water starts to boil, prepare a big bowl or your sink with very cold water & ice.
  6. Next, you blanch the greens in the boiling water. You will find that the recommended time for greens is about 3 minutes for collards and 2 minutes for other greens. I don't blanch my greens that long. I blanch them about half the recommended time. I know that according to "you know who"....this is a no no. But, that's the way we like them.
  7. Once the greens are blanched, immediately put them in the cold ice water for a couple of minutes. This stops them from over cooking.
  8. Remove the greens from the ice water, drain thoroughly and then put them in Freezer Bags or Vacuum Seal them. 
I freeze all of our vegetables in portion sizes for the two of us. That way we don't waste any nice veggies. Another tip is to use a stainless colander to hold the greens in while blanching and cooling.

That's all there is to freezing greens!!!

Now, How to drink your greens. We have been having some great Kale shakes around here lately. I have to say that they are absolutely delicious!!

How to drink your Greens:
  1. Go out and pick yourself some nice greens. We have been using Kale. I guess you could use other greens too.....but, Kale is so so good for you
  2. Get out your avocado green blender from the 1970's
  3. Chop those greens up, about 2 Cups for one big shake
  4. Put a little crushed ice in the blender
  5. Add the greens, 1 Cup of Soy Milk, 1 Organic Banana (or other fruit of choice) and blend!
  6. That's it....now drink those wonderful nutritious greens.

You can also add about 1 tablespoon of  flax seeds to your drink before blending for some added nutrition and fiber.


I just love this shakes.....and I don't even like bananas! I think this would be a great way to get the little ones to eat more greens.!

What have you been making with your harvests, stores or putting away for another day???

30 comments:

  1. Must admit I've never frozen greens although my sister has. The drinking bit reminded me or my granddad who used to drink cabbage water i.e. the water in which the cabbage had been cooked - he swore by it!

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    1. We really love these shakes. I'm going to have to try using some frozen strawberries next. I love cabbage and would probably like cabbage water :)

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  2. Funny I don't find an issue with storing spinach for a year. I do blanch for the full time though. It might be the short blanching time that gets you. I store spinach in the spring every year for the winter. If I can grow enough in the spring it is the main green that I eat over the winter. I'll eat it right up to the next harvest time and it still tastes great. I only freeze mine in single serve blocks though. My husband won't touch the stuff.

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    1. Daphne, It was the last portion of frozen spinach in the freezer. I really don't remember how long it was in there. I don't like my veggies mushy and never blanch anything very long. I've tried using the recommended times on a lot of different veggies and they turned out awful. I guess I should try blanching some of the spinach a little longer and see how it turns out. I'll have to mark the packages different. Thanks for the tip and your heavenly recipe!! Yum!

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  3. I've always been a little scared of green drinks, unless of course they are mojito's. But everyone seems to be drinking kale smoothies so perhaps I should join in. Are they really nice?

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    1. Liz, I'm with you on the mojitos!! We love it and I grow a lot of mint just for that purpose!! I have to say that the Kale shakes are wonderful! Surprisingly, I really really love them!

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  4. Yum green smoothies:) Such a great way to add more veggies and minerals to the standard American diet that is always so low in veggies to begin with.

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    1. We are just loving these nutritious drinks!

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  5. I freeze my spring greens as well and they are largely what we are down to in the freezer - and they are going fast! Luckily the spring greens are coming on again and ramping up in production. If we would just get ut of the cold funk we are in they would explode.

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    1. I need to go out and harvest some more greens and spinach today. Hopefully your weather will turn around soon.

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  6. Great post! I have been staring out the window at my abundant swiss chard wondering how I was going to use it all up...now I know!

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    1. Thanks Patricia, Now you can freeze some greens and also have a delicious shake without the guilt!

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  7. I am going to have to try the kale shakes. Definitely looks good. I freeze a lot of my greens but they are used up too fast to go bad usually although sometimes there are turnip greens that don't get used.

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    1. I think that you will like the shakes. I usually have a difficult time growing spinach. So, we were using it as a treat just now and then. Hopefully I will have a good crop this year to freeze.

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  8. great tips! I should really try drinking greens....but it never happens..lol

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    1. We were thinking about it and looking at different recipes for some time. Now that we have tried them....we are hooked!!

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  9. Robin, concerning your frozen greens, do you just use them in your shakes or do you cook them up later as a vegie? Just wondering. this is my first year going a 'decent" garden and will have an abundence of lettuce and other greens. Would appreciate your advice.

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    1. The frozen greens are used as veggies with dinner. I've only made shakes with fresh greens. Hopefully it will be a good veggie gardening year for all!

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  10. It took me a long time to be brave enough for Green smoothies.

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  11. I never seem to have enough greens to freeze. Hopefully this year. The shake looks very interesting.

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    1. The shake is almost as good as a milkshake!

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  12. drinking greens!?!? *passes out* for heavens sakes.. *wanders off to see if i have any greens for drinking....*
    ;)

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    1. OFG, you could always add a little Vodka and it would be the perfect drink after a long day of chasing critters!!

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  13. Speaking of playing catchup! I cannot believe how much I've missed in your garden. We too have been soo busy.

    Robin, you must be ecstatic with the new area.. so wonderful they came through so you could begin this season. The plot looks great!

    We've been picking kale and spinach much of the winter, and since I've never had a drink as you describe (although we have one every morning with banana, peach or blueberries or whatever we have frozen), it looks like it's worth a try this morning.

    Happy Easter to you and the Italian. ;)

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    1. Thanks Diana, the new plots are a ton of work! I was looking forward to an easier year after all the hard work last year. Oh well, it will be wonderful once it's finished.

      I hope that you enjoyed those shakes. They are almost as good as a milkshake!

      Enjoy your holiday!

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  14. Oh, I forgot to add that my "yellow" 1970 mixer is still in use. :)

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    1. I think our "retro" blenders will be around for some time!

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  15. Do you every juice your greens? My niece and sister juice greens every day for good health and anti-cancer use.
    Also juicing beets and apples is good for cleaning your liver. A clean liver can elimnate many health issues.
    My next blog will be about how to juice and what foods to eat for different ailments.
    Great blog.

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    1. We have a brand new juicer that I need to start using. I will have to check out your blog and upcoming post!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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