downwithdebt

You heard right Zucchini relish, I made this last summer with some Zucchini that got away. Peel and take out the seeds and shred them. My daughter loved it and could not tell the difference between this and the relish that I had bought in the store. This recipe has to sit over night so allow time accordingly.

• 11 cups zucchini
• 4 cups onions
• 2 green peppers
• 2 red peppers
• 1/2 cup canning salt
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 teaspoon celery salt(I have just used seed)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 4 cups sugar

Directions

Grind the zucchini, onions, and the peppers; mix with the canning salt.

1. Let stand overnight.
2. Drain and rinse in cold water, drain and rinse again, and drain again.
3. Mix 1 teaspoon of turmeric and 1 teaspoon of nutmeg and add the flour, celery seeds, black pepper, sugar and vinegar.
4. Boil 20-30 minutes and put in clean jars and seal

An overabundance of Zucchini, no worry, over the next few days I am going to post some recipes for getting rid of this vegetable! This is one plant that is very versatile, the abundance of Zucchini can be used as a frugal dessert, main course, and even frozen for future use.

Zucchini apples

8 cups of cut up zuchinni(I like to use the really big ones that got away, peel them and take the seeds out and cut up like apple slices, I freeze these in 8 cup portions)
2/3 cup of lemon juice
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp of nutmeg

Cook the zucchini in the lemon juice until tender (about 20 minutes)
add the sugar and spices

You can use this just like you would use apple pie filling, I use it to make pies or apple crisp. It really does taste like tart apples.

All this scary news has got me thinking about gardening!!  I know it is a little early but I was thinking about starting some pepper plants out, maybe spring fever has caught up to me early.  After looking in the grocery store they want $1.00 each for them!  I have heard some people grow them year round in there home.  Has anyone had any success with this?

Also any ideas on tomato plants, I have had limited success starting these indoors. This year I would like to plant more green beans to can, but I am also looking at getting some other different vegetables, maybe trying some okra or eggplant.

Have you ever seen the pre-cut ready to eat apple slices in the store? They are by the convenience produce, such as the cut up carrots, celery, broccoli and dip.  Now they have slice up apples ready to eat.  And yes they charge dearly for them.  I don’t remember how much the small bag was but I want to say it was close to $3.  The bag looked like it only had maybe one and a half medium sized apples in it.  This stuff is sold at a premium to those of us who are “in a hurry” and want to have something good to eat.

We as a society need to slow down a realize what we are spending are hard earned money on, take some time on a Sunday afternoon and bag some of these up and you have your pre-packaged convenience food at your disposal for the week.  Super easy to do and takes very little time here is what you will need:

• 5-6 apples
• 1 cup of lemon juice
• plastic bags or lunch containers to put your slices in
  

  

Cut apples in slices and soak in lemon juice for 1-2 minutes, take out and let dry, and put them in bags or containers, this process takes about 5 minutes of your time, pretty easy to justify considering it costs $3 a bag for about 1 apple in the store.

I buy my lemon juice at Sams club and it is very inexpensive, I use lemon juice when I can fruit to keep the fruit from turning brown.  The lemon juice does not add any lemon flavor to the apples.

Horseradish basically looks like a giant, 2-foot radish. It is a hardy perennial member of the cabbage family. Growing up to 30 inches high ( I think mine are larger), the plant has large, coarse leaves. I planted 3 roots about 5 years ago and since then have been blessed with a great abundance of this stuff!

Horseradish is supposed to be dug in months that have an r in them so that would be in the fall and also in April.  

I usually make several smaller jars and freeze them. WARNING: THIS IS A JOB THAT YOU WANT TO DO OUTSIDE!  Or at least with a fan on and a window open to ventilate!

You will need the following:

• Food processor or a good blender
• paring knife
• carrot peeler
• scrubbing brush 
• vinegar
• salt (fruit fresh)

Dig out roots.  Clean, discarding anything that has bad spots, only keep what you would want to eat.  Then peel like a carrot, I use a carrot peeler.  You could use a paring knife otherwise. 

• Put cut up and peeled roots in food processor or blender.
• Chop horseradish in to desired consistency, just a note, the longer you chop/blend the hotter it will be. (You are outside with this right?) Or if you are inside you have that fan on and the window open!
• Add vinegar to get desired consistency, and a little salt, or you can use fruit fresh ( I found without salt or fruit fresh the top may sometimes have a grey color to it, fruit fresh or salt will take care of the discoloring)

I know this sounds funny but whatever you do don’t lean over the food processor when you take the cover off, it about makes you pass out!  This stuff is strong!

I put it in small 1/2 pint jars and freeze.