It might be a bad gardening year for a lot of things, but certainly not for the basil. I have two rows in the main garden, which is way more than I need. I've already filled a pint jar with dried basil, and I have several pots of flavored basil in among the flowers and tomatoes, so I decided to go ahead and just pull up the garden rows.
It will give the bell peppers a bit more breathing room.
So...what to do with a big basket of basil?
Make pesto, of course!
Twenty-eight cubes of basil, a year's supply for two of us, ready for the freezer. Once it has frozen solid, I'll pop them out of the ice cube trays and into freezer bags.
Speaking of freezers, I was completely out of freezer space, what with all the green beans I've been picking. I debated buying another freezer, as I have one in Arizona that will come up here IF we ever sell the property. I caved yesterday, and bought a 5 cubic foot Kenmore. I figured it was small enough to go into the laundry room if we end up with three freezers.
I took advantage of the opportunity to clean out the larger freezer. There was quite a bit of food I'd packed into ZipLoc or Reynolds vacuum bags in 2009. They had all lost their vacuum, and were freezer burned, so out they went. Food doesn't usually get lost in there for two years, I normally empty and unplug it when we head south. Last winter, however, I had so much frozen food from the garden, I just left it plugged in. So....it didn't get cleaned out. Anyway, I had cooled off the new freezer, so I transferred everything into it and unplugged the old one. I got it all spiffy this morning, and plugged it back in. One freezer (the new one) will be used for meats and prepared foods, and the other for fruits, veggies, freezer jam and baked goods.
The freshly cleaned freezer looks rather empty with nothing but the pesto in it. It won't take long to fill it up, though. I have 8 half-pints of raspberry freezer jam in the jars, and a dozen ears of fresh corn to get into the freezer tonight. And I haven't picked beans in two days!
It might be a bad gardening year for a lot of things, but certainly not for the basil. I have two rows in the main garden, which is way more than I need. I've already filled a pint jar with dried basil, and I have several pots of flavored basil in among the flowers and tomatoes, so I decided to go ahead and just pull up the garden rows.
It will give the bell peppers a bit more breathing room.
So...what to do with a big basket of basil?
Make pesto, of course!
Twenty-eight cubes of basil, a year's supply for two of us, ready for the freezer. Once it has frozen solid, I'll pop them out of the ice cube trays and into freezer bags.
Speaking of freezers, I was completely out of freezer space, what with all the green beans I've been picking. I debated buying another freezer, as I have one in Arizona that will come up here IF we ever sell the property. I caved yesterday, and bought a 5 cubic foot Kenmore. I figured it was small enough to go into the laundry room if we end up with three freezers.
I took advantage of the opportunity to clean out the larger freezer. There was quite a bit of food I'd packed into ZipLoc or Reynolds vacuum bags in 2009. They had all lost their vacuum, and were freezer burned, so out they went. Food doesn't usually get lost in there for two years, I normally empty and unplug it when we head south. Last winter, however, I had so much frozen food from the garden, I just left it plugged in. So....it didn't get cleaned out. Anyway, I had cooled off the new freezer, so I transferred everything into it and unplugged the old one. I got it all spiffy this morning, and plugged it back in. One freezer (the new one) will be used for meats and prepared foods, and the other for fruits, veggies, freezer jam and baked goods.
The freshly cleaned freezer looks rather empty with nothing but the pesto in it. It won't take long to fill it up, though. I have 8 half-pints of raspberry freezer jam in the jars, and a dozen ears of fresh corn to get into the freezer tonight. And I haven't picked beans in two days!
I've been thinking about buying a small freezer, but I run across review comments like "it does put out a lot of heat," or "it is a little noisy." This house is small, and the freezer would, necessarily, be close by. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteNow that is A LOT of Basil! Congrats on the new freezer.Sounds like you will have it full in a few days :)
ReplyDeleteDianefaith, I thought it sounded a little noisy when I first plugged it in. It's out in the garage, so I don't notice it. I had the Whirlpool in the laundry room last year. It's a little larger, I think around 7 cubic feet, but it was very quiet. I didn't notice any heat coming from it. The lid on the Whirlpool doesn't seal down real well, never has. The Kenmore can't be pried open again for several minutes after it's closed, so it has a good seal. I do like the size of the Kenmore. It will fit nicely in the laundry room if I decide to move it inside. I have the slightly larger Kenmore in AZ, and it's been a very good freezer. Again, I can't attest to the quietness, as it's in the laundry shed.
ReplyDelete********
Mrs. Pickles, that's only half the basil! I guess I'll have to dry some more, as we don't eat THAT much pesto!
We're now a two-freezer family. I'm hoping to make jam next week. It's hard for me to find time. Your waiting freezer looks terrific.
ReplyDeleteStefaneener, you wouldn't think two old people would need two freezers, plus a big freezer in the refrigerator! I always seem to manage to overfill them, though. I made a trip to the dollar store for baskets today, maybe I can keep things semi-arranged!
ReplyDeleteWell you have two freezers but I beat you on space. Mine is a 15cuft freezer. Boy can you lose things in there. My old one that I left at the last house when we moved was a 13cuft, which was just fine. When we were shopping my husband decided that 15 was nicer and the extra power to cool that down was really negligible. So I have a really nice chest freezer. We keep ours in the basement which stays cooler than the rest of the house.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been 'buy a new freezer week'! We bought a 9cuft chest freezer to go with our bigger upright one that was full to the brim already. We're splitting the contents about like you, using the new smaller one for meats and fish and misc. stuff, and using the bigger one for our fruits and veggies, which take up most of the room.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad your green beans are coming on. The hot weather isn't suiting ours I guess. We've gotten some, but not enough!
Daphne, I had two upright freezers at our other house, but I don't like them as well as the chest freezers. Anything that is self defrosting deteriorates the food quicker. I got one large one when we moved here, then downsized. Who knew I was going to go into the green bean business? LOL. I have 19 cubic feet total, not counting the fridge. It's just that 7 cf of it is 1200 miles away. I suppose you won't allow me to count that one, huh?
ReplyDelete********
Villager, if we weren't for the fact that we're such good gardeners, we wouldn't need all those freezers! I have very little storage space for canned foods, but I can cram a lot of stuff in a chest freezer. Unfortunately, I can also lose a lot of stuff in said freezer. Of course, I can store jars of food where I can't find them, too ;-)
Beautiful basil. I am down to just one plant and it is puny looking too. They all started out as gorgeous transplants but the cool and wet conditions all spring and into summer has just been brutal on them.
ReplyDeleteWe have seriously talked about getting a second smaller sized chest freezer as an overflow and an emergency back up to our large (but getting old) upright freezer. I may just have to do that this year after seeing your nifty new chest freezer!
Our basil is crazy here too, but it's bolting and blossoming so badly I can't keep up with it - if I was smart I would root some cuttings!
ReplyDeleteNow I don't feel bad that I had to buy another freezer to hold my harvests :o)...I see others are in the same blessed condition...Wish I had my old chest freezer that was back in NJ..(couldn't get it out of the basement after remodeling)..
ReplyDeleteKitsap, as I'm organizing both freezers, I'm thinking I should have bought a larger one rather than smaller!
ReplyDelete********
Erin, that's certainly easy to do, just put a bouquet of basil in a vase and they root. I like basil bouquets (or dill, or both) in my kitchen.
********
Ginny, I can't reach the back bottom of my larger of the small freezers, so I don't miss that big one I used to have. Two small ones suit me just fine.
I'm so surprised at how quickly I have filled up the new one , now I wish I had gotten a bigger chest..(I like chest better)..even If I can't reach or lose things :o)..
ReplyDeleteGinny, I pretty much have the larger one filled today. There's still enough room along the back for more green beans, but all the other nooks, crannies and baskets are full. The new little one still has quite a bit of room left for meat, though. The inside freezer looks quite bare in comparison to what it looked like yesterday!
ReplyDelete