Eyes on the Prize

I've taken the same attitude towards this blog as I have towards my garden in recent weeks: I want to do more than I have time for, so I'll just put it off until all of our trips are over.

I have some downtime tonight, however, so here's a little update. We literally have travelled every other weekend, so in the off weekends when we are home, we've spent time with friends. I wrote about the day I spend making lasagna. Since then, I've tried to add to my freezer stash by doubling batches of dinner and putting up garden harvests as they come in.

So far I've made up the lasagnas, soups, sauce, meatballs, chicken pot pie, and pizza doughs. Is there anything more comforting than a freezer full of ready-to-cook food?

Recently I dug up half of the potatoes and mashed them for the freezer:

It was my first time trying this, and I froze them in muffin tins before sealing them with my FoodSaver. I see a future filled with pork chops, mashed taters, and rotating fresh veg from the garden. Come ON tomatoes!

The other half of the potatoes I'll mash and use in several batches of shepherd's pie, along with a few of our TONS of onions and these:

Bill and I pulled these up last night, and again, I have to admit, MUCH better than last year's yield. I haven't been keeping track well, but we've already harvested enough carrots to use fresh for a few dinner and make up a couple of chicken pot pies. I'm not really a fan of canned carrots, so I'm trying to cook and freeze them in meals as much as possible. I think I have enough for 4 or 5 shepherd's pies and a few more quarts of chicken soup. Surprisingly, the swiss chard stems worked really well in the soup, so I will definitely be using them again--especially since they're still growing!