Category:

Freezing

Homemade Uncrustables

by Margauex October 30, 2023

written by Margauex

Make your own homemade uncrustables. These frozen pb&j sandwiches are a quick and easy addition to your weekly meal prep. They are portable, great for road-trips, vacations and snacks on the go.

I’ve been looking for healthy and tasty portable food that I could do a big batch of. My daughter loves pb&j sandwiches so I wanted to find a way to make uncrustables from scratch. These uncrustables are an easy meal on the go at a fraction of the cost of store-bought ones. You get to control the ingredients making them so much healthier too.

What do I need to make the uncrstables?

All you need is peanut butter, jelly, bread, and this cutter/sealer. This one is awesome because it comes with two sizes along with a meat and cheese cutter. It works great to make not only pb&js but also meat and cheese sandwiches, egg salad and chicken salad. It has a dome on the top stopping your sandwich innards from getting smushed and pushed out the edge of the seal.

What kind of bread do I use?

Any kind of sandwich bread will do. I make my own bread loafs and it fits one large or two of the smaller circle cuts. Looking for a sandwich bread recipe? Check out mine here.

how do I keep the uncrustables from getting soggy?

The trick is all in the layering. You want to layer the jelly in between the peanut butter. The peanut butter acts as a barrier from the bread and wet jelly. This stops the bread from absorbing the jelly and gettting soggy. This goes for other sandwiches also. I use cheese as a barrier for my meat and cheese sandwiches. So the layering goes: bread>cheese>mayo>meat>mustard>cheese>bread. It really helps to keep the bread nice and firm. For egg salad, I just make them day of or the night before and haven’t had them become soggy.

How do I freeze The Uncrustables

You will want to flash-freeze them for a couple of hours. Make sure you use parchment paper for anything you flash freeze. If you don’t, the food will stick to whatever container you are using and you will have to let them thaw a bit before pulling them off. It is a hassle and super annoying.

I personally use either my wire cooling rack with parchment paper over it or a 9×13 baking dish with parchment paper. Any container that fits in your freezer will do.

After they are flash-frozen just store them in any freezer-safe bag. I use either Ziploc freezer bags or reusable stasher bags. I have slowly been adding Stasher Bags to my collection to stop using non-reusable bags.

What I love about the sealed sandwiches is the fact my 14-month-old can eat them on the go without making a huge mess everywhere. I feel like because they are sealed, there is less of a mess dripping out everywhere like with an unsealed sandwich.

October 30, 2023 0 comments

Recipe | Sourdough Waffles

by Margauex September 24, 2023

written by Margauex

Do you want to start sourdough but it feels overwhelming? Do you think what am I supposed to do with all the starter every week? What about the discard? Well I have the recipe for you. This sourdough waffle recipe tastes amazing and uses the discard each week. I make a big batch on Sunday and throw them in the freezer. You just pop the, in the toaster and you have a healthy waffle for daily breakfasts.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup starter
2 cups flour
2 cups cold milk
4 tablespoons melted butter-salted
2 eggs-beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Optional: 1 Cup frozen blueberries, chocolate chips etc.

Tools:

Waffle Iron
Mixing Bowl
Measuring cups/spoons
Spatula or other mixing utensil
clean towel

Step 1:

Mix starter, flour, and milk in a bowl. Cover with clean towel and leave overnight in a warm place. I leave mine on top of my stove.

Step 2:

In the morning, add to the bowl: melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla and baking soda. If using unsalted butter add 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix well until everything is incorporated.

Step 3:

Put about 3/4 cup of mixture into large waffle maker. For a mini, use between 1/8 cup and 1/4 cup. Add in blueberries or chocolate chips. Close waffle maker and follow your waffle makers instructions. Serve with butter and syrup. Enjoy!

Step 4:

Optional: Flash freeze extras and then store in a reusable freezer bag. Pop them in the toaster for 3 minutes and have waffles whenever you feel like it. I use a mini maker for this purpose. My larger waffle maker makes them too big to fit in toaster.

tips:

Use a mini waffle maker to make perfect size waffles to fit in toaster.
This batter can be used as a pancake batter.
They can also be flash frozen to have later!

[penci_recipe]

September 24, 2023 0 comments

Freezing

Freezing | Peppers

by Margauex September 13, 2023

written by Margauex

Whether you blanch or freeze peppers raw, they will be limp when thawed, making them work best in cooked dishes. I typically use them for fajitas and pizza toppings. I’ve found that blanching them before makes them mushy so I prefer to slice them into fajita strips and freeze them raw. Raw peppers don’t last as long in the freezer as blanched so if you are looking for more long-term storage you’ll want to blanch them. I typically use my peppers within a year and have not had an issue with them.

Prep Peppers

For larger peppers, like bell peppers, remove the stem, seeds, and ribs. Cut them into strips about 1/2 inch wide. You can also dice them. If you dice them I would pre-measure a serving size and flash freeze them for easier use.
For hot peppers, remove them stem and then cut into 1/4 inch rings. If you want to make them milder, remove the seeds and rings. If you are looking to make something like jalapeño poppers, cut them in half and remove seeds and ribs.

Blanch

If you decide to blanch, steam blanch peppers for 2 minutes, tossing around the 1 minute mark. DO NOT USE AN ICE-BATH. Drain as much water as possible then spread warm peppers on a towel lined pan to cool.

Freeze

Peppers pack best in freezer bags. For strips I just toss in gallon size bag and they are good to go. If you pre-dice, consider flash freezing in smaller quantities. I use a muffin tin and put a serving in each one. Once the pucks are frozen you pop them out and put them in a freezer bag to store.

September 13, 2023 0 comments

Freezing Preserving

Excess Summer Squash? Freeze it!

by Margauex August 14, 2023

written by Margauex

Freezing shredded Zucchini

Looking to add extra veggies to meals like chili, meatloaf, pasta sauce, oatmeal, or blended soups or maybe you want to make classic baked goods such as zucchini bread or muffins, well look no further. Shredding is a super handy way to use up an abundance of summer squash or overgrown zucchini. It is super versatile and can be added to just about anything. You can use this technique for all kinds of summer squash.

Prep: Use a box grater or a food processor with a shredding disc attachment. If your summer squash is more than 2 1/2 inches in diameter cut it in half and scoop out the soft spongey center before shredding.
Freeze: Place half-cup portions in a muffin tin. After frozen the pucks should pop right out. Store in a freezer ziploc container.

Freezing summer squash cubes/chunks

Prep: use smaller, tender summer squash if you are planning to cook with it. Cut in half lengthwise and then into 1-inch pieces.
Blanch: Steam blanch for 4 minutes tossing at the 2-minute mark. Drain as much water as possible before placing it on a towel-lined pan to cool and dry.
Freeze: Squash chunks do well in freezer bags. They will stick together so consider freezing in smaller quantities, or flash freezing on a pan then place them in a freezer-safe bag for storage.

Freezing Zoodles

Prep: You will need a specialized gadget in order to make zoodles. I use a Spiralizer It comes with several different blades so you can make different-sized noodles with lots of different vegetables.
Blanch: Steam blanch for 3 minutes tossing around the 90-second mark. Drain as much water as possible then transfer to a towel-lined pan to cool and dry.
Freeze: Store in freezer bags. I use quart-size freezer Ziploc bags as that is a meal serving size for us.
Cook: To Heat thaw zoodles in the refrigerator overnight. Drain any excess water. Heat a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the zoodles and stir frequently until heated, about 2-3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook.

August 14, 2023 0 comments