Prepped Green Beans
I finally got my computer back from the repair people! It took over three weeks and I've been making all of these awesome, healthy meals. I'm going to start off with how I prepare more of my vegetables for the freezer. I buy in bulk and go from there. Today's idea is green beans.
Ingredients:
Green Beans
Water
Ice-cold water in large bowl with strainer on top
Baking sheet for freezing
Baking sheet for freezing
Cut the ends off of your green beans and discard any that have brown, yucky spots. Keep the ends for your compost pile!
Next, bring to boil a large pot of water. This is how we make quick meals! We blanch the green beans (or any veggies) for a few minutes then we shock it in ice water. I blanch about 2-3 minutes, or until the green beans start to turn bright green. It's a gorgeous site!
Have a large bowl with ice water ready. You'll need a strainer sitting in the ice bath to help get the veggies out easily.
Look how bright green the beans have gotten. Beautiful!
And the last step is called "flash freezing." You can freeze anything you want but once it's in the freezer, and you haven't frozen it separately, everything will be stuck together. I hate trying to get things apart, or even worse, defrosting my frozen goodies. HATE IT! So, I learned this trick and it is such a time-saver! You can do this entire recipe with steaks, chicken, beef, any veggies. (The protein needs to be cooked the way you want to eat it, not blanched. Or you could simply have it in separate portions then flash freeze from there. That way you can grab a certain portion and start cooking).
Once the veggies have cooled, tear off a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper and line a baking dish. This makes for much easier removal to place in freezer bags.
Lay your dry green beans on the parchment paper and freeze for about 1 hour before moving to a freezer bag or other freezer-approved container.
Lay your dry green beans on the parchment paper and freeze for about 1 hour before moving to a freezer bag or other freezer-approved container.
Now you have individual pieces of green beans instead of one solid chunk. It literally takes me 5-7 minutes to prepare my green beans for a meal if I do this simple process of flash freezing. Believe me, once you start doing this, life gets easier, meals are quicker and tastier!
Enjoy this flash freezer idea!
I would really like to start doing this! I bet you save a lot of money by buying in bulk instead of getting the already packaged ones from the freezer. Never actually tried this before, but I feel alot more comfortable about trying it now. Glad that you have your computer back! Your site looks great. :)
ReplyDeleteSilly question...after you do this, when you want to eat them do you boil them again?
ReplyDeleteHi Angie,
DeleteNot a silly question at all. Maybe I should edit the post with further cooking instructions! :)
Yep, after you blanch/freeze, you can cook the veggies any way you want to. Steam saute it, boil, bake, broil, grill.. It just takes less time to cook since you pre-cooked it.
What a great idea! What other veggies have you done this with?
ReplyDeleteKim,
DeleteI do this to almost any veggie I can think of. I do this with cauliflower, broccoli, yellow squash, zucchini.. I also cut up sweet potato and just freeze it without blanching.
Works great!
Angela
Why Blanche? I do my peppers and other veggies but don't blanche. Does it improve green beans?
ReplyDelete