Pea of Sweetness

How to Freeze Green Beans and Wax Beans {Without Fancy Equipment}

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How do you freeze beans? I actually wasn’t planning on freezing the beans, but sometimes you have to innovate!
How to Freeze Beans Without Fancy Equipment
A couple weeks ago I was so excited to take home a big harvest from our garden. One of the biggest challenges we have is that our garden is at my dad’s house in a small town just south of ours. So it’s not as easy as just walking outside, harvesting what we need (and what needs to be harvested), and going back out the next day. Because of this, I had to dive into the world of preserving. I have to harvest a bunch of stuff at once and make sure we can still use all of it!
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So, as I was making a few jars of refrigerator pickles, I was also preparing our green bean and wax beans for storage. I was so excited to put the great canning set I got last year for Can-It-Forward Day! I have great memories of canning beans when I was young. Unfortunately, though, I discovered beans should only be canned with a pressure canner. As much as I’d love to have one, I don’t! *Pout*

Freeze Beans

What I could do, though, was freeze beans – without any fancy equipment. The “equipment” I used was a simple dutch oven, a large bowl, a colander, and Ziplock Freezer Bags. That’s it!
So how did I do it? Read on!
 

Prep the Beans

Prep Beans for Freezing
Wash the beans. First, wash the beans. I washed them with Lemon essential oil.
Cut and/or snap the beans. Then I prepped the beans by cutting off the ends and into 1-2 inch pieces. Of course, they can be snapped as well. (If you have kids, this is a great way to get them involved!) Throw out any that are overripe (tough), or have dark spots.
 

Blanch the Beans

Boil the water. Fill your dutch oven (or large pot) with water – just enough to make sure it will cover the beans. You can make multiple batches if necessary.
Bring the water to a boil. Once boiling, add the beans to the water for 3 minutes.
Add the beans. Be sure to have a large bowl full of ice water. After boiling for 3 minutes add the beans immediately to the ice water.
Transfer the beans. Because I was doing both green beans and wax beans, I simply used a slotted spoon to scoop the beans out of the boiling water and into the ice water. This way I still had boiling water for the next batch. With the last batch I dumped them into the colander and then into the ice water. Leave them in the ice water for around 3 minutes.

Prep Garden Harvest for Storage
Just a few of our garden goodies
 

Store the Beans

Then put the beans into the freezer bags. Be sure to remove the air. It can be helpful to run it under hot water (after sealing) to further seal the bag. Many will use vacuum sealing, which is great. Once again, I don’t have it, and I wanted to share a way to do this as easily as possible without fancy equipment!
Be sure to label the bags so you know what date they were frozen. If you freeze beans in this way, they can be stored for up to 3 months.
That’s it! Easy peasy! You can even opt to take out a few beans at a time to thaw and keep the rest frozen to use later!
What are some of your favorite recipes with green beans or wax beans? I can’t wait to make some delicious green bean casserole!
 

Gardening with the Whole Family

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Gardening for us is a family activity. Family gardening can be such a rewarding experience. I love getting the kids involved in our garden. They helped us plan our garden and get right into the hard work as well. Gardening can be a great educational experience as well as a family bonding experience.
Here are some great tips for family gardening in this guest post written by HappinessAmbassador.

Family Gardening – Gardening with the Whole Family

Family Gardening
Some things are difficult to teach kids at a very young age, such as sustainability, the need to appreciate nature and learning how to care for the environment. But there are a myriad of activities that can help your children gain a better understanding of the great outdoors, starting with your very own garden.
Gardening is a great excuse to get the entire family to spend some quality time together, as well as grow some plants to eventually put food on the table, or simply improve your landscaping.
Earth Easy suggests children are natural gardeners, so if you ever thought that you would have a tough time bringing out their green thumbs, we’ve got you covered with these fun gardening ideas:

1) Work with plants they can easily identify and eat

Your kids may like flowers, but planting fruit and vegetables will increase their dedication to their care and growth, checking on them every day until they’re ready to be picked. Something else to keep in mind is that “children want quick results,” according to an interview on Tootsa with freelance gardener Sophy Lennon from London. So opt for plants that are easy to work with in terms of maintenance and short growth cycle. Herbs, sweet peas, and strawberries are a good place to start.

2) Give them the appropriate tools

Young gardeners need the right tools, which means child friendly and colorful. These include brightly colored gloves, a set of hand tools, a watering can, and garden markers to differentiate between their plants. Something else that might increase their excitement for this outdoor activity is a costume. Even if all of you are just wearing straw hats or bandanas, they’ll show more interest in playing the part when dressed in the proper gear, states Jennifer Chait from Inhabitots.

3) Let them design the garden

Give the kids some freedom in the garden by not only allowing to pick and plant their seeds, but also by letting them design their own garden path. Begin by handing them a twig or stick draw the layout in the soil. To outline the design, kids may use white play sand, pebbles, gravel or small stones, also allowing for some creativity in the garden.

4) Have them paint rocks that you can decorate the garden with

Ask your kids to help you collect rocks that you can paint and then place in your garden. Have everyone sit around a table with a selection of paints to color the rocks. For a fun little twist, you can tell your kids to paint the rocks according to the seeds they’re going to plant. One family outlined their strawberry garden with strawberry decorated rocks, and as an added benefit, the rocks confused animals and prevented them from eating the fruits.
By following these little tips, gardening may turn into a regular activity for family bonding!
– Written by HappinessAmbassador