Saving Fresh Produce

Our family is like many other families with three children and a pet. We don't have a lot of time and our schedule can change at the drop of a hat. My husband has a job and works as a musician, our family is active in church activities, and of course there are family and school activities. It only follows that some of our fresh produce sometimes is not used. Instead of throwing it away we decided to freeze the produce we buy when it is in danger of spoiling. Today, my husband took two bunches each of cilantro and flat leaf Italian parsley, a green pepper, two onions, a bunch of celery, and a bulb of garlic and chopped them for freezing. Not only are we avoiding throwing away fresh produce but we are also preparing some traditional seasoning mixes for dishes we prepare regularly. We have two friends from Puerto Rico who turned us on to Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice) and Arroz con Gandules (Rice and Pigeon Peas). These dishes both require sofrito which is a mix of olive oil, garlic, green pepper, cilantro, and onion. We made two batches of sofrito for the freezer. We also tend to cook Italian dishes that use parsley, onion, celery, and garlic. We made two batches of this blend as well. We labeled them and stuck them in the freezer for future use. Just think about it – grocers sell frozen vegetables that are healthy and in high demand. You can make your own frozen vegetables with less common and even exotic ingredients.