Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Freeze It!

Yesterday's workout numbers November 18,2013:
 I only had 1 hour to spare(had to pick my daughter up from colorguard practice, a mother's work is NEVER done) so I had to GET IT IN fast and GO HARD!
So excited I did assisted pull ups yesterday!
4 sets of 5, my hands are killing me I am developing callouses on my hands :-(
Then, I ran on the treadmill.
SETTING:
 leg shaper
 level 4
 15 minutes
 burned 216 calories!

I know a lot of you have issues about buying fresh produce and worrying about it going bad before you get a chance to use it. FREEZE IT! Yep! What I have learned to do is invest in some half gallon or one gallon freezer bags(you can wash and reuse them at least 6 times) and freeze my produce.

I just recently purchased a pineapple on sale brought it home peeled it and cut it up into chunks and in the bag to the freezer it went for when I am ready to make smoothies with it. It is cheaper to do it this way as well! A fresh pineapple on sale was $1.99 a frozen bag was $3.48!  
 
You can do the same with any fruit! I also have done it with watermelon.
If you are anything like my daughter and I we like to just eat pieces of frozen pineapples sometimes as a snack.When you freeze it in small portions you can take out only what you need.  You don't even have to unthaw it when you are ready to use it in your smoothie. Just drop it right on in your blender! As a caution when it comes to watermelon I advise that you lower the amount of liquid you add to your smoothie because when blended watermelon adds extra water itself on top of being frozen. Another great thing about freezing is, it has a shelf life in your freezer for 3-6months. Therefore, you can buy fresh fruits when they are in season and freeze them so that you can have them throughout the year! Surprisingly, you can freeze bananas! I have seen people just put the whole banana in the freezer peel and all but, the problem with that is when you go to peel it you're not really sure if you are removing the whole peel because the banana will turn a dark brown/black color. I prefer to slice and freeze. They will turn slightly brown but they are still good!

With vegetable most freeze very well cooked or raw, although I have found that  raw baby spinach gets a wilted look to it. It has the appearance like it has gone bad while frozen but it hasn't. I still do it for the purpose of using it in my green smoothie because it doesn't matter how it looks it's just going to be blended up anyway! If you decide that you want to cook your vegetables first then freeze them PLEASE make sure that you allow them to cool COMPLETELY before putting them in your freezer bag and freezing them. If you place them in the freezer before they are completely cool you run the risk of bacteria growing from the bag being closed up and sweating creating a warm environment for bacteria to grow and spoiling the food because it went from hot to cold so quickly. 

Hope this has encouraged you to go out to your local Farmer's Market and get you fresh produce and freeze it! 
Take a moment to go to the Lexington Farmer's Market website to find out where the closest one is to you and their times www.lexingtonfarmersmarket.com Or find your local farmer's market website where you live and pay then a visit I'm sure they will LOVE to see you!

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