Chopping | Shredding

I hate to chop!  I don’t have very good knives or cutting boards, so I hate to chop.  But, I love fresh everything, so…for Christmas Santa brought a food processor!!!  Yea!  It does not work for everything, but a lot!!  Here’s what I do:

cutting food.jpeg

 Zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, cauliflower, and the like

  • Can be shredded and stored either in the fridge for 3-5 days or in the freezer for months.  This is such an easy way to make “fresh” veggies easy and ready to use. 

Sweet potatoes

  • Can be shredded and used right away or put in water (enough to cover all of it or in a bag) for 2-3 days in the fridge.  If you store in water, strain and then pat with a paper towel unless if you are putting them in soup.

Tomatoes

  • Can “shred” in the processor for spaghetti or soups.  If you need chopped tomatoes, you cannot use this method.  You can also freeze them if you are going to later cook them.  You will want to freeze them in serving sizes because it is a pain to break apart the whole amount each time.

Onions

  • Can be cut or shredded right before use.  Someone told me that onions are a bacteria magnet, so I don’t save them for any period of time.

Greens

  • I do love my greens!  I get every kind I can organic and in bulk.  I take an hour once a week to prep them so I can use them easily.  All but Spinach, you take out the vein (the big stem) and chop as small as you like.  I like it really small for variety of uses. 

  • I mix them and put ½ in the fridge for more “fresh” uses and the other ½ in the freezer for cooking uses. 

  • These can be stored in the fridge for a week or more.  If they are sort of wet, put a dry paper towel in the bag and don’t close it quite all the way and that will add some storage time.

Peppers

  • Can be cut per use.  I often only need ½ a pepper, so I will chop the whole thing, put the other in a bag for a meal within a few days. 

CHEESE 

  • We have not in the past used much cheese, but still need it sometimes.  We used to buy already shredded because I hate to shred.  But, I found out what crap they put on it to keep it from sticking and decided to bite the bullet. 

  • Buy large blocks of your favorite cheeses.

  • Shred by hand or with my new, totally awesome Food Processor J

  • Put each type in it’s own bag, label it with the type of cheese and the date.

  • Put in the freezer.  Lasts up to 6 months and cooks up just the same!  I make pizza, eggs, quesadillas…with it. 

 

Teresa Kerrigan