A New Toy

Every good blog needs some pictures, right?

Well, tonight, I begin....with one.

My boss once told me she could keep me happy at work by giving me a new "toy" to figure out, experiment with, and successfully use every few years.  Well, tonight, my new "toy" was at home.

A few weeks ago, I found it...my dream machine on sale at an incredibly low, low price.  Welcome FoodSaver to my official kitchen membership.

Tonight was my first night to use.  I started by reading the manual (I've learned that's a great idea after messing up many things by not reading them in the past!)  Then I started my project for the night, cleaning out the freezer as much as possible to store as many of the 500 undecorated "Kari's Kookies" until they need decorating for Palm Sunday at church.  I did the typically food saver stuff....the chicken breasts, my individual homemade breakfast burritos, etc.  Then I looked (wished I would have taken a picture) and frowned....what was I going to do with the super large roasting pan full of the slightly overripe bananas that they sell for super cheap at the supermarket before they go bad. Perfect bananas for making banana bread, muffins, smoothies, etc.  Bring on the "new toy" experiment for the night.  I set the bananas out on the table to begin to thaw slightly.  When they were "just soft, yet slightly frozen", I peeled the bananas and packaged them 4 to a bag, vaccuum packed them and sealed them.  It worked brilliantly!!  Even after they were sealed, I could smash the bananas into a smooth, flat bag and stack them in a very small place in the freezer.  Perfectly packed for defrosting and mixing into batters of bread, and taking up a lot less space in the freezer!

Back to the cookies I was making room for.  That was actually the reason I bought the FoodSaver. I want to experiment with packing "Kari's Kookies" and keeping them in tact and fresh for possible shipping to friends and others who might request them.  I didn't get to that experiment tonight.....but am hopeful. After all, it's a new toy and I'm loving figuring out everything I can use it for!  Wish me luck!