Fried Okra and the Food Saver

I will be the first to admit, when my husband bought our food saver, I was skeptical. My mother had a  machine called a Seal-A-Meal (or something like that) when I was a kid. I don't remember her using it. She and my dad raised a big garden and she canned vegetables all summer long. I remember jars everywhere. I remember that her pressure cooker (which I still have, but never learned to use) had belonged to her mother. And I remember a couple of times when we sprinted out of our house because the pressure had gotten too high and she thought it was gonna blow up!! It never did.
But, I digress.....
So this food saver machine that my husband brought home is amazing. It is a fast and easy way to preserve all kinds of foods, not just vegetables. For example, when chicken breasts are on sale, I buy a large package and then re-package them individually or in packages of two. The food saver machine removes all of the air so they freeze really well.
This past summer, my aunt and uncle gave me a huge grocery sack full of fresh okra from their garden. I washed it, sliced it, and breaded it with a mixture of cornmeal, salt and pepper. I then spread it out on baking sheets and covered it with plastic wrap and let it freeze overnight. The next day, I sealed portions in food saver bags and refroze it. It's easier to get a good seal on something soft, like the breaded okra, if you freeze it overnight first. And the best part, when you're ready to fry your okra, just pull it out of the freezer, cut open the bag, and pop your frozen breaded okra into the hot oil. It tastes like it just came out of the garden!      http://www.foodsaver.com/