Good afternoon my friends!!! I hope that you all are having a most glorious day, Happy Easter!!!!! The tomb is empty this morning and Christ has Risen indeed!!!!!!! That is some of the best news this world has ever gotten!!! The world we live in is filled with evil and we all know it. Our only hope is the Hope that we have in Christ. Scripture tells us just how evil and wicked this world will get and it's gotten there pretty quickly. But scripture also tells us that Christ has overcome the world!!! So if you know Christ as you perconal Lord and Savior, you are an overcomer through Him. Praise His Holy Name!!!!! Again, Happy Easter!!!!! Thank God today for this blessing!!!
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I have compiled several of my dehydrating projects and am sharing them here, all in one long post. Well, a lot of them anyway. It may not be all, because I've done an awful lot of dehydrating and taken many many pictures. Probably way to many, but now you get to see some of them. hahahaha also when I was putting up the pictures, a lot of them got in the wrong order, but I know y'all can figure them out. I am really sorry about that, I tried to fix, but the more I tried, the worse it got, so I just left them alone. again, I'm sorry about that.
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Since I had some produce to put on the dehydrator, I thought I would share how I do it for us. There is 6 serrano peppers on the left side of my dehydrator tray. I split each one down the middle and then split them in half, making 4 pieces. I know when I reach for my serrano pepper jar that 4 pieces make 1 pepper. when I do my shishito peppers, I will just split them down the middle and that's it. 2 pieces will make 1 pepper. They are usually smaller and shorter than my serranos. When I do my fresno peppers, I'll split them down the middle and then split each half down the middle again. They don't get as long as the serranos, but they do get fatter. Again, 4 pieces will equal 1 pepper. It's just an easy way for me to know, without really having to think about it, how many pieces I need when I'm going to be using them. If I can work out a system like this for any of my dehydrated goods, I do. It makes it easier to use. It makes it easier to powder. I can have a good visual of how much 4 pieces of my pepper will make when powdered. Just work on your own system of use and write on your jars any calculations you come up with. Sometimes, my jars look like math projects that went awry. hahaha Just a word of caution, when working with HOT peppers, do wear a glove on the hand handling the cut peppers. If you don't, you will wish you had. hahaha Especially if you rub your eye a week later. hahahaha
We went to an amish store on Wednesday and I got a couple boxes of frozen rhubarb. 3 lbs worth. I get it at least once a year. Since it's frozen, I let it thaw in the fridge a couple days and then pressed as much liquid from it as possible. I wish I had taken a pic of the before, but just didn't think about it. 3 lbs went down to 3 oz. But it makes a wonderful powder to use in just about anything. Then I had some mandarins in the fridge that needed to be used. I had already peeled about a lb and a half so I finished filling my dehydrator with them on the top rack. I didn't weigh them before or after. I put some back on just now, because they weren't completely dry in the center. These will be turned into powder and put into something "chocolate" for my hubby. Some of the mandarins are darker than others because of the sugar content in them. Some were sweeter than others. I done these at the same time on 125* and set the machine for 48 hours and forgot about it. When the other mandarins get done, that jar will be full.
more dehydrating projects. BOTTOM pic: jar 1 has mixed veggies from where I cleaned out some of my boxes that I keep prepped veg in. Jar 2 has 3 sliced yellow squash. Jar 3 has green onion blades from my freebie roots that I planted from a batch of green onions. Trying to fill that jar. Jar 4 has 2 zucchini. TOP pic: jar 1 has pea hulls. I'll have more to put in that this afternoon, when I pick peas. Once dehydrated, I'll grind the pea hulls and add it to green powder. Jar 2 has cherry tomatoes. Before I get more at the store, I'll dehydrate what I already have, so nothing goes to waste. Good snacking. Jar 3 is leek greens from the roots of some leeks I purchased and planted the roots. Trying to get that little jar filled too. Sticking to my motto "something is better than nothing". do a little and it adds up. (pictures got mixed up when I uploaded them)
building my stash from unused veggies I prepped earlier in the week. plus, some zucchini and yellow squash for the purpose of dehydrating. I don't do anything on large scale. I mostly salvage what I have in the fridge on a weekly basis. but, it all adds up. "something is better than nothing". pic 1: each jar of squash has 6 in them. I want to get some more dehydrated. maybe mine will kick in and start giving me some to dehydrate. the jar of pepper strips was started last month. and it's just about full. pic 2: that small jar is of my serrano peppers. I split them length ways and then cut them in half, making 4 pieces per pepper. I know it takes
4 pieces to = 1 pepper. the next jar is tomatoes, I filled it up with what I took off this morning and the last jar is mixed veg. I added about a half inch of diced celery. all these little kibbles and bits add up to meals in the future. yay!!
russet potatoes for dehydrating: peeled and sliced in 1/2 inch slabs, then made 1/2 inch sticks and then made 1/2 inch dice (not all are the same length, some a little longer but if thickness of slices and width of sticks are good, the length can be a little off). put in bowl of cold water as I was peeling slicing and dicing. drained water 3 times and refilled with cold water each time. total rinse time was about 45 mins. while rinsing got my boiling pot ready and put potatoes in, let it come back to full rolling boil, started timer set at 5 mins. immediately lifted from boiling pot and put in bowl with ice water. let sit till most of ice is melted. pour off that water and put more cold water over and let potatoes cool completely. I gently stirred them in my strainer so the cold water would reach them all. drain well and put on dehydrator and don't worry about time. I dehydrated at 120F till they were rock hard. plenty of rinsing before blanching washed off a ton of starch. each time the water was almost cream colored just from the starch being washed off. I am thoroughly convinced that plenty of rinsing and blanching for the right amt of time, especially with the starchier potatoes will prevent blackened potato slices. I have another batch of potatoes to get done and I will do them the same exact way. I also cut off any noticeable black spots on the potatoes as I'm peeling them. I think that helps with some of the discoloration too. hope this helps anyone that's having issues.
I was working on some lunch prep just a few minutes ago and while I was, my mind is always pre-occupied with what I'm going to dehydrate next. I was splitting some cherry tomatoes in half. and as I was thinking about what I was doing, I got my phone and a took a pic. when I slice cherry tomatoes, sometimes I'm not paying attention and just want to get the job done. but over the last couple of years I have figured out how to slice them for them to dehydrate a little quicker. notice the picture. #1 is the tomato and you see the stem end. #2 is the tomato sliced from the stem end to the bloom end, north to south. #3 is the tomato sliced around the circumference of the tomato, east to west. #3, east to west will dehydrate quicker because all the moisture and seeds in the tomato is exposed. #2 will take FOREVER because all the moisture and seeds are still enclosed in the meat of the tomato. the purpose of my slicing them this morning was insignificant, but if I was slicing them to put on my dehydrator it would be very significant. slicing them east to west, the seeds are always exposed. my main problem is that I have a hard time remembering this until I have a tray or 2 already full!!
stocking my stash: 3 jars of recently dehydrated produce. onions, bell peppers and potatoes. I also took a pic down in the tops of the jars. the onions and bell peppers are absolutely divine to smell. I can eat them straight from the jars. hahaha the bell peppers are quickly becoming a favorite chip. will be using the onions and bell peppers as a crunch factor on salads. anyone that could come up with a kitchen deodorizer spray that smells like these could make a fortune!! hahaha onions and bell peppers are crispy like a cracker or chip and the potatoes are hammer hard. hahaha I hope to get onion jar full and then get 2 more jars the same size filled with bell peppers and potatoes. this is the finishedd dehydrated potatoes from earlier up in the blog post, they are done now. yay!!
this jar is of zucchini and I weighed some before I dehydrated it and dried it separately so when it was all dehydrated, I would know what it should weigh when I ehydrate it to put in zucchini bread. that's what you see on the jar. 11 grams of dehydrated is equivalent to 2 cups rehydrated. so when I rehydrate it, it should weigh 344 grams for the recipe I like to use this in. this is a good way for you to know what the amount for a recipe should weigh. weigh it before dehydrated and then weigh it after and then you'll know what the rehydrated weight should be.
I finally got my Micro Mini Marshmallows off the dehydrator after 48 hours at 125F. that is my preferred time for most things. I had to keep my spiced pumpkin marshmallows on there until the morning at least. you can't rush the process. time is the one thing that most instructions get wrong and it causes a lot of frustration with people that are new to dehydrating. and people telling their times can also cause frustration. so I always say "set your machine to the highest time setting and leave it alone". if it's dry before the time runs out, then YAY. if not, add more time. when you have to deal with a lot of humidity, that adds a lot of time. when I was testing these to see if they were dry enough, my husband was my tester. he really likes the pumpkin spice ones and he kept saying "I need another one, I just don't know, I really need another one". marshmallow thief!!! I'm down about a quarter of bag when I realized he just wanted to eat my marshmallows even if they weren't crispy. he better be glad Santa has already been around, he would gotten a rock in stocking for such a mean trick.
got another batch of my cornbread swirls made with MORE of my dehydrated and ground up veggies in them. these are so stinkin' good. this jar of ground up goodness come about from having bits and pieces and scraps and dabs left in jars. I couldn't just toss out my hard work, so I emptied about 19 or 20 jars that had the scarps into my nurtibullet and let the good times roll. it smells wonderful and I think I have my new favorite way to make my cornbread swirls. I think the recipe for these swirls are in a post that I made within the last couple of weeks. anyway, just wanted to share that I put MORE (3 heaping tablespoons) of this goodness in this batch and they are the "business".
this is my recipe: I use my bread machine to mix. this is a YEAST bread, so it has to have the rise time. I mix it in my bread machine over the course of an hour and a half. if you use a bread machine, put ingredients in as your brand recommends. otherwise, mix and let rise and mix more and let rise and mix more over the course of an hour and a half.
Cornbread Swirls
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 box jiffy corn muffin mix or a mix of your own
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 tablespoon real butter
mix in bread machine or by hand till dough ball is well incorporated and holds together.
spread a little cornmeal on your work surface and flatten with rolling pin till about 10" by 18". brush top of bread with a tablespoon of melted butter. use a skewer or dowel rod as a straight edge and pizza cutter to cut strips , try to get at least 17 or 18 strips. lightly roll each strip to form a swirl. put on parchment lined baking sheet and let rise for about an hour and bake at 350* till browned the way you like. these are delicious!! I also sometimes make twisted sticks instead of the swirls.
(I also add in 2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten. you don't have to have use it, I just do. also 2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt, especially if you are adding in dehydrated produce like I did.)
ATTENTION**************adding the veggies to this mix will make it very sticky. I have hand and arm issues, so I have to use a bread machine to do the mixing of all my doughs and I watch it closely. I had to add a little more flour to this particular batch, because I added 3 heaping tablespoons of my mixed veggies. just add flour 1 tablespoon at a time. if you add too much flour, just add a few drops of milk or water at a time.
cornbread swirls made with 3 heaping tablespoons of what's in the jar, my Master Mix, to cornbread swirls and they are delicious and will be wonderful with soup. you can taste the veggies and they smell so good.
just wanted to share a different way to use our dehydrated goods. this is my master mix of all the veggies on the side of the jar and this is what I put in my bread. all dehydrated and ground up for this purpose. sorry about deleting the picture.
