Good Monday morning!!!! Did that sound all chipper and upbeat? Well, I tried. Look at the second word, that answers it all. Yes it's Monday!!! And I am really trying to type this in as chipper and upbeat manner as I can and I do hope it comes across as such. hahaha
I have learned that one of the best things I can say about Monday's is this, "Praise God I lived to see another Monday"! Monday's make me feel like a weary soldier climbing another mountain, getting ready for another long battle. And you know what, if you love and serve the Lord, that is exactly what we are doing. Every day is one more day that we are in the battle of our lives. Trying to stay alert and aware of the snares and traps that the enemy sets for us.
Scripture says the enemy is like a roaring lion. I believe it!!! But, scripture also says that the enemy is like a wolf in sheep's clothing. I believe that too!! When we see the roaring lions, we know to beware. But, when we see the wolves in sheep's clothing, most of the time we don't think about the possible danger we could be in, till it's too late.
So, even tho it's Monday, and even tho we are pushing into an uphill battle, let us not grow weary in our minds. Let us stay alert, on point and seriously question everything. Especially the things that give us just a bit of a twinge that maybe, just maybe, something is not quite right. More than likely, that is the Holy Spirit warning you to steer clear. Just some food thought as we go into this new week. May we keep our eyes open and be alert at all times.
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let's do a quick "2 minutes in the kitchen with me", ok. This is what I made for lunch here back, air fryer salmon cakes.
1 can of salmon drained,
about 1/2 cup of cornmeal,
1 egg,
1/4 cup diced onion,
1/4 cup mayo( preferably low fat),
and a healthy dash of Mrs. Dash onion and herb.
Mix well and put a little cornmeal in a saucer so you can dredge your salmon patties. Preheat air fryer on 400 while mixing your ingredients and making the patties. just before I put them in the air fryer, I'll spray them on both sides with avocado oil. I just put 4 in at a time. (while the first four was cooking, I put the other four in the freezer for a few mins) Cook for about 8 min and flip and cooked for another 7-8 mins. My batch made 8, so we have several meals outta these. They are SSSOOOO good!!! My husband said you can taste the country in 'em. I said "well, you can take me outta the country but you can't take the country outta me!"
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Who's in your boat?
Are you troubled about something that may be causing unrest in your days and nights? Do you feel as though the load you are carrying is too heavy for you to pack any longer? Do you feel as though the harder you use the bucket to bail water from your boat, its gonna sink anyway?
I pray for you to have a peace that passes all understanding!!! You are in the middle of a storm at the present. But, if you know Jesus, He's in your boat.
I was reading about the passage of scripture where Jesus calms the storm. The disciples thought they were going to die and Jesus was asleep during the storm. The disciples woke Him up and asked Him if He cared they were about to die. Jesus spoke to the storm and it ceased. All my life, I thought Jesus may have raised His voice, yelling at the storm. kinda like a parent raising a voice to a child. but this writer, having extensive knowledge in the original text, and the particular words used, said that Jesus spoke to the storm like a mother trying to calm a crying child. you don't yell at a child in order to soothe that child. In a very hushed and low voice, Jesus said, "Peace, Be still", like a mother would say, "ssshhhhhhhh" to a crying baby. So I ask Jesus to calm the storm in your life right now, so that you too, can rest through it. "Peace, Be still", my friend.
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let's do this again, another segment of "2 minutes in the kitchen with me". over the course of time, as I learn more and more, I have lowered my dehydrating temps. most manuals will give some kind of list of temps for produce. my experience over the last few years has proven to me that those temps are too high. in my experimenting, I have finally lowered my temps to 110* F or 115* F. that's as high as I go for any produce, ever. manufacturers want to sell machines at all costs. so they actually give unrealistic times and too high temps. I don't even discuss times, because time in hours means nothing. makes no difference how many hours a manual says, whatever you're dehydrating will not be dehydrated until it is cracker crisp. "bone dry, cracker crisp, and hard as a rock" are the 3 criteria I go by. it has to be as dry as we can get it or will mold in the jars. if there is enough moisture left in something that you can feel it when you pinch it, it's not fully dehydrated. if it's sticky to the touch, it's not fully dehydrated. if you want to keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks, that's ok. but if your goal is long term storage, it's not dehydrated enough. it's up to us to learn how to use the machines as efficiently as possible with the best possible outcome. when you search on amazon for dehydrating books, all of those are like the manuals that come with the machines. the writers want to sell books at all costs too. and we buy into it and then wonder why we aren't having success, when in reality, it's their fault.
what we have to do is find what works for us. and that's what this is about. my experimenting over the last few years has brought me to this day. sharing what little I do know based on my own experiences. I have been sharing past dehydrating episodes and doing some explanation on what I do. one of those was about potatoes. how I get pristine beautiful color potatoes. that requires a lot of soaking and rinsing, up until the moment you put them on the dehydrator.
well, on to what was on the dehydrator this week. the first picture is of all of the goods that was on it. garlic, garlic scapes, fermented purple onions and celery leaves. as you can see there is quite a bit of shrinkage from the moisture removal. notice how the garlic cracked, that is exactly what you want it to do. then I broke up the sheet of garlic and stored it in the jar. it will be easy to make powder from it. the garlic scapes are as hard as a rock and that's what you want. if you're dehydrating something that is pretty firm to begin with, splitting whatever it is down the middle is the way to prevent case hardening. case hardening is where something dries on the outside, but remains wet on the inside. I've seen a lot of people lose a lot of product due to case hardening. so setting ourselves up for success is what we have to do. the larger portions of asparagus is another veg that could stand being cut down the middle to prevent case hardening. and even green beans would need to be split down the middle if kept in the hull. I try to make sure that everything I dehydrate is 1/4 inch in thickness or less. that is my rule of thumb.
the fermented purple onions dehydrated up quite nicely. there was a quart jar full and it dehydrated down to just about a cup. that is expected. they are so good and crunchy. little crunchy snacks. and the celery leaves dehydrated nicely as well. they are easily crumbled with your fingers and they are soooooo good. parsley and cilantro has a new sheriff in town and that's celery leaves. hahahaha
one final thing before we go. dehydrating is not the same as cooking. any raw produce will still be raw when it's dehydrated. it's just had the moisture removed. so it will have to be rehydrated and cooked. a lot of what I dehydrate can be used as snacks. so it doesn't have to be rehydrated, just drink plenty of water as you enjoy an occasional snack. the potatoes for instance, will have to be rehydrated to use them. there is no way that these can be eaten as snacks. no matter how thin you slice them, once dehydrated, they will be like shards of glass if you bite one. they are inedible and they must be rehydrated and fully cooked. when you think about the potatoes, think of the boxes of scalloped potatoes in a box. if you've ever gotten a box of those, then you know what I'm talking about. other really dense veg are the same way, too dense to eat as a snack.
at some point in time, I'll try to go in depth on how to use some of this lovely dehydrated food. we have it dehydrated, now what? well, we'll go there soon.
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