good afternoon beautiful people!!! it's been a day or three since I've gotten a post up and for that, I do apologize. I've had a rough 3 or 4 weeks and it finally caught up with and slowed me down. I don't like to admit it, but I'm getting older. well, it is what it is. hahaha what started out to be rheumatoid flare in my right knee ended up being a little more than that. at this point in time, I'm still not really sure what's going on. but I'm hopeful I'll find out soon. but just praying that I can hurry up and get over this, and soon. I'm ready to do some serious container gardening and I can't do that with a bum knee. but I do know that God is good all the time and He is in charge of this situation. I have had to ask His forgiveness several times over the last few weeks and just last the couple of days. patience is not a gift of mine, but I think He is working on me. I just need to pay more attention to Him and less attention to the noise around me. so, I you or someone you love is dealing with knee or any joint problems, just pray for them, because they can sure use the prayers.
well, enough about me and my problems. lets do a fun project. not only was it fun, but it was also delicious. these are projects that I can sink my time and teeth into. hahaha hope you enjoy it.
this was last friday when I made this soup and I've had a hard time getting it posted, due to my knee issues, so if you want to, you can check with the calendar to see when I actually done this. so with this, let's do a "2 minutes in the kitchen with me".
this morning (I think it was April 26th) was "prep for the week" morning. I usually prepare what I call our "fast food" for the coming week on fri and sat. we wanted some plain old vegetable soup. I had been wanting soup for a couple of weeks. I went thru my store bought canned goods and got those pulled, opened and in the electric pressure cooker (epc). next, I brought out some of my dehydrated goods. and that's what I'm sharing, more than anything and the very last picture is a mishap.
the first picture is every one of the jars that I used in this soup.
the first jar from left to right: onions yellow and white;
next is a jar of carrot chunks with a jar of garlic on top (I blended the garlic and then spread it on the solid tray and when dry, broke it into pieces and put it in the jar);
next is a jar of mushrooms and a jar of mushroom powder on top;
next is a 21 blend jar of all kinds of mixed veggies just blended to make a very coarse grind and on top of it is my homemade imitation chicken bouillon;
next is a jar of soup veggies of all kinds and a jar of diced potatoes on top;
and the final jar is my green onion blades. (after it was finished, I realized that I didn't put my dehydrated bell peppers in this soup, boohoo)
I don't measure, I just use hands full. when I got ready to close the epc up I probably had 3 cups of all of these in there in addition to the canned and rinsed produce I use. greenbeans, corn, mixed veggies, green peas, spaghetti sauce, a 32 oz box of chicken stock, and probably a cup or a cup and a half of water.
the next 2 pics are close ups of the jars I just shared.
then there is a pic of the soup. (the smell of this soup is incredible from the dehydrated goods I added)
the pic with the spoon shows a piece of my diced potato as compared to the potato in the mixed veg that I used.
I do a half inch dice on my cubed potatoes. it rehydrates so good.
now, for the last picture, it's baby bella mushrooms that I dehydrated about 2 or 3 weeks ago.
I got them dehydrated and they were cracker crisp and a piece would even crumble, that's how dry they were. well, I started to leave them on the dehydrator for another 24 hours, but I didn't. so I jarred them and conditioned them for a week. (watch them daily for a week and shake the jar daily to make sure there is no moisture causing them to stick or become soft.) well, after a week I set them in the cabinet with the intentions of getting more and start working on a large jar of baby bellas. I was going to put some of these in the soup. I opened the jar and it was under pressure, it hissed and spewed at me!!! the mushrooms, in less than a weeks time had gone bad!! I have never ever had anything to form gas to the point of making a hissing sound when I opened a jar. this is a first in 25 years of dehydrating. that gut feeling I had of keeping them on the dehydrator for another 24 hours, I should have followed thru with it.
I shared this about the mushrooms just a reminder for me that even when I do everything right, something can go wrong. always smell everything while it's fresh, as your preparing to dehydrate, as you dehydrate, as you jar it and as you open it each time. train yourself what absolutely everything smells like and then when and if you come across something like I just did, you'll know by smell that something isn't right. there was not much an off smell, not strong at all and if I wasn't in the habit of smelling everything all the time, I may not have noticed and would probably have put them back on the dehydrator. when I opened the jar, I was so startled at what happened, there was no question that it was going in the trash and I dumped it before I got a picture. this picture is from the trash can. hahaha when I dumped it in the trash it was soft, just as if it hadn't even been dehydrated. I didn't leave it on the dehydrator long enough, plain and simple, even though it was cracker crisp and crumbly. if I hadn't found the jar today, it would have been a jar of mold in a month or two.
everything I dehydrate is for long term storage and that's why I always dehydrate all my produce till is "cracker crisp, rock hard and bone dry". today was just another reminder for me to always follow my gut when it comes to more time or not. more time is always better than less time. well, it is for me anyway.
well, this is all I have this go around. I need to rest a bit and get my leg up for a little bit. I hope you seen something here that you like. tell someone today that God is good all the time!!! I hope and pray that you all know this. sometimes it's easy to forget just how good He is when we're going thru something. but just always remember that we're never alone. of we may not see Him at our side, but we can certainly feel His presence. I'm so thankful God in my life, especially in the difficult times. but I'm also thankful for His presence in the good times. He's the giver of them all and He is the sustainer thru it all. sometimes it's hard to remember to be thankful in all things, but His word tells us too. Paul said that he had learned to thankful in the times of abundance and in the times of lack. we should all try to be thankful at all times. in season and out of season. to me that means at all times.
Father God, help me to remember that You are good all the time. help me to remember that You made a way for me to be in right relationship with You thru the shed blood of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior!! help me to remember that You gave us Your Comforter in the form of Holy Spirit. You have given us so much and for that, I'm grateful. Thank You Father God for loving me!!! amen
remember that God loves you and wants to be in right relationship with you. I love y'all too. hugs and blessing to all, patty
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