Roma Glory!

Another round with the tomatoes!

 35#s of Romas

Dropped half of them into boiling water, then ice water.

Removed the skins . . .

 Put them on the dehydrator overnight.

 . . . and then into the Vitamix!

 Pulverized into powder!

What do ya do with Tomato Powder?

substitute for tomato paste!
make ketchup (without additives)!

Add to homemade salad dressings and dips!

Add to soups/stews for x-tra tomato flavor!

 . . . and many more ideas!

This is what happened to the other half of the box of tomatoes!

Sliced and dehydrated!  Yum!   Rehydrate and use as you would tomatoes!

What wouldn't fit in the jar .... well, tomato candy!  Yum!

So far, between the Romas from the farmers market and
the baskets full of tomatoes from our garden, we have canned:

whole tomatoes

~

crushed tomatoes

~

salsa

~

spaghetti sauce

~

tomato basil sauce (ie pizza sauce)

~

tomato jam

~

dehydrated tomatoes

~

tomato powder

~

caponata

~

roasted tomatoes

We've made:

margarita pizzas

~

tomato sandwiches

~

tomato pie

Farmers Market is tomorrow!

I wonder if I'll be able to resist bringing 

home more tomatoes!!

I will definitely have my radar out for

watermelons and eggs!!

Rehydrating a Menu!

My Baked Ziti Challenge!

+

Pasta and Water

=

My hubs walked in and said "Something smells good" 

and went straight for the kitchen.  He took a big bite 

followed by the eyes roll back in your head and a 

deep 'oh my' moan!!  I told him I thought it needed 

a little more salt.  He responded "all it needs is a 

sprinkle of Parmesan on my plate"!!  Success!

Then I told him everything in it was dehydrated.  
He was amazed and suggested I try doing 

this with our stroganoff recipe!  I love a challenge!

When Life Gives you Lemons ......

Dehydrate them!

I picked up two overstuffed gallon size zip bags of lemons 
from Jimmy Lowes last week! I had no idea what I'd do with 
them. But for $1.99 I couldn't pass them up!

So when the hubs asked if I was gonna do any canning 
or preserving this week, I said "no" and then quickly 
backtracked with "depends on what I do with the lemons."

I had time restraints because of the Pantry Project, 
so I sliced them and put them on the dehydrator!

It took between 36 and 48+ hours to dehydrate all the 
slices @ 115 degrees.  I didn't want them to harden off 
(drying on the outside and remaining moist on the inside, 
so it was a low and slow process ... not unlike loading 
the crockpot and walking away). The finished product 
will barely fill a half gallon jar and will last indefinitely after 
vacuum sealing. But they won't last that long around here!!

What will I do with them?
What can't you do with them?!!


Well, you can't roll and juice them, but
you couldn't roll and juice lemon slices anyway!

Toss a couple into a glass of cold water!

Make lemonade!
Ever tried lemon/mint water?  Refreshing!

or 

Rehydrate and lay over fish while baking.

Use them just like you would fresh.

All you have to do is rehydrate them

by covering what you need with water.

Or, how about ...

lemon powder? lemon sugar? lemon scented potpourri, even!

Before I begin sounding like a Forrest Gump knock-off, I'll stop!


Check out this website for more ways to use dehydrated citrus!

I could have zested them before slicing 

but I did that with the last batch 

and then canned the lemon juice! Yes, I did!

Oh!  And the leftover ends which still had

plenty of pulp went into the freezer 
for thawing and squeezing over ... whatever!

I hate to waste anything!!


I'm gonna scoot and use the last lemon
in a citrus combo juice!  Gotta get my juice on!


Pucker up!

Wuzzup?!

What's on your to-do list today?

A little fun, I hope!

I got up this morning with the hopes of going treasure hunting and maybe getting some creative studio work done, but the kitchen chores and garden took over.  The day isn't over yet!  But, I've had fun already!  Maybe our idea of "fun" differs!  Ok ... satisfying?!!

So far I've peeled, cubed, blanched and loaded the dehydrator with 10#s of potatoes and a large bag of organic sweet corn. I also broke out the new FoodSaver (Christmas gift from my daughter and son-in-law, along with a book about cheese-making! She knows her mama well!) and put away six bags of cooked pork roast (salvaged from the hunting camp last week!).  I'm gonna kick back for half an hour and
watch The Pioneer Woman and sip on some
more of  the pineapple juice I made this morning!

I've got three pounds of ground venison on the stove.  I'm gonna try a dehydrator experiment with it after cooking and draining it well. It will, of course, go into the freezer (taking up 1/10th the original space) since it is dehydrated and not freeze dried. I've been doing my homework! This can then be used for spaghetti, lasagna, tacos, chili, burritos, casseroles, etc. If this works, there will be a repeat!  I'll take the package out of the freezer after about a week and see how it tastes in one of the above-mentioned recipes.  There are 13 more pounds in the freezer waiting for me to do something creative with. Great way to make room for the next load the Great Hunter brings home!  And, the dehydrator isn't as heavy as the pressure canner.




Who knows what the afternoon will hold after the Aleve and caffeine kicks in!  I  want to visit a friend in the hospital at some point today.  (Hey AG!!  Waiting to hear when the tests are over so I can crash your party!).

There is also a HUGE patch of collards I need to pick and cook.  I wonder if
collards can be dehydrated.  I've done spinach (which there is some of that out there too).  Hmmmm.  Back to the books to find out!

TTFN!

♥terri

 Guess Who's Been Dehydrating?!!!

Carrots, Okra,
Spinach and Mixed Veggies!

Marshmallow!!
Think "Lucky Charms"

Meyer Lemon Peel !

Orange Peel
Specifically:  Satsumas!

Assorted Chili Peppers!

It's the Pith!! Who Knew?!!!

During last week's process of a multitude of satsumas and lemons gathered from my neighbors' tree, I saved a couple gallon size bags of peels.  I forgot I had the satsuma peels in the fridge, which were supposed to be part of the attempt to make marmalade. Oy vey! 

Anywho!  I pulled all those peels outta the fridge Saturday morning.  I stacked the Meyer lemon peels and sliced them into thin strips .... very thin skinned, so they didn't have much pith at all.  Then I tackled the Satsuma peels.  They had a LOT of thick pith.  So, with my trusty serrated grapefruit spoon in hand, I set out to scrape the pith off.  Surprisingly easier than I thought.

After I took a retail therapy break (!), I stacked and sliced the peels into thin strips.  Onto the dehydrator it all went for an overnight spa treatment!  I think I ended up with 7 trays total! 

But wait!  That's not all!  While I was cleaning the kitchen I picked up the bowl full of the scraped pith to throw it in the trash.  I hesitated and paid a visit to Google.  I found out the most nutritious part of the orange is, second to the juicy Vitamin C .... guess!  The pith!  That bitter white webby stuff.  Who knew?  So, I thought .... hmmm, I thought.  I piled it onto the last dehydrator tray and stacked it with the rest of  'em.  I'll throw these into the food processor and make a fine powder to sit along with the blueberry powder and beet powder to put into smoothies!  Go Me, Go!  



Dehydrated Pith waiting its turn to be pulverized.

After 12 hours because I didn't get out of bed at 1am to check, everything was completely dried and went into the food processor in batches: lemon peel and Satsuma peel.  The pith will get its turn tomorrow.  Each of the other were processed into powders.  I ♥ my Cuisinart, but the coffee herb grinder was tougher and took on the job like a pro!  Now, I have citrus powder to use in those recipes that call for such and which I nevah, evah have on hand (and, don't forget smoothies!).  Yes!  I have that Stepford Wives grin on my face!!

So during all the dehydrating frenzy, I pulled several bags of frozen veggie pulp from the freezer.  Remember when I was juicing a couple of months ago?  I just knew there would be something I could do with this pulp eventually!  I thawed it and dehydrated it.  It's waiting to be pulverized into a fine flour for thickening soups or stews.  I've done the research!  This kind of stuff is expensive to purchase thru organic food sources.  I'd already been tossing it into beans and stews from the freezer ... with good results!  I also have fruit pulp in the freezer.  Imagine a fine powdery fruity flour that can be added to cake or muffin batter.  Oh!  The possibilities!

The assortment of dried peppers below look like

Christmas tree lights before grinding.
They are so beautiful, I may only grind on an as-needed basis!

 

And, YES! the marshmallows!  Yum!! 

A handful of these crunchy bits

is good for a sustained sugar buzz!

Gimme a holla (leave a comment)! 

GOT PEPPERS?!

I only grew bell peppers and banana peppers this year.  The bells were bountiful.  The banana peppers flopped.  We only got three all season from five plants.  My neighbor, however, grew every imaginable pepper you could think of .... from bells to habaneros!  She generously shared!   Most were used in some form or fashion. 

Last week I found myself with a tray from the most recent bag I received waning a bit and no time to use them. They were a little too wilted to de-seed and freeze, so I opted for dehydrating. I put them into the oven on a cooling rack inside a baking sheet - whole with stems intact - at about 170 degrees for maybe six hours. Turned the oven off and left them in there over the weekend. I actually forgot about them, til I turned the oven on this morning to bake my weekly sourdough bread ... but that's another story.  Anywho!  This is what they looked like after drying and then crumbling:

I ground them finer with a mortar/pestal.  You could always use your extra coffee grinder too!  I'm sure you have one!  I don't!  I have one, but I don't grind coffee.  I bought it years ago for herbs ... but guess what?  It's still in the box.

I stored the ground chili peppers in a cute little jar

I found at a tag sale last weekend!They smell really smokey/peppery!  Can't wait to use them!!!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Other than that, I've been baking bread today! 

I used my sour-dough whole wheat starter.

Experimented a little with the flour .....

60% whole wheat, 20% bread flour and 20% rolled oats.

Also added honey and olive oil! 

OMG!  It turned out amazing!

I can't leave out building Duplo towers,

reading to my granbaby girl, and prepping for an art event. 

It's been a busy Miscellaneous Monday kinda day!

Miscellany Monday Link Up!