Cream of Soup Mix

Cream of Mushroom / Chicken / Celery / Broccoli / Whatever 

This recipe was posted by Frances Quinn in Dehydrating Way Beyond Jerky. Thanks so much, Frances! As best as I can determine it was created by Janette Branham Nugent. 

Zucchini Chips Perfected

Two Flavors

 

Ever since folks have been posting recipes and information on zucchini chips, I’ve been interested. However, I am always concerned about oil going rancid and long-term storage.  I tried several ways of seasoning them without oil, but invariably, the seasonings didn’t adhere well.

Dehydrated Cabbage Rolls – Mamma Wasn’t Always Right !

Cabbage Rolls

Tomato Puree AKA Dehydrating to Beat the System!

My favorite thing!

Marked down veggies from the produce department can be a fantastic savings. Ranging from 29¢ to 49¢ per package (not pound) for fresh tomatoes is a fantastic bargain in anybody’s book.

Dehydrating Cauliflower

Green Cauliflower 

When we got our Bountiful Basket order, there was an extra head of cauliflower. I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I decided to give it a dry.

Instead of the mandolin slicer, I simply used my knife to cut it into nice strips. With this particular batch, I didn’t bother to blanch.  Just put it in raw. 

It’s amazing how much it shrivels when it dries!

 

 

On my bottom rack, I put a mesh tray to catch the small pieces that fall through the rack.  Assume this will happen with most veggies. Use either a fruit leather tray, a mesh tray, or even wax paper.

Linda’s note on waxed paper:

• If you have a thermostat on your dehydrator and your keep your temp low, it will not melt.  Most fruits and veggies are done at 110 to 115 degrees. I have not had a problem with wax paper melting at these temps.

Shopping Coup

We went to the annual Buffalo BBQ at the city park today. After we were done, we stopped by the grocery store.  I rarely go in there because it’s the only one in town and there is no competition.

But timing is everything.  The greengrocer had just put out a whole bunch of marked down produce. So, I loaded up with everything we could use.  I headed towards the checkout counter with a little trepidation. 

What a beautiful sight!

Mike had gone for cat food and pop.  He was already checking out by the time I got there. In the not-too-distant past, he would have made me put all but one bag of each back, but this time he didn’t bat an eye about it. the man behind me eyed my produce and asked if I was having a big chili-fest.  “No,” I smiled. “This is all going into the dehydrator.”

Quest for Carrots A Great Bargain! Day Three - Shredded

If you missed the other posts, be sure to follow up with the other posts on Quest for Carrots A Great Bargain!

By the third day, my remaining carrots were beginning to wither a little, so I knew I had to get the rest finished quickly.

I decided to take the odd shaped bits and pieces and shred them. 

First I peeled these carrots and sliced them into chunks.  I wanted to make sure they would easily fit into the food processor chute for grating.

• Notice the large split piece in my hand. It was one of the few carrots that had a split, I guess from being over grown.  I simply cut away the split edges and used the rest of it. There was very little waste. 

Two Gallons of Shredded Carrots

I had considered using my mandolin slicer, but I knew I wouldn’t have the time or energy to hand grate and slice so much produce.  So I borrowed Karen’s food processor. When she learned what I was doing, she offered to let me use her machine in exchange for some dehydrated julienned carrots. 

• Economy tip - Hey, barter is a good thing!

Unlike my basic machine with a chopping blade in the bottom, hers has a slicer/grater blade in the top. You simply feed the food into the chute in the top. Before I knew it, I had a huge container of grated carrots.

Since my dehydrator racks were still working on yesterday’s batch, I refrigerated these.

Nine racks of shredded carrots

If you have screens for your racks, use them.  It allows for better airflow with tiny objects like shredded carrots, but won’t allow those dried bits to fall through. 

Shredded & Dehydrated

Otherwise, just use your fruit leather trays.  If they tend to clump a bit, once in a while check on them and give them a stir to allow air to circulate better.

Quest for Carrots A Great Bargain! Day 2 – Julienne

When I opened my 25-pound bag of carrots, I learned why they are substantially lower in price. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these carrots.  They simply are what might be considered ‘seconds’. 

 The ones we buy in one-pound bags in the produce department are graded. They are standardized in size in thickness and length.  Ideally, they are without blemish.   

• Economy tip - The commercial market has trained the American public to expect this type of standardization. Many people today assume that there is something wrong with less than aesthetically perfect produce. Clearly, we pay three times the price for such standardization.  It’s merely a device to charge us more for what we eat.

Quest for Carrots A Great Bargain! Day 1 – Sliced ‘n Cooked

Last Tuesday Mike was our Senior Center Bus Driver. He took a busload of us for our monthly trip to Riverton, fondly referred to as "Down Below". (So named because it is 2,000 feet lower in altitude than our home in Dubois.)

We went shopping in a grocery store I don’t frequent and I made an exciting discovery.  They had a huge bag of “juicing carrots” for $7.99. Twenty-five pounds of carrots for 31¢ a pound! 

Swiss Chard and Other Greens

Dehydrating leafy veggies is a snap.  All you have to do is rinse or wash as usual. I use my salad spinner to get rid of the excess moisture before dehydrating.

Simply spread the leaves out on your racks and dry at a low setting.  Generally, if I put them on in the morning, by the next morning they are done.  It doesn’t take long to dehydrate leafy greens.

Before I dehydrated them, this tub was overflowing with Swiss chard.

5

I crunched them a bit to bag them.

What to do with dehydrated greens:

• Rehydrate in boiling water and serve as usual
• Crush them for salad sprinkles
• Crush and mix into instant soups
• Crush and mix into your favorite omelet recipe
• Kids don't like greens? Crush and sneak them into casseroles and other dishes  

Slick Bell Pepper Trick

Cut off both ends

I was watching a kid’s cooking show on PBS recently and saw a really neat way to cut up bell peppers. Start by cutting off both ends.

Cleaning Mushrooms

15 packages of mushrooms for 69¢ per package!

 I can’t afford the price or luxury of buying perfect, new mushrooms. So I settle for those that are a little bruised and marked down. I guess if I didn’t care for mushrooms, I wouldn’t bother, but I dearly love mushrooms.

On cannot have too many mushrooms in one’s life!

Bountiful Basket

Saturday Morning at V.F.W. Hall

 Linda’s Note: 

I first posted this back in January, but it’s well worth reprinting,

especially with all the new folks into dehydrating.

 

Have you heard about Bountiful Baskets?  Mike and I recently got our first order. It’s been operating in Dubois for about three months now, but it’s a nationwide program. 

Dehydrating Frozen Veggies

Dehydrated frozen green peas

An excellent way to save money is to buy plain frozen veggies on sale. Sometimes you can find them as Loss Leaders to get you into the store.  Take advantage of these.

This is super-easy! 

• No need to thaw them.
• Simply open your bag of veggies and crumble them so there are no clumps.
• Spread them out and turn dehydrator on low heat  105° to 110°.
• Let them dry overnight. They should be crisp and hard.

Dehydrated whole kernel corn

 What to do with your dehydrated frozen veggies:

• Toss ¼ cup in soups and stews
• Use in moist casseroles
• Add a teaspoon to instant cup-o-soup
• You are limited only by your imagination!

Dried Vegetable Equivalents

Here is a chart I got from the University of Florida Cooperative Extensive Service

It’s only a partial list, but it does cover some basics.  As I have time, I will continue to add to the list

 Fresh Produce = Dry Equivalents

• 1 onion =
• 1 ½ tbsp onion powder
• 1 onion =
• ¼ c dried minced onion
• 1 green pepper =
• ¼ c green pepper flakes
• 1 cup carrots =
• 4 tbsp powdered carrots
• 1 cup carrots =
• ½ c (heaped) dried carrots
• 1 cup spinach = 
• 2 – 3 tbsp powdered spinach
• 1 med tomato =
• 1 tbsp powdered tomato
• ½ cup tomato puree =
• 1 tbsp powdered tomato
• 20 pounds tomatoes =
• 18 oz dried sliced tomatoes

Dehydrating Canned Green Beans

One way you can save money, time, and space is to dehydrate your canned green beans.  In fact, any vegetable or fruit that does not have all sorts of additives or high fructose corn syrup in it will dehydrate well.

• For an economic edge always buy canned goods on sale. Most stores have loss leaders. These are special sale items that are marked down significantly low. Their purpose is to draw customers into the store.
• When you find a loss leader on plain canned veggies, not seasoned or with sauces and such; buy as many as you can afford! Don’t buy the ones that are in some sort of sauce, just plain beans.
•  Mike and I purchased three cases of beans… green beans, black beans, and kidney beans for 49¢ per can!  Pretty good by today’s prices.
• You don’t need to make a big production of it, but when you have a few extra empty racks on your dehydrator, open a few cans of beans to top off the machine. It’ doesn’t cost any more to run a full machine than an empty machine.

Drain your beans. 

Dehydrating Cauliflower

Cauliflower is a wonderful veggie to dehydrate.  Some people prefer steaming first, but it can be dehydrated raw with no problem.  If you steam or cook your cauliflower, do so lightly. The less cooking, the more nutritious.  Actually, this applies to all the foods you cook.

This happens to be a green cauliflower… called “multi-colored”. It was something that came in our Bountiful Basket order last week.

Dehydrating Leftover Broccoli

Check your fridge:

Got any leftover veggies?  If you have veggies that have not been seasoned with some sort of oil or fat, you can dehydrate them for later use.

Here is the remains of a large pot of steamed broccoli. I cut them into even sized slices and put them in the dehydrator.

Guides for Success in Drying

Prepared by the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Utah

Photo by Linda Anderson

Selecting the Right Product

• Fruits and vegetables selected for drying should be sound, fresh, and in the "peak" of condition; ripe, but still firm and at the right state of maturity.
• Wilted or inferior material will not make a satisfactory product.
• Immature fruits will be weak in color and flavor. Over-mature vegetables are usually tough and woody.
• Over-mature or bruised fruits are likely to spoil before the drying process can be accomplished.
•  Fruit and vegetables that are inferior before drying will be inferior after drying.

How to Blanch and Peel Tomatoes

I peel my tomatoes because we do not like the way the skins turn out.  It’s a personal preference thing. 

Linda’s Note: look for the video on peeling tomatoes