Mouthwatering Recipes using Dried Foods....

GoooooOOD MORNING!!!!!!!

(say this in an imitation voice like Robin Williams, and you will get my jist)

It just might be another good morning for a cup of coffee, double strength.

Why???

(lentils, popcorn and rice)

Because I am about to overload you with recipes today and tomorrow on how to use your dried foods that you have been having a ball dehydrating the last couple days!

(onion rings in the dehydrator)

 I have been having a blast around here trying to get good pics,

(l-r clockwise, peas, navy beans and pinto beans)

 playing with my food, 

(dried eggplant slices in a smiley face just for you)

writing things down...finally, 

researching methods and recipes......

(a couple shelves in my dehydrated foods cupboard)

And I think I finally have a good amount of stuff for you to copy, paste and/or save to your binder. :)

It has been a rather busy week around here otherwise as we have started school full time, I am trying to keep up with the garden that decided to go bonkers on me, clean a house and set it up for fall/winter, finish certain house projects that have needed to be done, etc.

So sorry for all of you who anxiously awaited yesterday for these posts, because as hard as I tried, each time I would sit down to do this, something else would interrupt.

For example, a stray dog entering the yard and going after the rabbits in their cages. Eeek........

Or how about a toddler falling out of bed during nap, onto the floor/ceiling right above my head?

The twin who spilled an entire cup of milk down the front of me while I was trying to finish a recipe, causing me to hit the delete button and erase two hours worth of flitting back and forth to the computer.

Yes. 

Welcome to my life.

BUT

this version of this post is better, 

so she ended up getting a cookie and a hug.

Eventually.

 I so so SO hope that you enjoy this, start learning how to dehydrate foods, and get into using them in your cooking and baking each and every day.

 I am covering using dried fruits and veggies today, and using dried meats and herbs tomorrow (yes the post is already written, so hang in there! It WILL be here tomorrow!)

I hope you enjoy it!

Many  Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

mint tea leaves from the garden........

Using Dried Fruits:

** Dried Apple Pie Bars: Take 3 1/2 cups dried apples, 2 cups of water, put in a heavy saucepan, and cook until tender.To this mix add 1/2 cup brown sugar, pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and cinnamon, 1 TBS of corn starch, mixed with 1/2 TBS lemon juice. Spray or grease pan, mix all ingredients, smooth into pan, top with a streusel that has 3/4 c oats, 1/4 c Whole Wheat flour, 1/2 c brown sugar, 4 Tbs butter, and cinnamon. 

              Bake 350* for 35-45 minutes until bubbly around edges and topping is browned.

**Dried Cherry Berry Pie: Combine 2 cups dried cherries, 1 cup dried blueberries, or blackberries (or other berries), plus 3 cups water in a heavy saucepan. Simmer on stove until tender, then whisk in 2TBS cornstarch, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 tsp almond extract. I whisk the dry ingredients together, put in the liquids (to the fruit),  and then add the sugar/cornstarch combo to the fruit. Prepare double pie crust.Bottom crust, fill pie with this mixture, place top crust, brush top crust with water and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. 

                                                      Bake at 350* for 35 minutes.

**Cranberry Cherry Sweet Bread: In a large bowl combine the following: 1 cup All purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 3/4 cup dried cranberries, 3/4 cup dried sweet cherries, 2 eggs, 1 cup orange juice, and 1/2 cup coconut oil or other oil. I "plump" the fruit ahead of time by adding to a separate bowl and then covering with boiling water. You will have 1 1/2 cups fruit, so cover with 2 cup boiling water, and cover bowl with a plate. Drain and throw fruit into the dry ingredients before you add the wet ingredients, such as the eggs or juice. This will help the fruit stay suspended through the batter while cooking. 

                             Bake at 350* for one hour or until done in the middle.

(Sweet Bread  will spring back when touched, or the toothpick will be clean when inserted and removed from the middle) 

** Mulberry Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Struesel:  In a large bowl, combine the following, whisking together: one cup Whole Wheat flour, one cup Kamut wheat flour (or all purpose flour), 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 3/4 cup dark brown sugar or 1/2 cup golden molasses, then adding 1/2 cup coconut oil or butter, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 cup milk (or reconstituted dry milk). Take 1 1/2 cups dried mulberries or other berry, and place in bowl, pour boiling water over and let sit for 10 minutes. Fold these into the batter, and top with a mix of 2 Tbs Flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, combined with 1 tsp cinnamon, and then creamed with 2 Tbs butter. Sprinkle this on top of the filled and greased muffin tins, and bake for 20 minutes at 350*.

**Fall Harvest Pie: In a large sauce pan combine 1 1/2 cup dried apple slices, 1/2 cup dried tart cherries, and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour boiling water over and let simmer on low heat until tender. Add in 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp Apple Pie Spice Mix, and 2 Tbs cornstarch (I take out a little of the liquid in pan, whisk it together and then add it back in). Meanwhile, make pie crust but roll it out in a mix of equal parts flour and cinnamon sugar. Put in bottom crust, place filling in, place four thin pats of butter on top, add top crust with apple or pumpkin cutouts, flute edges to seal, and bake in a 350* oven for one hour, or until bubbly. Serve with cinnamon ice cream, or serve with whipped cream that has been made with apple pie spice.

**Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Cookies: In a large mixing bowl cream 1/3 cup butter or semi solid coconut oil with 2/3 cup dark brown sugar or honey. When light and fluffy, add 1 egg, 1/2 cup of water and 4 TBS Dried Pumpkin powder (pumpkin that you pureed and dried in one TBS amounts as fruit leathers, then powdered in a coffee grinder), 1 tsp vanilla,  and 1 1/2  tsp pumpkin pie spice mix. To this add 1 1/4 cups Whole wheat flour and 1 cup rolled oats that you have whizzed through the blender. (otherwise you run the risk of the cookies falling apart due to the large oats). Bake at 375* for 6-10 minutes, cookies will seem soft, but will flatten and harden when taken out and placed on a cookie rack. Remove after 3 minutes on the tray to another cookie rack, and try to eat only one. Makes 2 dozen cookies (small) or 1 dozen (Welcoming House size--LOL).

 ** And just remember, you can cut up or powder any fruit and add it into sauces, baked goods, or even into ice cream or drinks. :)

 

Using Dried Vegetables: 

**"Leatherbritches" Casserole: In a pan, place 4 cups dried green beans (Leatherbritches) and cover with 6 cups boiling hot water. You can either let this sit for 45 minutes, or you can simmer on low for around 30 minutes until the green beans are mostly rehydrated. Meanwhile, in a greased 9X13 pan, make a single layer of 3/4 cup hamburger combined with 2 cups cooked brown rice, that has all been seasoned with basil and oregano, salt and pepper. Place the rehydrated green beans on the meat/rice layer, top with 1/2 onion. minced, and cover with  4 cups of white sauce (Magic Mix). Top with homemade Whole Wheat bread crumbs and bake for 45 minutes at 350*. Add 1/2 cup shredded cheese to top and put back in for a remaining 15 minutes, then serve. Just a tip, almost all of this can be made from dried ingredients: the burger, the rice can be cooked ahead of time and dried for "minute rice" (and then placed with rehydrated meat as is, it will rehydrate during the baking time). You can use herbs dried from your own garden, onion you minced and dried, bread crumbs from your own bread you dried, etc. And it is TASTY! :)

**Veggie Comfort Soup:  In a large stock pot combine the following: 10 cups chicken stock or veggie stock, 8 cups water, 1/2 cup zucchini chips, 1/2 cup cherry tomato halves, 1 cup dried onion dices, 1 cup potato dices, 1/2 cup carrot slices, 1/4 cup sweet red pepper dices, 1/2 cup celery dices, and 1/2 cup dried peas. Throw in 2 tsp each of lemon basil, tarragon, and thyme.....then 2 tsp of garlic salt, and 2 garlic cloves, as well as 2 small dried hot chili peppers. Put lid on and simmer for 35-40 minutes. This is intensely flavored and so so good when served with biscuits. You can also make this in the crockpot overnight and let it sit.....it just gets better with time.

**Dried Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie: grease a 9X13 pan, and in the bottom, place a layer of sausage that has been cooked until no longer pink and crumbled. I always stretch ours with oatmeal or rice, but that is just how we do things around here. :) I season it with sage and oregano while cooking it up. Then top with a layer of dried corn that you have rehydrated with hot water, or frozen corn. Then in a sauce pan, combine 1 cup sweet potato powder with 2 cups of hot water, and stir until rehydrated into mashed sweet potatoes (make it thicker or thinner as you want). Spread these on top of the other layers, top the potatoes with a little nutmeg and salt, and bake for 35-45 minutes at 350*.

**Slow Cooker Sweet Corn: In a slow cooker (crock pot), combine 4 cups dried sweet corn and 6 cups water. Place on low for 4 hours, season with basil and thyme, top with pats of butter the last hour. Add water as needed (some crock pots heat faster and hotter than others and this will burn if it runs out of water). Serve as a side dish.

 

**Dried Eggplant Parmesan: I gave you the recipe for this right here, but you just rehydrate the eggplant overnight in a bowl of hot water before assembling it. Click (((here))) for the other recipe.

 

** Zucchini and Veggie Pizza:  Every year I save out a couple of the monster zucchini for this recipe, and dry them in slices because my family loves this pizza. They fit wonderfully in a wide mouth quart jar, and you can get enough for three pizzas in one jar, so it is very economical. I place them in hot water overnight, and let them plump up by mid-afternoon the following day when I assemble the pizza. On a single prepared pizza crust add one cup spaghetti sauce/pizza sauce, then cover with a layer of zucchini slices, top with cheese, add onion, olives, shredded carrots, sprinkle a little more cheese, then top the pizza with crumbled bacon pieces and black or green olive slices. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes, then serve. One great way to get veggies into kids. If you have super picky kids who wont eat a lot of veggies, puree up those zucchini into the spaghetti sauce and add a dose of spinach flakes to the pizza crust and tell them its seasoning. :)

 Want some more links? Try these:

http://dehydratingwaybeyondjerky.blogspot.com/p/recipes.html

http://www.budget101.com/frugal/dehydrated-dried-food-mixes-186/

http://www.wildbackpacker.com/backpacking-food/articles/freezedrying-dehydration/

http://www.trailspace.com/forums/camp-kitchen/topics/68904.html

http://survivalacres.com/productdifferences.html

http://www.internet-grocer.net/recipes.htm

http://www.backpackingchef.com/

http://www.backpackingchef.com/dehydrating-food.html

http://www.food.com/recipes/dehydrator

http://www.southwestguidebooks.com/backpack_foods/backpack_foods_intro.htm

Almost Wordless Wednesday---Celebrating 15 years of Blessings....

I have been looking forward to this post since Saturday, when all this wonderful stuff happened to me.

I always thought when we celebrated our 15th wedding anniverary we would be somewhere on a cruise, sipping champagne, and somehow, blissfully unaware that while we were sailing the ocean blue, someone else was watching our children, doing the dishes, keeping up with laundry,
etc ,etc etc.

You get the picture.

Ignorance, especially young ignorance, can sometimes be bliss.

And sometimes NOT. :)

As the years passed and we celebrated each year, I knew the Handy Hubby would come up with something special for this anniversary, as he always does, and I could hardly wait.
It was like a "kid in a candy shop" feeling on steroids.

And he totally did not disappoint.

If you havent gathered from my posts, I am not a high-falutin' kind of girl with a desire for champage and caviar on a boat.

And the Handy Hubby, bless his heart, knows that better than anyone, SO he chose to make the day we celebrated all about something I love to do, and he hates to do, and yet it worked like a charm.

He took me antiquing.

As in, dirty shops where you crawl on your knees through shelves of depression glass, trying to find the one piece you have not yet seen.....

or sitting on the floor in a back room reading an old cherished book that costs more than your house just because you can, and because it was in your parents' library 30+ years ago...

as in, "Isnt this hat that has feathers and is absolutely ridiculous on me ADORABLE???"

kind-of-antiquing.

Yes, all you Handy Hubby Peeps, he is just as totally awesome as I tell you he is over and over and over again.

So here is our "little love story" in pics for those romantics among you. :)

The babysitting crew arrives. At 7:30 am. ON A SATURDAY.

Grandma is loving her twinsie time, since she has been ill. Look at that smile!

Take our anniversary picture as always, up against our hanging quilt.

$50 in a baggie, I have some to buy a gift for him, and he has the same amount for me.

His handwritten list of antique stores in the town we went to--an HOUR AWAY.

Did you hear me? HANDWRITTEN LIST....

add that to a casual acceptance of my taking LOTS OF PICTURES? I'm in shock here.

the first place we visit had this gorgeous handmade wedding dress from 1910 in the window...

*sigh* a picture of my love affair with old jars. Lots of old jars....

He seated me next to the smiling panda in the Chinese restaurant that serves sushi.

He did not know people actually ate sushi until he met me. I don't think he really ever truly recovered.
So that picture right there shows how much he loves me to take me to a place
where a LOT of people eat it.
In front of him.

HH loves to buy me jewelry. So he bought me some antique bracelets that I adore.

I love vintage linens, especially hand embroidered ones. So I picked up some for my girls, and for a future giveaway.

And best of all, he ended the day by taking me to a gorgeous private park with lots of flowers, handed me my camera, and told me to have fun. He really made it a wonderful day. Here are some of the pictures for you to enjoy.

handmade rock wall--how pretty was this?

the whole plant was covered with these glowing white flowers....

trying to show that they were almost as big as my head....

our oldest daughter's favorites..........

love the color combos.....

coneflowers...........

at first I thought these were just plastic, until they started moving their wings.......wow.

a tree covered in berries..............

Here is to another beautiful 15 years of blessing with the Handy Hubby.

Many Blessings to you and yours,
Heather

Time for a cup of Tea? Or a dose of medicine? All about drying your own herbs...

 
Do you like to cook?

   Or how about drinking a cup of tea?

source credit

   Do you like to use natural cleaners?

   Do you look for healthy alternatives to using tons of over the counter medications

to keep your family healthy?

   If your answer to any of the above questions is YES, then it is high time for you to purchase a dehydrator, and start growing and drying your own herbs.

   To date, my most popular series has been the Making DO Without Missing a Thing series that I have often steered many of you towards as you write me with questions about learning to save money on groceries, etc.

   But what quite a few of you DON'T realize, is that I have actually had another series that is quickly catching up to that series just in sheer numbers, questions, and comments as the months pass. A couple of the posts are now over 6000 reads since March, and I would greatly encourage you to check it out if you are interested in learning more about starting an herb garden, learning their uses, and especially, for learning how to use herbs in preventative health for yourself and your family. Click the link below to head over there and see what so many others are finding fascinating about herbs and their direct impact on your health.

Growing Your Own Medicine

   I absolutely love growing herbs as they are easy, very pretty, and incredibly prolific if given the right conditions. I am excited for a couple things coming up here in the next year at the Welcoming House. One is putting the Growing Your Own Medicine into an E-book for everyone to have at their fingertips, along with adding other herbs.  

   A second is adding another installment to that very popular series by covering the herbs I simply could not squeeze in during that short time period.

   And the third is finally, next Spring, building a keyhole garden to hold all my herbs and medicinal plants, as a centerpiece for the front yard.

   All of those are very exciting times ahead for me, and so I am always glad to have a post where I can share my love of herbs and using them with you!!

   Herbs are one of the very easiest things to dry. You really dont even need a dehydrator, as they have been dried for centuries when put out of the sun, and hung high in a drafty place where you can keep them out of the way for a week or so. I choose to dry mine in the dehydrator just because I often get so busy I forget about things, and have had to toss herbs due to the collection of dust and dirt from the accumulation of a month. In my dehydrator they are done in a few short hours, and into a jar, sitting pretty on the shelf.

   I dry my herbs right around 115*, which on some dehydrators would be low. If you have a dehydrator that has no temp regulation, you will need to watch carefully, as herbs can brown on too high of heat. If that is the case, there is mostly loss and they will not taste the same, so you might be better off to hang them.

   Herbs should be picked first thing in the morning, unless it has rained, and then better to wait for another day. Their oils are freshest first thing in the morning, and you will find a much better end product if you pick and dry right away. If, say, you have a large patch of mint, better to pick and dry as much as you can load in one day in your dehydrator, than trying to pick it all at once and keep it fresh in the fridge until you get done with it. I always say it stays fresh in the dirt until you pick it, when it comes to herbs. I tend to get gung-ho and take way too much, and then run around trying to figure out how to use it before it wilts and becomes useless.

   One of my very favorite homemade tea blends use two things we have so far covered in this mini-series---dried apples, and sweet basil leaves that I have dried.

   Combining the two somehow results in an amazing, sweet and comforting tea, that has a calming effect, and is perfect for curling up on the couch and watching the fall rains come down the windowpanes. I plan on including my tea blend recipes for you in the next couple of days with the other recipes so you can get started learning how to use herbs........

   I also use herbs in all my cooking. It is a rare meal that does not contain at least one herb, only because it really enhances the dish. I have always cooked by taste, but with herbs I get the delight of cooking by smell as well. Some things just seem to go together, such as tomato soup and tarragon, or sage and turkey with apple dressing. The more I use herbs, the more I find things I love about them, and I am sure you will too.

   Tomorrow I will be doing our usual Almost Wordless Wednesday post filled with pics of what is happening here at the Real Welcoming House, and then on to Thursday, and Friday, which will be chock full of recipes for using dried foods in your every day cooking!

See you right back here tomorrow!

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

There is a lot more to Dried Meat than Beef Jerky....

 

 For most people, when they think of any kind of dried meat at all, they immediately get a picture in their head of some form of jerky.

source credit

Beef jerky

Buffalo jerky.

Turkey jerky....

and I could go on and on and on.

But what a lot of people dont realize is that many different kinds of meat were "jerked" (what we know as dried) for umpteen zillion years before the freezer was invented.

   I mean, have you ever heard of "chipped beef" for sandwiches? It used to be relatively popular when I was a kid, cooked up and served in a gravy over buttered toast. I am sure someone, somewhere, from the heath police came along and told the American public their health was in danger from eating it (along with eggs and a bunch of other things that they have been wrong about over the years), and so it faded out of fashion.

   But a little history about jerked meat for you.

   Other than salting meat, and smoking it for storing purposes, dried meats were the standard form of preserving meat for any period longer than a couple days for many centuries. It was done by the Romans, the Greeks, and many other ancient cultures. The Native American cultures, many of them, used some form of dried fish or other meat as a mainstay in their diets over the years before European cultures moved in.

source credit

   
Not only is drying meat relatively easy, it is amazing how little space and time it takes to have a store of healthy, shelf-stable meat that you can use for your family.

   My dehydrator has been running constantly for the last couple of days as I have been processing certain parts of the garden for storage. I have been blessed to get an abundance of zucchini again this year, after three planting that were eaten by the soon-to-be-dead-if-he-throws-another-nut-at-my-head squirrel from the backyard walnut trees. We use a lot of zucchini, and so I did not think I was being too generous in planting six zucchini plants this year, but with the crazy heat and drought we have had, I am thankful for every single one of those green baseball bats that have come out. However, the reason I am telling you this is because I will have very little pictures of dried meats to add to this post because we are out of almost everything I normally keep in jars. I have done it for years, and will link a blog by a dehydrating mentor who DOES have pics you can look at on the bottom of this post.

   Meat is safest when dried at 155* or above. My husband, who is the meat guy in this family, insists on the setting being at 160*, and he personally checks the dryness of the meat when it comes out each time. That tends to be much more of a fall pursuit for us around here, because the garden has finished for the year, and temps are dropping, which means the hum and warmth of a dehydrator running is much more welcome than in the hot days of summer.

   Let me give you a short but sweet run down on how we do our different meats:

BEEF: I have dried hamburger, and beef chunks, as well as jerky that was made here at our home. Hamburger is easy, as you just fry it up really well (NO PINK MEAT), rinse to get most of the fat off, and then place on the racks to dry. You might want to consider parchment paper as they will really shrink and you dont want to lose any of your precious meat. I fry it up, rinse it, pat it dry, and then dry. To  be honest, timing depends on the humidity that day and since I have a timer, I tend to just crank it for 12 hours and walk away, so I couldnt tell you it takes X amount of hours. You will know. They are called "Hamburger Rocks" for a reason. And if you happen to drop a tray on the floor, think you have everything swept up and then step on one in the middle of the night while on your trek to the bathroom, I am quite sure you will agree with me that they hurt your feet about as bad as legos do. :) Beef chunks are easy but take longer. I brine my meat overnight with seasonings like soy sauce, or apple cider vinegar and garlic, then cube the meat, slice each cube in half so it is thinner, then lay on the racks and dry. Same temp as all the other meats are done at, and halfway through when they are dry to the touch, I take them out, flip them, and continue until they are rock solid hard. You should not be able to bend them at all, and in fact, they should be as hard as rocks. If you are not sure, take one out and try to cut through the middle of it. If you need a serrated knife, and it is tough going, I am quite sure they are just fine. :)

POULTRY:  The only way I have luck with this is by drying shreds of either chicken or turkey. I tried a friend's suggestion and rehydrated the little bit of chicken I had left in the crockpot overnight with chicken broth, and was thrilled to have found a solution on how to get it back to normal eating ability. I have had trouble with that in the past, and that is why I have not done chicken or turkey this last year. Now, those birds are going down. ANY TIME you are drying meat you need to trim all visible fat, and some, such as beef tha tis marbled, rinse them well after cooking. I do not dry any meat that is raw, no matter what anyone says, because I cant see how raw meat sitting at 160* for 12 hours or more can possibly NOT begin to harbor bacteria or anything that can make my family sick. I brine my chicken and turkey overnight in a salt water solution, and then cook the next day. Shred, and dry.

FISH: This is probably the easiest one, especially if you are using a fish with little fat and flaky skin when cooked. I have dried this in chunks, or fillets, and placed right into a jar for use later. It will be hard with very sharp edges, as most meats are, so you must be careful if you are going to package it in a food saver, or a mylar bag, as it will slice right through the bag. Dried fish makes an amazing almost instant soup for cold days, if you carefully crumble it into a mug of hot water with other seasonings and veggies.

PORK: I do not recommend drying pork, and that is because of the fat content. Any fat left on any meat will quickly go rancid, thereby ruining all your hard work. Pork is almost impossible to completely get the fat off of and out of, and so any pork that you dry should be either placed in the freezer (which in my mind defeats the purpose of drying it), or eaten relatively quickly (within a couple weeks at most). Honestly, I just avoid this meat and can it up instead as that is the best way to make it shelf stable for a long period of time.

WILD GAME:   Venison can be treated exactly the same way you treat beef. Pheasant, ducks, geese, etc should be treated as you did the poultry above. Raccoon and a few other meats that are more fatty need caution and personally, since they contain so much fat, I would probably can them first before I even tried to dry them. Not that we have done that lately. But that squirrel is driving me nuts, literally, so if he keeps it up you just might find a bag on my shelf labeled "Squirrel".

   I hope this gives you information that you have been looking for in dehydrating. I will be covering drying herbs tomorrow and a few cautions with that, and then, after a short day on Wednesday catching you up on the Welcoming House going-ons in pics, we will dive right into a bunch of recipes that you can use all your dried foods for!

    Hope your Monday is starting out well! Thinking and praying for many of you!

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

 Check out these two places:
Linda Elegante's Blog: Dehydrating Way Beyond Jerky

and the FaceBook Page that goes with it:
Dehydrating Way Beyond Jerky Facebook Page

Just a Word on my heart............

Poverty has many faces.

It can be the young woman,
standing in line with a cheap pair of shoes for her child.

It can be seen in the seamed face of an elderly man, 

carefully counting out the pennies to put a little gas in his car.

It can be in the tense shoulders of a 30-something man who carries your groceries out,

 and places them in the trunk.

It can be in the face of child, slowly eating his free school lunch, 

or even a toddler, wolfing down the free sucker from the bank lobby.

It can be the tired mother, balancing a newborn on her shoulder while trying to fill out paperwork at the local food shelf.

It can look like anything, and yet, we stereotype it, without realizing we do it.

   Everyone, everywhere, has a struggle that they are going through. Some are more public than others, and some are buried so deep that you would never know that behind that million-watt smile is a heart that is breaking.

   We need to start learning how to teach people how to fish again, not wait in line for fish each day. A man or woman with something to do with their hands is a happier person, able to even have a small smidgen of control over their own future. A man or woman forced to stand in line to receive their daily portion can become angry, depressed, even desperate for ANY solution to solve their issues. And as their children stand by, watching, trusting, they too will follow in the footsteps of the patterns laid out for them.

   Much has happened the last couple days in my heart and mind as I have been out and about and seen the pain that is all over. I am astonished that someone would even say the economy is growing and improving. Must not be in our part of town. I am seeing less jobs, not enough money, not enough food to go around, and less income to purchase that and gas with. I am seeing more people needing help in one way or another, and it just breaks my heart.


   When I started this blog it was because someone, somewhere, long ago, had the heart to "teach me how to fish". They gently and patiently instructed me in the things that are now everyday patterns in my life.

I hope that I have helped you. 

I pray for you, every day. 

    You?

    Yes... you. 

   If you are reading this, you have been prayed for. It is not a coincidence that you are here. You did not stumble on this blog, no matter how random it seems. You were led here. Called here. And the One who led you here loves you very much, enough to bring you to somewhere that you can finally begin to feel hope and encouragement again..........somewhere that you can come up with a plan of attack on the things that are bringing you down, and step out in faith that everything is going to be all right.

   I will be continuing next week with the mini-series on dehydrating things and how to use them in meals and such. If you live somewhere that space is a limitation, then perhaps dehydrating is for you. It really is amazing what you can fit from a bag of something into a small jar in only a few short hours in a dehydrator.

   I want to encourage you, if you came here looking for a solution on how to save on groceries, and if things are getting tough for you and you are having to make some hard choices, would you check out my series Making Do Without Missing A Thing? It is designed to teach you how to do things the Welcoming House way, without making all the mistakes I did along the way. Whether you are able to do just a little of it, or all of it, I am quite sure most of you are at the place where you will need to be doing something.

 Finally, I want to close with something. If you are placing your foundation on a good job, a happy family, a paid-off home, a strong marriage, ANYTHING along those lines...........well, I just want to say that all those things fail, sometimes in spectacular and painful ways. There is only ONE foundation that is rock solid and will hold when all else around you falls apart, and that is turning to Jesus Christ, the son of God, to hold your future, your past and your present. I have been on some wild rides in my life, but He has never failed me yet. I have been in the pit of despair, where things looked so black that I could not see me ever getting out again, and yet, He was right there with me.

   I want to encourage you, if you have come to the place that you want...no NEED that security that can be provided for you....if you NEED a friend to come along side you and pray for you, in whatever way that is a desperation for you.......please click the "contact me" button above and send me a short email. I will get back to you as soon as I can. ANYTHING you share will be completely confidential. You dont even have to share your name, if you want.  

Just email me, and I WILL pray for you.

   And if you cant do that yet, if you are someone who finds it hard to turn to someone you dont know, please, know you are in my prayers tonight. God burdens me every day with people who I know read this blog and need someone to pray for them right now. Perhaps you are one of those people. God bless you. Thank you for coming here. Thank you for reading my posts, and trying to learn, or for heading over to the Facebook Page and signing up to learn more over there.

  You are always on my heart.

Many blessings to you and yours,

Heather

How to dehydrate fruits and veggies...and recipes for using them!

Thanks everyone, for being so patient as I try to get things in order around the real Welcoming House. I am happy to report both my littles are doing better, and sleeping right now.

Looks like the ear infections are staved off for now, and all I have to do is get a little more sleep!

Looking forward to this weekend!

    THIS weekend is special--we have Saturday totally blocked off as we look forward to celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary at a big city close by. For years I talked about wanting to go on a cruise, renewing our vows, have a week in a bed and breakfast, etc. Is it terrible to say that I am just thankful we are hanging out together, enjoying one another, and getting to sleep in our own bed that night?
   I figure that if we have the chance, on our 20th we will make it a larger event, since the kids will be older, and I wont be concerned about our two two-year olds taking out someone else's house overnight while we blissfully sleep in some fancy hotel. The Handy Hubby told me he remembers his parents staying in a hotel down the road from where they lived on their 15th anniversary, and his parents ended up going and picking them up so that they could come and enjoy the pool and room service right along with them. I laughed outright at that.


   So looking forward to this weekend, and excited about what is ahead this week and next here on the blog.

   We have been talking about using dried foods, learning how to dry them, and use them in recipes for your pantry. I hope you read my post earlier this week about the benefits of using and storing dried foods, and how around here at The Welcoming House, my pantry has a great mix of both canned and dried foods, and I often use them interchangeably in my cooking.

   Today we are going to be talking about how to dry and use fruits and veggies in your meals.

   One caution for you---it is very easy, if you have dried fruit as a snack sitting around---to not realize just how much of something you have eaten if you are not careful about writing portion sizes on the lids, sharing with family members that __ amount of slices equals one fruit, or just having it widely available for anyone to grab and go. When you dry foods, most things really shrink, and so it is easy (and yes, it has happened in our family) if you happen to have a "mindless snacker" who loves to grab something and go sit in front of the TV or computer, that you can have dried an entire 5 lb bag of apples..........and they can devour it in one sitting.


   SO---be sure to share with your family that dried foods, while an awesome snack, come with an amount limit, or stomach-aches are sure to follow in their future as the snack swells in their tummy and makes them rather uncomfortable. Just ask the Handy Hubby how uncomfortable 5 lbs of apples in slices sitting in your stomach are. :)

   I tend to measure for myself, which also gives me a good guesstimate when I am making a dish. I know half an apple tends to be five slices when I am making them into dried apple slices, so a full apple's worth is ten slices. It takes five apples or so to make a pie, so that tells me how much I am going to be pulling out of a jar to make a single dried apple pie. Make sense?


   It also helps to have those measurements when you are rehydrating veggies for a meal, or throwing them into a main dish to know how much of that veggie makes a single serving for a person. I will be giving you this kind of chart at the end of our series so that you can copy and print it for your binders/cookbooks/fridges. It helps to know that when you are making something, you most often measure amount for amount when rehydrating--so if you have one cup of corn that you want to rehydrate for a meal, then you will need one cup of water or broth to each cup of dried corn.

   Okay. Whew! So we waded through that, now let me give you some simple pointers on how to dry fruit and veggies.

   Both fruit and veggies can be dried at around the same temps, and I do mine around 135*. If you are a "raw foodie" I am sure you dry your foods at a lower temp to preserve more of the fundamental goodness of them, and frankly, if that is what works for you, good for you! But see, I am a busy mom with three kids, who homeschools, teaches piano, keeps house, cooks and cleans, and as you can see by what you are reading, keeps a rather busy blog life as well.

So faster is better for me. Period.

   When you are slicing up your fruits or veggies, you want to try for the most uniform slices that you can get. IF you are like me, and have some that are chunkier on one side than the other since you are using a knife instead of a mandolin (I almost cut my finger off with one of those one time), just make sure those chunkier slices go to the edge of the tray instead of the middle, where they will get better air circulation and be able to dry faster. If you are doing something like cherry tomatoes, grapes, apricots, etc, then make sure that they are cut in half, skin side down on the trays, and understand these take a while to dry. If you dont place them skin side down, good luck on getting them off the trays again in the future.

   Try not to use any kind of oil to spray your trays with, even if you have something that might stick, because oil goes rancid very quickly, and you might not like how your hard work goes bad right along with it, long before you are able to use the things you put up.
   I have used parchment paper with great success with some things I did not want to have to peel off. Try that before you try oil. Also, the plastic liners from the cereal bags, can be cut to fit your trays and go right over the top of your grid liners if you have something runny that you want to dry, such as a fruit or veggie leather. Just another short tip.


   Make sure your fruits and veggies are uniformly cut, and spaced nicely so the air can get between them and dry them. Some fruits and vegetables require more patience than others, the rule of thumb is: the thicker it is, the quicker it is NOT......so have patience.


   Another little secret about drying things----for some crazy reason, frozen fruits and veggies dry faster, and cleaner. I do not, for the life of me, pretend to understand the scientific improbability or reasoning behind that, it is just the observation of a person who has been doing it for years, and found it is true.



   SO---what does that mean to you??? It means next time there is a sale on frozen veggies, most notably things like peas and carrots, stir fry, corn, peas, etc.......snag up a bunch of bags and get that dehydrator ready, because before you can blink an eye more than once or twice you will have pretty glass jars full of dried vegetables that are shelf stable, and take up 1/2 of the space they would if they were sitting in a freezer waiting to be used and collecting freezer burn. I just want to say as well, that I use the freezer to flash freeze any fresh berries like blueberries, mulberries, etc, that would otherwise need to be "checked" (where you dump in boiling water to break the skin so they dry right). I have done this now for three years, and had wonderful success with the berries drying down in a totally normal way, rather than losing some because they were not "checked enough" and so they puff up and turn to empty shells full of a funny powder. (true and gross to eat).

   So, if you have carefully sliced, and dried, an assortment of veggies and fruits, and they are sitting there on your shelves waiting to be used, the main thing you need to ask yourself in your new crazy and alternative reality is:

   "WHAT in the WORLD do I do with these NOW??"

   I mean , face it, some of those babies are great to snack on, but who wants to eat dried peas and carrots for a snack? Not me, that is for sure.

    And that is where you choose what you want to do with it. Do you want to use it straight as a side dish? Is it going to be cooked in something? or is it something, like spinach, that you can sneak into a meal for another veggie dose that the kids will never discover, and you will feel like sneaking behind the fridge so you can give in to your evil laugh???

 Because each method of rehydrating is a little different. Lets talk about easy to less easy in prep ideas.

   EASY: If you are going to use your dried veggies in a soup, then by all means, throw them in there just the way they are. You will wonder, after the first taste, how it is that the soup tastes so strong and flavorful, and different than you have ever had before. Surprise! Welcome to using dried foods where the taste is intensified, and as they absorb liquid, they make things thicker and more yummy than you ever thought possible. However, with all that in mind, remember that using dried things will need more liquid, so plan accordingly. Otherwise you might end up with a veggie stew instead of a veggie soup.

Also Easy: for every cup of dried food, add it to one cup of hot water, and let it sit. The heat helps it to absorb the water more readily, although, if you are good at planning ahead, you can just put the food into cool water the night before and have everything ready to go to assemble a meal. I am NOT like that, in fact, would probably forget my head if it wasnt attached, so hot water works for me.

Another Easy Idea with Fruits (such as orange slices): put them in a pitcher of water overnight, and have a refreshing drink in the morning. I do this ALL THE TIME with different citrus fruits.

  Depending on what you want to use it for, you can use one or the other of those methods.

Coming tomorrow, we will be talking about how to dry meats and herbs.

And then ALL NEXT WEEK I am going to be sharing ideas, recipes, and links to show you how to use those dried foods in meals, snacks, baked goods, etc.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to head over to the supporting Welcoming House Facebook page by clicking HERE if you are not already a part of that! I share other ideas over there all week long!

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

Linked to the  Hearts for Home Linkup, Little Natural Cottage Link up, and GNOWGFLINS linkup