Tuesday, November 18, 2014

How to Make Tomato Powder With Can tomatoes and Tomato Paste

Tomato powder
Fairly cheap and not hard to make
First I tried drying cans of tomato paste but the leather was hard to grind and wanted to clump, just not enough moisture in it, so this time around I used two cans of tomatoes with one can of paste and it worked great, just the consistency needed.
Toss it in a blender and blend until smooth
Dry at 125 degrees for approximately 10 to 14 hours or until completely dry to touch.

Two cans of whole or diced tomatoes and one can of paste filled 3 dehydrator trays.
I also found that I could use two cans of tomato sauce in place of the can tomatoes with the same result.
They dried nice and thin. I removed them from the leather trays and flipped them over onto the net trays and dried them for another hour to make sure all moisture was removed.
Two cans of dried ground tomatoes and one can of paste made 7 1/2 tablespoons of powder.
All 9 trays didn't even make a pint
but it's packed with concentrated flavor

Monday, November 17, 2014

Eating From My Food Storage.. Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili

All season long while dehydrating every vegetable and herb I could get my hands on, I had one goal in mind.
Being able to make meals in a jar that on a busy day could be dumped in my Crock Pot to cook.
Also if the power goes off I can cook this on the stove and not have to dig through my fridge or freezer.
(we cook with gas)
Chicken chili was top on my list and after much experimenting (on my poor family)  this is the best recipe I've came up.
Other then the chicken it's all dehydrated foods.
I keep cooked chicken in my freezer and I also have can chicken.  I see no point in wasting my money on freeze dried chicken when can will work as well.


white Chicken Chili

3 cups pre-soaked Great Northern or white navy beans drained
   (dehydrating some quick cook beans are next on my list)
2 rounded tablespoons dehydrated onion flakes or slices
2 tablespoons dehydrated chopped red bell pepper
2 tablespoons dehydrated chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon diced dehydrated jalapeno pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder or diced chunk garlic
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 chicken bullion cubes
4 cups water
8 ounces cooked chicken 

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, cover and cook on low 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Nothing feels better after being gone all day then the welcoming smell of dinner waiting to be dished up.
My family gave me a thumbs up on this one



Friday, November 14, 2014

Excalibur Food Dehydrator versus American Harvest Nesco

I was asked to do a comparison between the Nesco and Excalibur food dehydrators
and
I'm totally blown away

Celery dried in 14 hours in the Excalibur


My Nesco
14 hours later only the edges are dry and I even rotated the trays before going to bed.

Two months ago I bought an American Harvester Nesco due to the price, it gets the job done but at a much slower rate.
From now on any dehydrators in my future will be an Excalibur


Sunday, November 9, 2014

Yogurt Chips


A local store had fruit yogurt on sale for 50 cents each and I just had to try dehydrating some.
I wanted them bite size so I dropped teaspoons full on leather trays
I can't say for sure how many hours they took to dry because I put them into the dehydrator around 10 am at 125 degrees and that evening I removed them from the leather trays, flipped them over and laid them on net trays to make sure the bottoms were dry and let them continue to dry at 125 over night.
I'm guessing they took from 18 to 20 hours.
Blackberry
blueberry
peach
Strawberry
Black cherry
Delicious!!!
Taste kind of like fruit flavored taffy candy
but much healthier

Friday, November 7, 2014

Oatmeal Wheat Bread



This bread is moist, tender and absolutely delicious.
^^^
My favorite go to bread
 I love both oatmeal and wheat breads and this recipe combines both so how could I not love it.
I hope you do too


Oatmeal Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup quick oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 1/2 cups all purpose white flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon yeast
2 1/2 cups water

DIRECTIONS: 
Combine in a large bowl
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

Pour 2 cups of boiling water into the bowl and stir to combine. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.  You're basically just letting the oatmeal cook, which contributes to the moistness of the finished loaf.

After 15 minutes, dissolve:
1 Tablespoon yeast in
1/2 cup warm water

Allow the yeast mixture to sit for several minutes to proof.

Add the yeast mixture to the bowl of flour and oats and stir to combine.
Stir in:
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 1/2 cups white flour

(I use my Kitchen Aid to mix and knead the dough, just put it on speed 1 or 2)

Dust counter top with flour, and turn dough out onto floured counter top.  Knead until dough is smooth and elastic.
pour 1 tablespoon oil into a large bowl; put dough into the oiled bowel, turning dough several times to coat with oil.  Cover with towel and allow to rise until doubled. 

Once the dough is doubled, punch down and cut dough in half.  Shape each half into loaf and place into greased 9x5x3" pans and allow to rise until doubled.

Bake @ 350 for 30-40 minutes, until loaves sound hollow when you tap them.
Allow to cool on wire rack.