Cooking with dehydrated foods

Using dehydrated foods in your recipe is as easy as pie!

Here are a few dehydrated foods I keep readily available in the kitchen!

Top left to right: Zucchini, blueberries, prunes (needs to be refilled), pears.

Center left to right: Peas & carrots, mushrooms, carrots, pineapple.

Bottom left to right: Peppers, powdered celery, powdered peppers.

Not pictured: Sweet onions and red onions.

There are only TWO GOLDEN RULES I follow when using our dehydrated food supply in our every day cooking. 

#1.  If I'm cooking soups, stews, or anything with plenty of liquid that will be slow cooked for a good period of time, I throw the dehydrated food right into the pot.

#2. If I'm making a recipe that doesn't meet the above requirement, then I simply rehydrate the dehydrated food and add it to the pot. 

Here is an example of what the #2 rule looks like, step by step!

I wanted to make a veggie scrambler for dinner, so the very FIRST thing I did was combine all the dehydrated foods I wanted for the meal into a bowl, then I covered them with boiling water, gave them a stir and ran into town to run a couple errands. ~ Easy as pie!

Dehydrated mushrooms, red onions, peas and carrots

I covered them with boiling water (not floating!) and gave them a stir

I returned from my errands about a half hour or forty-five minutes later and gave them another stir.

I fried up a little country style sausage

I cut up one baked potato

I drained off any excess water from the veggies, added the veggies and potato to the pan.

I heated everything through ...

Then I poured scrambled eggs over the top and cooked and stirred until done.

I made a side of sourdough toast ... and dinner is served!

Voila ... Hers and His Veggie Scrambler!

... and enough left over to pack him a lunch for work!

... all in one pan with little clean up!

SEE???  EASY AS PIE! 

The Versatile Blogger Award

What an honor it is to have received the "Versatile Blogger Award" from my facebook friend and "cyber-sister", Pamela, otherwise known as Canning Granny. http://canninggranny.blogspot.com  She has been such an encouragement to me and many others.  I love her wit and energy and her love for people as she encourages and teaches her followers about canning and many other topics.  

At first I was shocked to see I had received such an blogger award since I am still quite new to the blogging world and it is a skill I hope to improve on this year.  To my followers ... I am thankful for all of you who take the time to read my blog and leave feedback.  I hope I can continue encouraging you on your skill building now and in the future!

Here are the RULES for the Versatile Blogger Award:
1. Add the award to your blog.
2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you.
3. Mention seven random things about yourself. (see below)
4. List the rules.
5. Award to 15 bloggers.
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are the SEVEN random things about me ...
1. I grew up on a small farm in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley
2. I love going camping with my great big family
3. I work in the yard and garden until the yellow jackets show up
4. I find strength to keep going from God's Word and my mother's kind words of encouragement
5. Many things seem ridiculous to me these days ... like how long it takes me to post a blog!
6. Nothing warms my heart like snuggling with my grand babies.  They are my blessing from heaven!
7. The most comforting and safest place for me is in my loving husband's arms!

Here is my list of FIFTEEN blogs that I find to be inspiring and want to pass on to you.  I do hope you check out these links because you will find an awesome array of people who work hard at what they do and I hope you will be encouraged and inspired by them also.  It was difficult to list only fifteen while also not repeating links that other friends of mine have posted on their blogs already. Enjoy!


1. http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/
2. http://citygirlfarming.wordpress.com/
3. http://thesurvivalmom.com/
4. http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/
5. http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/
6. http://www.dogislandfarm.com/
7. http://www.beckyintherootcellar.com/
8. http://lawnlesstrials.blogspot.com/
9. http://www.themorristribe.com/
10. http://willamettevalleyhomesteader.wordpress.com/
11. http://themetropolitanhomestead.com/
12. http://www.growingherbsforbeginners.com/
13. http://newlifeonahomestead.com/
14. http://www.the-farmers-wife.net
15 http://myfarmersmarketmeals.com/
  

Super Bowl Sauerkraut

SUPER BOWL SAUERKRAUT- BAVARIAN STYLE WITH CARAWAY SEED

~ blog by Mr. Latest (aka Captain Headspace)

Start shredding January 1 - Can it Super Bowl Day!

A modification of the recipe posted here:

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/homemade-sauerkraut-with-caraway-and-apples


A tip of the cap to Wild Fermantation for their how to:

http://www.wildfermentation.com/resources.php?page=sauerkraut


Also some good instruction from Canning Granny and Granny Smith, just how we hot-packed ours:

http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2011/10/making-and-canning-sauerkraut.html

Our 10L Harsch Crock with lid off

INGREDIENTS - X3 to fill a 10L Crock

5 pounds green cabbage shredded
1 Granny Smith apple—apple peeler/corer/slicer - cut into small wedges
3 tablespoons fine sea salt - we used Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Mix ingrediants together in large bowl and compact into your fermenting vessel.

We fermented ours in a 10L Harsch Crock which we've found the ideal size for making a nice canner load of kraut to put in the pantry and still have some fresh kraut for the frig. These air-lock crocks are spendy and certainly not necessary, but it's fun to listen to it gurgle and as long as the stones remain under brine, we don't have any mold to clean up. It's a good idea also to lay some whole cabbage leaves on top of your kraut before placing the stones in, it holds the floaters back and keeps the stones visible. Very important to make sure they don't become exposed. We make extra brine ( just 1.5T salt per quart of water brought to boil and cooled to room temp before adding) to insure there is a couple of inches+ of brine on top of the stones when you are done loading the crock, and maybe a couple inches of headspace left at the top of the crock as the juice and stones will both rise some. You can
also add some brine down the road if you think it will need more to keep the stones covered, but if you get this right to begin with it should be enough to get it fermented. Just takes a little practice.

This is the fourth batch we've made and have come up with a formula that seems to work well for us. The Harsch will hold 15 lbs of cabbage with some good compacting and still leave enough room to get the stones in and out. It really does expand and the juice will come very close to the top of the crock while the stones rise as far as they can during the ferment. You have to push them down to get enough room to take them out. It takes a batch or two to get your system down, but this is pretty easy
and fun once you get the hang of it.

As for the kraut, this is one tangy batch. A good bit of rye flavor with an a tart bite from the apples. Very happy with the first time results and would certainly make this again. YUM!

Kraut - Fresh out of the crock and heating up for canning



Packing the canning jars with kraut, one at a time ...

Thirteen pints of kraut in our largest water bath canner

Kraut right out of the canner

Cheap dog with fresh kraut!  Gotta get me some better dogs to go with the kraut now!