What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Thursday, August 06, 2009

A Link

Previously, I have dehydrated jerky, jalapenos, bananas and apples and that is ALL I have ever used my dehydrator for. It is a well-used piece of my kitchen equipment, but not with variety~just with quantity. I guess, because I had never done it all before and was never taught, I never realized the great potential the dehydrator offers.

This year though, I decided to embark more fully into the land of dried foods, mainly because I have a sweet, adorable calf getting larger by the day and a freezer that is already stocked full. And~ I won't pretend that the last four or five days where electricity randomly went out (for many hours) didn't get me a wee bit uncomfortable when I realized how much food would be LOST if it didn't turn back on soon.

The other day I took to making squash chips. I figured they might be yummy (and less fat than fried potato chips) when eaten with homemade dips. It was a trial run and SCORE! Turns out, they ARE good (besides the ridiculous amount of seasoned salt I put on them. ick) I have another batch working now.

That feat got me thinking about what other foods were dehydrate-able. (Don't ask me why I never thought ALL foods were...) and led to my discovery of THESE videos....

How to Dehydrate and Store Food

This lady is pretty admirable. I never realized what you could do with a dehydrator! And her message is a good one. The fact is, we need to start taking control of our lives and not being so dependent on everyone else (or the grocery store). I think it was Part 4 or 5 where she shows her homemade kitchen shelf JUST for dehydrated things and I gasped at how pretty it was. Oh my. Eventually, she covers cooking with it too. What a treasure trove!

I have determined to use my food dehydrator every weeknight for the rest of this week and next. We'll see if I can do it (and what the results will be.) Hold me to it, will ya??

I am on Part 7 of the videos now and looking forward to the rest. Thought I would post a link here, for those interested, in case someone else might glean some good information. ESPECIALLY since we've been talking about it here lately (Bonnie and Peggy!)

That's all. (said in a very Meryl Streep Devil Wears Prada voice)
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5 comments:

Bonnie said...

Woo-Hoo! weekend entertaiment and learning! Thanks Rebecca!

Shannon said...

This is exactly my point with my weekly blog carnival food roots. If you're interested come link up there with your post and find others who are finding their food's roots and independence.

Shannon @ www.nourishingdays.com

Unknown said...

Ooooooo...yum! Great idea! :-)

Mary said...

Thanks for the awesome link.
We're up to our knees in harvest goodness here; time to fire up the Excalibur.

If it gets too hot in your house, here's a tip-run the dehydrator under a covered porch or in the basement.

Pear tree cottage! said...

While your summer months rush towards a season of picking and canning! were look forward to a wonderful spring after a winter that has chilled us right to the bones...........your blog warms me knowing the sun fills your home with warmth and cooking!! (smiles)

Lee-ann