Category: Kitchen

Dehydrating Squash Epic Fail

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Last year we had a bumper crop of zucchini.  After our zucchini harvest season was long over I came across a post for zucchini chips. I thought I would definitely try it this year. Well, this year none of our zucchini plants did anything. We even replanted them. We may have had bad seeds. Luckily, we still have quite a bit in the freezer from last year. Last year we did not plant any summer squash. This year we did and it is doing well and we are experiencing a lot of squash.

So, I searched the ole internet to see if I could dehydrate squash into squash chips like the zucchini chip post I had seen. I did indeed find some posts suggesting squash or zucchini could be dehydrated. So, Jon and I thought we’d give it a try and see how it turned out. We only did a couple of squash as we were not sure how this experiment would go. We sliced the squash about 1/8 inch thick. This was done by hand so there was a slight variance in thickness. However, Jon is a wiz with a knife from all of his years in the restaurant business and they were pretty darn consistent for not using a mandolin.
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Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

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A couple of weeks ago I came across a blog post for crock pot baked potatoes. I would give credit, but now I can no longer find it. I thought I had pinned it. I love being able to have supper cooking in the crock pot while I’m at work or busy. When I saw this idea I was excited. Baked potatoes in the microwave do not taste the same and potatoes baked in the oven take a long time.

Crockpot Baked Potatoes
Crock pot Baked Potatoes

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Benefits of Grass Fed Beef

Benefits of Grass Fed Beef | What is Grass Fed Beef?

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We are very happy to be able to finally say we are now buying grass fed beef! Friday, Jon picked up our first order of 1/16 of a cow. Just how much is 1/16 of a cow? It is this much pictured above.  We found a local farm/dealer, Grassfed Greensboro, that we could buy direct from. Here is the breakdown of what they offer.

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First Time Making Beef Jerky

Making Beef Jerky

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This weekend I decided to dehydrate a batch of beef jerky. Store bought jerky is so expensive and is full of preservatives too. Since I just bought the dehydrator, I wanted to use the jerky seasoning that came with it first.

The directions had two options, ground meat and sliced meat. I am not a fan of ground, compressed, jerky so I went the other route.

I mixed the following together:

  • Contents of the Nesco seasoning and cure packets
  • 1/4 cup of water.
  • Added a tsp of worcestershire sauce (just because I like it)
  • Added tsp pepper (jerky must have plenty of pepper)

I marinated 1 lb of sirloin steak that Jon had sliced in thin strips (less than 1/4 in) over night (approximately 9 hours)
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Dehydrating Strawberries

Nesco American Harvest FD-37 400 Watt Food Dehydrator

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I have been in want of a food dehydrator for some time. I used to have one many moons ago, but I never got around to replacing it. Not too long ago I found a blog post for zucchini chips by The Creative Home and then shortly after came across a review of the Excalibur dehydrator. This rejuvenated my quest for a food dehydrator.

I had inevitably looked at Walmart first. I then turned to Amazon where I do a lot of shopping. I despise going to the store and shopping. I absolutely love shopping online if I can get a good product and deal with little to no shipping charge. I also happened to have a gift card for Amazon that I had received for Christmas.

There were so many options on Amazon that range from $28 to $385! Although the Excalibur received a glowing review I just cannot fathom spending $200 to $300 on a food dehydrator for the home. That just seems excessive to me. So, I set my limit in the $60ish range and started looking there. I like to read the reviews when available and there were many.

I opted on the Nesco American Harvest FD-37 400 Watt Food Dehydrator for the low low price of $30 and got a 2-pack of the easy clean screens to see how they worked. You can also get the fruit roll-up screens as accessories. All of us have outgrown fruit roll-ups so I did not purchase those.

Nesco American Harvest FD-37 400 Watt Food Dehydrator Packaging

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First Attempt at Making Crab Apple Jelly

Crab Apple Jelly – Take 1

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Wednesday I decided I was going to try my hand at making crab apple jelly. This recipe, Mary Wynnes Crabapple Jelly, looked simple enough. Surely, I could do this. Jon decided to help me after I got home from work that evening.
We had our son pick a 3 gallon bucket of crab apples before I got home. Jon had the day off and got started on the process of removing the stems before I arrived. Now, he understands what I meant by tedious.  When I arrived home there he was in the kitchen still removing stems.
Crab Apples
Crab Apples and Their Stubborn Stems!

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Crab Apple Juice

Crab Apple Juice

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We have a crab apple tree in our yard near the driveway. Every year it is loaded down with crab apples.

I do not know if it grew wild or if it was planted by the previous owners. It was here when we bought the house. It is beautiful tree in the spring when in bloom. I’ve never really known anyone to do anything with crab apples. I’ve seen them around, but always just assumed they were wild and had no use other than a home remedy for constipation.

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Lehman's Pressure Canner

Pressure Canner From Outer Space

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Our first rows of beans/peas we planted (pintos, dragon tongues, and crowder peas) we picked and dried.  This worked, but the drying process takes a while and I had cookie sheets with beans and peas all over the place.

I had already wanted to get a pressure canner, but originally thought I’d wait until next year.  This was our first year having a garden. I didn’t need a pressure cooker just yet, did I? But as our first round of beans were winding down, we decided to pull them up and plant a couple of rows of bush green beans.

The days following planting them we started talking about how we needed a canner of some sort, preferably a pressure canner for the green beans. Although we may cook some fresh out of the garden, we would need to either freeze or can the rest as they are not preferred dried.

Even though I had not canned anything since I was about 19 years old I had decided I wanted to go ahead and start looking for a pressure canner. I looked at Walmart, Kmart, Amazon, and Lehman’s. Pressure canners come in all sizes, quality, features (pressure gauge or not). Both of which impact the price of course.

The more I looked the more my heart got set on Lehman’s High Quality Pressure Canner. The quality was impeccable and the reviews were as well.  I must have this canner!  Then I had to decide what size did I need as it came in 5 different capacities from 10-1/2 Quart up to 41-1/2 Quart.

  • 10-1/2 Quart: Jar Capacity: 7 pt or 4 qt.
    Dimensions: 7-3/4″H x 10-1/2″ID (11-1/2″H with lid), 12 lb.
  • 15-1/2 Quart: Jar Capacity: 10 pt or 7 qt.
    Dimensions: 7-1/2″H x 12-3/4″ID (12-1/2″H with lid), 17 lb.
  • 21-1/2 Quart: Jar Capacity: 19 pt or 7 qt
    Dimensions: 10-3/8″H x 12-3/4″ID (15-3/4″H with lid), 18 lb.
  • 30 Quart: Jar Capacity: 19 pt or 14 qt
    Dimensions: 14″H x 12-3/8″ID (19″H with lid), 21 lb
  • 41-1/2 Quart:Jar Capacity: 32 pt or 19 qt
    Dimensions: 14″H x 15-1/4″ID (19″H with lid), 33 lb

I decided not to get the 41-1/2 Quart canner.  It was $419! That seemed excessive to me and I doubt I would need to can that much at one time. Then, I thought about how I would eventually want to be able to can half gallon jars for juice and thought I will definitely need a tall one.  I would not want to be limited. Obviously, I must have the 30 Quart capacity for $279! I love me some Lehman’s too by the way.

Wow, that is a lot of money, but it is an investment in our family’s future and I’ll never need to buy another one.  So, I rearranged the ole financial budget and found some room for this little gem of a purchase.  I would be able to get it mid August just in time for our green bean harvest!  I will have to can a lot of green beans to pay for this thing, but it was worth it. I was so proud of myself.

So just in time, this Gi-Normous box was delivered to the house. Yay, my canner has arrived. Wow, this thing was heavy. I proceeded to open the box and what I found inside looked like a pressure cooker from outer space! At a minimum, this thing should be in laboratory or something! I had never seen such a pressure cooker in all my life!  I thought my Mama’s was huge, but it was nothing compared to this thing.

It is gorgeous and pristine, but I think I may have been a little over zealous.

Bring on the beans!

Zucchini, Laserdiscs, and Meat On Sale!

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The kids may riot soon if we force them to eat any more zucchini! To be quite honest Jon and I are getting a bit tired of it too and I love fried zucchini! It blows my mind how much produce can come from 8 plants. So, now we are going to take a little break from the eating of the fresh zucchini and just freeze it.

 

 

Which brings us to our next dilemma. Where to put all of this frozen bounty? We decided that we needed a pantry, but where?
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