Dehydrating Garlic, Tomatoes and Apples

My precious Excalibur dehydrator has been working overtime these past few days and is doing a great job!   The garlic is still drying at the present and I plan to vacuum seal into small packages for winter use since I still have plenty of fresh garlic right now.

The garlic and tomatoes did wonderful this year despite the extrememly hot weather and they are two of my favorite picks in the garden.

There are still quite a number of tomatoes still ripening up on the vine along with the bountiful harvest ready for salsa.   I did dehydrate a considerable amount also and I refer to them as my sun-dried tomatoes (even though they weren’t actually dried in the sun).   They are excellent in pasta recipes or even sprinkled in a salad!

Dehydrated Tomatoes

The tomato that I dehydrated is the Principe Borghese which states it is good for sun drying.   I found it quite small and full of seeds – the smaller romas which I also dehydrated were meatier and had very little seeds.   Next year we stick with the romas for drying.   Two other varieties that did well were -

Illini Star tomatoes

Cherokee Purple tomatoes

Before the kids left for college I was able to dry up a ton of apples for them to snack on – they really enjoy these … and so do I!

Here’s hoping they eat healthy!!!

Baking: Trying to keep it healthy!

I love to bake!  Over the years I have tried to keep my baking on the healthy side – no extra toppings or too much butter or salt.  I use fresh ingredients when possible and grow much of the favorites and use extras for baking and freezing.  Now with the 2 kids away at college if I bake I have to either eat it or freeze it.  The freezer is pretty packed these days.  They will be home for winter break soon and the real baking will begin!  This past week I have made a few goodies to hold me over until that time!

 Flaxseed Cookies

Ingredients = 1 cup shortening, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 2 eggs beaten, 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 cup chocolate chips, 1/4 cup ground flaxseed

Combine above and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes until golden brown.  I have grown flaxseed this past year as an experiment and it grew rather well.  Since it is quite costly and so good for the health, I am sure I will be growing more this year – much more.

 Applesauce Multigrain Muffins (the multigrain is very similar to oatmeal – substitute using oatmeal)

This recipe is on the box of Country Choice organic hot cereal Multi Grain.  There is a streusel topping included but I opted to leave it out – less calories. Ingredients = 1 cup multigrain cereal (uncooked), 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 cup applesauce, 1/2 cup low fat milk, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup sunflower oil & 1 egg

Combine ingredients – bake for 18-20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

These I actually froze since we still have half of the banana bread remaining from last week to eat up.  The muffins I can just grab one at a time and pop in the microwave for a minute or so and have for breakfast or a quick snack. 

Two other items that were on sale each at $1.00 – 10 oz bags of spinach and 3 lb. bags of apples were purchased and processed this week.  The spinach I steamed up and froze for use in my spinach quiche I make (the quiche can be cut into sections and frozen as well, popped in the microwave for a great breakfast).

 Spinach before steaming

It always amazing me, no matter how many times I do this …  how a big pot of spinach steams down to a mere handful of steamed spinach!

Amazing!  

Steamed spinach to be frozen in a plastic baggie for future cooking.  Lastly, the apples I cut into slices and stacked them in my much loved Excalibur dehydrator.

 

 Dehydrated apple slices which I keep right on the countertop in a plastic container ready to grab for a healthy snack…. healthy, healthy, that’s the ticket!!!

Dried Fruit and Broomcorn

I grew Broomcorn this past summer and it’s a really neat plant to use in crafts.  It can stand alone in a vase or with other dried flowers as a nice decoration or you can  use it in making wreaths or swags and I even attempted to make a broom with some of my harvest!  A good broom takes a lot of stalks … I believe I read 60-80 for a nice broom; I used more like 20 so it was sparse and more a decoration item.

Broomcorn in vase

 Finished broom

This past week I wanted to create a decoration using some dried fruit I had recently dehydrated and I thought the broomcorn would make a great base for the project.  I love my Excalibur dehydrator and you can read more about how I use it on a regular basis at a previous post I wrote if you are interested in owning one yourself.  Like I said I Love mine!!

 Sliced lemons

I sliced lemons, oranges and apples and added them to the dehydrator.  I gathered some cinnamon sticks, pinecones, a few red bows and, of course, the glue gun!

 

Pinecone wired to stalks

 Closeup of glued fruit

I assembled this in about 20 minutes – so fast and easy!  I will probably make a few more smaller versions and add them to the top of wrapped gifts this year – will add a nice touch!