Some Family Pearls Have Come for a Visit

Kelli and K~ came down this evening and are staying through tomorrow.  Yippee!  I love having family around.  We had supper together, got out the crayons and coloring book, and Kelli showed me how she is learning to kni.

We are going to do some more dehydrating as soon as she gets K~ down for the night.  About all I have left in the house is apples and potatoes, so we will probably tackle the apples.

Meanwhile, here are the results of yesterday’s efforts.

I steamed the potatoes to blanch them, but some of them still discolored.  Oh well, they will taste the same.  This is five potates – about enough for a batch of scalloped potatoes – and they fit into a pint jar when I was done.

 

 

 

I started with three large Roma tomatoes; they filled a half-pint jar less than halfway. 

 

 

 

 

 

 The apples turned out really yummy.  The batch on the left was steamed first while the one on the right wasn’t.  I think the unsteamed ones turned out looking better, and they were easier, so that is the way I am going in the future.

The Continuing Saga of Food Drying

I complain that my kitchen is too small every time I have the family over for dinner, but it’s the perfect size for staying warm while working in it on a cold winter night.

It’s going down to near zero tonight and the dehydrator’s running again – seven trays full of tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, apples, and mushrooms.  My kitchen is cozy warm.*

Prep time was about an hour for all of it.  Not bad.  If I weren’t so lazy I would fill the last two trays, but tomorrow is another day.

I lightly steamed some of the apples first and put others on the trays with no effort to keep them from turning brown.  I don’t think family will care what color they are, just how they taste, but I am experimenting anyway.  I don’t want to use chemicals or lemon juice on them –  I just want them to taste like apple.  So far I’m not seeing much difference.

*I was going to say “Like the Oval Office, where Rahm Emanuel said the President (who says we can’t keep our houses at 72° all the time because of global warming) keeps it so warm you could ‘grow orchids in there.'”   I decided it doesn’t belong in this post – politics goes on the other blog.

Today’s Dehydrating Results – Definite Thumbs Up

After twelve hours of running the dehydrator (which is very pleasant this time of year because of the warmth it radiates in the kitchen) here are my results:

This is what is left of half a pineapple, one pound of sliced baby carrots, two bell peppers cut into small chunks, and a container of mushrooms.  I included a couple apples and a quart jar of tomato juice in the picture for scale.

The carrots were a little discolored before I dehydrated them, but as they dried they really turned grey.  You can see by the cut ends they stay orange if they start out that way.  I learned my lesson not to do that again.  They are just as nutritious, but they don’t look so good.

The mushrooms were the first to get dry, which was not surprising as they are low moisture to begin with.  They were done in about seven hours.  I was surprised that the peppers took longer to dry than the carrots, although only about an hour.  The pineapple was not completely dry when I stopped and is still a little leathery, but it is so good I am not finishing the drying so we can eat it.  Noah was over this morning to do school lessons and enjoyed some of it, and Katie tried it this evening.  The sugars concentrate as it dries, making it much sweeter than fresh pineapple.

The food is all safely ensconced in canning jars now – the mushrooms and pineapple in pints (not full); the carrots halfway fill a half-pint jar; and the peppers take up about a third of a half-pint jar.  This definitely will be a good way to store food in small spaces, especially if it is put in mylar bags instead of jars.

Life is good – enjoy every minute of it.

I’m Dehydrating

Okay, I’m not dehydrating personally – I’m drying food.

After the inspiring videos of the woman and her dehydrator in yesterday’s post I just had to give it a try.  Katie brought my dehydrator back tonight and it is now running with pineapple, mushrooms, carrots, and green peppers in it.  (Putting pineapple in there was a real sacrifice.) 

I was cutting up a pineapple for supper and put over half of it in the dryer, along with two peppers, most of a container of mushrooms, and a pound of carrots.

I will post my results tomorrow.

Food Storage Instruction and Some Inspiration

As we sit here, watching the snow fall outside and hoping we don’t get as much as the weatherman says we will (up to a foot by noon tomorrow!), my mind turns again to is still focused on food storage.

I stopped by the local grocery this afternoon to pick up a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread, and the place was packed with people doing the same.   I thought of the saying that a grocery store only has two days’ worth of food in it, and knew that a run on it like today would deplete it faster than that.

I have found some interesting videos on YouTube this week to help with long term storage. 

These guys are far from professional, but they get the information across.  It’s a three part series, and goes automatically from one to the next (if you really want to watch it all).

This one is from the same people and shows how to seal the mylar bags with your clothes iron.  His method ends up with a really neat seal, but I wonder why he does it so far in from the edge.  I would probably seal it a little farther out so the bag could be used several more times.

In the past I stored grains in buckets with no liners; many years later the grain is still good.  What has changed that now everyone is using the mylar?  Is it just that it is now available and wasn’t before, and gives you an extra layer of confidence in storage?  Any advice would be appreciated.

The following video is on dehydrating and storing food long term; it’s a five part series and has links at the end of each one to follow to the next.

I began dehydrating food years ago, but never got beyond dried fruits and fruit leathers.  This series really opened my mind to all the possibilities. The idea of storing large amounts of food in small amounts of space is really appealing, so I just may borrow my dehydrator back from Katie.

Tomorrow will be a good day to stay in and maybe watch some more videos or order some mylar bags off the Internet.  The snow is supposed to continue till late morning, and I know our road crew isn’t even going to try plowing till about 7:00 a.m. – there will be so much snow they won’t be able to see where they are going until it’s light.  They were out for several hours this evening but can’t keep plowing all night.  It is going to be a mess out there tomorrow.

A cup of cocoa and the computer and life will be good.

I Love To See the Temple

Can anything be more charming than riding to the temple with kids in the back singing “I love to see the temple, I’m going there someday”?

Elaine and Matt took Quinn to the temple to be sealed to their family yesterday, and most of the extended family were able to attend too.  I got to ride with them part of the way, so heard the girls singing.  Oh, so sweet.

Elaine had Matt buy traditional Vietnamese outfits for all the kids in white silk while we were in Vietnam, and that is what they wore for the sealing.  They made a stunning crew.  The girls’ outfits are called ao dai, and are long straight dresses with long slits up the side, long pants underneath, and mandarin collars.

Matt ordered the outfits from a shopkeeper recommended by a woman from the adoption agency, and they were to be custom made.  I gave the tailor all the measurements, and we went back four days later to pick them up.  Elaine is pretty sure they were not custom made though, because they were all too big and too long for the kids.  How serendipitous!  Since it took awhile to finalize the adoption and arrange for the sealing, they fit when they needed to, not when they were bought.

It is always a joy to be in the temple.  Bud was there with us and stayed in the waiting room with several grand- children who had come with their parents. 

I look forward to the day he goes in with us and participates in the peace it brings.

A dinner at a wonderful local Vietnamese restaurant completed the experience.  What a wonderful day it was.

Solved the Storage Problem

I asked for advice on how to store dried cherries long term.

I want to thank those who responded, however I have solved the problem in an unexpected way.

I opened the box and tasted them.  I don’t think there will be much need for long term storage.

Food Storage Question -Dried Fruit

I picked up a four pound box of dried cherries at my local mega-box grocery store this week.  They are all in one large plastic bag inside a packing box.  Does anyone have suggestions for packaging them for longer term storage?

I could just put them in smaller containers and freeze them, but I want something that will go on a shelf. 

Could I put them in airtight containers and add oxygen absorbers?  They aren’t totally dry – like raisins.  They sell dried fruits in vacuum sealed cans, but those are the drier freeze dried fruits.  I’m wondering if the oxygen absorbers would affect the consistency of the fruit?

Isn’t it great that instead of just raisins we now have dried cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, etc.?  Now to keep them fresh long term – or at least until I need some cherry pies.

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My Daughter Is Certifiably Crazy

Please forgive me Elaine, but I don’t know how else to express this.  You and Matt must be nuts.  Crazy.  Insane.

I know you lost two beloved dogs recently (here and here).  I also know you replaced the St. Bernard with a German Shepherd (here).  I even know that the loss of the chow mix was even more devastating, and you feel the need to replace him too. 

But you said you would never have three dogs again.  Too much work.  Never again, especially not a big dog like a St. Bernard.

So, you went out this weekend and got a new puppy.  A puppy that will need to be housebroken – in the winter.   It is cute and all, but still….

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It’s a freaking Newfoundland!!!!!!

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Elaine with nine week old puppy

I have to admit it has already captured our hearts, but my head is still trying to wrap itself around who would want a Newfoundland when they already have two dogs, two cats, and five kids?  I mean, it’s nice that they are known for their sweet dispositions, loyalty, and liking to rescue drowning children from ponds (and you do have a pond right outside the back door), but think of the shedding, the drool, and the mud.  It’s nice that they love children and are gentle giants, but all I can think about is that word GIANTS.

They’re bigger than St. Bernards, for goodness sake, and at nine weeks old she already weighs 25 pounds.

Oh well, my mother thought I was crazy when we had two Irish Setters.  We were, too, but we all loved them anyway.

For those who want to get in on the fun, Elaine is having a Name That Dog contest over at Looking for George.

Hint – it’s a girl.  Some names that do not fit this dog are –  Fluffy, Pixie, Bitsy, Tina, or anything that has any connotation whatsoever of being small. 

Hint #2 – Elaine likes literary references.

For Elaine’s sake, pray that she housebreaks easily.