Simply Dehydrating

                                                   Everyday is a brand new day, everyday is a journey.

Under Thy wings, my God, I rest,
    Under Thy shadow safely lie;
  By Thy own strength in peace possessed,
    While dreaded evils pass me by.
A. L. WARING

So I went out and bought a dehydrator. I've been thinking of purchasing one for ages thinking it might be a great option for the future. I've been researching how to preserve food for long periods of time like canning, freezing and dehydrating. For now, dehydrating seems the best option for us.

You might be wondering why I would buy one in the first place. Am I planning on moving away to live in the hills? No, this is really more of an experiment. I wanted to see if I could do two things. One, I wanted to preserve the freshness of garden vegetables. You know how we feel about our Farmer's Market. Two, I wanted to see if we could save money by buying vegetables when they are in season and cheaper. We would dehydrate them and eat them in the Fall/Winter months.

When I stocked my pantry last Fall, I wanted to make sure I had things in there in case of emergencies. I also bought in bulk, dividing the goods into several containers. Again, the whole point was saving money. I want to go one step further by trying to preserve one of our biggest expenses yet. . . fresh vegetables. The pantry is fine, but honestly, we mostly live off fresh produce and that costs money. We will still buy some produce like lettuce and cherry tomatoes for salads. These dehydrating vegetables will be used mainly for stews, soups and side dishes.

I am truly having a wonderful time learning all about dehydration, mostly through experimentation. The size of the cut matters greatly in how long a vegetable needs to be drained completely of water. Hence, the experimentation. I was only planning on doing a few vegetables, but enjoyed it so much I've been dehydrating everything. Thus far, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, basil, carrots, beets, mushrooms, cauliflower, kale and green bell peppers. I store them in large mason jars and let me tell you when I open them up, nothing but great aromas emerge. It really seals in the smell of fresh vegetables. Simply wonderful.

Just the other day, Emily wanted to have a kale salad for supper. She couldn't, because grandma dehydrated everything.

Have a blessed day everyone.