Friday, October 17, 2014

Making Spinach Powder

        Spinach is such a powerful and useful vegetable.  It has great nutritional value but it also can be used medicinally.  My problem is that I don't really care for the taste of spinach.  Spinach is easy to grow so we do grow it in our garden but then I dehydrate it and turn it into spinach powder to be used in soups, stews, smoothies, casseroles, stir-fry, sauces, or put it into a gel capsule and take as a vitamin.  Also, dehydrating and grinding spinach to power does not diminish its nutritional value at all.  :-)



 
   To make spinach powder is quite easy.  First, rinse off your spinach leaves and lay the leaves on your dehydrator trays.
 
 

Making spinach powder at home, how to dehydrate spinach, how to use spinach powder, preserving spinach
  
Turn on your dehydrator and let the leaves dry for about 4-5 hours.  They are done when the leaves are brittle.  
 
Making spinach powder at home, how to dehydrate spinach, how to use spinach powder, preserving spinach

   Take the dried leaves and place them in your Magic Bullet or a blender and pulse until it turns into a fine powder.  You may have to strain the pieces through a sieve a few times to make sure the leaves are all ground up.
Making spinach powder at home, how to dehydrate spinach, how to use spinach powder, preserving spinach

   Store your powder in a mason jar.  When you want to use it, just add a tablespoon or two to your dish to add nutritional value, taste and color.  
 
 
 
 
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Monday, October 13, 2014

Complete Chicken Dinner in the Crock Pot

    

    I love using my crock pot.  Okay, let's be honest, I have two crock pots and I use them all the time, often both at the same time.  Cooking meals in a crock pot just makes sense.  Very little prep work; you don't heat up your house; you can put food on when you go to bed and it is ready for lunch the next day; or better yet, put a meal in the crock pot in the morning before work and come home to supper waiting on you.


      Meals in crockpots do not have to be elaborate.  Because the food slow cooks all day (or night) the flavors have a chance to "meld" together and comes out fantastic.  This is one of those meals.

Complete Chicken Dinner in the Crock Pot

 4 chicken quarters or breasts
1 stick of butter
2 cans of green beans
4 potatoes (sliced or cubed)
poultry seasoning
water

    Place your potatoes into the crockpot.  Put the stick of margarine on top of the potatoes.

Complete meal in a crock pot; Complete chicken dinner recipe, Chicken recipes for slow cooker, southern dish recipe


  As you can tell, I used some of my dehydrated potatoes instead.  If you use them, you do not need to soak them first.  Put them in and they will soften and cook perfectly this way.

Drain the green beans and pour onto the potatoes.  

Complete meal in a crock pot; Complete chicken dinner recipe, Chicken recipes for slow cooker, southern dish recipe


  Pour enough water in the pot to cover the potatoes.  Place the chicken in last and season them with a bit of poultry seasoning; put the lid on the crock pot and turn it on low. 

Complete meal in a crock pot; Complete chicken dinner recipe, Chicken recipes for slow cooker, southern dish recipe


  Let it cook 8 hours or overnight.  I have let it cook up to 14 hours and it was still perfect.                



Other good Crock Pot recipes I have shared include:  Pot Roast, Cube Steak, Ribs, and Swiss Steak in the Crock Pot!





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Sunday, October 12, 2014

Making Tomato Powder

Making tomato powder at home, how to use tomato powder, preserving tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes
   We love growing tomatoes in our garden.  Tomatoes are one of the easiest things to grow, at least around here, and we always harvest so many of them.  I can a lot of them and I also make spaghetti sauce and extra hot salsa.  We eat fresh tomatoes with meals but there are still plenty left over.  This year, I decided to make Sun Dried Tomatoes to help preserve them so we have tomatoes through out the year.  They turned out beautifully. 

     I also decided to make up some tomato powder.  Tomato powder is pretty expensive to buy.  It runs about $8.00-$15.00 a pound but you can make it for free with your excess tomatoes.  If you have never used tomato powder, you are missing out.  Tomato powder really adds a lot of flavor to soups, stews, casseroles, etc.  If you need to add tomato paste or tomato sauce to a recipe, you can reconstitute the tomato powder and make your own paste or sauce.  If you need tomato paste, just add 1-2 parts water to 1 part paste.  For tomato sauce, use four parts water to one part tomato powder.

    One of the best things about tomato powder is it is a great way to preserve tomatoes, the nutritional value does not diminish and just a heaping tablespoon of tomato powder equals about a pint of fresh tomatoes (when it comes to adding taste and flavor to a dish).

    How to Make Tomato Powder

      Take fresh from the garden tomatoes or tomatoes you have purchased.  Cut off the ends of the tomato and using a sharp knife or mandolin, slice your tomatoes.  I like to slice my tomatoes fairly thick.  I found a bit thicker cut the tomatoes, the easier they are to remove off the trays.  If they are cut real thin, they have a tendency to stick to the tray.  I never spray my trays with cooking spray or oil because oil causes the fruit or vegetable to turn rancid.  
  
  Lay your sliced tomatoes onto your dehydrator tray.   


Making tomato powder at home, how to use tomato powder, preserving tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes


  Turn on your dehydrator and let the tomatoes dry until they are brittle and no moisture remains (anywhere from 12-18 hours).
Making tomato powder at home, how to use tomato powder, preserving tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes


   Now take the dried tomatoes and place in your Magic Bullet or spice grinder.  Turn it on and "pulse" the tomatoes until they turn into a fine powder.

Making tomato powder at home, how to use tomato powder, preserving tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes



 Store in a mason jar.  Kept in your pantry, they have a shelf life up to 15 years.


Making tomato powder at home, how to use tomato powder, preserving tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes



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Monday, October 6, 2014

Brieftons InstantVeg Spiralizer

 
 
Brieftons InstantVeg Spiralizer
 
    Brieftons InstantVeg Spiralizer is very cool.  I really wasn't too sure about it when I first heard about it but it is FUN to use and it is a great way to get my kids to eat more veggies.  It also makes meals fancier.  :-)
    It really is amazing how it turns plain vegetables into culinary spirals.  There are 4 different cutting widths and the handle is very easy to turn.  
    

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Extra Hot Salsa Recipe

    My family loves salsa and for the men in the family, the hotter the better.  I aim to please so I whipped up a batch of salsa that even made my Marine hubby say "ouch".  I could have made it hotter but I like the salsa to be hot enough but still have a good taste.  Some hot salsas are pure fire and nothing more.    Mine is not that way.
 
 

Extra hot salsa recipe, canning your own salsa, big boy panty salsa

Extra Hot Salsa
 
8 lg. tomatoes (about 7 cups)
4 habenero peppers
3/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2 cubes cilantro
2 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
                                      

Extra hot salsa recipe, canning your own salsa, big boy panty salsa


     Cut up the jalapeno peppers and the habenero peppers and put the diced pieces into a pot.  Be sure to put the seeds into the pot too.  Cut up the tomatoes and add the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients to the pot.   Bring it to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  As it is simmering, prepare your jars by heating the lids and jars in hot water.  After simmering, put the salsa in the hot jars (filling within 1/2" and wiping rims) and water bath process for 20 minutes. 

     Makes 4 pints.
 
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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Butternut Squash Chips

   We had an abundance of butternut squash this year again.  If you ever want something simple to grow, grow butternut squash.  We didn't even plant butternut squash this year.  We threw out some seeds, after eating the squash, and it grew up wild all over the place.  One of our favorite ways to preserve butternut squash is by making "chips" with them.  My hubby and boys snack on these just like you would a potato chip.

    All you have to do is wash your squash and using a vegetable peeler, peel the squash.  You also need to cut the ends off of the squash.  Some people do it before peeling, some after.  It doesn't matter when you do it, whichever works best for you. We save the ends and peelings and feed them to our goats and chickens.  They love them.

Savory butternut squash chips, how to preserve butternut squash, curry


 Now, using a mandolin, slice the butternut squash.  Put the squash on your dehydrator trays.

Savory butternut squash chips, how to preserve butternut squash, curry

    You can leave them plain but my family prefers to add some extra flavor to them.  From my experience, the three spices that go well with butternut squash are salt, crushed red pepper or curry.

Savory butternut squash chips, how to preserve butternut squash, curry
With crushed red pepper.

Savory butternut squash chips, how to preserve butternut squash, curry
With curry powder.
   They take about 6-8 hours to be completely dehydrated.  If your family plans on eating them right away, you can store them in baggies.  If you plan to store them for a long time, just place them in a canning jar and put a lid on it.  I have stored them easily this way for over a year.



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Monday, September 1, 2014

Super Easy Apple Pie

    I love recipes that are simple easy and no recipe can be much easier as only 2 ingredients to make a yummy dessert!

Easy apple pie recipe, fast recipes, how to make an apple pie, The Apple Lover's Cookbook, two ingredient recipes



Super, Easy Apple Pie

1 can cinnamon rolls

   Yep, that is all it takes.  I used the "No sugar added" apple pie filling for this.  It turned out beautiful and so delicious.  
 
Easy apple pie recipe, two ingredient recipes, how to make an apple pie, fast recipes,
The 2 ingredients needed.

    All you do is open up the can of cinnamon rolls and press them into a pie plate. 
 
Easy apple pie recipe, two ingredient recipes, how to make an apple pie, fast recipes,
Smooshing down the cinnamon roll.

 Then open up the can of pie filling and pour it on top.  Place in a preheated oven to whatever temperature is called for the cinnamon rolls.  I first tried cooking the pie at the recommended time of the cinnamon rolls but found the dough on the bottom was not done so I cooked it 7 minutes longer.  So I recommend to add 7 minutes to the time it is called for.

    Once you remove it from the oven, pour the cinnamon roll icing on top.

Easy apple pie recipe, two ingredient recipes, how to make an apple pie, fast recipes,
Doesn't this look scrumptious?!

This is AMAZING!  So simple and delicious.  I highly recommend you try this!!!


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Blogs I have linked this recipe up with include:

Update on Ronny & Memorizing Memory Verses

As most of you know, Ronny is autistic. He is now 21 and besides being autistic he is also suffers from agoraphobia.  I am now bedbound due ...