Pesto Torta: Fave Appetizer, Perfect for Buffet Table

Posted by Jennifer Cote

The Pesto Torta holds up well for big events, keeping at room temperature for hours. It can be assembled the day before, and the pesto can be made ahead of time, as it stores well in the freezer. Serve with crackers or sliced baguettes, and if there happens to be any left over, it will keep for a week or so. Serves 40 or more.

Grateful-Table-Pesto-TortaINGREDIENTS

  • 4 c. fresh basil leaves (12 oz.)
  • 1 1/2 c. olive oil
  • 3 to 4 c. fresh spinach
  • 1/2 c. fresh garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 c. pine nuts
  • 2 c. Parmesan
  • 1 lb. butter, room temperature
  • 1 lb. cream cheese
  • 1 c. pesto
  • 1-2 baguettes, sliced thin (or crackers)

Pesto

Take advantage of fresh basil in its prime in late summer. Portions of the pesto mix can be frozen up to six months. Add pesto and grilled veggies to pasta for an easy meal, or use on pizza, or for the Pesto Torta recipe that follows. Makes approx. 2 lbs. (4 c.).

1. Process the following: > 4 c. fresh basil leaves (12 oz.) > 1 1/2 c. olive oil > 3 to 4 c. fresh spinach

2. Add and process again: > 1/2 c. fresh garlic cloves, peeled

3. To the above, add and process: > 1 c. pine nuts > 2 c. parmesan

4. Store 1/2 c. portions of this in the freezer, or a week or so in the refrigerator. If refrigerated, a thin layer of oil on top, or a piece of plastic wrap pressed against the surface, will preserve the color.

 

 Pesto Torta

Pesto is layered between a cream cheese/butter mix. Good on crackers or French bread. 2 1/2 lbs. Serves 20.

1. Use a round, 1/2-gallon-size container for the mold. (A 2-quart plastic yogurt container works well.) Line it with dampened cheesecloth. Use a few herb-leaf sprigs (rosemary, basil, or the like) for garnish, arranging them in the center of the cheesecloth-lined bottom of the container. To assemble, start with a layer of the butter-cream cheese mix on the bottom, about 1/2″ thick. Spread a thinner layer of the pesto on next, continuing until both are used up, ending with the cheese mixture.

2. For the cream cheese mixture, beat the following until blended, on med. speed: > 1 lb. butter, room temperature > 1 lb. cream cheese

3. For the pesto layer, use: > 1 c. pesto

4. Follow directions above for assembling the torta, then let it refrigerate for 1 hour or so before unmolding. To unmold, invert onto serving platter, which can be lined with lettuce. Remove cheesecloth and serve with crackers or thin-sliced baguettes. Can sit at room temperature for several hours.

Long-chain Omega-3’s, Get In My Belly (Balance w/Right Food)

Posted by Jennifer Cote

Note: I had my cholesterol levels checked recently (after eating like this for almost two years) and… (drum roll), the levels have improved! More of the good cholesterol in my system, less of the bad. I guess adding a little (grass-fed cow) butter to my morning smoothies hasn’t been hurting at all!

Grateful-Table-Long-Chain-Omega-3-Sources

Most of us have heard about Omega 3’s, and how we need them. Just do a word search on long-chain Omega-3’s– up will come studies on it slowing the onset of dementia, helping in treatment of depression and other mental disorders, keeping the heart healthy.

So I was pretty excited, years ago, when I read that flax and chia seeds are full of Omega 3’s. After all, for vegetarians, it can be difficult to get enough of those in the diet. Most vegetable sources (nuts and seeds) are high in Omega 6, but not Omega 3.

But then I found out that of the two kinds of Omega 3’s (long-chain and short-chain), flax and chia contain Omega 3 of the short-chain variety, which doesn’t convert well into the long-chained that we really need.

On top of that, the more Omega 6’s we consume, the more unbalanced our diet becomes, and the more we need that long-chain Omega 3. The modern diet is so out of whack that instead of a balance between Omega 6’s and Omega 3’s (in a ratio close to 1:1, or up to 4:1, according to some sources), the ratio is more like 20:1, even up to 40:1. Forty to One, folks. Yipes. Gasp! Polyunsaturated oils play a huge part in that, as they are loaded with Omega 6’s. Grain-fed meats also contain more Omega 6 than their free-range, grass-fed, organic cousins. No wonder the modern diet’s out of whack!

How do we balance that Omega 6/Omega 3 ratio? The long-chain Omega 3’s we need are found in cod liver oil, wild-caught fish, grass-fed meats, and good eggs. I still like eating flax and chia seeds, but I’ve been eating more eggs, fish, etc., hoping to balance things out more. An extra benefit of those long-chain Omega 3’s: It promotes weight loss, since they help you to feel full and satisfied. (Have you ever tried to lose weight and had to suffer through hunger pains and still not lose weight?! So wrong…)

I still don’t eat large portions of beef, chicken, or fish, but I do look for grass-fed, free-range, and wild-caught. I haven’t noticed a huge increase in the grocery bill, since a little seems to go a long way. It’s not like we’re eating 10-ounce steaks daily. But what we do eat is prime quality.

I’m also watching the quantity of nuts I eat. They are loaded with Omega 6’s and “PUFA’s” (polyunsaturated fatty acids), and will get that Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio off-balance pretty quickly.

I’ve posted here on how PUFA oils can’t take the heat (and this post mentions other issues). Plus, I’ve posted a breakdown of PUFA content in whole nuts and seeds here. For now, I think I’ll defrost one of those long-chain Omega-3 critters from of the freezer!

Blueberry Muffins, Using Easy “Whole-Grain Oat Flour”

Posted by Jennifer Cote

This recipe uses oats, processed into a whole grain flour with a standard blender or food processor. A quick, easy recipe–the other dry ingredients can get processed in with the oat flour, and are added (along with the blueberries) to the wet ingredients. The secret to light muffins: stir lightly (a few lumps are fine!).

Eat these fresh out of the oven. Or rewarm in toaster oven a few minutes to refresh. Makes 1 dozen.
Grateful-Table-Blueberry-Muffins

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 c. yogurt
  • 1/2 c. olive oil
  • 1 1/2 c. quick-cooking oats, ground
  • 1/3 c. sugar
  • 1 c. flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 TBS. baking powder
  • 1 1/2 c. fresh blueberries (or 1 c. frozen)
  • 1-2 TBS. sugar for topping

PREPARATION

1. Let egg and yogurt get to room temperature for better baking. Into metal bowl, add: > 1 egg, stirred

2. To egg in bowl, add: > 3/4 c. yogurt (or substitute milk) > 1/2 c. olive oil

3. To a food processor or blender, add and process into a powder: > 1 1/2 c. quick-cooking oats (or substitute 1 c. white flour)

4. To food processor, add the remaining dry ingredients: > 1/3 c. sugar > 1 c. white flour  (or whole wheat) > 1 tsp. salt > 1 TBS. baking powder

5. Add a bit of olive oil to the bottoms of a 12-muffin tin, or use cupcake liners. Mix the dry ingredients and the blueberries into the wet mix, stirring lightly just until mixed. If it seems too dry, add 2 TBS. water (if yogurt’s especially thick). Fill the 12-muffin tin with batter, and sprinkle 1-2 TBS. sugar on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or so, until golden. Eat warm!

The Smoothie Breakfast “Diet Plan”: VitaMix Rocks Raw Produce!

Posted by Jennifer Cote

For seven years, I ate what I thought was a great, healthy breakfast. I even prided myself a bit on my discipline. I soaked buckwheat (or millet) overnight, rinsing and eating it raw the next morning with some dried fruit, cacao nibs, coconut milk, and soaked nuts.

Then I learned from the Paleo hacks, that grains are fairly indigestible if not treated properly. They contain anti-nutrients. (WHAT?!) They should be cooked. (Really?!) They should soak, or perhaps even ferment. (Not raw?!)

Champion-JuicerSo. Back to the drawing board. I wasn’t ready to get out my Champion Juicer again. I like the idea of whole foods, but the Champion removes all the pulp. Then, to not feel guilty, you can save the pulp, and add it back in to stuff like bran muffins and such.

Whoa- way too much work! I’d heard from a friend that the Vitamix was a worthwhile gadget. She was bringing me smoothies every day at work (bless her heart!). They contained raw veggies (like beets, carrots, kale), pureed smooth and yummy.

Grateful-Table-Vita-Veggie-Fruit-Smoothie-Recipe

I tried an experiment. I used my “regular” blender to make such a smoothie. Of course I had to pre-grind my flax seeds in a little spice/coffee grinder, since I knew my blender wouldn’t do those. It still wasn’t smooth! And the kale tasted a bit like brillo-pad fibers in my mouth (well, not quite that bad). The beets were pretty chunky too. Switching to smoothies for breakfast wasn’t going to work if they were going to taste like that!

So I ordered a Vitamix. It arrived this past week. I discovered I could add flax seeds to the smoothie’s first run (which purees all the tougher veggie-type stuff). I didn’t even have to pre-grind the seeds!

Speaking of flax seeds, fresh-ground is the way to go. As with any other food loaded with PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids), those oils in the flax seed deteriorate quickly once ground. Be wary of flax seed oil too (although capsules might not oxidize as quickly). And pre-ground seeds might even be rancid already. I used to grind mine every morning, in a little electric grinder. It was worth it- they were so fresh!

As for the liquid part of the smoothie mix- I ordered some water kefir grains and started brewing my own “water kefir”. It starts with a jar of spring water mixed with 1/3 c. brown sugar and a teaspoon of molasses. The little grains are added, and for a day or two, they live off of the sugar, converting it into B12 and other vitamins and nutrients. (Not to mention, a ton of probiotics to keep your gut happy.) After one jar brews, I add the grains to a new batch of the sugar-water mix. The finished batch can go a step further- I usually leave it out for another day or two, adding a handful of raisins (or other dried fruit), some lemon slices, and perhaps ginger root, all to season it into a delicious probiotic “soda”.

Grateful-Table-Vita-Veggie-Fruit-SmoothieThe finished product of my Vita-Veggie Morning Smoothie Routine? A few beautiful glasses of delicious smoothie, ready to share with my husband (and whoever else might be around).

One last thing: A helpful post on making spinach (or other veggies?) ice cubes, to use your veggies at their peak, and make the morning smoothie-making routine much easier. (From Carrie at “Roudy Stroudy’s“.) I’m going to start doing this, so I don’t have as many small pieces of this and that veggie to prep every morning! (I’ll just use a few ice cubes instead.)

I’m feeling so healthy I can hardly stand it!

Scale to Size or Wait for Weight to Show? (Nip it in the Bud!)

Posted by Jennifer Cote

Weight-on-Scale-DenialI’ll admit, I was a little obsessed with the scale, most of my life. After all, if I didn’t weigh myself daily and aggressively nip any weight-gain trends in the bud, there’s no telling how large I might become, right?

But then, seven years ago, I discovered my low-thyroid condition. It seemed to explain my challenging war on weight. For years, I’d fought so hard to maintain a certain size. I had a positive self-image, but it meant a grueling diet/exercise program.

When I started taking a thyroid supplement, I was able to eat a bit more- like a “normal” thin person. And not gain weight. Yay- problem solved! I decided to throw my scale away.

Weight-Gain-No-ScaleFor seven years, I started eating “healthy” meals of whole foods, grains, beans, nuts, occasional meat, etc. I didn’t notice any gradual increase in size, and I didn’t have a scale to prove it, so all was well.

I should have noted that my weight at the doctor’s office once a year had been increasing. I had brushed that off (that’s just extra heavy clothing today, or that’s just water weight from all that salt yesterday)…

I finally got a new scale, and went back to weighing myself regularly. Realized I’d somehow gained an extra 8 lbs. or so in these past 7 years. Now, I don’t want to obsess about losing weight; ultimately, it’s about being as healthy as we can be. After all, God told us, “the body is the temple for the Holy Spirit”, right?

But I did start paying more attention to what I was eating. Mark of Mark’s Daily Apple has loads of dietary info. Entire websites are devoted to “Paleo This”, “Gluten-Free That”, and other health trends. Many bloggers who’ve suffered from ill health are quite enthusiastic about their new-found dietary solutions.

I learned that, apparently, the half-cup of nuts I had been eating daily contains lots of Omega 3’s, and could upset the Omega 6 to 3 ratio, leading to health issues. What? Could that explain the swollen, painful knee problems I’d been having? (I thought that was just because I was over fifty…)

So I cut down on the nuts (to maybe a tablespoon of macadamias daily, which are of a better Omega 3 to 6 ratio). My knee problem went away- wild!

I made some other fairly dramatic changes–I  went in with a few other families, on purchasing a grass-fed cow. I started finding organic, free-range chickens, making bone broth*, bartering for my neighbor’s duck eggs, eating less gluten, rice, and beans. Etc. A radical shift from the more vegetarian-style diet we’d eaten for years. The new Paleo trend in our house didn’t seem to foster any weight loss, but it did make me reconsider my previous habits. I had been eating soaked raw buckwheat groats for breakfast every morning. And while most raw fruits and veggies are awesome, the Paleo folk do not recommend raw groats at all. (They suggest cooking grains and beans after soaking, rinsing, even fermenting, to improve digestibility.)

How was I going to make the scale my friend again?! Well, a cleanse never hurt any. I had done them before. I liked the last one I did, a few years back, from Blessed Herbs. It had me juicing my organic apples, then adding back in psyllium powder (for fiber), plus a whole range of cleansing herbs and such at various times of the day.

But at this point, I was looking for a new routine that might adjust that tendency toward weight gain. Like, a new type of breakfast, not a temporary program.

So. I got a Vita-Mix. (Check this post for what I’ve been having for breakfast, and why.) So far, I’m not back to where I was, but I’m getting there!

*PS For more about how bone broth is good for you, see this article from Paleo Diet Lifestyle. You’ll want to make some tonight!

Soul Food Sunday: Let Crops Burst Out!

Posted by Jennifer Cote

I’ve been looking up Bible verses with food themes, and putting them to pictures. The picture below was taken up in Yountville, across the street from The French Laundry. In a perfect world, we might all have such crops growing outside our windows, right?

Fields-Crops-Shout-Joy-PINTEREST

My own garden might not look quite as impressive, but I’m still excited to see the “crops” truly bursting out! With joy!

Wallpaper: Desktop Backgrounds w/Verses

“Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!” 1 Chronicles 16:32

If you like the verse, you might want to select one of the links below, and use the photograph and scripture for your computer background.

To use for desktop wallpaper, left click on appropriate monitor size, then right click and choose “select as desktop background” :

Click here for Background for wider monitors

Click here for Background for shorter monitors

Moussaka: Greek Eggplant Recipe, Vegetarian (Or Add Lamb)

Posted by Jennifer Cote

Looking for great eggplant recipes? This Greek recipe for Moussaka is well-seasoned, and is good as a vegetarian dinner choice. Hummus adds protein; brown rice rounds it out. Typically, it also has lamb in it; add grilled, ground lamb in with the eggplant if desired.

To simplify, approach this recipe in steps. Hummus can be made ahead in big batches; portions freeze well.  Brown rice can also be cooked ahead in larger quantities and frozen for future dinners. The seasoned tomato sauce can also be prepared ahead of time.

Serve this dish hot; traditionally, it might be served cold too, as part of an appetizer platter. It can be made ahead and allowed to chill, as the flavors blend this way, and the layers set up. Serves 4 to 6.

Grateful-Table-Moussaka-Eggplant-Casserole

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 c. hummus (about a third of this recipe)
  • 4 c. cooked brown rice ( or 1 c. uncooked rice, plus 2 1/4 c. water)
  • 2-3 eggplants (approx. 3 lb.)
  • 3 c. Tomato Sauce (homemade tomato sauce recipe here)
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  •  1/2 TBS. fennel seed, toasted, ground
  • 1 tsp. curry powder
  • 1/2 c. olive oil
  • 1/2 c. flour
  • 2 c. milk
  • 1 lb. ricotta
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 tsp. salt

 

PREPARATION

1. Set aside: > 3 c. hummus (about a third of this recipe)

2. Set aside: > 3-4 c. cooked brown rice

3. If you don’t have cooked rice on hand, prepare it as follows. Add to a pot: > 1 c. uncooked brown rice > 2 1/4 c. boiling water

4. Simmer the rice 40 minutes or so, with lid on, until tender. Set aside.

5. Saute in iron pan, on high heat for a few minutes, then reduced to a medium-low heat to finish cooking until tender: > 2 eggplants (approx. 2 1/2 lb.), cubed

6. Set cooked eggplant aside. Make the seasoned tomato sauce by mixing together: > 3 c. Tomato Sauce (recipe here) > 1/4 tsp. cinnamon > 1/2 TBS. fennel seed, toasted in dry pan, then crushed (or processed in a spice grinder) > 1 tsp. curry

7. Make and set aside White Sauce. For that, mix together in a sauce pan: > 1/2 c. olive oil > 1/2 c. flour

8. To that “roux”, add the milk slowly: > 2 c. milk (heated first by microwaving 2 minutes, to save time, if desired)

9. Bring the above to a boil, boiling 2 minutes. Then add the following, stirring until blended: > 1 lb. ricotta > 4 eggs > 1/2 tsp. salt

10. Finally, begin assembly. Oil bottom of 13×9″ pan. Add, pressing down well: > 4 c. cooked brown rice

11. Add the following ingredients, layering in this order: > 3 c. hummus > The cooked eggplant > The Seasoned Tomato Sauce > The White Sauce

12. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve hot or refrigerate to serve as an appetizer or for quick lunches.

Tomato Sauce Recipe: Healthy Ingredients, Quick Easy Method

Posted by Jennifer Cote

Use this in Mostaccioli, Lasagna, Moussaka, Tomato Bisque Soup, etc. One advantage of this recipe: it doesn’t easily scorch. Some recipes require a lot of stirring, but as the juicy tomatoes boil down, the sauce suddenly thickens, and the pan burns as well! This is avoided by adding tomato paste last. The onion-garlic mix still needs to be stirred occasionally, but burning or scorching the bottom of the pan is less likely with this method.

While sugar might be an ingredient in many tomato sauces, carrots give this recipe its sweetness. They add extra nutrition too. But leave the carrots out if desired; the sauce is still delicious! Makes 2-3 qts.

Grateful-Table-Tomato-Sauce

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 c. (2 lb.) fine-chopped onion
  • 8-10 garlic cloves (1/4 c.), minced
  • 1 1/2 lb. carrots, cut in chunks
  • 1/4 c. olive oil
  • 1 c. red wine (or 1/2 c. red wine vinegar)
  • 8 oz. can tomato paste
  • 2- 28 oz. cans chunk tomatoes (almost 2 quarts)
  • 1/2 TBS. salt
  • 1/2 TBS. pepper
  • 2 TBS. dry basil

PREPARATION

1. Saute’ in a med. skillet with lid on: > 6 c. (2 lb.) fine-chopped onion > 8-10 garlic cloves (1/4 c.), minced > 1/4 c. olive oil

2. Stir occasionally, over med. high heat. Turn burner down as the onions soften. Next add to the onion skillet: > 1 c. red wine (or 1/2 c. red wine vinegar)

3. While onion/garlic mix simmers, cook until tender in just a bit of water: > 1 1/2 lb. carrots, cut in chunks

4. Pour the cooking liquid off of the cooked carrots, into the onion mix. Process the cooked carrots in a food processor or blender until smooth.

5. Bring the onion mix up to a boil again, to let the liquids boil off some more, stirring occasionally.

6. Last of all, add the cooked, processed carrots to a large bowl or pot, mixing in the remaining ingredients: > 8 oz. can tomato paste > 2- 28 oz. cans chunk tomatoes (almost 2 quarts) > 1/2 TBS. salt > 1/2 TBS. pepper > 2 TBS. dry basil > the sautéed onion mixture

7. Freeze pint containers of this if not using within several weeks. Sauce will keep almost a month or so refrigerated, longer if frozen.

Grocery Shopping, Pioneer Style: Plan, Purchase, Be Prepared

Posted by Jennifer Cote

Grateful-Table-Groceries-Supplies-OnlineSome folks live in the boonies. Relatively speaking. So my friend up in Snohomish, Washington thought I should let folks know where to get the foods that aren’t available at every grocery store.

After all, not everyone has their choice of which natural food stores to go to. I thought it was rough when the closest Trader Joe’s was 15 minutes away (gasp). Now we have one down the street, about 5 minutes away. There are at least a hundred Trader Joe’s in California; by comparison, Washington has eight. Total. Many states have even less, or none at all. We’re pretty spoiled in the Bay Area…

Whole Foods Market has 270 stores (in the U.S. and the U.K.). That’s still not enough to make it accessible for everyone. Small mom and pop style health food stores fill in some of the gaps, but aren’t an option for everyone.

What does the savvy shopper do? I’ll give you a run-down of what I get at what stores- maybe that’ll give you some ideas. I don’t shop all that often, but can usually pull a good meal together with what’s on hand. Every night of the week!

JEN’S EASY LIST: SIMPLE GROCERY SHOPPING

Grocery Store (or a farmer’s market for the produce)

  • Fruits & Veggies that keep well (onions, yams, potatoes, carrots, winter squash, cabbage, broccoli, apples) plus more perishable ones (lettuce, tomato, avocado, cucumber, summer squash, strawberries, etc.)
  • Fresh herbs (most of which I process right away, chopping and freezing the extra with oil in ice cube trays)
  • Pasta (we haven’t had much pasta on our latest paleo-kick, but it can be handy to have some on hand. Buckwheat Soba noodles are my fave, when I do splurge on pasta…)
  • Meats & Poultry, grass-fed or free-range, ideally (extra is stocked in freezer for later dates)
  • Fish: Frozen is good if freshness is questionable (again, extra’s kept in freezer)
  • Eggs & Dairy (many cheeses, plus kefir and yogurt, keep longer than milk, which is rarely even stocked in our fridge)

Health Food Store , Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, etc. (or see links at bottom of page, to purchase on Amazon)

  • Bulk grains (last a long time, and are good for bread-making too, if you’ve got something like a Vita-Mix to grind the flour in)
  • Bulk beans (lots of protein, and they store well)
  • Bulk herbs (saves $$ buying in bulk)
  • 100% Virgin Olive Oil: it’s non-GMO, and more stable than other PUFA (polyunsaturated) oils
  • Coconut oil (good for cooking with, and very healthy)
  • Coconut manna (a pureed blend of the whole coconut- great for soups, sauces, smoothies and such)
  • Nuts, seeds, and dried fruits (some of these can be found at the grocery store, but stuff like raw sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and macadamias are best found at the specialty places)

If you just happen to live in the boonies, try Amazon

Here are a few links to a few products, competitively priced, that you can find (very conveniently) on Amazon:

 

 

 

Tried & True, Or Dried & True? Open Season for Dehydraters

Posted by Jennifer Cote

Grateful-Table-Kale-Dehydrated

With twenty-some fruit and nut trees, we occasionally get bombarded with an overload of one crop or another. Not that I’m complaining! But it can get overwhelming. By fall, the sight of persimmons covering all my three-tier plates and taking up a shelf or two in the fridge starts scaring me a little. I know what I need to do at that point though: get out my dehydrator!

Apricot season just finished up, and before we could get tired of those, I dehydrated halves of them. Didn’t have to throw any extras into the compost pile.

My friend Joanna brought me some of her kale chips earlier this year, dehydrated in her dehydrator. It was a handy, healthy snack in the midst of the other fare offered during floor hockey season at our church. I’d much rather munch on those than on some nachos! They were great.

So when my other buddy Sarah gave me an overload of kale from her dad, I thought I’d make some kale chips too. I didn’t add anything to them, and they were pretty inedible. But after that, I learned to toss ’em with a little virgin olive oil first. For the next batch, I rubbed the oil onto each leaf. Sprinkled a little sea salt on too. They were dee-licious! Quick too- they were ready in about two hours. (At least twice as fast as most fruits, which have more moisture.)

If you have a mandolin slicer, you can give sweet potatoes the same treatment. Just slice ’em real thin, toss with olive oil, and dehydrate. If you don’t have one yet, you might want to get a mandolin slicer. The ones with a porcelain blade stay super sharp. We got a few porcelain knives for the deli, for when we needed to slice tomato wedges and didn’t have time to sharpen our other knives- it stays really sharp, pretty much forever.

For my next experiment, I’ll trying something more like the recipe posted on the “From Scratch Club” site. For Swiss chard, they suggest adding some lemon and honey too. I’ll skip the honey (as it would make for a stickier snack), and maybe try a dash of palm sugar instead. Maybe a spice or two.

The dehydrator’s so handy, when I’m tired of steaming or sauteeing. I guess it’s real great for raw food enthusiasts as well. If you love fruits and veggies, or have your own fruit trees, it’s a worthwhile investment.

Not that everything works in the dehydrator. I had hoped to produce a sugar-free plum fruit leather once our plum crop had come in, but the tartness of the original fruit seemed to multiply, far more than any sweetness did. It was deemed inedible by all.

I haven’t even begun to explore making beef jerky from the grass-fed beef I’ve got in the freezer. It’s on my list though. I hear you can make salmon jerkey too… More experiments lie ahead!