raw food: here’s what’s in my dehydrator right now
You know I love my dehydrator, especially this time of year when I’ve got so much stuff coming out of the garden that I don’t want to go to waste. Right now I have all 9 trays full in my dehydrator with two recipes contributed by readers. (I love y’all! Thanks for your ideas and support of each other!)
Tonya’s cheesy kale chips are filling four trays and they are INCREDIBLE, hard to believe how much nutrition you’re getting just snacking. I just took them out and ate a bunch of them while I wrote this. Just press one side of your leaves of kale in the “sauce.” Doubling the recipe will fill your 9 trays.
Here’s my recommendation if you don’t have a dehydrator yet and want more info (plus one of my recipes for flax crackers)
Tara C. gives this tip for using those baseball-bat sized zucchinis in the garden and I’ve got 4 trays of zucchini moons almost dry–just tried one, and I like them. Super easy
Silly Dilly Zucchini Moons
- Slice zucchini in half length-wise.
- Scoop out inner core of seeds.
- Turn over and slice thinly (about 3/8-inch thick).
- Spread on dehydrator trays and sprinkle with dill. Dehydrate until crispy.
- Enjoy plain or with a yummy, dilly dip.
Now that I’ve removed the kale chips, I’m going to use up the big boxful of cherry tomatoes my son hauled in yesterday, with this idea also from Tara C.:
Cheery Cherry Pizza Snacks
(My kids say these taste like mini-pizzas.)
- Slice cherry tomatoes in half
- Toss with pizza seasoning (I get it from Azure Standard)
- Dry till crisp. Enjoy!
Here’s Tara’s last idea, which I’ll try next:
Gingered Zucchini Bites
- Slice zucchini as above.
- Before dehydrating, soak for 30-60 minutes in pineapple juice mixed with 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger, 1/2 cup agave, and a dash of cinnamon.
- Dry in dehydrator until crispy.
These look lovely in your pantry stored in Mason jars with a little raffia tied on top–pretty enough to give away!
This morning at 5:30 a.m., I made some pesto from the basil, spinach, and tomatoes in my garden. See your Jump-Start collection on the site for that recipe–whole-grain pasta with pesto is one of my kids’ favorites. Then I made a variation on that, some zucchini pesto with barely steamed zucchini, basil, kelp, cayenne, walnuts, sea salt, olive oil, mustard seed, and Bragg’s. I put these two types of pesto in pint jars, labelled them, and froze them. I think I’ll share a pint with a few friends this weekend.
Posted in: Gardening, Recipes, Relationships, Whole Food
I have been thinking about buying a dehydrator but I’m worried about the hardness of the food. I only have 2 bottom molars left after radiotherapy 15 years ago-probably why I love green smoothies and my blender that can transform raw food ! Dried fruit apart from sultanas /raisins is hard to chew properly. I would love to try dehydrating but am worried about the hardness.
When feeling like I’m the only person in the world that eats raw it’s good to come here. I don’t have a dehydrator – I think I must purchase one. I just eat really raw or blend stuff. I haven’t even missed eating crackers and bread so I din’t bother with a dehydrator. But some of these recipes read deliciously! So I’m going to give it a go.
Jane – I also have some difficulty with “hard” foods, but I dehydrate almost everything! I use a lot of my dehydrated foods in other dishes, soups, stews, etc. I also have been dehydrating seasonal fruit when it is abundant and less expensive, then when fruits are less plentiful, I rehydrate them for my smoothies! Just like having fresh, and supposedly most of the nutritional value is like fresh. I have the Excalibur, 9 tray and absolutely love it! I never waste food anymore, when it is getting a bit older, but still good, I dehydrate it! Good luck!
Hey I need help with the Green Pesto Recipe. When it says 3 large bunches of leafy greens, does it mean 3 separate bunches that you buy at the grocer bound together? I buy from Whole Foods and their bunches are pretty big as there are approximately 13 leaves per bunch. I know everyone uses different terminology 🙂 I am so excited! I drove 4 hours round trip today to a Whole Foods to buy stuff to make the snacks from chapter 7. I will be traveling in a week and can’t take my BlendTec so I want to get some snacks made to take with me. This will also be the first time I have ever used my Excalibur. Thanks for your website and the 12 step!