In the Kitchen with DirtDiva.

[Tim Horton]

but make excellent dried slices for rabbits
Do you rehydrate the slices when feeding or feed them as they are?
+++
We feed them dry. They crunch them down like crazy
+++
+++

We usually pick and process a ton or more to keep bears out of pretentious people neighborhoods.
Have a friend that the bears hit their peach trees last month. Unbelievable the damage the bears did to the actual trees!
+++
That many times is the problem.. Buggers are so destructive.. Not in a malicious way, just a lumbering awkward way..
The last one we caught in our crab apple tree spent the winter in the freezer...
+++
+++

Our local wild fruits, honey berry, saskatoon berry are slow this year,
What do you do with your Saskatoon? We just planted 5 trees last year.
+++
MOST EXCELLENT jam, jelly, fruit pie filling and like products.. Best of my knowledge they are a first cousin of sorts somewhere between blueberry and Lingonberry.. Known locally as a kind of high bush berry where the Lingonberry is considered a low bush berry..

Remember... I can't grow things.. I just do the mowing, fertilizing, help pick and process..

[dirtdiva]

Been awhile since I posted. My kitchen has been busy. Lots of eggs coming in right now. Here is what I am doing to store them. 

I have 10 young laying hens that have just started laying. I am averaging right now about 6 dozen eggs a week with just my husband and I. So with the extra eggs every week I am freezing them 6 at a time in quart ziploc freezer bags. Just mix them well and pour into bag then I use a straw to suck out as much air as possible and freeze flat on baking sheets in freezer. They make flat little bags about 1/4 inch thick. Therefore they stack easily in the freezer without taking lots of room. We took some out and scrambled and they taste like scrambled eggs. They could be used for baking and we decided 1/3 cup equals about 1 large egg. We took ours out the night before and let them thaw in the fridge over night and scrambled the next morning. So when the days shorten and the chicken slow down on their laying hoping we have a stash in the freezer to get us through.



We also have been freezing egg muffins. We simply take and grease or spray with nonstick cooking spray a 12 cup muffin tin. To each cup we added some cooked sausage, saute some onions, peppers and mushrooms and add with a pinch of cheese to each one also. Then we beat 12 eggs and added a bit of milk to make them fluffy along with salt and pepper. We poured the egg mixture over each cup to about 1/4 inch from top. We preheated the oven to 375 and cooked for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool and remove from pan. They last in refrigerator for about 4 days. We have been freezing them in vacuum freezer bags in increments of four. That way we can take out enough for the two of us at night and defrost in fridge ready to be heated the next morning. They can be microwaved or heated in foil in the oven.



Also the neighbor down the road has goats. She lost her chickens to a fox and asked to trade goat milks soap for a couple dozen eggs from time to time. So now I have extra soap for my stash as well. We store these in vacuum bags to keep them from drying out.

[dirtdiva]

Just a sampling of what has passed through my dehydrator thus far.



Left to right front row : Pint peas and carrots and pint dehydrated sweet peppers. (about 3 pounds each). Middle row quart sliced okra, quart dehydrated shredded potatoes (hash browns or mashed potatoes) and quart dehydrated onions. Back row: half gallon sweet corn (10 pounds) and half gallon mixed vegetables ( 10 pounds of peas, corn, carrots and green beans)



Dehydrated sliced mushrooms



Dehydrated tomato peels and tomato slices ground into tomato powder for seasoning and soups. (pint to the left)

Eventually much of this will be put in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers to increase it's shelf life and then into sealed buckets. 

[dirtdiva]

A sampling of my own version of convenience foods and also canning proteins.

1. Left quart canned chunks of beef roast in beef broth. Very versatile simply add rice, barley or noodles, spices, dehydrated or fresh vegetables of choice for soup or chunks of carrots, potatoes and onions for stew.

2. Left back row ham and bean soup with white beans, onions, celery, chunks of ham and carrots in broth.

3. Front pint canned ground beef. Can be added to rice or noodles for a fast meal. Also casseroles, soups etc.

4. Middle quart rear canned chicken stock.

5. Quart chicken pieces in broth. When my older hens stop laying this is what they become. Simply chicken baked and taken off the bone and covered with the broth. This can be used for soups, stews and gumbos, added to noodles or rice, or added to casseroles.

6. Far right quart chicken and sausage gumbo with okra.

Future projects chili and taco soup!

[dirtdiva]

Dehydrating tip: 



I live in a very humid climate.  Amazon sells small cotton drawstring tea bags. 400 for $10.66. I add rice to them and drop in my dehydrated products like my tomato powder to absorb moisture and keep it from clumping. Works like a dream. Work great for herbal tea too!


www.amazon.com/dp/B07NZZKLQ1/?coliid=I1IYUJXD01I368&colid=Q0BA4Z9ZIDBG&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it


Maybe they have a similar product available there.

[tomatoes]

www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07F5W6TPX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_c_QZ9xFb1991RDX

There is something that looks similar but it doesn’t specify cotton

[dirtdiva]

The ones I have are a thin cotton. With some super light muslin you could probably make your own. Just put the rice in and sew them shut like little bean bags but instead of beans with rice

[SA Hunter]

What time's tea???

[Tim Horton]

Every year while we are picking, drying, canning apples for critter food we usually find at least one "jackpot" tree.. The last call we had to pick was this years jackpot.. We have eaten fresh apples and cooked with a lot of this batch.. Not canning sauce or juice this year as we still have an abundance in the cold room..

Pictures remind me, at first chance I need to thaw, brine and smoke pork loin for homemade bacon.. Now if we are lucky enough to get a bear, the smoker will be hopping busy..

[dirtdiva]

Sept 26, 2020 1:47:13 GMT 10 Tim Horton said:

Every year while we are picking, drying, canning apples for critter food we usually find at least one "jackpot" tree.. The last call we had to pick was this years jackpot.. We have eaten fresh apples and cooked with a lot of this batch.. Not canning sauce or juice this year as we still have an abundance in the cold room..

Pictures remind me, at first chance I need to thaw, brine and smoke pork loin for homemade bacon.. Now if we are lucky enough to get a bear, the smoker will be hopping busy..

Love them Jackpots! Have you ever canned apple pie filling? We don't eat as many pies anymore but love it over ice cream. I have yet to can my sauce for this year.

We also do bacon but my  husband prefers pork butt deboned for his. 

[Tim Horton]

Yes... Periodically, depending on quality and quantity of apples Sweetie makes sauce, apple butter, canned juice and pie filling.... Not this year..

Our friends and nearest neighbors found a deal.. Someone she works with, has in laws that were going to the lower province in the orchard area to visit other in laws.. They put out word of the trip and they would bring back fruit.. We call this the "Caribou Express"....

So we got a box each of peaches and pares and part of a shared box of blueberries.. Sweetie made a bunch of jam, jelly and "Bumble Berry" pie filling with the blueberries and some wild fruit from the yard.. MOST excellent..

[dirtdiva]

That is it I am done! With a grand total of 903 jars canned this season and 413 already in the pantry that leaves a grand total of 1316 jars of just canned food alone in my larder.
Meats, vegetables, soups, juices, jellies, pickles and pie fillings.

Two full freezers and an as of yet uncounted amount of dehydrated food in buckets packaged in mylar.

And also additional long term storage grains and dried goods such as rice , flour and beans in storage buckets also.

I am finished canning for the season because I am out of jars. Yes I have filled up every jar I own so it is time to quit.

I will continue to run the dehydrator as I still have some late potatoes and elderberries to dry.

Concentrating now on garden cleanup and upkeep of the lawn. Dealing with all those fallen leaves is a pain but mixed with the chicken and duck litter makes great compost.

As I empty jars I will continue to refill some of them with meats and produce on sale if it comes along. 



Boiled peanuts are a Southern US snack. Many times as you drive through the countryside you will find hot boiled peanuts for sale by the roads or at small gas stations and country stores. 



Canned pears in a light syrup is one of my husband's favorites. 



Homemade Apple cider vinegar fermenting. 

Now the real work begins rotating, labeling and storing it all.   DD

[SA Hunter]

Question - can you get tins of beans and dehydrate them for future use?
I do it with frozen mixed veggies, but never tried out of a tin.

[dirtdiva]

I  just read a post from sonic on another site saying that she cooked dried beans and then dehydrated them. I have not done it though. We are on several sites together and I will see if I can get more info. She is a whiz with that dehydrator of hers 

[sonic]

Moi? Oh you exaggerate my prowess!

I dehydrate a lot of cooked dried beans, mainly because I'm terrible at remembering to soak them for cooking in a meal and they are great to make up the protein part of dehydrated camping meals I put together. 

Dehydrating dried cooked beans makes a sort of instant beans, I have dehydrated cannelini, borlotti(pinto), kidney, black beans, haricot and chckpeas. All dehydrate well, but I find chickpeas don't rehydrate too well so I tend to freeze them when they are cooked.
Cook beans according to instructions or you could as easily use tinned beans. Rinse both well then spread out carefully onto the dehydrator trays. dry at 115 degrees until crunchy. Don't panic if it looks like they've turned inside out, they will look better once they rehydrate. If the beans are really soft, you may find they break up when dried, again it doesn't really matter you will still get the same beany flavour and they help thicken a stew. I had this happen this week when I overcooked some pinto beans.

To use, either add direct to a stew, or rehydrate by covering with hot hot and leave to soak for 30 mins.

Will post pics later.

[dirtdiva]

Oct 29, 2020 23:12:28 GMT 10 sonic said:

Moi? Oh you exaggerate my prowess!

I dehydrate a lot of cooked dried beans, mainly because I'm terrible at remembering to soak them for cooking in a meal and they are great to make up the protein part of dehydrated camping meals I put together.

Dehydrating dried cooked beans makes a sort of instant beans, I have dehydrated cannelini, borlotti(pinto), kidney, black beans, haricot and chckpeas. All dehydrate well, but I find chickpeas don't rehydrate too well so I tend to freeze them when they are cooked.
Cook beans according to instructions or you could as easily use tinned beans. Rinse both well then spread out carefully onto the dehydrator trays. dry at 115 degrees until crunchy. Don't panic if it looks like they've turned inside out, they will look better once they rehydrate. If the beans are really soft, you may find they break up when dried, again it doesn't really matter you will still get the same beany flavour and they help thicken a stew. I had this happen this week when I overcooked some pinto beans.

To use, either add direct to a stew, or rehydrate by covering with hot hot and leave to soak for 30 mins.

Will post pics later.

Singin your praise Sister Sonic   Please do post pics as I am intrigued. Hope that elbow is healing.

[sonic]

To give credit where it's due I use the method from the Real Food Living blog here.



realfoodliving.com/recipes/dehdyrating-dried-beans


As you can see from the first pic, the dried Pintos in the big jar are very 'bitty' as these were the soft cooked ones. Turtle beans and Kidney beans in the other jar.

In the second pic there are some dried Pintos and the third shows how they improve when rehydrated.

Attachments:

[sonic]

Not quite sure what went wrong there, but you get the idea! Oh elbow is getting better thanks.

[dirtdiva]

With spring approaching in Australia I wanted to transfer some recipes that I had posted on dpf over here for you. I was asked recently about pruning blackberries and posted how I liked to use my blackberries.

 This is my go to cobbler made usually with fresh or frozen fruit from my land. You can substitute rhubarb, strawberries, peaches or blueberries in this recipe and I make in my cast iron skillet.

BLACKBERRY COBBLER

1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter
1/4 cup boiling water
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 Tbsp lemon juice
4 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

Preheat oven to 400

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside. In a large bowl mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until mixture is moist.

This is your dough.

In a separate bowl, dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1 cup of sugar, lemon juice and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Once your filling has thickened turn off the fire.

Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls. Do not stir just drop it on the top. Place skillet on the foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes in preheated oven or until the dough is golden brown.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

**I like to sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon on the top of the dough before baking. Just a dusting. **

[dirtdiva]

I posted this on dpf and wanted to make sure it was posted here also. Lots of small plum tomatoes in the garden usually result in this dish. It is a favorite of my grandchildren during tomato season. In these pictures I used a small yellow heirloom pear tomato that volunteers every year along the fence in my back yard.

Take the unpeeled tomatoes and cut up in chunks along with sweet onions and peppers and garlic cloves or minced garlic and lots of fresh basil or even Italian seasoning. Drizzle a good olive oil over all and place in a 300 oven and roast low and slow stirring very 20 minutes or so.

The vegetables will caramelize with the onions, peppers and basil.

Bake some good crusty french bread

Slice the bread and spread the mixture on that warm chewy crusty bread and enjoy. When they get done they scrape the pan for all the juices left in the pan with the extra bread. You can always sprinkle a little fresh ground parmesan on top when serving.

** This process can take awhile depending on the size of your tomato chunks and the amount of juice in the tomato. Be patient an get good color on your vegetables. Almost like caramelizing onions. **

Stay safe DD