Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I had a recipe (put on the internet in 2021) I made once last year, and could not find it.  I ended up finding it, but the recipe called for Weber's store brand Garlic Jalapeno Seasoning.   You know me right?  I went on a mission.  First, I am not really a person to store a "mixed spice" in my pantry, other than my homemade "fire powder" for spicing up dishes when I want to. However, they do come in handy for traveling, and especially when camping.  Mixed spices also come in handy for grilling out, grilling at a picnic etc. To see the actual ingredients in the store brand, you can simply read the label next time shopping, or find it on the internet.  I have no idea what stores sell it, or if they even make it anymore, but sharing what my mission was pretaining to this seasoning. The original seasoning contains sugar (more than the jalapeno), "spices" (no specifics on what this is), citric acid, gum arabic, rice concentrate, and "natural flavors...

We got more rain yesterday, and this morning, there are more rain clouds looming.  I have all the windows open, taking advantage of the early morning cool breeze, to bring in some fresh air. As I said, most of our garden(s) flooded, and we lost almost all of our 60-ish tomato plants.  Will we replant?  Not sure.  It is iffy on the weather, and also on the fact we'll have to buy plants, and it's getting late for that in our area. Am in tears over our struggles this year?  Yes, but we've had a no-tomato year before, and it's all part of gardening.  You just never know. Now about my dehydrator. . . My very first dehydrator was purchased for $50 off of ebay, but it did not last very long.  I then upgraded to a larger Excalibur back in 2015. (I moved all of my oregano to my smaller dehydrator, in batches, until my new larger one arrived) In the midst of all things going on here, my Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator quit working.  I literally just put togethe...

I'll admit, that some things suffer this time of year, and yes that is a big ol' pile of towels on a kitchen chair.  It's been there for 2 days now, as I have been very busy, and too tired at the end of the day.  We still need to eat and we still need to have clean clothes and linens. Tomatoes are still rolling in.  I've canned ketchup and Lemony-Basil Tomato Soup, and a 2nd batch of ketchup. I've put a start on dehydrating spearmint finally.  I've also made dehydrated cucumber powder.  Spearmint is for tea and both of them are for Tzatziki Sauce this winter.  It is the first year to make cucumber powder, and I am researching the uses for it.  It sounds like it would be great in sauces, dips, and other recipes.  I had a few cucumbers getting too soft to make a salad, and didn't want to waste them (although I am sure the chickens would have loved them).  I do have a better plan to keep the cucumbers "fresh" after picking them. The weather is h...

  Tip:  I drop my hydrated oregano (and other herbs) off of the dehydrator tray, and onto a piece of waxed paper.  I gently take the dried leaves off the stems. I hold each side of the waxed paper, and with a canning funnel in the top of a quart canning jar, slide the dried herbs into the jar. I do not crush the dried herbs.  I wait until I am cooking and then crush what I need.  It helps them retain flavor longer. Another tip:  Check those lids you get on anything you do buy.  I saved a lid from a jar of organic mayo we bought over winter, and it fits perfectly on my quart canning jar. It's a task, but I wash and dry all the trays before dehydrating another food in the dehydrator. Happy Harvesting!

  You can dehydrate the last handful of hot peppers in any form, but I place them in my food processor and grind them up to small bits. (dehydrated in the photo) I then spread them out on parchment paper and dehydrate in my dehydrator.  If you have an air fryer, most have a dehydrate option. When they are all dried, I put them in a coffee bean grinder (used only for grinding dehydrated items), and grind into a powder.  I store in an air tight spice jar. Add the ground powder to any recipe to add flavor.  I use it a lot in our breakfast casseroles/frittatas and scrambles. Yes there are Christmas towels in there😂 I fear for our world we now live in.  More and more people we know are sick with covid.  It's spreading like wild fire in our area.  A co-worker of my husband's could use prayers.  He is the same age as me, and was moved to a different hospital with covid.  Both of his lungs collapsed.  His name is Lauren (not sure if I'm spellin...

  The storms are over, so the dehydrator was back at it. Rosemary made it's way into it first.  Once that was ready to come out, trays were cooled and washed. Cayenne peppers made there way in next.   Tomato season is officially over.  I am freezing what I have left.  Sort of a sad tomato year, but thankful for what we did get. My layers are slowing down in egg production, which has me thinking of water-glassing them again for long storage. Seed saving continues, and I feel it is very important to do, especially this year with how things are going with our food system. The insurance company has attempted to deliver my Mom's 14 free meals 4-5 times now.  So far, nothing has arrived (other than the first shipment with warm rotten food). Woke up to 55°F this morning.  I'm pretty sure the hot pepper season may be coming to an end.  I guess we'll see.  We better start stocking up on firewood.

  We got more rain yesterday and woke up to a foggy start for the day.  More rain possible today. Santa Fe Chicken Fajita marinade (for the grill). First time in a year to have to buy organic bell peppers.  There is a cold salad/relish that is great with this, but I do not have a green pepper. New recipe tried - Strawberry Cheesecake Ice box Pie.  Yeah, I cheated on the crust, but I didn't have the crust ingredients on hand.  I froze it, then topped it with remaining whipped cream and froze again.   It's been tried and sampled.  It's not thick like a cheesecake, but more on the lighter side.  Everyone loved it.  The strawberries are pureed with a bit of orange juice.  I think it was called an "ice cream" pie, but I'll look for it and link it up here later. 9 trays of oregano went into the dehydrator. I got my green onion starts in the ground before the rain arrived again.  

I had so much mundane tasks to do Monday, the onions never made their way to the dehydrator.   Tuesday they finally got into the dehydrator.   My yarn totes are made their way back to my bedroom closet sadly.  They were headed upstairs until one daughter moved back in last March.  I can't live with my office full of totes, so I'm making room (again) back in the closet. Then I can use my office once again. I made 3 new recipes.  We loved the rosemary walnuts and the Southern sausage enchiladas with sausage gravy.  We will be cutting the Kamut granola bars and tasting them today.  All recipes are online.  I am thinking of trying a new recipe for dinner tonight.  The breakfast dish I made a few changes - left the seeds in the jalapeno, and I used butter (vs the grease left from the sausage) to make the gravy.  The original photo of the breakfast dish makes it look like you have lots of ooey gravy, but you don't.  It tasted great t...

The rain went right off the radar on Tuesday.  Not a drop.  Rain on the radar on Wed. went right off the radar as well.  Sigh.  I had to pick and choose what would be watered, considering the well isn't getting filled up. I finally got some feverfew put into the dehydrator for winter tea if needed.  I'm hoping if we get rain, I can dehydrate more (it's in a pot vs. the ground). Once that was dried I loaded it up with catnip.  I make catnip tincture as an ingredient for my bug off spray.  I will also make some catnip pillows for our cats and Mom's cats if I have enough for both.  I want to make my tincture with fresh catnip. We love hot pepper jelly (now that I know how to really make it hot).  We love it as a go-to snack for gatherings or snacking.  It's great with cream cheese on a cracker.  I couldn't find hot cherry peppers, and did not grow them this year.  I used habanero, serrano, hot banana, hungar...

I posted yesterday that I was dehydrating garlic.  I realized I don't think I've made a post about making garlic powder with dehydrated garlic.  First, peel all the cloves, and slice thinly.  Place on dehydrating trays.  If your trays have larger holes, cover them with parchment paper first. The holes on my trays worked fine.  Once the garlic is crisp (use the guide book that came with your dehydrator for temperature and time), you will remove them from the trays.  I did not use parchment paper, so I line my counter top with a sheet of waxed paper.  I gently push all the garlic off the trays. I hold each side of the waxed paper up so the garlic goes to the middle and they can slide easily off the waxed paper and into a coffee grinder.  You then grind them until it turns into a powder form. I am lucky to have a glass container that fits a canning funnel.  I pour the powder out of the grinder and into the jar....

Dirty dish pile started early Thursday morning.  Sausage/potato egg burritos with cowboy candy.   I canned more strawberry margarita jam. Froze more strawberries. The rain just poured down on us. I also diced up a bunch of onions and popped them in the dehydrator - homemade onion powder.  My supply is getting very low.  Also for winter, when I we get a lot of snow and I need onions to cook with. I had herbal infused oil to strain, and a tincture to strain.  I had dishes to wash of course too. I made an iced coffee for an afternoon "pick me up" since Hubby gets home so late now.  It was organic brewed coffee, cooled, a bit of milk, a splash of Bailey's and ice. Mmm! It' literally poured and poured all afternoon.  I had to turn the dehydrator off until the thunder and lightning stopped.  I also couldn't feed the chickens until it stopped.   The front of our yard flooded and the field a...