"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Thursday, September 27, 2018

How to Make Onion Powder and Onion Flakes

It's time to re-stock my onion powder and onion flakes.  Here is how you can make your own using a dehydrator (you could also use your oven if the temperature goes low enough).





Simply peel your onions, and chop them up.   You can use a non-electric hand chopper or simply dice them up quickly in a food processor. You can also dry them in slices if that's what you need for future meals, but they are too large to fit into a coffee grinder to make into powder.







Spread the chopped onions on parchment paper lined dehydrator trays, and dry in your dehydrator according to the instructions it comes with.

When the onions are dried, simply break apart your diced onions for "flaked" onions.  Place the remainder in a small coffee grinder and grind until it becomes a powder.

Store the onion flakes in airtight glass jars in your spice cabinet.  These will also collect moisture, so you may want to store them using my next tip.



Store the onion powder in your freezer to keep it dry and prevent it from hardening.  If you place it in your cabinet it will quickly harden, unlike garlic powder.  You can also put some white rice, a few beans in it, but I typically don't shake mine out.  I measure with a measuring spoon, and it's much easier for me if I don't have anything in the onion powder.  Shallot powder also hardens over time.

I recycled a jar the size of a half pint to store my onion powder, using a screw top lid.  My canning funnel fits in it perfectly to pour it out of the grinder easily.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Random Tidbits

I walked right into an orb weaver and it's web, while walking from the garden to the house (shiver).  The good news, is when I looked back, the spider was still in the web.  The web was hanging under one of my clotheslines.



Bought another peck of hot banana peppers and canned more hot pepper relish.  We love this stuff.  So glad I tried a new recipe this year. 



I've had more requests to sell these again, but wonder what price you'd pay. It requires 20 yards of netting.  I think I used to sell them for $3/each but wondered if I'm shorting myself.


It's pretty thick too.  I just haven't made any for about 2 years.

On a funny note, Hubby and I bought a plastic black rat.  The first time we tried to scare our youngest it failed.  She brought it downstairs so I put it in a wall cabinet in her bathroom, where she keeps her toothbrush etc.  We got her good!!

Once again they warned us severe storms were rolling in, and even tornadoes.  Woke up to a slight wind and that was it.  So glad we didn't get it, but I'm starting to doubt the weather forecast (again).