"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.

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Making Garlic Powder Day

 I finally got around to dehydrating garlic.  I typically do this when I can open my windows, but saved this job for this winter.


You put your cloves into the rubber tube, roll gently pressing to remove garlic skins.  My tools are from Pampered Chef, but I am sure Amazon sells something similar.  I got mine free, and love them!  It is so much faster than hand peeling/slicing.



Put the cloves in the slicer compartments, and press and turn to slice garlic.  Not real easy to clean, but works great.


I first started doing this all by hand - hand peeling, hand slicing then grinding.  I sliced my cloves onto parchment paper this time.  It just makes it easier to get it all into my coffee grinder to grind up.

I am dehydrating the garlic on 125°F in my Excalibur for 8 - 12 hours.  I store garlic powder in an air tight jar in my pantry.  Unlike onion powder, it will not collect moisture (best way to store  my onion powder is in an airtight jar in the freezer).  I use garlic powder in a lot of recipes.

Now, if you want minced garlic (which I need when I can Cowboy Candy), I chop it up in my smaller food processor.  They have other tools for mincing, but that's what I have on hand.

I'm finishing up the last few hours of drying this morning, and will put them into a coffee grinder to grind down into a powder. One more job off the winter project list.


Tuesday, January 31, 2023

New Tea ~ Down Memory Lane

 


Giving this new tea a try.  It is similar to the Traditional Medicinal teas, and it is good.  I have also ordered something new to try.

The carpet is all out upstairs.  It is almost completely out of the stairway as well.  It may be an all year long project, but at least the carpet is gone.

I got my stand for my starter seeds moved.  I'm starting seeds two weeks earlier than last year.  I do need to check the grow lights today.

There were a total of 9 deer out early evening last night.  I heard my husband talking and looking out the window saying, "you all better stay over there."  Ha ha!  They were all out eating the winter wheat.  The temperatures have dropped to the single digits, so it is back to cold here.




Down memory lane:   


I was looking for a specific photo and remembered I made flan for a fiesta/salsa party/tasting night.  That was the first and last time I made flan, but it was good!  You can read about the year I canned several different salsas and our fun food fest  HERE.


Our first goats!  Golly what a memory!  Reflections of 2011 can be read HERE.  We haven't had goats now for many years.  I do miss the milk, soap and cheeses.