Blog - Simply Me DIY - Make it instead of buying it.

April 5, 2021April 7, 2021

Dehydrating Tomatoes and How to Use Them

Have you ever thought of dehydrating tomatoes to preserve your tomato crop? Or maybe you found a bunch of tomatoes on sale somewhere and couldn’t pass it up.

Dehydrating tomatoes is a great way to preserve them. They’re much lighter (I’m thinking pantry shelves and a lot of canned goods) and they take up a lot less space.

I actually ran across this by accident but have discovered it works out really great for me.

Dehydrated tomatoes and tomatoes on the counter — Dehydrated tomatoes

Not enough to can but too much to lose.

I first looked into dehydrated tomatoes because I just didn’t have enough to justify using the canner, but I just couldn’t let them sit on the counter and spoil and we couldn’t eat them fast enough.

A mix of too much and not enough all at the same time. A bit strange, hu?

Learning to dehydrate tomatoes.

And I’m glad I did.

I tend to pick my tomatoes just a little early. Before they split and before any critters can get to them.

Then I wait until they are good and ripe since that’s when they have the best flavor.

Try to slice them pretty thin, but I don’t work too hard at it. Just don’t slice them thick, like you might for a tomato sandwich.

I just recently discovered tomato sandwiches. Oh my, if you haven’t yet, you have to try them!! They are sooooooo good!

Then I lay them out in a single layer on the dehydrating sheets. The trays on my big dehydrator aren’t solid, so I line them with wax or parchment paper.

A dehydrator tray of tomatoes. — A dehydrator tray full of tomatoes.

Some dehydrators allow for a temperature setting, some don’t. If you have that option, set it at about 125 deg. F.

I have a smaller dehydrator that has an “on” and “off” switch, with no temp setting or timer. I still use it all the time too. You just have to check it often and regularly.

The time it takes to dehydrate will depend on the thickness of your slices and the liquid content of your tomatoes.

I’ve dried them anywhere from 4-12 hours, depending on the humidity in the house, whether the AC is on in the house and the tomato type and thickness.

Then I’ll let them set until the next day. Only do this if you have AC going, otherwise the humidity will make them soft again. This way I can tell if they need anymore drying.

Once they’re cooled, they should be brittle and break when you bend them in half. If they bend and don’t break with a snap you’ll need to dehydrate them a little longer

Any moisture can possibly allow mold to grow when you store them.

A few ways to store dehydrated tomatoes.

After they’re dehydrated to a nice crisp you can powder them. When I first started doing this I always powdered them.

You can use a food processor and probably a blender too, although I haven’t tried that yet.

Most of the time I’ll start in a mortar pestal and finish in food processor or an herb/coffee grinder. Most people find that a bit much, but I find it relaxing.

I’m sure there are several ways of powdering tomatoes, so just find what works best for you.

I’ve also just stuffed them in a jar and squished them down to get as many in a jar as I can.

If you have a food saver you can then put a canning lid on it and suck the air out of the jar. This will seal the jar so your tomatoes will last a little longer. Just remember this isn’t really preserving them like canning would.

But since you’ve dehydrated them to get the moisture out, they should last a good long time anyway.

How to make tomato paste.

I’ve found using dehydrated tomatoes is a great way to make tomato paste.

I hate buying tomato paste because I never use a whole can or tube and end up wasting a lot of it.

So instead I use the dehydrated tomatoes for tomato paste. It’s as simple as mixing a one to one mixture of dehydrated tomatoes to water. Real easy and no waste. Just make what you need.

See making your own catsup here for more ideas.

Cooking tomatoes and sausage — Tomatoes and sausage.

How to make tomato sauce

Making more of a sauce is a two to one mixture. Two parts water and one part tomato powder.

This mixture can be added to any kind of taco meat, chili or any other recipe you might use a sauce in.

Other uses for dehydrated tomatoes

Another use for powered tomatoes is as a thickener. It’s like adding tomato paste except you can just add whatever powder you need to soak up any extra liquid you may have in your skillet.

You can add a ton of tomato flavor to any dish doing this.

Making stew-like tomatoes

If you didn’t powder your tomatoes and just dehydrated them and put them in a jar to add to soups or stews, just make sure there is enough liquid in your dish to allow for rehydration as it simmers.

If you’re not making a soup or stew, you can rehydrate your tomatoes on the stove by adding the dehydrated tomatoes to a sauce pan and adding enough water to thoroughy cover the tomatoes. Bring them to a boil and then remove them from the heat. Then let it set until they are rehydrated.

Something to Remember

One thing to remember when you are dehydrating tomatoes is that unless you want to remove the skins before you dehydrate them, they will have skins.

When you powder them, that really doesn’t make any difference. The skins powder like the rest of the tomato.

But if you are just stuffing them in a jar, when you rehydrate them there will still be skins.

Whether that is something that bothers you, is a personal preference.

I really hope you find this helpful as I did. I sure have enjoyed having another option for putting up my tomatoes. And I use them often to thicken a tomato dish with a huge punch of tomato flavor.

Tell me if you’ve tried this. I’m excited to hear what you think.

Until next time~

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

February 23, 2021April 1, 2021

Making Homemade Sausage

Have you ever got ready to make supper and realized you don’t have the sausage you thought you had? I have and it can ruin a supper plan, especially if you’re on a short timeline.

Herbs & spices — Sausage herbs & sausage

But thankfully it’s really easy to make homemade sausage. It’s a simple recipe and it tastes fabulous.

I’ve used this recipe with deer, beef and pork and they were all good. The flavor is just like store bought sausage. I know you’re going to love it.

A Breakfast Style Sausage

This is a sage-type recipe, not a sweet maple style. It makes a great breakfast sausage out of any of the meats mentioned above. It can be used in any recipe you want to use it in.

Herb mix on ground pork — Mixing herb miix with ground pork.

The ingredients are simple and ordinary, mostly things you probably have in your spice cabinet.

This recipe is for 2 pounds of meat. It’s easy to divide or add, however you need.

Sausage Recipe

2 tsp of sage
2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of ground black pepper
1/4 tsp of dried marjorum
1 TBL brown sugar
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
1 pinch ground clove

Mix your spices together in a small bowl.

Add it to your 2 pounds of your choice of thawed meat.

Using your Homemade Sausage

From here you can crumble and cook so you can add to any dinner or breakfast dish like a frittata, or other breakfast casserole.

Or you can make it into patties for a side of eggs or even as a part of a supper mix.

This recipe taste just like a sage breakfast sausage you can get at the grocery store.

Sausage, pasta and white sauce. — Cooked sausage, pasta, a white sauce and your choice of a green.

It’s great used in several kinds of meals. This homemade sausage can be used in everything from pizza to breakfast. Using white sauce or red sauce.

Sausage & tomato sauce — Ground sausage and red sauce made from home grown tomatoes.

It’s simple and it’s really easy. Enjoy!! Give it a try. Let us know what you think, how you used it and if you feel inclined share your awesome recipe. I’m sure we’d all appreciate it.

Thanks for following along. Let me know what you’d like me to try and share. I’d really love to know what you would like to see.

Until next time.

Health, Wealth & Blessings~

Tracey

January 27, 2021January 27, 2021

Last Minute Supper

I pulled out Italian sausage links for a last minute supper today. I pulled them out this morning with no idea how I was going to use them.

At some point around noon I did a Google search “recipe Italian sausage onion pasta”.

I knew I didn’t want a tomato base recipe, so I looked for anything without tomatoes. I found a recipe called Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta.

It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for because I didn’t have all the ingredients the recipe called for. But I decided I could adjust. When you’re looking at “last minute” you look at how you can improvise for this last minute supper.

Substitutions

This recipe called for penne pasta. I already had a different type of pasta open, so I use it instead.

The recipe called for a ground Italian sausage but I was using link. I just cut it up in small slices and used it instead.

The recipe called for adding cream. I did add cream, but my husband likes a gravy so I added about 2 1/2 Tbls of flour first. I didn’t drain the grease, added the four and then added the approximately 2 cups of cream to make a roux, then a gravy.

I buy whole raw milk from a neighbor weekly and usually make butter out of the cream. I’ve been putting the butter in the freezer, so I decided I could use the cream for this instead this week.

Once I made the roux, I shredded a little more than a cup of shredded parmesan cheese. I stirred it in until it was melted.

Then I added steamed broccoli and cauliflower instead of the called for spinach. I really love spinach. But I didn’t have any, so I improvised.

Improv for a last minute supper

The best part of this last minute supper is to improvise the ingredients you don’t have or don’t want with what you do have or what you like better.

Don’t be afraid to try a new recipe, with your own twists. You’ll be surprised how good it can be.

Tell me how you improvise on recipes and share with the rest of us.

Until next time…

Health, Wealth & Blessing~ Tracy

May 21, 2020May 21, 2020

Essential Oil Spray For All Occassions

You can use an essential oil spray for all kinds of things. I have one for me, one for dog babies, one for the curtains/carpet/house…

**NEVER USE ESSENTIAL OILS ON CATS

These kind of sprays are most often used as a deodorant of some kind.

What you want to use them for will determine what oils or carrier you may want to use.

There’s a few things to remember when you’re putting together an essential oil spray.

First – NEVER use essential oils on cats.

If you have a pet other than a dog or cat, please do your research. Some animals just can’t handle essentials oils at all.

Second – Quality Counts

Clove is supposed to be great for a
tooth ache.

Here’s a great place to learn about and find essential oils. There’s information here on what the different oils are good for and if you feel so inclined you can buy them here too.

Wherever you decide to buy your oils, be sure you are buying 100% pure essential oils. You don’t want a fragrance. And just remember, if it’s cheap, it’s probably not good quality oil.

A good quality essential oil will usually cost a little more, but that’s because you usually only need a few drops of it. A quality oil is pretty potent and frankly, it’s worth the money.

Make sure whatever you use with your oils is of just as good a quality, especially if you’re using it on your pet or your own skin.

Third – Essential Oils Are Stout

If you’re going to use it on your canine fur baby, only use a few drops. We have about 6 million smell receptors in our nose but your furry baby has about 300 million. A light smell to us is a giant smell to them and we don’t want to overwhelm them or cause discomfort.

I spray a cloud and walk my pups through it. That way it’s just a very light mist. I usually pet them afterwards to help it soak into their coats.

And I make them their own separate spray with very little essential oils in it. Remember it don’t take much.

Here’s a few things to decide on when you’re putting your spray together.

Essential Oils

Orange and orange oil — Orange smells awesome.

We all know that different essential oils, just like herbs, are used to support all kinds of different things.

Some will help you relax, or maybe invigorate and wake you up. Others may be supportive of a body function, help alleviate an allergy or other condition or just support your general wellness.

Knowing the purpose for your spray will help you choose the essential oil you’ll want to use. Or maybe you just like the smell of a specific oil or oil blend and want to use it as an air freshener.

Whatever your purpose is, your homemade essential oil stray will be much better than what you would buy at a store. You’ll know exactly what’s in it.

Here’s a few oils to look at, some of which you probably already know about (and remember you can always find more here):

Lavender

We all know lavender is great for supporting relaxation and easing a weary mind. Find out more about lavender here.

Citrus (orange or lemon)

A citrus scent is perfect for lifting your spirits. When you smell citrus it just makes you feel good.

*Note: If you spray a citrus spray on your skin, wait a while before you go out into the sun. It can make your skin sensitive to the sunlight.

Peppermint

Peppermint is great in helping to relieve headaches or migraines. It’s also been used to temporarily suppress the appetite.

Sandalwood

This has been used for thousands of years to enhance your mood.

Rosemary

Helps to reduce nervous tension & occasional fatigue.

Cedar

Cedar has a warm homey smell. It’s great for using in your house after work to just sit back and relax (especially on a cold night) and it’ll help ground you.

Bonus: insects hate all those oils with heavy smell like cedar, rosemary, basil, and lavender. All those ones we LOVE to smell.

The carrier spray

This is the liquid you will want to put the oils in. This can be water, witch hazel, or a combination of both. You might want to add a touch of a carrier oil too if you’re using it for a person or a dog. Something like almond or coconut oil, depending on what you’re wanting to do.

Water

Adding your essential oil to water is the easiest way to go. After you spray on yourself or carpet or curtains, the water will evaporate leaving the essential oil to do it’s thing and to smell awesome.

Witch Hazel

Lavender oil and a flower — Lavender is great for relaxing.

This is an astringent, meaning when you use it on your skin, it tones and tightens, (think pores). It’s also an antibacterial. When we sweat it’s the bacteria that creates and puts off a smell. You can use Witch Hazel with a few drops of your favorite scent to kill that bacteria which helps remove the smell and then replace it with whatever essential oil you’re using.

I use this as a deodorant. Pair it with the essential oil of an herb that’s also an antibacterial, say….lavender, and you’ve got a pretty good thing going on.

A few drops of carrier oil

This can be any kind of oil really. Olive oil, coconut oil, almond oil, just to name a few. In 8 oz of water or witch hazel, you’d only need about 1/8 of a tsp. This oil will help hold the moisture in and it also gives the essential oils something to spread in when you rub it on your skin.

This isn’t really necessary, but it’s a nice luxury that doesn’t cost much to add. You’ll want to make sure you don’t spray this on any cloth or it’ll show and won’t be real easy to wash out.

Mixing Your Essential Oil Spray

Ingredients for a spray for a person — What you need for a spray for a person. Change the witch hazel to
regular water for a room spray.

I found out the hard way, that if you mix too much and leave it in your spray bottle, you’ll be using that same essential oil in that bottle forever.

I don’t remember what I originally mixed it for, but I mixed water and lavender oil. Then didn’t use it all. I left some in an 8 ouch spray bottle.

At some point I decided I wanted to use a citrus spray for something and tried washing that bottle out. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. So I bought another bottle.

Tip– Make small batches and use them. Then rinse out your container. If you do that you should be able to use different scents in the same bottle.

So, that means I would say use an 8 oz bottle for a room/carpet/home deoderizer. You might start out with 5-7 drops of essential oil and if you feel you want more, add more. But, remember it doesn’t take much.

Bergamot — A very relaxing floral scent.

If you’re spraying it on curtains or carpet, remember that oil will attach itself to the fabric and it will stay there after the water evaporates. Even if you don’t continue to smell it in the air the next day. Stick your nose to the curtains or carpet, it’s there.

If you’re using it for your dog, I’d use about a 2 oz bottle. I have 5 dogs, so I still use an 8 oz bottle. So that kind of depends on what you have.

Using your spray

For my personal use, I have a 2 oz spray bottle. It’s out of one of those little airline carry packet things you can pick up at the store. It’s a perfect size and has a lid. I use about 3 drops in that.

One thing you need to remember every time you use your spray is to shake it.

Oil and water don’t mix, so every time you use it, you’ll need to mix it together so you get a good mix each time you spray.

Remember to experiment. As you use more oils, look for blend recipes. They’re everywhere. You may find a blend that you really enjoy better than any single oil.

And if you find one, let us know. Maybe we’d like it too.

Hope you all enjoyed this one. I love using my various sprays. Share what you with come up with everyone in the comments.

Until next time…

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

May 14, 2020May 14, 2020

Homemade Tortillas

Have you ever made homemade tortillas?

Cooked homemade tortillas — Homemade tortillas

I use tortillas in place of bread most of the time. I use them for everything from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to mini pizzas.

My husband is still a bread kind of guy and that’s okay. But that’s sorta what pushed me to try making my own homemade tortillas.

I’ve got to confess that I’ve tried making these several times in the past and never could get it figured out. So I’d go back to buying them.

But the packages are so big, it’d take a month of Sundays to eat them all.

So I decided to try again. I looked over several recipes, tried a few and finally put together a simple recipe that works for me.

These homemade tortillas are not only easy to make, but you can change them up a little. It’s real easy to add any herbs or spices to make them taste exactly how you want them to.

Balls of tortilla dough — I call these “Tortilla seeds”

You could add rosemary, basil, garlic powder, or onion powder (Onion powder is really good). Or you might want to add dried spinach, kale or nettle for just a little extra nutritional value. Experiment a little and add whatever might strike your fancy.

This recipe makes 8 at a time which will get me through about a week or two.

There’s only 4 ingredients so these homemade tortillas are really easy to make.

And they stay soft, which is I found amazing after trying to make them before. It’s not the same soft as the store bought, but they’ll roll for a burrito.

Homemade Tortilla Recipe

Tortilla Ingredients

2 Cups of flour
1 tsp salt
3 TBL shortening
3/4 cup of hot water (about 100 deg F.)
1 tsp of your preferred herb or spice (optional)

Mixing Instructions

Mix flour and salt until well blended. If you’re going to add any herbs or spices, now is the time to do it and combine it well.
Next add the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture until it is completely mixed together. I use a pastry cutter but you could use a fork or a couple of butter knives to cut in the shortening.
Then add the hot water and mix completely. Use your hand and just keep mixing to incorporate all the flour until you have a soft dough. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle it with flour and knead it until it becomes soft. It should come off your fingers easily when it’s ready.
Now separate into 8 even balls. I’ll cut the whole thing into 2 pieces and keep dividing each piece into 2 more pieces until I have 8. Then roll them between your palms to make balls.
Press your dough balls out flat, one at a time. You can use a rolling pin to roll them out, a pie pan to squish them or a tortilla press. For more on that, see below.
Heat a skillet to med/low heat. Once the skillet is heated add your flat tortilla shell and let it cook for 30 seconds. Then flip and cook the other side for 30 seconds. Then flip one more time and cook for another 30 seconds. During this last 30 seconds your shell should blow up like a balloon.
Once I remove it from the frying pan, I lay them out on a cooling rack to cool. If you’re going to use them right away, you may want to wrap them in a tea towel to keep them warm.

Pressing your homemade tortillas.

My cast iron tortilla press. Be sure to use something between the dough and the press, or you’ll have a mess.

I bought a cast iron tortilla press with a Christmas gift certificate about 10 years ago and until this year I had never used it. It always sounded liked a great idea, but I just never got around to it.

Now I love it and it’s a regular in my kitchen.

I found out that you need to use something to press your dough between or it sticks. Yep, I did that.

I found out that a gallon sized baggie with the zipper and the sides cut off works great. The raw tortilla comes off the plastic easily and all in one piece.

Or you can use a rolling pin. Flour your rolling surface and your rolling pin and you should be good to go.

Or you can use a pie pan and just squish it flat. I haven’t tried that yet, but I’ve read about people using this method. I’d probably use the baggie on this one too. Save a mess.

They don’t have to be perfectly round to still taste good.

Frying your homemade tortilla shells.

The term “fry” is a little misleading. I use a cast iron skillet to fry up my shells but I don’t use any oil. My guess would be you wouldn’t need oil in a non-stick skillet either, but I’ve never used one of those.

You’ll want to let the skillet get to temperature before you start otherwise that 30 second count won’t work right. Then try to lay the tortilla as flat on the pan as you can. Somehow I always have a wrinkle in it, but that’s okay.

Tortilla in a skillet — The first 30 seconds.

Then let it cook for 30 seconds. After this first 30 seconds it won’t look like it’s cooked enough, but that’s okay, turn it anyway.

Cooking tortilla — The second 30 seconds.

Cook it for another 30 seconds. Now it’ll start looking like what you’d expect a homemade tortilla to look like.

Then turn it and cook it for the last 30 seconds. During this last 30 seconds it should start to puff up. It’ll look like a blown up balloon. It’s my opinion that that’s what helps make them more soft.

After I cook them I lay them out on a cooling rack to allow them to cool so they won’t condensate in the fridge. I store them in a baggie in the fridge with a paper towel, to soak up any moisture that might be in there. This keeps them from getting soggy.

But if you wanted to use them right away, you’d probably want to wrap them in a tea towel to help keep them warm.

So there you have it, homemade tortillas anyone can make.

Do you have a homemade tortilla recipe you love and would like to share? I’d really love to hear it.

And if you give this recipe a try, let me know how it turns out. I’d love to know what extras you may have added and how you liked it.

Until next time.

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey