Garden Archives - Simply Me DIY

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

March 5, 2020March 5, 2020

Fermenting your Garden Bounty

It’s almost garden season again. Have you thought about how you’ll preserve all your garden bounty yet?

I only recently discovered fermented food and was surprised to find out how much I Iike it.

Fermenting food has been around for centuries.

Historians have found evidence of fermentation dating as far back as 7000BC.

Sauerkraut mixture. — Sauerkraut mixture ready to ferment.

While no one really knows how it came about, it’s likely that our ancestors figured out that they could store foods much longer with fermenting.

And around the time of the turn of the last century, fermented drinks were probably much less likely to make you sick than the water you drank.

There’s some really great benefits to eating fermented foods.

The bacteria that ferments your foods also makes the nutrients of that food much more readily available for your body to use.

The process of fermentation also produces additional vitamins for your body and enzymes that are highly beneficial for your digestion.

And good digestion can support everything from great skin to a strong immune system.

Some of the supplies you need to ferment.

It really doesn’t take much to get started fermenting. Here’s a list of the basics, in no particular order.

Canning jars. I have found wide mouthed jars easier to use.
Some kind of lid. There are several to choose from. You can be as basic or as fancy as you like. I’ve used sandwich baggies and I have special fermenting lids.
A sharp knife for chopping or (as I just discovered recently) a food processor. It all depends on what you’re fermenting and what you like.
Some kind of masher comes in handy if you’re making something like sauerkraut.
Water or apple cider vinegar. You probably won’t want to use city water from your tap if it has added chlorine or fluoride. See more on that below.
Salt for preservation
Veggies.
Last but not least all kinds of herbs and spices or onions, garlic and peppers. Be creative and try what you like. Make smaller batches with different mixtures to determine your favorite.

Pushing a puck down on sauerkraut. — I’m pushing a “puck” down over my sauerkraut to make sure my veggies stay submerged.

Now there are several types of fermentation. You can ferment grain or fruit as in beer or wine. You can ferment tea as in kombucha. And I’m sure you can ferment a number of other things but, what I’m talking about here is preserving your garden harvest and creating different flavors from all the veggies you’ll get from your garden.

A little about the water you use.

I have well water, so I never thought about this until I did the research.

City water generally has several additives like fluoride and chlorine. Some places add a chemical called chloramine too. Chlorine is not to much of a problem in that you can just let the water sit out for about 24 hours and it’ll evaporate. Or you can boil water to get rid of chlorine.

But, that doesn’t work with fluoride or chloramine. You can’t boil or charcoal filter these out of your water either.

If you have a home filtering system you can check what it says about what all it removes from your water. Otherwise, bottled water might be your best bet.

The fermenting process.

Fermenting takes a little time, but it’s not a hard process. It’s a great way to help preserve all of that garden bounty and give a your veggies a variety of tastes.

Step One

Clean whatever veggies you want to ferment well then chop them into bite sized pieces. In the case of a sauerkraut type ferment, you can shred them with a knife or better yet, with a food processor. I’m embarrassed to say I just realized the food processor thing. I’ve almost never use it….until now.

Step Two

Salt is the key. In most cases you’ll add 1-3 tablespoons of salt to a quart of water and allow it to dissolve. In the case of using cabbage or another high water content veggie you can use some of it’s own water content in place of what you would otherwise use. The salt will also help release the water from your veggies. I’ve got a recipe for sauerkraut here, if you’d like to give it a try.

Step Three

Fill the quart jars with your veggies. You can combine many different kinds, or not, it’s entirely up to your tastes. Experiment with different batches to see what you like best. Add your spices and herbs now too.

Step Four

You want to make sure the salt water mixture you pour over the veggies covers them completely. The point is to not allow any air to reach your veggies during the fermentation process.

Step Five

Next your going to add a lid to keep critters out, BUT you need to allow the resulting gases to escape. If you’re highly diligent you can just put a lid and ring on the jar very loosely and remember to just kind of lift it once a day to let those gases out.

Fermenting Kit. — There are several brands.

I know myself better than that, I’m not that diligent and would never remember to do that. So, I bought a kit. It comes with what’s called pucks and breathable lids. These kits aren’t real expensive and it makes the process so much easier.

They run as low as $20 and you can probably spend as much as you want. There are several kinds, so you can decide what works best for your.

When I first started making sauerkraut I didn’t have the kit. I found a method that used sandwich baggies covering the veggies and then filled with water. I got to say it really was pretty inventive. You can see this method here.

Once you have prepared your veggies and got them in your jars, filled it with your salt water and situated a lid, now you wait.

Make sure you set it on a plate of some type because most of the time it will bubble over and will make a mess. Ask me how I know this 😉

How long do you wait?

As a rule you let your ferment sit from a few days to 6 weeks. The warmer it is the faster your food will ferment, but ultimately the amount of time is entirely up to you.

Sauerkraut. — Sauerkraut ready to ferment.

The taste will continue to evolve the longer it sits. Different foods have a different suggested minimum amount of time to ferment. Each recipe will give you timelines to follow. The trick to getting the taste you like is to test it periodically once you get to that minimum amount of time.

Once it gets to the flavor you like, put it in the fridge. The cold will slow the fermentation process to almost a stop and it will stay pretty much like it is. I’ve never had a ferment go bad in the fridge. So far, I’ve had sauerkraut sit in there for several months and catsup longer than that..

The fermenting process adds a tang to your food. But recently, someone told me they had tasted sauerkraut that had sit for 6 months and it was the best and mildest they’d ever tasted.

Now I can’t attest to that yet, but you can bet I’m going to try it.

Share what you know.

Leave a comment below to let us know what food you’ve fermented and how you did it. I would appreciate any inspiration you can leave.

If you haven’t yet, but you plan to try, let us know what you come up with. I can’t wait to hear!!

Until later-

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

October 8, 2019January 20, 2020

The Uses of Basil

Basil (Ocimum basilicum), sometimes called sweet basil is another herb from the mint family, that I enjoyed this summer. It’s a culinary herb that smells absolutely fabulous and it tastes pretty good too.

Basil plant — A cool fact about the mint family plants is that they have square stems.

A few basic basil facts.

Basil is an annual. That means it dies off every year.

At the end of the season it’ll bolt (flower). Once the flowers dry they drop their seeds. reseeding itself for the following spring so it can start all over again.

There are several different varieties. Some are green and and some are purple and some that are a mixture of the two. But all of them have those amazing oils which causes that amazing aroma and awesome taste.

It likes both heat and sun. Mine sat in full sun all year and as I picked it over this summer, it only got bigger and bigger.

Don’t forget to keep it watered though. You’ll know when it needs water, it’ll look really sad.

If you only grow it so you can walk by, run your fingers through it and smell it daily, that would be okay. There were plenty of times you could find me standing over my basil while I watered it, just messing with the leaves so I could smell it.

But wait, there’s more. Basil has so many uses.

First and foremost, we all know it’s great for cooking. The flavor and aroma is divine. Especially fresh. Just pick a leaf or two and munch on them, if you have any doubt.

Go ahead, give it a try. I’ll wait….

There’s nothing better than fresh basil in your tomatoes sauce or on your morning eggs or even on your pizza.

I hear it’s great made into pesto too, but I’ve have to confess I’ve never tried presto.

I’ve used it all season as a fresh herb and I picked it and dehydrated it for the winter months.

As the end of the season gets here, it’ll begin to bolt. But, you can make it last a little longer by picking the flower buds off. As the plant flowers the leaves will begin to die off. If you pick the flowers, more leaves or whole stems will grow.

I’ve let mine go on to flower now, because they are I’ve already got a good supply dried to use over the winter and…..well…..it’s just a pretty plant.

I’ll just let it continue to flower and reseed for next spring.

Some benefits you may not know about.

Did you know basil is a great herb to add to your tea blends? If you haven’t read it yet, you can learn about making your own herbal tea blends here.

Basil has been shown to be mildly soothing and sedating. It’s considered to be an expectorant so as a tea it’s a good way to relieve a cough and get rid of that wet yucky stuff in your throat and lungs too. And it can help relieve a sore throat.

It’s really good for the stomach. There’s a reason it’s always been used in so many foods.

It’s been shown to relieve belly cramps and gas and it’s even been used for colic and to help prevent nausea.

And it’s even been used as an antiseptic.

Basil even has it’s own folklore.

In Greece basil is believed to bring good luck. So it’s planted in front of homes to bring the family luck.

The Greek Orthodox Church uses it in their holy water and it’s devoted to the Hindu Gods Krishna and Vishnu and is often cultivated around the temples where they were worshiped.

I hope you learned something new about basil and that you’ll look at it with a new prospective, with new ideas in all the ways you can use it.

Make a cup of tea with it after supper and relax. Pay attention to how it makes you feel. You might just find your new favorite after supper drink.

If you have different ways to use basil or an awesome recipe you’d like to share, leave it in the comments below. I’d love to know how you use basil.

Until next time.

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

September 17, 2019September 17, 2019

Never Enough Time

Do any of you feel like there’s just never enough time? Between the day job and taking care of the garden, taking care of what comes out of the garden, keeping up laundry and the house, oh and cooking some supper and having dishes to eat on, that leaves about 30 min to sleep.

Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but sometimes it feels like it.

Last weekend, I took one day with my grandkids. We played, watched moves and then went to my company party.

Me and the grandkids at the co party. — Having a snack at the company party.

We had a ton of fun just hanging out and watching movies, brushing hair and just doing “stuff” last Saturday. They always make my weekend, no matter what we’re doing.

That left Sunday as the only time I had left to get stuff done over the weekend.

Many jars of infused oils. — Infused oils. I love just looking at them.

Calendula infused sweet almond oil. — Calendula infused sweet almond oil

I started by straining the infused oils that were ready.

These oils had sat and infused at least a month and some of them as much as 3 months.

I think they turned out beautifully. Most of the golden ones are calendula and sweet almond oil, 1 pint is calendula and coconut oil and the green one is lavender and coconut oil.

I’ll make some salves, lotions and maybe some chap stick with these. I’ll probably leave a little bit as it is and use it just as an oil too.

We discovered this year that we really like breaded, fried okra. I grew up with the old boiled okra, and had learned I hated it.

After the boiled stuff, I never had the nerve to try it any other way, until this year.

So this year, we grew some okra for my daughter-in-law and decided we had to try it. Wow, is that better than the boiled stuff.

This weekend we had about 6 gallons of okra that needed to be processed. My plan was to dry some and bread and freeze some for use in the winter.

That way we could just use however much we wanted at a time.

I only have chest freezers so I could only freeze one tray at a time. They need to freeze in a single layer. So that took all day.

Left over fried okra. — Guess what was for supper tonight. Well, at least part of it.

While the breaded okra was freezing, I cut and set some up on the dehydrator. I filled 8 of the 9 shelves in my new dehydrator.

Using the time I had tonight to get a couple more things done.

Freshly made sweet pickles. — Making more pickles.

Tonight I made more sweet pickles for my husband’s sandwiches. Boy, did I start something. He loves those things and reminds me regularly when he’s getting low.

From the dehydrator I jarred up a little under a gallon of dried okra.

I now have enough okra to probably last us the winter. But…..it’s still growing. I’ll be giving some of that away this weekend.

This dehydrated okra makes a pretty decent snack. If you salt it a little before you dehydrate it, it’s a nice crunchy snack. My mom would have really like it.

Time or the lack thereof.

Anyway, my point here is, once the garden starts coming in and you have to start putting up the goodies, time runs away from you. It feels like there’s just never enough time.

I try really hard with “to do” list, to make sure I’m not running in circles. I’m even crossing stuff off my list. But it feels like I’m adding as much as I’m crossing off.

I guess that’s just how it goes. Mark off 1, add 2.

Extra days

I’m taking off this coming Friday to catch up on things that I can’t get done on the weekend. I’ve done this several times this year.

It used to be taking vacation time to work, even at home, would have really irked me. But not anymore. These days it makes me smile.

I really enjoy putting it all together, trying to put up more and more of our own food every year. And I really don’t mind just getting stuff done here at home, whatever that might be.

Now if I can find a way to ditch the day job…..

How do you get everything done. Or do you? If you have a secret on how to find more time, I hope you’ll share here. I know there has to be some kind of cool method out there…..maybe.

Let me know what you’re up to in these last days of summer.

I’m really hoping to get back to some kind of trial and/or error next week. Maybe a cracker or maybe even some mustard. I’ve been working on both.

Until next time-

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

September 4, 2019January 24, 2020

I Lost Track of Time.

I have to say, having a full time job can really get in the way of harvesting and preserving my veggies.

Monday's harvest. — Monday’s harvest (with a side of homemade chocolate chip cookies).

We had a holiday this week and it threw my whole weekend off.

I also got to play with my grand kids over the weekend, so I was a little distracted. I was so busy with them and with harvesting and preserving and picking berries, I completely lost track of my days.

I didn’t even realize Tuesday was Tuesday until about 10 pm Monday night. Oops.

I’ve been canning.

Jar of canned tomatoes. — Quart of canned tomatoes

We’ve been harvesting and preserving our garden goodies.

We don’t have a ton of different veggies, but we have enough of the few we grew. I’ve given some to family and now I’m preserving for later.

Of course, we’ve been eating them too….daily.

This weekend, I canned 10 quarts of tomatoes and 3 quarts of chicken broth.

I’ve been saving up tomatoes through the week and froze them. Then I thawed them this weekend. The skins come right off when you thaw them. That was something new I tried and it worked great.

We bought a few chickens from a farm down the road a few weeks ago. I cooked them and used the meat last week.

Then I cooked what all was left from the chicken along with some veggies and some rabbit parts I had saved in the freezer. You can read how how I make broth here.

We’ve found that the rabbit makes the broth a bit darker than usual. I’m guessing that will make it more flavorful too.

I’m dehydrating too.

Dehydrated veggies in the dehydrator. — Dehydrator and dehydrated veggies.

I dehydrated some of the banana peppers and okra. I’ll be able to add the peppers to meatloaf and maybe some meatball and the okra to soups and gumbos during winter.

I also dehydrated the last of the radishes we had. They were so good roasted, I thought dehydrated, they would be really good in soups and stews. We’ll see how that goes.

Since they lose their bite when they’re roasted, I’m counting on the flavor without the bit in a soup or stew too.

We went berry hunting.

We also went berry hunting Monday morning. I’ll be coming up with some elderberry syrup soon. Stay tuned for that one.

With cold and flu season just a few weeks away, you’ll want to make some of your own elderberry syrup.

I have a few cool things in the works. You’ll see those soon.

I’ll catch you next week with something new.

Until then –

Health, Wealth & Blessing ~ Tracey