This Food Is Good!

Go to Amazon, and buy their $65 Nesco dehydrator... you will fall in love with it. I've been having fun making sweet potato and carrot chips, as well as dried bananas, kiwis, pineapples, plantains and apples.

Let's discuss the apples. As you can see in the photo, I used a mix of red and green apples for variety. I removed their cores, and sliced them in the mandolin slicer at 1/16th of an inch. Next, I tossed them with lemon juice and cinnamon. Then I dehydrated them at 104 degrees for about 8 hours.

They end up being crisp but not crunchy... and they are a bit tart, but the cinnamon balances that out nicely. Note that I just used ground cinnamon, not cinnamon sugar. The apples are sweet enough on their own, there is no need to add to that.

Every so often, I need a certain blend of spices for a recipe and have to decide which is more practical - to buy it, or to make it myself. I take pride in my large collection of spices, so I'd rather create the mix myself... but if I am missing a few, it's usually more economical to spent $5 on the blend then to drop $10 on spices that I am not likely to need again for a while. When I needed some Old Bay Seasoning for a corn fritter recipe, and could only find it for $7, and had the ingredients... it was a no-brainer to just make it.

Old Bay Seasoning

1 tablespoon ground bay leaves
2 teaspoons celery salt
1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

I didn't have the white pepper or the mace... so I left them out. No big deal, because everything turned out great. I mixed everything in a small container, and since the recipe was a hit, I've made it a few times since.

Spices also lose some of their kick after a while, so it is good to use them up in a reasonable amount of time. Buying them at small international groceries is usually a lot cheaper than buying them in a small glass jar at a large store.

This is a great smoothie to pair with a light salad at lunchtime or for an afternoon energy boost.

Strawberry-Banana-Kiwi-Flaxseed Smoothie... now with shadow of doom behind it!

1 c. Frozen Strawberries
1. Ripe Banana, not frozen!
1. Fresh Kiwi, peeled and cut in half
1 t. Ground Flaxseeds
1 c. Almond, Soy or Rice Milk

Add everything to a blender, and pulse it until it is smooth. It's that easy. Make sure you use an unsweetened milk, whichever one you choose. There is enough sugar in the fruit that you will not need any more. You won't taste the flaxseeds if you just add a teaspoon, but they're a really healthy addition. I add them to all of my smoothies. Make sure you fill the blender jar with water right away, even if you are just going to leave it in the sink for a while. You'll be glad you did that later on when you go to do the dishes. Plus it's less than a dollar to make, and serves 2.

First of all, I would like to point out that I got this container of organic greens on clearance for $0.50. They were not about to expire - the store just had too many. Sometimes cheap produce is cheap for strange reasons, you just have to be on the look out.

But that isn't what this post is about. You will notice that there is broccoli in the lettuce container. This may remind you of all of the times a relative has sent you home with leftover food in a plastic sour cream container. Well, that's exactly what this is... reuse your containers, people! I have about a dozen plastic containers that I purchased and many more that I have just saved from other things.

Reusing your containers is good for:

• Storing chopped onions. Plastic absorbs the onion smell, so reusing the same one for onions each time will keep the rest of the containers smelling pretty. Keep a sharpie nearby so you can mark containers like that. You still have to wash them each week, even if the smell won't completely go away.
  
• Storing food in the freezer. The sturdier containers are perfect for this. Don't throw out leftovers... keeping containers in a variety of sizes will enable you to freeze food without taking up more space than you need to.
  
• Sending food with others. I know that if I send food with my bf to work, it is unlikely he will bring the container back. If I reuse a container for it, I am not out any money and won't have to go buy a replacement sooner.
  
• Cutting consumer spending. The more people reuse things, the less they have to go out and buy. This is not a new concept, but it is a great one.