Dehydrator Recipes - please share

[Anna]

I just got a dehydrator and I'd love to hear from others who have one.

What's your favorite thing to make? How do you use it?

I'm drying some fruit now and made an onion "bread" and almond cookies. We are having fun but would love to hear what others do with theirs.

Thanks!

Anna

[Joette]

I have not moved past drying fruit! My kids love it, but I would love to expand our options. I did not know you could make bread or cookies! How did they taste? I am going to have to pull out the little book that came with it for ideas. Thanks, you have inspired me to try more!

I would love to hear what other people do as well.
Joette

[Anna]

Here is the onion "bread" recipe. It really tastes like onion rings. My dd loved it, dipping it in ketchup - LOL! I put tomato, basil and avacado on it and it was tasty. It is not like bread though, kind of more like a cracker.

http://goneraw.com/recipes/show/2

The cookies were from a book I got from the library called "Raw Food: 100 recipes to get the glow". The authors are chefs in NYC and the dishes are really fancy. Lots of dehydrator stuff. The ingredients were basically, almond flour (ground almonds), almond butter, vanilla, honey and agave. The taste is good, very "buttery".

They also make a neat sounding "taco" with a soft corn tortilla made in the dehydrator.

Ronda posted a cinnamon roll recipe on the yahoo list. Here it is:

>>>here is one of my favorites recipies that the kids love.

Raw Cinnamon Rolls with Frosting i use the coconut oil and we think the frosting
is too sweet so we just make the rolls and eat them right out of the freezer.
Dough:
2 ½ cups almond meal (you can get this at earth fare or trader joes)
2 ½ cups flax meal (you can buy this already ground or use a coffee grinder)
1 cup soft pitted dates, firmly packed
1/8 cup pure water
¼ tsp. Celtic Sea Salt
1 dash cayenne
¼ cup olive oil or Pure Joy Coconut Oil (flax oil is too heat sensitive)
Blend the dates and water in a food processor or blender until it becomes a
paste. Mix everything in a large bowl and work with your hands until the dough
is well mixed. Place the dough on a Teflex sheet or piece of wax paper and form
into a ¼" thick square using your hands to shape it. Then cover with another
Teflex sheet or wax paper and roll with a rolling pin until the dough is a
uniform thickness.

Filling:
½ cup soft pitted dates, firmly packed
½ cup raisins (i like to use other dried fruit rather instead)
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1/8 cup water
extra raisins
½ cup soaked and dehydrated walnuts, coarsely chopped (soaking nuts removes
some fat and causes them to sprout hence being live verses dormant. )
Puree the first 4 ingredients in a food processor until the mixture becomes
smooth. Spread the mixture onto dough. Sprinkle with extra raisins and walnuts.
Using the Teflex sheet on the bottom to push, roll the dough tightly. Wrap the
roll in the Teflex or wax paper and place in the refrigerator until chilled.
Slice into desired thickness and dehydrate at 105 degrees until warm.

Optional frosting:
1 cup raw cashews or pine nuts soaked 4 or more hours
(1 ½ cups after soaking)
¾ cup water
6 Tbs. honey or dates
juice of 1 small tangerine and the entire peel
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend until smooth and creamy. Add a little extra water if you want it thinner.
Drizzle on top of dehydrated cinnamon rolls.
Tip: Keep rolls in your freezer. Dehydrate as needed.br />


Many of the raw recipes I find use the dehydrator and I'll slowly try those, I just thought it would be fun to see what other people do. We did kiwis yesterday and they were AMAZING!!!! What fruits do you all like to do?

~Anna

[Joette]

Pineapple, bananas and raspberries are our favorites so far. Kiwi sounds really good too. I also would like to try to make some fruit leathers soon.

Joette

[Francie]

Our fruit and fruit leathers go quickly. It seems a bit weird when you start hiding food from your own family! ;-) We like to use the fruit in trail mix, oatmeal/granola/cereal and yogurt. We also dry potatoes, tomatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, corn and celery to make our own soup mixes. Pineapple is ridiculously good, but is a non-local treat!

[Meredeth]

We like dried fruit and fruit leather too. But we also make beef jerky or deer jerky. Just marinate it in whatever you want and plop it in there.

[Pat]

Do you just marinate, not cook the meat any? That may be a silly question. Do you marinate in vinegar, salt, spices? What keeps it from spoiling or retards bacterial growth? Any links you suggest?

Do you just cut really thin? I'm intrigued. Is it crunchy or chewy?

So, how do you make "fruit leather"? Do you add a liquid, make it in a blender, and then spread? Just a bit of basics, I'm clueless.


Pat

[Pat]

Do you make the soup mixes as gifts? Or do you store them for later use? Do you cook any of the vegetables at all before drying? I'm wondering about the potatoes specifically, can they be eaten dried, uncooked?

Thanks, Pat

[Meredeth]

Not a silly question at all. We do not cook the meat. The heat and drying process takes care of any bacterial concerns. It helps too if you marinate it in something that has some vinegar in it. We have a london broil marinade that is a family recipe we like. Or just your favorite teriaki sauce.

As for cutting-I usually put a london broil in the freezer for 40 min-1 hour. You don't want to freeze it solid, just get it good and stiff. Then we slice it no more than 1/4 in. thick. Crunchy or chewy is determine more by how long you leave it in the dehydrator.

For fruit leather I just blend it in the blender, add water a tiny bit at a time. You don't want it super liquidy (nice word huh?) . My dehydrator came with a special tray to spread it on. You could also mix a little yogurt in there too.

[Francie]

We have made mixes, but I just store the ingredients separately, because everyone likes to invent their own soup. Most of the vegetables get blanched, but not all. There's a list in my food preservation books, one of which is the ball book. I'm sure there's a list on the internet somewhere. I think the potatoes are gross if you eat them without reconstituting and using them in a recipe.

For the fruit leathers, we add whatever we feel like to a food processor (fruit and yogurt, for example), and then strain the extra liquid out before spreading on a tray to dry. The extra liquid is good for popsicles and smoothies!

[Pat]

That sounds interesting. Would the meat be considered a "raw" food? I've been hearing about "raw paleo diets".

So, do the probiotics in the yogurt survive the dehydrating process. I'm all about live probiotics!

Oh, how long do you marinate? Have you done this with chicken, or fish?

Thanks, I'm intrigued. Do you make a whole bunch and then store it? What is the benefit of all this work? Do you think it tastes better or just different? It seems more portable, and "convenient" when you want to eat it.


How many questions was that? LOL


Thanks,
Pat

[Pat]

Ok, thanks for the info. The blanching sounds like extra work and kills some enzymes. So, I'm curious if that is for taste, shelf life, or "because those are the directions". I generally don't follow instructions well without understanding "Why?". LOL I'm kinda a "maverick", like that.

I'll do some googling.


Pat

[Meredeth]

I don't know if it is considered a "raw food." And I don't know about the probiotics

I slice it first, then marinate about 1/2 an hour. I have not tried chicken or fish.

I usually just do 1 or 2 london broils at a time. I guess for us the benefit is that, yes, we think it tastes better, but also I am controlling what we are putting in our bodies. There are not ingredients I can not pronounce in it. :)