Minced Dried Onion

Onion harvested from my garden.

A couple of weeks ago, I harvested 16 large bulb green onions that had gone to seed. They were starting to get really woody and I didn't want them to go to waste. So I decided to pull them all and make some minced dried onion.  I actually use minced dry onion a lot, because I can use them without my kids knowing that what I have made has onion in it. They don't care very much for onion. But if they don't know it's there then I don't hear any complaints and I enjoy the flavor.

Sliced Onion ready to dehydrate.

So I cut all these wonderful onions up and threw them on to my food dehydrator. They took awhile to dry, about a day and a half, but it was well worth the effort.

Minced Dried Onion

After they were all completely dried, I threw them into my mini food chopper (only because I don't have a food processor - one of the items on my wish list). It did the trick and I had minced dried onion. Yum! I have since used it in a couple of dishes and it has great flavor. 

Harvesting Dill Seed

Dill like most fresh herbs has many health benefits. One of the great things about fresh dill is that it is excellent source of vitamin C.  Both the leaves and the seeds from dill can be utilized. I have been enjoying the leaves from my dill all winter long and now as the temperatures have warmed up my dill has finally gone to seed. So it is time to harvest the seed.


 Dill is very easy to grow. I remember as a kid my mom always talking about how hard it was to get rid of dill once you got it growing. I really don't know why she wanted to get rid of her dill, maybe she didn't like the location it was in. I was thrilled to see my dill go to seed in anticipation of bottling pickles in a couple of months.

A very easy way to harvest dill is to wait until the the stems have dried and mostly turned brown. Cut each stem off and place it seed side down inside a large paper bag.  After cutting all of your dill you may want to let it dry for several more days inside the paper bag before removing the seeds.
 




You can shake the bag to remove some of the seed, but I found that a lot of the seed still doesn't come off.  Instead pinch each stem between your fingers and just gently remove all of the seeds.

 I had my little guy help me out and we worked over a large bowl pulling all of our dill seed off.

We had quite the harvest in the end we have nearly 2 oz. of Dill Seed. Now I can hardly wait to make pickles.

This small bottle of dill seed (0.85oz.) cost me upwards of $3.00. I harvested twice that much off my dill plant this year. I won't have to buy dill seed ever again.

Pizza and a Movie. . .

Almost every week at our house on Friday or Saturday night we have pizza and watch a movie. It has become a tradition of sorts and something the kids really look forward to. Now this could be a very expensive tradition if we were buying take out or even frozen pizza but we almost always make homemade pizza. Not only does this save us money, but we can also make pizza night a little bit healthier.  We like to change things up and try new things.  One of our favorite pizzas is the Black Bean Pizza ( I will share this recipe with you in a future post), super healthy and yummy too. We also try to always make a whole grain crust or sometimes we stuff a Homemade Pita with pizza toppings. Today I thought I would share a few of our favorite recipes with you:

Pizza Dough

1 Cup Warm Water
1 Tb. Yeast
1 Tb. Sugar
1 Tb. Olive Oil
3/4 tsp. Salt
Flour
Millet (optional)

In a large bowl combine warm water, yeast, sugar, and oil.  Allow the yeast to dissolve then stir in salt and add enough flour to make a soft dough. Roll out and place on an oiled pizza stone sprinkled with cornmeal. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees or until browned. Makes 1 -16" pizza crust.

This is my favorite recipe for pizza dough. It also makes great breadsticks. For the flour you can use any combination of white and wheat flour that you like.  I use at least half wheat flour sometimes I use mostly wheat flour. We also really like to add millet to our dough, it adds a nice little crunch, and adds more whole grain. Putting cornmeal on your pizza stone or baking sheet also makes your crust nice and crispy. Sometimes I will double or triple this recipe and then I will roll the dough out into small individual pizzas. I bake them all and then freeze them to make pizza and movie night quick and easy. The kids really like the individual pizzas because they can decorate their own.

Shaun-ta's Pizza Sauce

2 - 8 oz. Cans Tomato Sauce
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Basil
1 tsp. Oregano

Place in a saucepan and simmer for about 10 minutes.





Making your own pizza sauce is really easy and saves money.  You can use whatever seasonings you like and make it to your own taste. For a really yummy BBQ pizza make a sauce that is 1/2 pizza sauce and 1/2 BBQ sauce. With pizza we have found that there are endless possibilities.

Seed Saving: Cauliflower and Kohlrabi

We harvested seed from our Cauliflower and Kohlrabi last week. Kohlrabi is one of the new things that we planted in our garden last fall. We really enjoyed it and definitely wanted to collect some more seed from it. When our Cauliflower from last fall went to seed it grew so tall, I could hardly believe it. It was up to the roof line of our house probably 6 feet tall and had tons of seed on it, so we let it grow because it was great forage for the bees in the spring. Finally the seed pods where fully ripened and we were able to harvest the seed. We got a ton of seed and my little guy helped me to harvest it all. You collect the seed from Cauliflower and Kohlrabi in the same way that you harvest broccoli seed. Check it out here.

My little helper.

We harvested over 400 cauliflower seeds.

Updating Our 72 Hour Kits

 I am embarrassed to admit that we have been in Texas for 2 years now and this is the first I have updated our 72 hour kits.  It was definitely time to take care of them.

The first thing that always needs updating is the food. For breakfast I use instant oatmeal and hot chocolate mix.  Our dinners consist of instant mashed potatoes and a can of meat (tuna, turkey, ham, etc.) For lunch I usually just include some protein bars. This time I got a box of peanut granola bars. Plus I have some additional snacks like beef jerky, pretzels, crackers for the kids, etc.

Whatever you decide to include, you should have enough food to last 72 hours for each member of your family.  When I updated this time I also included some other snacks with the intention of keeping the kit in my closet where we go to wait out a tornado. Three small children being confined to a closet for an extended period without snacks would be scarier than the tornado. You also need to remember to pack some water as well, as much as possible.

The next thing that is important to update is clothing, especially if you have growing children. I include a change of clothing for each child. I usually just put in something that is a size bigger than what they are wearing now so that way I can just rotate them out as they grow and I don't have a pair of clothes that don't get worn. It is also a good idea to have a pair of shoes for everyone and you can do the same thing, throw in the next size up and just keep rotating them when you need to buy new shoes. You also want to pack toiletries and first aid items, as well as medications. I have sunscreen, bug spray, soap, shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, brushes, etc. Even if you don't have a baby, diapers and wet wipes are great items to have. Diapers are great first aid items (feminine napkins are also good) and wipes are great for sanitation. We also have flashlights and lightsticks. Other important items: matches, can opener, utensils, something to heat water in, copies of important documents, some money (I have a couple rolls of quarters in mine). A battery powered radio would also be very nice and I threw in some games for the kids. There are many things you could include and each time we update ours we add a few things that might come in handy.

I also updated my container this time because we have added a child to our family and there is no way I can carry four back packs.  So I put all of the kids stuff in a plastic tote, that I could easily carry if I needed to or my plan if I need to leave my house and can't take my vehicle is to load our stuff in the wheel barrow (just like the handcart pioneers). 

Jacob and I still have our stuff in backpacks. They are nothing fancy, just some that we had from before we got married.

I feel so much better now that this job is accomplished. It was way overdue and hopefully I can keep up on it better from here on out.

Daikon another Cancer Fighting Veggie

Freshly harvested Daikon.

One of the new things we tried in our garden this year was Daikon. I was very excited for our first harvest and went in search of some ways to prepare this new vegetable. As with all new veggies I had to try it raw first. I assumed from reading about it that it was going to be bitter and it was very bitter. But, I learned some things about how to prepare it in a way that takes some of the bitterness out of it. Here are a couple of ways that I prepared this new vegetable.

Stir Fried Daikon and Carrots

1 lb. Carrots - Peeled and Julienned
1/2 lb. Daikon -Peeled and Julienned
1 Tb. Olive Oil
1 to 2 cloves minced Garlic

After you julienne your Daikon put it in a colander and sprinkle it with about 2 tsp. salt. Let it rest over a bowl for about 30 minutes. The salt will pull some of the bitter juice out of the daikon.  Then rinse the daikon really well and pat dry with some paper towel. In a skillet, heat the oil and then add the garlic, carrots, and daikon. Stir fry about ten minutes or until the veggies reach desired tenderness.  I really liked this dish, and the sweetness of the carrots made a great combo with the bitterness of the daikon.

Sweet Pickled Daikon

1/2 Cup White Vinegar
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/8 tsp. Turmeric
1/2 lb. Daikon Radish
1 to 2 tsp. Minced Garlic
2 Tb. Salt

In a small saucepan combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and turmeric. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. While your bring is cooling peel and slice your daikon into 1/4 inch rounds. Place your daikon in a colander with the salt, using the same method as in the above recipe.  Place your Daikon in a clean 1/2 pint jar, along with the minced garlic. Pour the brine over the top. Refrigerate overnight. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. I thought these were pretty good, still a little bitter, but I enjoyed them. The rest of the family didn't really care for them, however. This recipe is my own version of several that I looked at but a lot of them had the Daikon being pickled along with carrots, which I think sounds yummy and something I will try with the next harvest. I have also read that Daikon greens are really delicious and mild, even raw in a salad, so I will be trying that soon as well. 

Here is something great I learned about daikon:

"Daikon is a source of vitamin C and contains kaempferol, an antioxidant that could slow down the development of certain cancers. This exotic vegetable also supplies isothiocyanates, chemical compounds that could reduce the development of malignant tumours. Some studies have even advanced the idea that daikon could improve digestion."

I have lots of cancer in my family coming from both my mother and father's side of the family so I am always trying to increase the amount of good cancer fighting foods in my diet. It looks like I just found another one and it was super easy to grow.

Harvesting and Drying your Own Herbs

Last week I harvested 6 bunches of fresh parsley from my garden. It was beautiful, so green and it smelled so good. I have a large abundance of parsley right now and I wanted to be able to preserve it. Fresh and dried herbs are very expensive. Growing and drying your own herbs is very economical and easy to do. 

I washed the parsley well and loaded it up pretty heavily on my food dehydrator. Jacob and I inherited our food dehydrator from Jacob's Mom and Dad and we have used it so much for all kinds of things from dried fruit to jerky and now I am using it to dry herbs. I filled all my trays and on the lowest heat setting I dried the parsley. It dried very quickly. It only took about 4 hours.

 

 After all the parsley was dried I simply removed the leaves from the stems. It came off easily.  It was still a beautiful bright green and still smelled amazing. From my 6 bunches of fresh parsley I got 2 Cups of dried Parsley.

 In the store 2 Cups of dried parsley would cost about $4.00 and 6 bunches of fresh parsley would cost about $6.00. This is an easy way to save money and get the benefit of having both fresh and dried herbs.