Hurricane Ian is coming so we're prepping for whatever it may bring, I'm hurrying trying to get the rest of my produce preserved and for some unknown reason I decided to rehydrate Prudence!!!!
Who's Prudence? Prudence is my sourdough starter and about every 6 months - a year, I rehydrate her, go on a baking spree and then dehydrate her again for several more months. I've had Prudence for several years and don't want to lose her!
Let's talk about preserving okra ... here's how I dehydrate it and what I plan to do with it once it's dehydrated ...
Hubby harvested this partial bucket of okra a couple of days ago and then a friend from church brought us some of which we were ever so grateful for!
I washed it up and sliced it into approximately 1/4-inch pieces.
Remember this bowl from yesterday's post, it was filled with shredded zucchini!
This is a very useful bowl!
Into the dehydrator it went along with some more zucchini (the top 3 racks are filled with zucchini)! Yes, I'm still dehydrating zucchini!
This is dehydrated okra that I did earlier last week. When what's in the dehydrator now is finished, I'll also jar it up in the same way.
I'll use the okra to:
add, in its dehydrated state, to soups
turn into a powder for:
adding to my vegetable powder jar
(I use vegetable powder in hamburger patties, meatloaf, meatballs, soups, casseroles, etc. Like I shared yesterday, it's a sneaky way to get vegetables in my family!)
adding to smoothies
(Okra has many health benefits!)
You will notice that I used recycled jar lids on these jars, they work just fine for this purpose. I did not vacuum seal these jars as I expect to turn them into powder in the near future. I have used recycled jar lids for vacuum sealing many times and they have always worked as well as new ones.
Until next time,
patsi
Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal living and pantry building (if you include my frugal childhood, well that would add a few more years to my experience!)
A Working Pantry
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My dehydrator has the last dregs of the garden. A handful of green beans, a couple peppers, odd shaped tomatoes, a handful of tomatillos, the last of the chives. I also powder them after dehydration for a dry bouillon type thing to flavor soups and gravy. I went to Walmart and with your pantry challenge in mind, I purchased two cans of pinto beans .78 a piece. Next to them was Ronzoni pasta for .75 a box. For better than canned refried beans, take one can of pinto beans and blend it with 1\2 cup of chicken broth , then saute some onion, peppers (hot like jalapeno or milder according to your taste) plus some garlic ; then add the bean broth mixture and another can of pinto whole (if you like some whole beans in your refried) and you'll have a superior product to the canned variety and really not that much work. If you like your refrieds creamy, blend both with the chicken broth.
ReplyDeleteEllie Central Az
Ellie, you did good for this week's pantry challenge! Way to go! I'm going to print out your instructions for 'better than canned' refried beans. Thank you for sharing!
DeletePrepping here as well. Mom's nursing home is near the path through Florida and lots of family and friends, too. Praying for God's hand to calm the storm.
ReplyDeleteLana, oh no! I will join you in that prayer!
DeletePatsy, is it possible to rehydrate and then fry okra? I just got a bunch from my neighbor and my husband only likes it fried. I'm thinking I'll have to freeze some for him and dehydrate some for my soups. I'm about to run out of freezer space so I've started using my dehydrator more...Glenda
ReplyDeleteGlenda, I have never tried frying rehydrated okra. I have read that you can. I think I'll try some today and see how it does. I'll report back once I'm finished.
DeleteAre we supposed to report on the pantry challenge now. I was going to report on Friday. Tommy eats dehydrated okra like popcorn only no salt of butter. He likes it plain.
ReplyDeletePractical Parsimony, Friday is our official pantry challenge day and the day that I'll post what I did as well as the next challenge, but you can post anytime.
DeleteI hope you and others in the path of the hurricane stay safe.
ReplyDeleteJane, thank you!
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