I made a venison roast in the crockpot the other day while we working. I just tossed a couple potatoes in at the end, which we had with sour cream. It was a fine meal. As always, there were left overs. I minced the meat up finely, tossed it back into the crockpot, with some beef broth. I added some of my dehydrated vegetables.
I haven't dehydrated before, but I have a half gallon jar in the pantry. It holds 5 lbs of potatoes, celery and carrots. As I picked vegetables, I dehydrated them and tossed them in. When the cherry tomatoes got to crisis levels, I sliced them in thirds and put those in my oven too. If I had extra onion from cooking, I tossed it in the oven over night. I crumbled up my dehydrated tomato skins and tossed them in. No vegetables went to waste, no matter how small the amount. I can always run down stairs and grab some potatoes to slice and dehydrate to make a full oven.
In any case, that jar had a good assortment of vegetables. I gave the jar a good shake and then scooped out a half cup and added them to the meat. I tossed in quarter cup of couscous. It simmered overnight. Boy, did that ever make a great soup.
I am calling this one a success.
We drove into town to take my daughter out for her birthday. Four kids have birthdays in a three week period and hers is the last. In just a month, she and Don are getting married, so there was wedding talk as well.
Then it was back home. There is distant thunder, and flashes of far off lightning. A cool breeze is blowing and tonight, finally, it will rain.
Man. A lot of typos in this. Corrected now.
Something else that is cool: Those four kittens that went to their new homes? I got pictures and videos of them settling in along with thanks from the families. That is such a nice thing and totally unexpected.
And, finally it IS raining! I really love hearing the rain on the roof.
You need to have a cooking show about your drying out veggies then cooking with them. Wow! Those kids really smashed their birthdays together! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteYeah...it is nuts.
DeleteIt sounds wonderful - wholesome and satisfying, and you know where everything has come from.
ReplyDeleteSo good to hear about the kittens, too, after all the hard work you've put in to socialising them.
It is a real joy NOT to have five more feral cats about the place.
DeleteI will guess you didn't hear rain fall at your old house, and you now do. It is so nice to hear.
ReplyDeleteOur bedroom at the old house had two stories above it. We never heard the rain on the roof. We are also able to watch storms moving in here, something that you did not usually see in town. Best of all, I can hear the wind again. I always feel like a child tucked up cozy in my bed. I loved the sound then. I love it still.
DeleteSo good to see the kittens in their new homes! That's a reward for the care you gave them. You made several families happy.
ReplyDeleteI did request a picture of the first kitten's birthday girl. The look on her face was priceless; she was so happy. It was a happy surprise that the others did this just off the cuff.
DeleteSo you dehydrate in your oven? What a great idea. I bet that was good soup.
ReplyDeleteYour family seems to have a very similar birthday pattern to ours.
When they were younger, by the end of it, we were just about done with all things cake.
DeleteDrying tomato skins...tell me more!! With the veges do you slice them before drying?
ReplyDeleteYou know how when you put tomatoes in a hot water bath prior to processing them that the skins crack and you can peel them? Save those skins, spread them on a sheet and dehydrate them. When they are done, just crumble them into your soup mix jar. Some people crush them and keep them in a spice jar to sprinkle into soups. I really am kind of amazed at how great dehydrating works for us. When it is too early in the season to justify firing up the heating stove, I simply run my oven over night dehydrating whatever. (Latest project is slicing potatoes with a mandolin slicer, blanching them, and laying them out on cooking sheets until I have a full oven for over night dehydrations/house warming. There is a recipe for scalloped potatoes. Mostly what I really love about my 'soup jar' is the amazing amount of food in there. Five pounds of potatoes. 3 lbs of carrots and celery, zucchini, onions, beans, peas, cherry tomatoes, tomato skins. That is a lot of vegetables stored in a single 1/2 gallon jar. Incredible to me.
ReplyDeleteWhat a positive post! Your meals sound delicious. I do a lot of crockpot meals. I have never added sour cream - why not? I will be doing this tomorrow. Happy Birthday to your family. We have a zillion August and September birthdays in a row, too. And how sweet to get kitten videos.
ReplyDeleteI don't add the sour cream to the crock pot. We dip the potatoes put of the crock pot and dress them on our plate.
DeleteWe need rain here but there is a hurricane supposed to move up the east coast this week so we may get rain from that. I would have dry weather than a hurricane so not complaining.
ReplyDeleteHonestly Ellie, Florida weather would scare me to bits.
DeleteI've never dried veggies in the oven. Your soup sounded great!
ReplyDeleteSo very nice to get pictures of all the kittens!!
Have a peaceful week. :)
My oven has a setting for dehydrating. The temperature stays at 150 and a fan circulates the warmth. I have large baking sheets 3 racks high.
DeleteThat is so cool that your oven has a dehydrating setting. Really cool, no extra items on the kitchen counter. I should crock pot more often, I just never think about it. How many cats are currently living in your house? Didn't two come from the previous house? I've lost track.
ReplyDeleteDrying the skins makes sense. My oven isn't reliable enough to run on low so I use a dehydrator..just a cheap round one with five layers. But it does the job
ReplyDelete