Oven Dehyrdration for Your Garden Vegetables

Well my new thing for Fall is dehydration. What I learned so far... low and slow. When you are dehydrating with oven heat, you do not want to cook your vegetables and you don't what to evaporate the essential oils of herbs.

The basic thing to keep in mind is that you will be using your oven for 5-10 hours at a time. So don't have your dinner sitting a waiting for the oven. The general rules are 130 degrees. I have, of course, pushed the limit and found 175 degrees works for cayenne peppers. I will put the pictures up this weekend of the whole process. I needed dried hot peppers for the gallons of frozen sauce I made.

Here are some guidelines to help you figure out what you might want to dry before the frost comes to our gardens.

All vegetables except onions and peppers,and mushrooms should be washed, sliced, and blanched. Dry vegetables in single layers on trays. Depending of drying conditions, drying times make take longer. Dry vegetables at 130-degrees Fahrenheit. This comes from Farmgal

• Beans, green:Stem and break beans into 1-inch pieces.Blanch. Dry 6-12 hours until brittle.
• Beets: Cook and peel beets. Cut into 1/4-inch pieces. Dry 3-10 hours until leathery.
• Broccoli: Cut and dry 4-10 hours.
• Carrots: Peel, slice or shred. Dry 6-12 hours until almost brittle.
• Cauliflower: Cut and dry 6-14 hours.
• Corn:Cut corn off cob after blanching and dry 6-12 hours until brittle.
• Mushrooms: Brush off, don't wash. Dry at 90 degrees for 3 hours, and then 125 degrees for the remaining drying time. Dry 4-10 hours until brittle.
• Onions: Slice 1/4-inch thick. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.
• Peas: Dry 5-14 hours until brittle.
• Peppers, sweet: Remove seeds and chop. Dry 5-12 hours until leathery.
• Potatoes: Slice 1/8-inch thick. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.
• Tomatoes: Dip in boiling water to loosen skins, peel,slice or quarter. Dry 6-12 hours until crisp.
• Zucchini: Slice 1/8-inch thick and dry 5-10 hours until brittle.

Farmgal recommends 130 degrees. You can experiment if you'd like but I wouldn't exceed 175 degrees. One method suggests the higher end range for 1-2 hours and then cut it down to 130-140 degrees for the remainder of the process. Like most recipes, things vary greatly.

Another quote from a source called

Set the oven at the lowest temperature and preheat to 140°F (60°C). Drying vegetables at oven temperatures higher than 200°F (93.3°C) will cook them or possibly scorch them. If you are uncertain of the temperature, put a separate oven thermometer on a rack you can see, and check the temperature approximately every half hour.

Wallums is a Website that Will Decorate Your Walls for the Holidays

I was introduced to a website that really has some amazing wall decorations for the upcoming holidays and just about every occasion you can think of. No more tape or pins in your walls. Wallums wall decals really needs to be checked out as a great option for temporarily decorating your walls for the festivities of Fall and Winter. You can also find permanent wall decorations and designs for every theme you can imagine and they will do customized work too. Don't spend a lot of money on a large picture, get something unique!

I am mostly interested in the Halloween wall decorations. Halloween is one my favorite holidays. You have to check out this huge moon and bats wall decal decoration. The home page is loaded with Halloween decals. The decals are vinyl and are easily removed to be stored and stuck again next year. These aren't tiny wall decorations. They take up a lot of space and really impact your home for the holidays.

The cost is really reasonable too! Just based on pure size for the price, gets you a whole lot more bang for your holiday spirit then going to your standard store for decorations. Get something no one else has! They really have everything you can think of for your house design needs. And what is really cool is you can change themes in your house without having to repaint or paste. While you are there, they are having a sweepstakes give-away. The only thing that would beat their prices would be winning their sweepstakes.

Would You Mind Helping Me with some PR for the Rusted Vegetable Garden?

I enjoy blogging. I hope to bring more photos, videos, and information to the blog for 2012. I am working on a way to get a Q & A board active and better organize content. I am peeling off tomato related information to a tomato only blog and garden video to a website. That is my project for the winter.

I was hoping you could help me by spreading the word of this blog to places you visit. I want to reach 50,000 page views and 75 friends. Thanks for the help!

Figs are Sweet and Perfect for Making Dressings with Tomatoes

Figs are actually inverted flowers. They are sweet and easy to grow. You can make all kinds of foods with them. This is just a basic dressing. I picked leeks, figs, heirloom tomatoes, sweet peppers, and lime basil. I'll show you the process to make a great salad dressing (cold) and fish dressing (warm).

Making a Fig Dressing with Tomatoes: Gary Pilarchik

Figs Close Up: Gary Pilarchik

Dice the Figs and Lime Basil Up: Gary Pilarchik

Dice the figs up into pieces as shown. You do not need to peel them. The basil is a citrus variety. Lime I believe. You want to use a citrus basil, either lemon or lime varieties. The citrus adds greatly to the dressing.  All this goes into a mixing bowl. Add some salt to taste to start drawing the liquids out of the ingredients.

Cut the Leeks Up: Gary Pilarchik

Dice up the Heirloom Tomatoes: Gary Pilarchik

Slice Up the Sweet Peppers: Gary Pilarchik

All the ingredients get put into a mixing bowl. I only used coarse salt, cracked pepper, and garlic powder. Add in 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil based on taste and quantity of ingredients. You don't need a lot of olive oil. Mix everything up nicely and let it sit for 30 minutes to draw out the liquids and flavors.

Layered Figs, Tomatoes, Leeks, and Peppers: Gary Pilarchik

Fig Dressing Seasoned and Mixed with Olive Oil: Gary Pilarchik

I just washed and cut up some romaine lettuce. You want to use a sturdy lettuce like romaine that will stay firm and crisp with the dressing.

Chopped Romaine: Gary Pilarchik

The dressed romaine. Looks great and it tasted great!

Fig and Tomato Dressing on Romaine: Gary Pilarchik

You can also using the dressing on fish. Any basic white fish works great with this fig based dressing.

Here is how it looks in pictures. You can either put the cold dressing straight on the pan cooked fish. Or you could remove the fish and heat the dressing for a minute in the same frying pan. Your choice.

Heat Fig and Heirloom Tomato Dressing on Fish: Gary Pilarchik

Quick Simmer Fig Dressing: Gary Pilarchik

White Fish and Fig Dressing: Gary Pilarchik

Here is the dinner served up. The fig and heirloom tomato dressing is used on the romaine and on the fish. A great meal!

The Meal: Gary Pilarchik

Squash Bugs and Stink Bugs Continue Multiplying!

It is the middle of September and it seems like squash and stink bugs keep laying eggs through the season. I stopped checking on my squash and zukes mid August.  I couldn't eat any more! Powdery mildew and the bugs below took care of the plants.

Sept 15th and Squash and Stink Bugs are Still Hatching: Gary Pilarchik