Got me a food dehydrator

It's awesome!  Perfecto dried fruits, veggies and jerky all fresh at a fraction of the cost of buying it from the store. Not much of a hassle making stuff either. I just have to remember to not stuff my grill with these tasty snacks despite it being "health food." Anyone got any good dehydrated food recipes?  Boner 

I like to buy the sliced mushrooms that are reduced "for quick sale" and dry those. They are great thrown into a pot of rice at the start of cooking, or to a pot of soup or stew. After drying I store them in a quart mason jar and have several varieties mixed in. Enjoy! --==Rich==--

Great idea on the mushrooms. I always have a bunch around and they end up getting a tad stanky after a week so last night I took my near-stanky mushrooms, dehydrated them and will use them in some of my future meals. Thanks, Rich.

Boner

 

Boner -

If you don't already have one get a mandolin (the slicing type for the kitchen - not the pluckin' type for weird bluegrass music) and use it on virtually any type of fruit.  A little hint for working with fruit is to toss everything in a little lemon juice before you toss it on the dehydrator.  It adds a touch of zing to it but more important it keeps things their original color as opposed to that funky brown.

My favs include bannanas, apples, and home made avocado chips.  Also, you can do your own "Sun-dried" tomatoes now and use them in all sorts of dishes for an added kick of flavor.

Dried tomatoes are one of my favorites. Great for snacks and are really a bargain when you can buy whole tomatoes for $1 a lb. I do have a mandolin but use a corer for my apples. The mandolin would work great for kiwis, strawberries, bananas, peaches though. Great idea, I never thought of using it. Does it work for slicing up jerky? Also, great idea on the lemon juice. I don't mind the stuff turning brown but the kids do.  Thanks, Danny. Boner

I used to dry mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, parsley, grind to a powder, and mix with a little nonfat powdered dry milk and salt-free chicken bullion powder to make instant cream of mushroom soup mix.  Couldn't tell you the exact proportions, as I never really measured.  I'm pre-op, but pretty sure this would still be OK for post-ops.

What kind of dehydrator did you get?  I have been thinking about getting one too.  Anyone else have a dehydrator that they have used for a while so you know how well they hold up over time? JP