Dried Cranberries

Many people who are new to dehydrating assume that they can pop whole cranberries in their dehydrator and get 'craisins' out of the deal.  You know what they say about assuming!  The truth is, craisins are loaded in sugar...

1/3 of a cup of processed craisins contains 123 calories, while 1/3 of a cup of home-dehydrated cranberries contains only about 42 calories (by my calculations... I dehydrated 7 bags at 180 calories per bag and got 10 cups of dried berries, which yields 126 calories/cup) It's the added sugar that helps keep the texture of craisins more like raisins.

Dehydrating cranberries at home, sans sugar, results in bits of crispy, crunchy, sour goodness that are fantastic in muffins, scones, breads, etc.  If you click on the picture above, you might be able to see there's quite a difference between the craisins on the left and the home-dried cranberries on the right.

The process is quite simple.  Rinse your cranberries in a colander and pick out any remaining stems you can see.  Working in batches, give the berries a few whirls in the food processor, which will break them up and make them dry much faster.  Spread them out, in as close to a single layer as possible, on your tray.  I use the fruit-roll liner on top of the plastic tray just because it presents little bits from falling through once they are dried.

If you have a temperature control on your dehydrator, set it to 135 and let it go... when the berries are crispy, they are thoroughly dried.  Be sure to remove any whole/mostly whole cranberries that didn't dry, as they could cause mold.  Store in an airtight container out of direct sunlight.

Use in any recipe calling for dried cranberries.  There's no need to rehydrate them beforehand.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have FINALLY used up the bottle of laundry detergent I bought at at beginning of June when we moved in to the hotel for 9 weeks.  Time to make a batch of homemade stuff!  When we lived in IL, I made a very large liquid batch that I had to store in a 5 gallon bucket.  This time, I knew I wanted to try powder. 

There are tons of recipes on the internet, but they all use the same basic ingredients... a bar of castile soap, washing soda, and Borax.

Using a grater (or food processor if you want), shred half the bar of soap (which will give you about a cups worth of shavings).

Mix together with 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of washing soda (NOT baking soda).  Shake it up good.  You want it to be well blended.

Use 1 Tbl per load.  It will NOT suds up, so is safe to use in front-loaders.

Someday, may be I'll get around to covering the Planter's paper with something pretty. May be that will make doing the laundry more enjoyable.  Or may be not.

Butter!

Every week, the nice Oberweis man delivers our milk and one container of heavy cream.  It's my standing order.  I intend to make homemade icecream once a week.  It hasn't happened yet.  As a result, we had four containers of cream that I did NOT want to waste, so I knew it was time to make butter.

I've done it before.  It's super easy with a food processor.  It takes all of about 5-7 minutes.  Here's a great video.

So, begin with pouring cream into the food processor.

 Now you're going to turn it on and let it go for a spin. The cream will be liquid at first, obviously.

Then it will gradually thicken.

In no time at all you will have whipped cream.

And then it will get really firm.

Just when you think nothing else will happen, the butter milk separates from the butter and starts splattering all over the food processor.

That's when you know you have butter!  Strain out the buttermilk (this is not the same as the cultured stuff you buy in the store, but it is great in pancakes and muffins, so be sure to save it.)  Then what you want to do is rinse the butter with COLD water in a bowl (sorry, I didn't take pictures)  I find that 3 times is a charm... squeeze the butter (the more liquid you get out, the longer it will last) and rinse.  When the water runs clean, you're good to go.

And just because I don't want you to do what I did, please don't think it's a good idea to make butter while you have milk heating on the stove to make yogurt.  This is what you will end up with:

It was not fun to clean.  At all.

Homemade Lara Bars

There are recipes all over the internet for these, but after much trial and error I have come up with an easy-to-memorize recipe that allows for any number of flavor combinations.

You want to start with some dried Madjool dates.  If you have a Sams Membership, they carry them from the fall until after the holidays.  Buy the ones found with the fresh fruit, not the bagged ones in the bulk aisles.

You will also need 1 cup of nuts.  I use peanuts and almonds, mostly, but any nuts will work.

Then you will need 1 cup of add-ins.  Dried Cherries, unsweetened coconut, chocolate chips, cacao nibs, etc etc.

Pour your nuts and your 'add-ins' into a food processor.  Here, I am using peanuts and 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup cacao nibs for a "Reeces Bar."

Process until they are chopped, but not decimated.

Now, add in your PITTED dates and process.  Depending upon how sticky they are, you'll probably need between 8 and 12 of them (1 to 1-1/2 cups).  You want them to glue everything together.  If the mixture is crumbly, add more dates.

Press into an 8x8 pan and chill for a bit.

Cut into about 8 bars.

I store them in baggies in the fridge.  The kids know to bring the bags home from school, so I wash them and reuse them indefinitely.

Another of our family favorites uses 1 cup of almonds, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut for "Almond Joy Bars."

These are a delicious snack, but they are obviously not low-calorie.  Hubby takes them to eat after he works out, and I limit the kids to one per day, but they are a much better alternative to other bars that are out there.