Marinated Mushrooms

One of the most "meat-like" veggie substitutes is the portabella mushroom-- especially when using the right flavors!

I have learned some good tips on how to store and use portabella mushrooms.  After purchasing portabellas, don't wash them, but rather just brush off any dirt particles.  Scrape the gills (the black things shown below) off with a spoon.  They can be used immed in a dish to give it a dark, almost fishy flavor.  Usually, I discard them.  With this done, I store the mushrooms in an open container in my fridge and can be kept for wk or longer.  After about a week, they may start to dehydrate, but they are still good to use.  If they smell fishy or absorb moisture and get soggy, it's time to throw them out.

These mushroom are so versatile-- they can be marinated whole and eaten on a bun like a burger.  My favorite way to fix them is to chop them up, stem and all and marinate them.  They are fantastic in salads or stir fry this way.

But, if you want a really nice meat substitute, dehydrate them after marinating them... oh my!... it tastes similar to beef jerky!

There are so many marinade recipes you can try, but I'll list the ingredients for my favorite below... you can experiment with amounts to get it just the right flavor for your family.

Recipe:

• Several portabella mushrooms (de-gilled and chopped)
• Low Sodium Tamari
• Water
• Sometimes I'll throw in a little Braggs Liquid Aminos
• Garlic powder or granules
• and the secret ingredient... Thyme!!

The mushrooms absorb quickly, so they can be ready after marinating for 30 minutes.  I generally leave them longer and if I am dehydrating them, I might even marinate them overnight in the fridge.

Sun-dried tomatoes- some ways to use them

Use sun-dried tomatoes to add more nutrients and flavor in your salads and dips.  (For very observant Bloggers:  how many of these pictures do you remember from previous entries?)

Sun-dried olive and tomato salad (look for my all-time favorite food- sun-dried olives- in a future blog entry)

Add a small bowl of miso soup for a light fall or winter dinner that contains a taste of summer!

Add sun-dried tomatoes and dehydrated, Tamari and garlic-soaked mushrooms to turn a plain salad into a delicacy.

Include sun-dried tomatoes in Mexican fiesta night when you can't get garden fresh tomatoes.

No Hummus dipping would be complete without rich, flavor-filled sun-dried tomatoes!

Dehydrator Foods- Sun-Dried (dehydrated) Tomatoes & Banana chips

One of our family staples has become sun-dried tomatoes-- ok- we don't really sun-dry them, we dehydrate them instead-- but, we get the same effect.  I've read about all the folks in California and other continually warm climates that actually "dry" tomatoes in the sunshine.  I tried that in the summer, but couldn't seem to keep the flies and bugs away, so I prefer the easier, in-door method of dehydrating.

We make a myriad of snacks and food in the dehydrator, but my all-time favorite is the tomato!

During the summer, I try to keep at least one to two dehydrator trays of tomatoes going each day.  With a plentiful summer tomato harvest, I can end the summer with 5 to 6 gallon-sized bags full of dehydrated tomatoes.  We use them all winter long in salads, soups, recipes and just to snack on.  They look and taste very different than the pale shrunken looking "sun-dried" tomatoes you get from even a nice health food store.

Check out the beautiful vibrant colors below!  The golden tomatoes are my favorite for flavor.

I've learned the best way to keep them fresh all winter is to freeze them once they are thoroughly dehydrated (they will be crispy like chips when you store them in the fridge or freezer).

Another very tasty dehydrated food is the banana!  Once again, we dehydrate at 110 or below which does take a little longer, but it's totally worth it in order to keep the raw nutrition intact.

Thinly slice the bananas and spread in a single layer on a vented dehydrator tray.  One extremely yummy (but somewhat time consuming) treat is to roll each sliced banana piece in shredded coconut and dehydrate.  They seriously tastes like candy!  Store them in the fridge to keep crispy, otherwise they will be chewy at room temperature, even when thoroughly dehydrated.

Another great thing about the Excaliber is that you can dehydrate many flavors at one time with no fear of "flavor bleeding"--- tomatoes will not taste like bananas and visa versa.