GardenFork – Eclectic DIY

Tag: garden

  • Dehydrating Apples, A how to video

    Dehydrating Apples, A how to video

    Dehydrating apples is a great way to preserve food into winter. To us, dehydrated apples are like candy, so they get eaten faster than I’d like. The whole idea being to have some apples in the middle of winter. Watch this video on dehydrating apples and then read on for more information on the dehydrator we use.

    Dehydrating apples, what we use:

    We use a simple forced air dryer, its not the fanciest dehydrator, but its affordable and works for us.

    dehydrating apples

    This is a forced air dehydrator, its a pretty simple design, hot air is circulated around the trays. The model we have is no longer available, but Nesco makes several models that are similar, shop Amazon for food dehydrators here. I have found it helpful to rotate the trays halfway through the drying process, the newer models may not require this step. We don’t spray the trays with any oil, the dehydrated apple slices don’t stick when they are dry.

    dehydrating apples

    Slicing the apples is a ton of fun with this apple corer-slicer rig we got as a present one year. What fun. This is a very handy device to have if you want to dehydrate apples, saves a bunch of time. Shop for apple peeler – corer on Amazon here.

    dehydrating apples

    You can also make sun dried apple slices with a solar dehydrator. This is pretty simple, use some twine or fishing line and put the apples in a very sunny place. The hard part is keeping bugs from landing on the fruit while it dries. You may be able to fashion some sort of mesh or window screen system to keep the bugs off the apples while they dry.

    dehydrating apples

    Do you have any thoughts on what is a good food dehydrator? or any tips on using one? Please let me know in the comments below. thx!

     

     

  • Locavore Garden Salad instead of PBJ for lunch

    Locavore Garden Salad instead of PBJ for lunch

    OK, what is a locavore garden salad? Its when you walk out to your garden and cut some salad greens. This all started with lunch.

    locavore-garden-salad-instead-of-pbj-for-lunch

    We were about to have lunch, and it was going to be PBJs, since it was simple and all the ingredients were there. But I have been on this kinda sorta gluten free before 6 pm thing – we talk about gluten free on GF Radio here – so I grabbed my scissors and went out to the garden.

    There was kale, and young salad greens that had sprouted 2 weeks ago, plus arugula, which grows like a weed anyway. I cut the greens to that they would grow again – this is going to be our hoop house raised bed this winter – and was back in the kitchen in 5 minutes.

    Put water on to make some poached eggs – kinda like the neato Salad Lyonaise video we did – and washed the salad quickly. It almost didn’t need washing it was so young, but… I made a quick vinegarette salad dressing in the mixing bowl. You can use just the egg yolk as a dressing, like in the Salad Lyonnaise recipe, but I wanted the balsamic in there.

    locavore-garden-salad-instead-of-pbj-for-lunch-2

    And its good I did make the dressing, because I overcooked the eggs, they were no longer soft poached, but they were still good. Not bad for a quick switch from PBJ.

  • Roast Cherry Tomato Pasta Recipe GF TV Video

    Roast Cherry Tomato Pasta Recipe GF TV Video

    Easy Cherry Tomato Recipe served over pasta, rice, or quinoa. Here’s a recipe for all those ripe cherry tomatoes in your garden. Roast the tomatoes with some garlic and the like, and its amazing.

    My friend Bill gave me this cherry tomato recipe; he’s been making it a few times a week. Its a great midweek dinner, or weekday dinner recipe, super simple.

    I make this with all yellow tomatoes, but you can ‘ use what you got ‘ cause that’s the GardenFork way, after all. The yellow cherry tomatoes have  lower acid content, and are sweeter, I think, than red cherry tomatoes, but that’s just my opinion.

    If you have a recipe for cherry tomatoes, please share it with us below, be great to hear from you.

    Roast Cherry Tomato Pasta Recipe
    Recipe Type: Pasta
    Cuisine: Italian
    Author: Eric Rochow
    Prep time:
    Cook time:
    Total time:
    Serves: 4
    Cherry Tomato Pasta recipe to deal with all the tomatoes you have in the garden.
    Ingredients
    • 2 pints cherry tomatoes
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • 4 large cloves, coarsley chopped garlic
    • 1 cup oil cured black olives – optional
    • 1 cup cubed feta cheese
    • 1 lb pasta, preferably whole wheat
    Instructions
    1. pints cherry tomatoes
    2. /4 cup olive oil
    3. large cloves, coarsley chopped garlic
    4. cup oil cured black olives – optional
    5. cup cubed feta cheese
    6. lb pasta, preferably whole wheat
    7. Cooking Directions
    8. Preheat the oven to 375F
    9. Wash and dry the cherry tomatoes. arrange the tomatoes in one layer in a 9 x 13 pan.
    10. Coat with the olive oil and distribute chopped garlic over tomatoes.
    11. Roast in oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cherry tomatoes start to burst and brown slightly.
    12. If using black olives or feta cheese, add these after tomatoes are roasted.
    13. Cook pasta while tomatoes are roasting. Drain cooked pasta and divide between 4 bowls.
    14. Pour roast tomato mixture over the pasta.

     

  • Our Apple Trees Blossom

    Our Apple Trees Blossom

    This hasn’t ever happened before, but all our apple trees are blooming this spring. Usually there are a few that don’t bloom. At least two of our trees bloom biennially. Here is the oldest tree in a view from our house. Last weekend was rainy with fog, so it looks great in the yard.

  • Forest Park Community Garden Seed Swap

    Seeds

    On February 27th, Forest Park Community Garden hosted it’s first public seed swap and it was a great success and tons of fun!

    A seed swap is where a group of gardeners get together to trade seeds, information about the seeds, and just have a great time hanging out. I’ve gone to one prior that was held in a friends house and she hosted about 15 to 20 people, but the Community Garden hosted about 75 people. We laid out five tables filled with seeds. Three tables alone to held all the fruit and veggie seeds. People brought in everything from garlic to hyacinth, amaranth to zucchini. Every Vegetable, Herb, Flower that does well in our area was represented.

    There was also demonstrations about seed starting and one of the committee member’s daughters showed how to use seeds in greeting cards. It was very cute.

    All in all, it was a great success. We had a ton of fun and got to spend the afternoon chatting with the neighbors.

    Now, I’m just on edge waiting for the snow to stop and the weather to finally warm up. Have Seeds! Need Planting!