Edible Leather

Last night I had 5 over ripe mangos.  This morning I had mango fruit leather.  Rather than toss the mangos in the trash, I peeled them...they still tasted great, they were just really juicy and messy to eat.  So I got a fork and mashed the heck out of them, spread the mixture thinly and evenly over the non-stick dehydrator sheet and dehydrated over night for about 12 hours.   Next time I will put the mangos in a food processor to eliminate those lumps.  This morning when I woke up I had fruit leather with no added sugar...great treat for kids.  What's great is you can make any over ripe fruit into leather.  You can store the leather wrapped in wax paper in the fridge, it is delicious cold.

I made one batch of leather just plain mashed mango.  Another batch I added hot pepper relish to the mashed mango.  Nothing goes better than mango with hot sauce and this proved that point one more time.  The sweetness of the mango and the hotness of the peppers is a taste treat, try it sometime.

* I have 2-1gallon bags of frozen fresh peaches (I purchased a huge case of peaches for $5 at the Hartford Regional Market) taking up precious room in my freezer.  I defosted one and processed the peaches to a smootie texture in my Vitamix.  Then I made Peach Leather with it in my dehydrator....delicious!

My Little Secret

Twice a month I get up at 5:00 am on Sunday morning and drive 45 min to my favorite place the Hartford Regional Market.  There I buy lots of fresh produce at rock bottom prices.  Last week I spent about $100 and here's a list of what I purchased along with prices.

50 lbs of carrots/$15

12 pints of fresh figs/$5

12 pints of grape tomatoes/$10

40 lbs of bananas/$12

12 pints of raspberries/$10

95 lemons/$32

25 huge portabella mushrooms/$10

10 mangos/$5

The carrots get juiced...fresh carrot juice is delicious and oh so good for you!  A big glass of carrot juice in the morning along with a shot of wheatgrass juice gives me unbelievable energy for the day. 

The lemons are used for making lemon aid...read my earlier post and see how this simple drink can change your metabolism and rejuvenate your liver. 

The bananas....well I dehydrated about 5lbs which I store in the fridge they are so so good.  Then I freeze about 10 lbs and I use them in smoothies.  Freezing the bananas eliminates the need to add ice to a smoothie....take the peels of first.  I didn't remove the peels first time I froze them and it was hard labor taking the peels off frozen.  I make banana cookies in the dehydrator...yummy!  Look for the recipe at the end of this post. 

The figs didn't last long, there is nothing quite as good as fresh figs  in my book.  I searched the fridge this morning hoping to find one last container of those delicate treasures....none to be found maybe next time I'll buy 24 lbs.

Raspberries don't last long in my house.  I made banana rasperry smoothies with some, recipe at the end of post.  The rest well they disappeared quickly as a nutritious snack.

The portabella mushrooms are about the best I've seen anywhere.  Last night I had 3 for dinner.  Look for my recipe at the end of this post.

The tomatoes became a simple fresh sauce and I made some awesome salsa too.

The Connecticut Department of Agriculture (DoAG) operates this wonderful regional farmer's market in Hartford.  Every Sunday morning at 5:00 the market opens and people from all around CT make their way to the market.

 Address:

101 Reserve Road

Hartford, CT 06114-1612

(860) 527-5047

The Hartford Regional Market is the largest perishable food distribution facility between Boston and New York. It is operated by DoAG as a self-sustaining, non-profit venture funded through operational fees. The Connecticut Marketing Authority oversees its operation and planning.  (info taken from DOAG web site).

If you don't live in CT check with your states Dept of Agriculture to see if your state has something similar.

http://maps.google.com/places/us/ct/hartford/reserve-rd/101/-state-of-connecticut-regional-market?gl=use

RECIPES

Banana Cookies

Smash over ripe bananas as many as you want

add a couple of dashes of cinnamin

1/2 c more or less nuts of choice chopped

1/2 c raisins

Take a tsp full of  mixture and place on dehydrator sheet until finished.  Place trays in dehydrator and run at about 125 degrees for 24 hrs or until like a soft baked cookie.

I made these cookies today with raw cashews and added blueberries instead of raisins.  I change this recipe constantly but this is the basic recipe.

Raspberry Banana Smoothie

1 pint of rasperries

2 frozen bananas

1/2 cup of non fat plain yogurt

1/2 cup blue diamond almond milk

Place all ingredients in your Vitamix and mix until smooth...you'll never crave a milkshake again...smoothies yum!

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

3 large portabella mushrooms

2 cups spinach

1 cup raw pecans

salt pepper

1/4 c parmesan cheese

2 tbsp on seseame oil

Wash mushrooms and remove stems.  Chop stems, pecans, spinach and add salt pepper and seseame oil and cheese.  Stuff caps and bake about 20 min. at 350 degrees....these are awesome!

Fresh Salsa

Tomatoes

Cilantro

Basil

Onion

salt

pepper

add the quantities you want and be prepared to eat the entire thing in one night.  I make my own chips for this using Rice Tortias from Trader Joes...I toast them by placing the tortia right on the burner of my glass top stove....use a low heat, turn continually and in no time at all you have fat free rice tortias that taste way better than any store bought chip.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Tomatoes as many as you want chopped

garlic pressed I like it garlicky so use what you like

basil chopped

extra virgin olive oil

salt pepper

Heat oil and saute garlic add all the other ingredients serve over sprouted pasta

Shopping the Perimeter

When I go grocery shopping I rarely go down the aisles I shop the perimeter of the store.  That's where all the real food is located.  Almost everything else in the store is processed, look at the  list of ingredients you don't want lists of ingredients when selecting food.  Some foods do come in packages for ease of transport, like nuts, I love nuts, I buy them raw from Trader Joe's.

Oatmeal is another real food that comes in a package choose the steel cut oats over the rolled oats because you'll get more of the real food with steel cut.  Steel cut oats are cut into small pieces but all the good stuff remains, the stuff that lowers cholesterol.  Steel cut oatmeal takes longer to cook but it is so worth it.  When I add the steel cut oats to the water I also add raisins.  The raisins plump up nicely in the water, add a tiny bit of grade b maple syurp and you will have a real food treat.

Here is my recipe for homemade granola made with steel cut oats.

2 cups of steel cut oats soaked in water for a couple of hours

1/2 fresh coconut cut into small pieces

1 cup of raw nuts chopped

1/2 cup goji berries

1/2 cup raisins

2 Tbs grade B maple syurp

dehydrate in an Excalibur dehydrator you will find dozens of uses for it.  I bought my Excalibur on Amazon and I use it all the time to preserve real food.