Drying Herbs from the Garden

I dried the herbs I picked yesterday. Here's how it's done.


I use a dehydrator. This is the one I own - I have owned several over the years and this is a pretty good one for the money. I had a Ronco that I saw advertised on TV once and that thing didn't last at all - but that was years ago and they may be making them better now. They also have more industrial ones - but this one is fine for home use. It is made by American Harvest and is expandable to 20 trays. I use 6 trays with it.



First - wash the herbs. They may appear clean, but they have a lot of dust and dirt on them and you don't want that to end up in your food.


Next, dry them using a salad spinner - it will reduce the drying time.


One tray of oregano.


I did two trays of Basil.


One tray of Dill.



And two trays of Parsley.


Turn the dial to the herbs setting and plug in.


Here it is set up and running.


And if you think you can skip the washing step - look at how much dirt was left in the sink after I took the herbs out!!!!


And here are the dried herbs.

In My Garden Wednesday June 27,2007

I took some pictures yesterday but didn't get around to posting them - so here are Wednesday's pictures on a Thursday.


This hot pepper plant looks like a goner. I saw him looking like this yesterday and thought it was just wilt from the heat, but I watered him and he did not bounce back. I lost several to the hail so I only have 2 more hot peppers if this one doesn't make it.


One of the other two surviving hot pepper plants


The coneflowers are starting to bloom and look pretty


The basil is starting to go to seed. Time to pinch back the ends or harvest some.


The oregano is looking healthy

March 26, 2007

Just over a week since I planted them and more than half of the seeds have sprouted.
Most of the lettuce is up (the two left rows) and the basil (the right row).

The Brussels Sprouts are all up. Just one cauliflower so far. The Red Cabbage in the back have all germinated, but I'm still waiting for the green cabbage. The green cabbage seeds may be just taking longer - or they may be too old. I'll give them a little while before replanting.

The tomatoes are all pretty much up - the 3 middle rows. On the right, one watermelon is up. Off to the left, none of the peppers have germinated yet - but they are always the last to come up.

The weather has been beautiful - unseasonably warm. I spent some of the weekend cleaning up the yard. When I pruned the grapes in the winter, I left the vines laying in the yard - so I got them all bagged up. I would have liked to do more, but I seem to have come down with a cold - the first one in a very long time! Healthy eating keeps me pretty healthy most of the time.

Sweet Basil

Made with fresh basil....

Thai Rice Noodles with dairy free pesto, onions, bell peppers and mushrooms.

Dairy Free Pesto

Dairy Free Pesto

For the love of Basil

Up until 3 years ago, I was often heard saying that you could never plant too much basil. My husband and I were both very fond of pesto. I would make it with fresh basil and garlic from the garden, saute fresh mushrooms along with bell peppers and onions from the garden. Toss it all with some angel hair pasta and it was as good as anything I have ever had at an Italian Restuarant. Sometimes we would have some grilled boneless chicken breasts along with it and sometimes we would toss cut up crab in it. Everyone loved my pesto. And then we had to first eliminate dairy (how could you make a decent pesto without romano cheese?) and then Andy was diagnosed with celiac and the gluten had to go as well. I stopped growing basil. What was the point? I didn't need that much for other uses - the main use had always been pesto. It took us a long time to find a gluten free pasta that was acceptable, but we finally did (Tinkyada brand) and I started making wonderful spaghetti sauce again, but the Tinkyada pasta is thicker than the angel hair we were used to with pesto and I besides I couldn't make pesto without dairy. I have become pretty darn good at gluten free dairy free cooking so this year I decided to plant basil again. I tinkered with what ingredients I had and what I thought I could use and came up with a pretty decent pesto (I will post pictures in a bit). I decided to use Thai thin rice noodles instead of Tinkyada gluten free spaghetti for the pasta. I picked up some fresh mushrooms today at the farmer's market, pulled an onion from the garden and picked some bell peppers and Dan and I are in heaven now. It is not as good as my old dish - but it was my first attempt - I will tinker some more - but it was pretty darn good. And the best part is that Andy ate it too. At first he was pretty suspicious since it was so green, but then he tasted it and decided he would have some!
Here is the recipe that I came up with (I did not use the whole recipe for dinner tonight - only a third of it - I froze the other two thirds.
Dairy Free Pesto
9 cloves garlic
2 cuts fresh basil leaves, washed and packed into cup
1/2 cup pine nuts (I think I will use more next time)
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup miso
1/4 cup Vegan Parmesan Alternative (by Galaxy Foods)
Mix everything until smooth in a blender or food processor.

Here is my main garden. You can see the lettuce in the back and the beans in the front. Onions are along two of the sides and garlic along one. I also have carrots, parsnips, beets, basil, dill and more lettuce planted here that is either not up yet or so small you can't see it yet.

The other tray of plants in the basement. Tomatoes on the left, then 3 rows of peppers - 2 rows of bells (mixed colors) and 1 row of anaheim hot peppers. Lettuce and basil on the left.