Give Your Veggies More Life - Dehydrate Them!
By Donna Stark
The vegetable crisper in your refrigerator has two main purposes. The first purpose is that it helps to keep your vegetables at their best for a longer amount of time. The second purpose is that it serves as a place where all of your uneaten vegetables go to die. That's right ... the ones that you forget about or the ones that you bought too much of. How many times have you caught yourself standing over your trash can at the end of the week throwing away those poor vegetables? And how many times do you get angry at yourself for basically wasting both food and money?
Use Them Up!
You try to eat plenty of vegetables at every meal, but inevitably, there will be some weeks when those leftover vegetables are calling your name from the bottom of the refrigerator. So instead of letting them go bad and throwing them in the trash, try dehydrating them! Here are some suggestions on how to give your veggies more life and save your hard-earned cash as well.
- Snacks - Dehydrating vegetables is an incredibly easy way to add nutrients to your diet. They are so easy to grab, perfectly crunchy, and super flavorful, that they may become your new favorite snack! So stop buying those greasy potato chips that are devoid of any nutritional value and start eating these instead!
- Rice, soup, and stew - Pull out your dehydrated veggies and make a killer rice dish, soup, or stew during these colder months. Just throw them in your favorite recipes and get ready for all the compliments that are sure to come your way.
- Veggie salts - Cut your sodium intake in half and double up on flavor by combining some salt with your ground up dried veggies. Choose root vegetables for this, such as carrots and beets, and then head online to find some amazingly easy recipes to make your very own homemade veggie salts. You'll have family and friends begging you to make more!
- Nutrient-dense powders - Throw those dehydrated veggies into a food processor and blend them smithereens! Making a powder from your favorite vegetables is an easy way to add extra nutrients to your smoothies, soups, dressings, and baked dishes.
- Don't forget your fruit - Let your fruit shine too! Dried fruits such as grapes, plums, berries, and apples make excellent toppings for your breakfast cereal and oatmeal. You can even cover the top of your yogurt with granola and dried fruit for some extra sweetness as well! The options are limitless.
Easy, Breezy
Dehydrating fruits and veggies is a great way to preserve and intensify their flavor. It's also a great way to save them from ever seeing the inside of your kitchen trash can. So go ahead and put your oven to use ... or buy a fancy machine to do it for you. You won't regret trying this new way of eating them!
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