Cinnamon Apple Rings — Dehydrator

So I found this recipe on the Excalibur web site for cinnamon apple rings.  I bought stevia like recommended, and mixed the cinnamon and stevia together but did not care for the result, to I tossed that out and went with plain old sugar and cinnamon.

I chose 3 different types of apples, Fuji, Granny Smith, and Gala.

I cored and sliced up 3 of each apple, skins on so I could tell later which one they were.

1 apple fit on the drying rack, and I sprinkled cinnamon sugar over them

put them in the dehydrator at 130* for 7-14 hours.  Mine was dried in 7, thankfully. 

I left a mess on the counter.  I dipped my end pieces in the cinnamon sugar and at them before cleaning up my mess.

this morning I had a gallon zippy bag full of dried cinnamon apple rings.

Granny Smith, Fuji, and Gala.  Which one will taste the best?  They all taste good, really really good, but my personal opinion the Gala has the best flavor of the 3 I dried this time.

This post linked with Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Slow Cooking Thursday.

Cinnamon French Toast

I can't remember the last time I ate french toast.  It's been years. I used 1 egg and probably a little less than a quarter of a cup or milk (sorry I didn't measure). I whisked that together and then added probably 2 TBSP ground cinnamon.  What I mixed was just enough for 2 slices of bread. Which turned out perfect.  Dip both sides of the bread in the mixture and put in a hot skillet. I added a little butter to my skillet and let it warm up, then fried both slices one side at a time. My favorite way to eat french toast is add a little butter and powder sugar.  I am defiantly going to have to do this again soon.  It tasted so awesome and really hit the spot.  

 This post linked with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom for Slow Cooking Thursday.

Homemade Banana Bread

 
1/2 cup shortening (shortening is best, although butter will also work)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp soda
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cups mashed banana (I use 2-3 bananas)

cream shortening and sugar until light. Add eggs, mix well. Stir in bananas, mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix well, but do not over mix.
 Butter and sugar bread pan,  and pour mixture in. Bake at 325* for 40-45 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Cool, cut and serve.

Makes 1 loaf (8 thick slices, 10 if you count the heals), or approximately 16 muffins, or a nice 8×8 “cake”.

Cook a Whole Chicken in the Crockpot

.  I picked up a 5.68 pound whole chicken, and took it home to cook in the crockpot.

I just rinsed it off, added 2 cups water and a little salt and pepper on top of the chicken. It just barely fit in my crockpot. The neck and giblets were still in there because it was still frozen solid.  I had to leave it because I had to go to work.  I cooked it on HIGH for about 4 hours (until I got home after work).  I was able to go home after about 2 hours and was able to get the giblets out, but couldn't get the neck out.  I figured it didn't matter since I planned on using the broth.

Here is my chicken all cooked.  It looked and smelled really good.  Since it was late I sure didn't have enough time to let it cool and separate it off the bones.

I pulled it out of the crockpot.  It lost a wing in the process, :-)  I set it on this plastic lid that goes to my glass cake pan.  The lid gets used for everything but the pan I think.  LOL!  I let it cool for a while then wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  I also saved the broth.  I didn't get pictures (it was late) but I had one and a half cottage cheese cartons of broth.

The next evening I separated the meat from the bone.  

This chicken produced 36 ounces of meat and about 2-3  cups give or take of homemade broth.

Dried Canned Fruit

Yesterday I started some canned fruit drying in my dehydrator.  The cost of the canned fruit was $5.95.

I got 2 trays pineapple slices, 1 tray pear halves and 2 trays peach slices.

12 hours and about an hour power outage later, my pineapple and peaches were done.  The pear halves were still needing to dry a little longer so I set the timer for about 3 more hours.

I discovered I don't care much for the peaches, so I won't be making those again.  The pineapple and pears are awesome.

I got the idea to used canned fruit from watching this YouTube Video.  I used fruit canned in natural juice.  I know canned foods loose some nutritional value, and I'm sure dehydrating it looses a little more, but it sure is good!

Butterscotch Cappuccino Mix

Butterscotch Cappuccino Mix 2 cups powdered milk 1 cup powdered coffee creamer 1 cup sugar 1/2 to 3/4 cup instant coffee (the more coffee the stronger the coffee taste) 1 small box instant vanilla pudding 10 butterscotch candies --crushed Place all the ingredients in food processor and blend until well mixed and fine. I use 3-4 Tablespoons per cup of hot water. (My cups are about 12 ounces or so)

Mocha Mint Cappuccino Mix

Mocha Mint Cappuccino Mix 3/4 cup powdered coffee creamer 1 cup sugar 3/4 cup instant coffee powder 1/4 cup cocoa powder 6 peppermint candies --crushed Place all the ingredients in food processor and blend until well mixed and fine. I use 3-4 Tablespoons per cup of hot water. (My cups are about 12 ounces or so)  
This post shared with Diary of a Stay At Home Mom