Nesco American Harvest FD-1010 Gardenmaster Food Dehydrator

Drying apple slices in just three hours and beef jerky in four, this 1000-watt dehydrator is exceptionally fast, using a big, 4-1/2-inch fan to force air up through the drying trays' outer rings and across each tray. A thermostat adjusts from 95 degrees to 155 degrees for drying different items. Each of the four plastic trays is 13-3/4 inches in diameter and 1/4 inch deepthat's four square feet for drying fruits, vegetables, herbs, or flowers at one time. Additional trays can be ordered separately, and up to 30 trays can be stacked on this unit's metal base at once. A fruit-roll sheet inserts into a tray so that applesauce or other fruit sauces can be dried into healthful snacks, and soups and sauces can be dehydrated for camping trips. Beef-jerky spices and a detailed 64-page recipe and instruction booklet are included. The dehydrator measures 15-1/2 inches in diameter and 10 inches high, cleans easily, and carries a one-year warranty against defects. --Fred Brack

It's a funny old world, things go in and out of fashion and it's said to be the doom of man that he forgets (I like that one!). One thing that fits into this pattern is the consumption of raw foodstuffs, back in the day it was ALL we could do!! Yet now it's seems to be viewed as a new and healthy trend. Chew on that for a while, there is really very little out there in the dietary world that we have not already done, got bored of, forgotten about then had come back as the latest trendy thing to do.

Reading this may mean you are interested in raw food consumption, and good on you! Fresh food eaten raw can literally make your day! It's also one of the simplest of techniques to master; you need a few good tools and a little imagination.

The principal behind raw food consumption is simple: raw food is intact, all the fragile nutrients are present and none of it's "life force" is lessened by processing. It's bonkers when you ponder that most of our food takes days, weeks or even months to reach us from the moment it leaves the soil or is plucked from it's branch. Then the first thing we do is heat treat it!! Cooking as we know it undoubtedly lessens the nutrient potential of fruit and vegetables. As does heat treatments like pasteurizing, or freezing and excessive delay in food reaching our plates (food miles).

So what do we need to eat raw? Strictly nothing more than our teeth, but to spice things up and broaden what we can make a few benchmark tools are required! A Single auger juicer will allow you to juice, grind, mince, and make sauce, importantly you much choose a slow turning machine, as high speed juicers introduce heat and oxygen (two destroyers of nutrients). A powerful blender will add smoothies, milks and more to your menu. Think of a dehydrator as a low temperature oven than gives your fruit and vegetables a shelf life but without lessening the nutrient value too seriously, a dehydrator in your kitchen will allow you to make all sorts of snacks and goodies and make sure nothing goes to waste!

We think that live natural food creates lively natural people. Next time you're in the queue at a burger bar you too may feel, as we do, that we are on set of a zombie movie! Find a juice bar or whole food cafe and compare the buzz!!

In conclusion then we are cellular beings, what I mean by that is nothing hokey it simply means that we are make up of billions of cells, these cells are constantly replicating, dying off, fighting disease and doing thousands of other functions on our behalf. Cells are like miniature factories, then need raw material, and they produce waste materials, we think the best raw materials you can give yourself is a fresh raw "living" diet!

For more information on juicers, blenders and raw food.

Mark Snare owns and operates http://www.juiceproducer.com and lives a fresh and fruity life!

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Using Venison

Using Venison- The Basics

When we were first given Venison, I was not sure what to do with it, so we started out making Venison Jerky in the dehydrator, using ground venison, mashed flat, cut into strips. These were a HUGE hit. We added a small amount of the venison jerky to our "goodies gift baskets" at Christmas and folks loved it.

Since then we have received it and I was often sceptical or worried about trying it because I heard it was hard to prepare, dry, gamey, or whatever. Here is what I have learned about cooking with venison. It is very lean, so when you prepare it, you need to add liquid or fat. I usually just mix it half and half with beef. If you do this, you can use it in any beef recipe where the meat is just mixed in, like tacos, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes (use it with a can of Manwich), hamburger helper or casserole types of dishes. You can also use it in patties or in meatloaf, but you will need additional ingredients to help it hold together well.

If you use venison steaks, you MUST marinade them, or they will be hard or stringy. You can marinade them for 48 hours in the fridge. Check my website, www.homemaking911.com for some meat marinades. An easy one is the beef marinade from the 30 Day Gourmet Cookbook. You can see this cookbook on our store page, http://store.homemaking911.com, but be sure you let them marinade for 48 hours.

If you use venison roasts, this will be super easy. Get a bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce. Put the roast in your crock pot. If is it a small one, you can even put it in there frozen. Cover it in your favorite barbecue sauce. Let it cook on low all day. At dinnertime, shred it apart with a fork, or cut it in small chunks to make a yummy barbecue. If you see any of the "Silver" in your meat, you may want to slice that off. It can be a little unpleasant.

Those are the only way I have prepared Venison. A friend of mine has a terrific stroganoff recipe that she absolutely loves, but it calls for some sherry or dry wine or some ingredient like that which I do not usually have here, so I never got around to trying it.

If you have a lot of ground venison you need to use quickly, make a huge batch of Chili and use half beef, half venison and freeze it for future meals. Be sure you freeze it in family sized portions. You can also just brown a whole big batch of ground venison, cool it, then put it in a freezer bag. Every time you use beef, add a scoop of the ground venison to it. That will stretch your beef further and you will not waste all that good healthy meat!

One more thing I should have added is this: If your husband is hunter, he is doing exactly what God designed our husbands to do. He is providing real, valuable meat for your family's table. Make sure your children (and you) honor and respect him for it. Teach them to be truly appreciative of Dad's efforts in this area. Healthy, grass fed, hormone free, antibiotic free, processing free meat costs TONS these days at the grocery, and learning to use this cut of meat creatively will truly bless your family. GO ahead and use sauces and things if necessary to make it useful and palatable to your family, and work on every one's hearts in the meantime to be sure you are showing your husband the utmost respect for his contributions to your freezer. Happy Homemaking from homemaking911.com

Malia Russell is the owner and director of http://www.homemaking911.com The number one word homemakers use to describe themselves is overwhelmed. Women have a yearning to create a home, a place of beauty, order, comfort and peace. However the compulsion to do it right often collides with feelings of guilt, inadequacy and frustration.

http://www.homemaking911.com is meant to encourage you. There you will find resources to help in many aspects of home management and home education, being a godly wife and mother, and becoming the type of woman God is calling you to be.

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