My Once A Month Cooking (OAMC): Dehydrating Dill

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Dehydrating Dill

My house now has the aroma of dill! I have dehydrated 5 quarts of dill and now I have just as much going in the dehydrator now! I love dill but as a room freshener...not so much!

This last weekend we planted our garden. 1 tomato plant..I'm the only one in the house that will eat tomatoes and they have to be peeled as I can't get it to go down. We planted 4 plants of jalapenos, 4 plants of green peppers, 5 hills of cucumbers and 5 rows of green beans. planted 4 plants of cantaloupe and 2 okra and a hill of zucchini.    O yes...some cabbage too.

We have a good crop of strawberries this year. Best crop we've had in years if not ever! Good batch of rhubarb too. Transplanted from a friend 2 raspberry plants. so...might have a descent garden this year! so..come canning season, I might be a tad busy! Kids want my sweet pickles...I make 14 days sweet pickles. Lots of work, but they are soooo good.    Gonna do Dill pickles too.   I will pickle most of the okra. the jalapenos will be chopped and frozen for use in soups, chili's, and meatloaf. The green beans will be canned. the tomatoes will be ate fresh and if I have enough I will make salsa. MMmm yummm

I'd like to have enough strawberries and raspberries and rhubarb to make jams, jellies and preserves.

One of these years I'm gonna try my hand at herb gardening. really would like to do that.

Well, gonna get off and get some rest for work tomorrow.

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Introduction

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by deciding what to prepare for a meal? I know I have. Many times. Especially our evening meal when our three children were growing up. Then one day I stumbled across a program called "Once A Month Cooking" (OAMC) and thought I'd give it a try. It was a lifesaver and I loved it. I did it for years, from the time my youngest was in preschool until he was in the 8th grade. I don't remember why I quit, just that I did. When I was doing the OAMC back then I prepared a lot of full, complete meals and froze them, entree, side, and dessert. The only thing I had to actually prepare for the meal was the vegetable or the potatoes. For those of you not familiar with the OAMC program, I will try to explain it to you here. This blog is to try to help you see what it takes, how to do itm give you ideas and how much fun you can actually have. OAMC is the ultimate do-ahead dinner preparation technique. The secret of the OAMC technique is that you cook all your dinner main dishes for a month (or two weeks or even a week) in one day, freeze them, and enjoy eating tasty food, every night without the hassle of lengthy meal preparation. In this blog, I will try to provide the menu we use, shopping lists and recipes. You do not have to have organizational skills, nor do you have to be a good cook to successfully accomplish OAMC. What you need to expect and plan to is: Take a longer-than usual shopping trip, preferably the day or night before your cooking day. Spend the bulk of your month's food budget on this shopping trip (saving money over the course of the month) Cook with a partner or two or three, like I do, for maximum fun and efficiency. Cook half a day for a two week cycle, a full day for a month cycle. Love the freedom and possibilities this will bring to mealtimes. Enjoy family building times around the table and like us, the time we cook together. Take the stress out of having company for dinner I suggest for the first few time you do the OAMC to try to do the two week cycle. Then when you get the feel of the "system" advance on the full month if that is what you want and have room for the food. Also in this blog I will frequently give you suggestions of what to serve with a certain recipe. Please feel free to email me with any suggestions and question syou might have. Even leave a comment here on the blog.