As people become more and more aware of the importance of raw, un-processed whole foods, and especially as people attempt to eat less meat and more vegetables, they also become aware of two important issues: how to keep the recipes interesting and tasty enough to keep the entire family on the healthy-food program, and how to provide snack foods that will keep them out of the bags of chips!
A food dehydrator is a useful kitchen tool that will not only add a large variety of options for healthy eating, but dehydrating also keeps the food "alive" with enzymes and important nutrients that usually get lost during normal cooking procedures. Dehydrators come with low-temperature settings that allow fruits and vegetables to be dehydrated without losing valuable nutrients, or it can be turned up for making your own jerky or other high-temperature recipes.
Send your child to school with a bag of dehydrated carrot chips, banana chips, apple chips, and/or sweet potato chips, seasoned with your own herbs and spices. Make your own raw flatbread out of endless combinations of vegetables, seeds, pulps, fruits, and ancient grains. Dehydrate your own flax wraps, or bean or corn chips, and try some dehydrated kale chips too. After the initial time spent getting to know how a dehydrator works and trying out a few recipes, your confidence will improve and your creativity can soar! Be patient with yourself, as it may take a few tries to find the recipe/s that become your staples. But it is worth it in the end, as your repertoire of dehydrated food items expands and your health improves. Imagine being able to provide your own chips and dehydrated fruit snacks to your family, instead of bags of chips and packaged snacks.
I was first introduced to the idea of raw flatbread during a recent trip to Wheat Berry Cafe in Altamonte Springs. The raw organic menu at Wheat Berry Cafe will impress you in many ways, for the beautiful food presentation skills (always like a piece of art on your plate) and for the surprisingly yummy flavors that flood your mouth once you take a bite. Try out their recipe for dehydrated raw veggie chips. It is inspiring to see how professional raw chefs present their dehydrated foods, obviously enough to inspire the purchase of my new food dehydrator.
Let the dehydrated raw food creativity begin...click through the slideshow for more ideas!
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