Articles in the Excalibur Dehydrator Category
If you’d like to be featured in Readers Recipes, just shoot me an e-mail and you might see your recipe featured here, at Healing with (Raw) Juices! (It doesn’t have to be 100% raw or require a dehydrator or blender, etc. There’s a wide range of folks who read this blog and we want to share a little something for everyone – so long as it’s on the healthier side and doesn’t involve meat.)
And don’t forget to enter my latest giveaway: Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter!
Happy weekend, y’all! Hope your weekend has been as fantabulous as mine! Nothing special going on here, but I’ve been safe, warm, happy, and hard at work trying to make this blog even better for y’all in 2010 – and beyond!! 
On to the reader’s recipes…
Note: The readers featured today emailed me their recipes. I asked their permission to post them here and they gave their blessing.
From reader, Dyan
Dyan says:
“Just an avid reader of your posts, who like the rest of the world, am trying to eat healthy. A friend of mine gave me the juicer and I almost choked when I put in 1 grapefruit, 1 orange, and an apple and got one glass of juice. LOL No way could I just throw out that pulp. So I just kept freezing it until I could figure out what to do with it. I had this old dehydrator gathering dust in the basement that I had used for jerky, but that was all I had done with it. While shopping, my little girl wanted a box of fruit rollups that were 2.89 for 6 little rolls! That’s when it hit me….I had this whole arrangement of pulp at home that I would experiment with. They are what I call Frankenstein rolls. There is a little bit of everything in them. If you do a lot of juice I suppose you could keep all your pulp separate. But I throw it all in together…And you can put as much or as little sugar in it, to your liking.”
“Dyan’s Frankenstein rolls”
“My favorite thing to do is every time I juice fruit, I put the pulp in a bowl and put in the freezer.”
Instructions:
- After I have several bowls, I defrost them all and puree it in a blender with a little bit of sugar and cinnamon.
- Get it really smooth and then spread out in an even layer about 1/4 inch thick on the plastic tray.
- Dehydrate for about 8-10 hrs and you have a fruit roll-up just like you get out of the stores, but made with real fruit!
Delicious as a little healthy snack, and a great way to recycle the pulp.
Enjoy!
From reader, Kim
Kim says:
“Its impressive all the new healthy things I’m making with these tools that my picky-eater kids (ages 3 and 1) love to eat each day. I hope to make the crackers soon.
“Kim’s Fruit/Veggie Roll-Ups”
I have a new Excalibur Dehydrator
Ingredients:
- 3 medium pears
- 2 small organic carrots
- 1/4 cup grape juice
- sliver of lemon
Instructions:
- Blend in a high powered blender (I have a Vita-Mix
- Spread out thin on dehydrator sheets, dehydrate at 135 for 4-6 hours
- Peel, and enjoy!
Thanks, ladies!
Have you tried any of these recipes? Or something similar? Do you have a dehydrator? Is it an Excalibur Dehydrator
If you’d like to be featured in Readers Recipes, just shoot me an e-mail and you might see your recipe featured here, at Healing with (Raw) Juices!
Mind-boggling fact!
And… here’s a mind-boggling fact of the week:
“The first-ever large-scale study of organic farming and livestock conducted by the USDA finds that organic food is a $3-billion-a-year industry.
A recent article on the coming touchscreen technology for vending machines notes that the junk food dispensers are a $30-billion-a-year industry.
Ten times as big as organic food.”
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/index#ixzz0esNbEh6F
And don’t forget to enter my latest giveaway: Tropical Traditions Coconut Peanut Butter!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase anything once you click on the links, I will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
Reference:
Just stopping by? Have you tried my coconut peanut butter honey overnight oats yet? Or maybe you’d like to try your hand at my chocolate-covered raisin hemp balls or raw tuna fish-less salad. And you simply HAVE to try my latest, simple creation: Coconut Peanut Butter Cream. YUM! And don’t forget to take a peek at my Thanksgiving holiday eats + treats – or my interview with ShimmerOrganics owner, Lisa Ann Turkel!
The last time I tried to make raw flax seed crackers, they ended up being a flop, thus the new Healing With (Raw) Juices category: Raw Flops.
But these… these were NOT a flop!
Delicious Flax Crackers!
I soaked my flax seeds overnight. And this time, I used red and green bell peppers (like the recipe called for). I still used apple in the place of the zucchini – but this time I left the peel on.
Into the Blender
I forgot to take a photo of the other ingredients before I blended ‘em up! But here’s what it looks like when all the ingredients are whipped in the blender….
I added my juicy concoction to the soaked flax seeds….
Then I added the ground flax.
Stirred It Up
HimalaSalt = YUM!
I bought parchment paper this time!
I decided to add a few shakes of Mexican Seasoning to one tray of the mixture.
Here’s the four trays the recipe yields!
Up close
I cranked it up more this time (about 120).
Look at my crackers! Yay!
Some raw flax crackers all plated up. 
Look at how crispy and beautiful!
I used the same recipe for inspiration as last time, from The Raw Food Revolution Diet
I’ve enjoyed these crackers with sliced avocado, by themselves, with a drizzle of agave, a smear of nut butter, with salad…. SO delicious!
This post has actually been set to publish for a few days now, but I noticed Gena (from www.choosingraw.com) just published her raw juice pulp cracker recipe. Do check that out, too! I’m going to make her version as well.
Oh, and I’m also going to make some time to experiment in the coming weeks, and I’ll share the recipes I come up with on my own….
Have you tried your hand at raw crackers yet – with or without a dehydrator? Do you have Cherie’s book? If so, what do you think about it? Do you love it? Have you made good use of it? (I have a review coming up of my copy!)
Just stopping by? Have you entered my latest contest (over a $200 value)? Or maybe you’d like to try your hand at my chocolate-covered raisin hemp balls or raw tuna fish-less salad.
You might remember the Excalibur dehydrator I was sent to review. I’ve been experimenting with it – just hadn’t posted about my adventures. Why? I’ve had quite a few “Raw Flops" goin’ on around here. Yep.
Upon a reader’s request (thanks, Beth!) I’ll be sharing my (un)cooking disasters in the new category: Raw Flops. But don’t worry, I have some rawsome stuff comin’ up, too!
And… here’s a story written in third person. Why? I guess I just kinda felt like writing about myself that way as I reflected on this dehydrating disaster.
Raw Juice Girl’s Flax Flop
Once upon a time, in a raw fantasy world, lived a gal who dreamt of creating the bestest raw flax seed crackers ever. She put her flax seeds to soakin’ while thinking about all those health benefits: omegas, manganese, fiber, folate, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and Vitamin B6.
Those beautiful little seeds gettin’ their soak on just screamed healthy heart, blood pressure, bones, hair, skin, nails, colon, and so much more—like fighting cancer, diabetes, dry eyes, and hot flashes.
Oh my!
<insert dreamy (healthy) eyes here>
The Raw Food Revolution Diet
It felt like DAYS waiting the 8 hours for those seeds to soak. *looks around* Where’d Raw Juice Girl’s patience go? Someone stole it!
Cherie’s recipe called for 4 cups of chopped bell pepper (or tomato). Raw Juice Girl had neither so she used raw broccoli slaw instead. Oh, joy!
Next up, raw zucchini. Nope, none of that either! Enter: diced, raw apple.
Blend it all up, Cherie says.
Um, it looks like puke. That’s what she said.
Gotta have some seasoning! Yay for HimalaSalt samples (again, free – yummy – samples Raw Juice Girl was sent for review)…
Organic garlic salt
Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
Stir it all up!
Smear it on the dehydrator tray (with a liner).
Close-up
Score the mixture to make separated cracker lines.
The house smelled sooooooooooooooooo good while these crackers were (un)cooking!
105* for 12 hours, Cherie says
Raw Juice Girl leaped out of bed the next morning, with bright eyes and pep to her step. She ran into the kitchen like a child on Christmas morning expecting shiny, new flax seed crackers ready for flippin’.
Imagine her surprise when she opened the Dehydrator door and found this:
Flax Crackers Stuck to Wax Paper!!!
Raw Juice Girl wanted to just cry… 
And the saddest part? Raw Juice Girl managed to break off a teeny piece of cracker (without waxed paper attached!) and it tasted REALLY good.
*sigh*
The moral of this story, folks, is that Raw Juice Girl shoulda used parchment paper or waited ‘till she got some Excalibur non-stick, reusable sheets.
She was so blasted mad at that wax paper, she thought about eatin’ it but didn’t have an appetite after finding her ruined crackers! Humph!
See, Raw Juice Girl is real. She makes mistakes. She doesn’t have all the raw food stuff figured out. She’ll be your guinea pig, though. You can learn from her mistakes and get a few laughs along the way…
Stay tuned for more Raw Flops. This is a new category featuring Raw Juice Girl’s bloopers. You won’t want to miss a single post!
Resources:
WH Foods: Flax Seeds
Note from Raw Juice Girl: In case you’re just tuning in, I wanted to bring you up-to-date by sharing (as I did in my last post) that I’m now the proud, new owner of a 9-tray Excalibur dehydrator. I’m beyond ecstatic; I’m overwhelmed with joy, gratitude, and so much more! So, I asked around to see if anyone had any favorite dehydrator recipes to share with me and I started getting emails. Then I started thinking: guest posts! The following guest post is one of those emails and I asked the author of that email, Mysti, if she’d be okay with sharing with you all what she shared with me. She said yes! Now, instead of keeping her awesome recipes to myself–you get to enjoy them, too! And, how very special that she’s the author of the first guest post to ever appear here on Healing with (Raw) Juices! (And for those of you who are 100% raw and/or Vegan, honey is listed as one ingredient on the granola bars. You could use agave or raw honey there. While Mysti isn’t a raw foodist or even a vegetarian, I commend her for eating a high amount of veggies and fruit and always finding creative ways to bring healthy sustenance to her family’s table.)
Guest Post By Mysti Guymon-Reutlinger
I jumped last year to buy a dehydrator. I absolutely love it! I don’t think I could imagine my life without it, truthfully.
I have one of the pickiest eaters in the world. It’s not his fault, but the foods that once brought terror into our lives with allergic reactions limited his diet early on and now that he has outgrown those allergies, we struggle to incorporate anything outside of his toddler years “norm.” Having struggled so much, I looked high and low to find ways to bring more healthy foods into our oldest son’s diet and the dehydrator I bought last year has been vital in that process.
Fruit Roll Ups purchased from the store are filled with sugars and preservatives. Making your own roll ups takes a bit of practice, but once mastered adds a new way to enjoy the goodness of fresh fruits (and vegetables!) in a not-so-healthy way.
My favorite recipes are:
Tropical Rolls
- 4 C Bananas
- 1 Orange, peeled and cut into quarters
- 1 C Pineapple chunks
- Fruit Roll Sheets or Parchment/Wax paper
- Oil
Puree fruits together in a blender until smooth, but thick. Take the fruit roll sheets or wax paper and lightly dust with oil for ease of removing once dry. Spread the fruit puree about 1/4 inch thick on the sheets and dry at 120-135 degrees F for 4-8 hours, until moisture is removed.
Apple Strawberry Rolls
- 2 C Strawberries
- 2 C Applesauce
- Fruit Roll Sheets or Parchment/Wax paper
- Oil
Puree fruits together in a blender until smooth, but thick. Take the fruit roll sheets or wax paper and lightly dust with oil for ease of removing once dry. Spread the fruit puree about 1/4 inch thick on the sheets and dry at 120-135 degrees F for 4-8 hours, until moisture is removed.
We love granola and granola bars in our house. You can get quite creative with combinations of items that you have on hand or readily available. The basics are covered below.
Granola/Granola bars
- 5 C Rolled oats
- 2 C dried fruit (apples, raisins, dates, bananas, etc)
- 1 C crushed nuts
- 1/2 C wheat germ
- 1/2 C flax or sesame seeds
- 3/4 C brown sugar
- 3/4 C butter (melted)
- 1/2 C honey or agave
- 1/4-1/3 C Olive oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Solid dehydrator sheets or wax paper
Combine all the ingredients, mixing well. Spread onto dehydrator sheets and dry at 130-150 degrees F for 3-5 hours, until crunchy.
If you would prefer granola bars, form into shape before placing in dehydrator.
As with everything that you dehydrate, you must remember to store in air-tight containers. We prefer to use vacuum sealed bags personally. Anything kept at room temperature will keep for two-four weeks. If frozen, it will keep for up to six months.
Playing with your dehydrator is fun, exciting and an amazing experiment!! You will find combinations of foods that serve yourself and your family better than others. It’s all about preference!
Mysti Guymon-Reutlinger is a wife, mother, and amazingly creative (and healthy!) chef for her family and friends. She’s also a freelance writer with an edge on parenting, health and inspiration. You can find her on the web at www.lifesapprobation.com or email her at mysti2009 at gmail dot com.
Thank you, Mysti, for sharing your dehydrated creations with us! I recommend you visit Mysti’s blog there. I’m a HUGE fan. Mysti shares her life so openly and honestly. And sometimes she shares recipes with special stories about why they’re a part of her family’s meal time. I personally compare her site to Chicken Soup for the Soul stories–it’s aweosme!
Do you have favorite dehydrator recipes you’d like to share? They don’t have to be 100% raw to qualify for a guest post, but I’d like to focus on creations using veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, superfoods, etc. Contact me for guest posts similar to this one. Unless I’m totally bombarded, I’ll try to respond soon and let you know if your post qualifies. If approved, I’ll contact you requesting a short bio, a bio photo, and link to your blog/website if you have one.
Want to keep up with Raw Juice Girl’s adventures + more? Subscribe to Healing with Juices’ Feed for free updates. You can get free updates to your email as well (sign up here). You’ll also receive inspiration, juice and smoothie recipes, and juice fasting tips and encouragement to help keep you motivated toward your ultimate health–and more personal posts about stuff that’s going on in my life. I’ll also be making a recipe page where you’ll be able to easily locate recipes for raw juices, smoothies, and now dehydrator creations!
Wow, do I EVER love the FedEx man–well, him and the fantabulous folks over at www.excaliburdehydrator.com!!
SO Blessed
I can’t even begin to express my excitement. I’m SO very honored–and blessed–to have the amazing opportunity to review this, the KING of dehydrators: the 9-Tray Large Excalibur #3900!!!
SO Many Ideas
Raw (and dehydrated) food has fascinated me for years. Even before that, my Mom was always interested in dehydrating. Although I’ve been high-raw (and even 100% raw at various times) for the past few years, I’ve often wondered where my raw path would lead if I had a ginormous, fancy dehydrator like I’d read about.
Raw crackers, cookies, cakes, pizzas… All this (and more!) is floating around the Web. From blogs to websites to books and magazines, raw, dehydrated snacks and meals, the possibilities are to infinity.
I can’t wait to share my experience with this sweet, dehydrating baby with you all! I’m excited to dry herbs, veggies, fruit, and I know I want to make raw crackers soon. I have so many ideas racing through my mind right now I can’t even focus!
Tomorrow I’ll be gone all day to set up at a pioneer festival with my mom (same festival as this one), so I’m afraid my dehydrating adventures will have to wait until next week sometime.
I’ll shut up now and let you check out these photos….
What a Ginormous Box!
Needle-Nose Pliers for Opening!
Ooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh!!!!
A Guide for Dehydrating!
Check it Out!
Drying Guide + Temperature Control
Look at that Tray!
NINE TRAYS!!! Eeeeeek!!
With the Sparkly New Door On
Wow. I’m just SO excited!!! You’ll be seeing a LOT of the Excalibur around here!
Do you have a dehydrator? What do you love making most? Have you been shopping around for a dehydrator? Have you considered the Excalibur? Chime in and share your thoughts!
Want to keep up with Raw Juice Girl’s adventures + more? Subscribe to Healing with Juices’ Feed for free updates. You can get free updates to your email as well (sign up here). You’ll also receive inspiration, juice and smoothie recipes, and juice fasting tips and encouragement to help keep you motivated toward your ultimate health–and more personal posts about stuff that’s going on in my life.
