Rejuvelac and other time savers ...

[Diana Cda]

I wanted to share a few things. I've come up with these processes myself due to pressures of trying to cut down in food prep times.

REJUVELAC
My rejuvelac is simple. I'd tried everyone else's but didn't find anything that worked for me, really, in terms of time and ease. Now it's simple. I use a 1L mason jar and I add 1/4 C of kamut or any other grain. I fill with water and then put in the fridge. THAT'S IT! I start using it in my sesame seed smoothies that very day. I don't know if it really turns into true rejuvelac as I've never gotten results with the same characteristics as described, I only know that the flavour is very fine and that I no longer like grain-based smoothies made with plain water. It gives my smoothies a malty flavour something I've always seemed to crave (I used to love Shreddies as a kid soaked in milk till soft just because of that malt flavour!). It seems something my body craves.

The only difficulty is that I forget to make new batches often enough! <g> I'm going to have to start putting a reminder on my computer to prompt me when to start new batches. The one I keep refilling in the fridge after each use is now about 2 weeks old! Still tastes great probably because it's never been outside the fridge for any length of time, but I should take care just in case.

Other time savers:

GARLIC PASTE
This one is so easy. It occurred to me after for millionth time in my life walking past one of those jars of garlic paste and deciding to try making my own. Oil didn't work, however! Just tastes gross. What I do is chop up the peeled garlic in a mini chopper I got one day at Wal-Mart's and then mix a little bit of lemon juice in. I then put in a small jar and refrigerate. It keeps literally for weeks!

Whenever a recipe calls for garlic, I base how much I use on 1/2 t garlic paste = 1 clove of garlic, instead.


LEMON JUICE
This one I'm sure many already do, too, but just in case ... after I come home from grocery shopping, I just juice up all the lemons I've bought and put in a jar in the fridge. Whenever the juice of 1 lemon is called for, I just use one tablespoon of juice from the jar.

HERBS
Other time savers - if you have a dehydrator and can buy organic herbs, the easiest of course is to make your own dried herbs. The flavour is so much better than what you buy! I routinely dry organic dill and organic parsley but have also tried rosemary and basil, something surprisingly difficult to get fresh in the grocery stores I go to. I can't get these last 2 organic, but make my own nonetheless from what I can find. It's as easy as just spreading the rinsed herbs on the dehydrator trays and drying overnight and lowest temp, around 95 or 100 deg F.

Can't think offhand of other tips right now but hope it starts a thread of other time saving tips. :)

[Joyful Mary]

Thanks for the tips. Here are a few more:

Sprout a variety of grains and keep stored in freezer, ready for use at a moment's notice. To use, just thaw with a quick hot water rinse.

Soak nuts and seeds (non-gelatinous, non-grass types) overnight and rinse several times the next day. At the end of the day, you can either freeze them or dehydrate until all moisture is gone (approximately 24 hours). Nuts and seeds dehydrated this way are delicious as a snack, too!

Chop nuts ahead and store in refrigerator, ready for use at all times.

[aromaticwings]

These sound like great time savers... How long do these last if put in a freezer? What do you put your dried herbs in.. anything special?? Do you just save the bottles of store herbs when they are empty... Have you dont this in drying garlic?? I know you make garlic paste..

[Raw Jewelrylady]

wow-Great tips- thanks for sharing..
Lana

[Diana Cda]

MASON JARS
What has helped me enormously are mason jars. I didn't get this idea myself, it was another raw food friend who introduced me to them but I took the idea and ran with it! <g> Mason jars come in pretty, decorative styles, too, that have raised glass images all around the sides of fruits and vegetables. And you can get metal canning jar lids for them that have different designs. But what really got me to use them were the ordinary plastic lids. The metal ones rust over time and need replacing every once in a while and they're a hassle because they have a rim and inner middle part, but the plastic lids make mason jars into ordinary jars. And since food doesn't come into contact with the lids, I'm okay with this plastic.

GARLIC POWDER
Yes, I do dry garlic, too. Forgot to mention that. I did that first before figuring out how to make garlic paste for myself.

I peel the garlic cloves and once a head or two is all peeled and ready to go, I'll put in my cheapie Wal-Mart food chopper***. This chopper is very handy for this type of thing. I chop up all the garlic with it then spread on a parchment-covered dehydrator tray. Once the garlic is all dry the next day, I'll whiz up in my Magic Bullet blender into a powder.

It's potent stuff, though! It's 10 times more powerful than the stuff you buy in the store! <g>

ONION PASTE
I also forgot to mention this in my first message. I do the same with onion. I'll put one whole onion into the Wal-Mart food chopper and chop up. Then into a mason jar with just enough lemon juice to coat the minced onion and to keep it fresh. If I have to guess at what I remember doing, probably a tablespoon or two of lemon juice to one large red onion. That should do the trick.

DATE PASTE
This one is so easy if you have a Magic Bullet with those personal mugs. I always have date paste on hand and this has been so much easier once I got my Magic Bullet a year and a half ago. [No, I'm not affiliated with them in _any_ way! <g>] I fill one of the personal mugs nearly up to the top with those cheapie cooking pitted dates. Then I cover with water and place one of the black, "permanent" Magic Bullet lids on (i.e., vs. the comfort lids for drinking). I put in the fridge and then the next day, about 24 hours later, I remove lid, put blade on and whiz up in the MB and then it becomes a paste. I put the black lid back on and it goes back in the fridge ready for use.

Hmmm, know there are a few other tricks I've come up with, but can't think offhand. Will post once they occur to me.

Cheers! :D



[*** Wal-Mart food chopper - Similar to that expensive chopper you pay $200 in infomercials! It only cost me Cdn$9.99 plus tax, though!]

[tvillemom]

I don't have a "magic bullet", but I use a small PINT jar in place of the blender cup (it screws on just the same) and you can grind nuts and smaller items using a cheap $20 blender!
Wendi