Frustrated with dehydrator recipes...

[Mary]

Today was kind of a disappointing day for me, because I spent a great deal of time preparing foods for the dehydrator yesterday, but nothing really turned out the way it was supposed to. They were all recipes from Alissa's book and the recipe instructions were followed exactly.

The cinnamon rolls were dry and tasteless, with the exception of the filling. The butternut squash patties were okay, but not worth the work I put in to them. The eggplant parmesan has an incredible cheese sauce and marinara sauce, but even after over 24 hours in the dehydrator, the eggplant never softened, even though I followed Allisa's recipe to the letter. The eggplant parmesan recipe can probably be reworked so that the eggplant is soft before I top it with the sauces, but I'm not eager to try the other ones again. I guess it's trial and error with which ones work.

It has made me wonder if doing the dehydrated recipes is worth it. I find myself often more satisfied with a fresh salad. I often wonder if it is harmful to eat many dehydrated foods. I guess I'm just bummed because I spent so much time and food to make these recipes to get such depressing results.

My apologies for the negative, but I'm frustrated and really wanted these recipes to work because I'm trying to get the rest of my family to eat raw foods as well. If anyone else has made these recipes, can you please tell me where I went wrong, or what adjustments you used to get good results?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me,

Mary

[berrymarymac]

The only luck I have had with a dehydrator was fruit leather and nothing else! Everyone raved about the pizza's in the book. I gagged when I tried them, yuck! But fruit leather always works...

Sorry about having problems

[rawpriestess]

I used to make tons of recipes in the dehydrator, so many that I bought 3 of them. LOL


you just have to find the ones that you like, it is trial and error, just like with cooked recipes, I've made alot more bad cooked recipes, than bad raw ones.

I love the pizza wraps, as tortialla shells, wraps, pizza crusts, burger buns, etc.

I love the meatloaf made into burger patties, yummy

the pecan burgers are excellent,

the enchiladas are to live for

chicken fingers are good if you like things hot and spicy

the mushroom sausage is pretty good


now you have the marinara sauce, just slice fine or spiralize some zucchini, and have spaghetti, top with the cheese sauce, yummy, or make the raviolie and top with the sauces.

you can warm in the dehydrator-- I do this often

just experiment,
I've never liked eggplant, so I can't help you there, and I haven't tried the other recipes.

[asil]

You know, I've only really liked about 1 in 5 dehydrator recipes that I've tried. I guess everyone's tastes are so different. Strange, but this seems even more so with raw than with cooked. At first, it really frustrated me to go to the trouble to fix a dehydrated dish and then often, just dump it in the trash. Now it's OK, though. I have 5-6 recipes I really like, plus all fresh foods I love. Another good thing is that now I have a feel for which recipes I might like to try and which I'm pretty sure I won't like. For example, I now know I really don't like nut patties or loaves, so I don't bother with any of those recipes. But I do like crackers and mushroom, squash, eggplant based recipes, so I'lk readily try variations on these. And who knows, maybe someday I'll try another nut-based recipe. :)

BTW, try halving or quartering new recipes -- less to throw out. :D

PS -- I thiink it's also helpful to try recipes from a variety of books. Maybe your taste matches better with some authors than with others. For example, I adore Anne Whigmore, her writing, her philosophy, etc, but don't really like her recipes. I guess our tastebuds don't match. Juliano's writing and persona kind of get on my nerves but I find his recipes delicious.

[Rawkinlocs]

Well, what I have learned is that, what is one person's "YUCK" is another person's "YUMM". I've heard rave reviews from a few people about the Butternut Squash patties...it's a staple of theirs. I have also heard good reviews on the Eggplant Parmesean. I'm not sure how soft you expected it to get, but I have dehydrated eggplant and it got soft...maybe you left it too long and it turned leathery which can happen as it does when one makes either eggplant "chips" or the eggplant "bacon" recipe that is on this forum. I'm not sure as I've never attempted that recipe as I'm not much of an eggplant fan I've discovered. But perhaps the expectation was for it to get "cooked soft" rather than "raw/dehydrated soft" which is most times different as a dehydrator just won't make things exactly like cooked in texture, but soft enough to where it's not that RAW/raw texture either. (hope that wasn't confusing!) But sometimes I'll make a recipe and think it's 'da BOMB' and then I'll have one of the kids try it and they'll not like it or my husband will say, "It's okay". So we do all fancy different things.

But here are a few things to think about:

1. You won't like all the recipes in a raw book or from a site just as you probably didn't like all cooked recipes you've ever tried in your lifetime BUT, I wouldn't give up because you might miss out on some that you will find you truly LOVE. What I always tell people is to make half or a quarter of a new recipe for the first time just to see so there isn't so much waste (time or foodwise).

2. Just as with cooked recipes, sometimes you just gotta learn to tweak things to your liking and if you continue to make dehydrated (or non-dehydrated) recipes, you'll learn to do this overtime. But there are many recipes I've tried that were "okay" but with a little of this and a little of that or omitting a certain spice, it goes from "okay" to "YEAH BABY!"

3. Depending on how long you have been raw, sometimes the tastebuds just aren't "there" yet to appreciate the flavor of raw recipes. I can remember trying some in the beginning of my raw journey that I hated, but then tried again and now I love them. So sometimes it's just a matter of a change of palette.

4. Oftentimes we expect raw recipes to taste JUST LIKE s.a.d. ones but have to realize that to a newly raw pallette, sometimes they just won't...but some DO or come really close!

So don't be afraid to try again...I know it's frustrating and many of us have experienced let-down of a recipe before...you' re thinking it's gonna be incredibably yummy and it bombs on ya...but again, learn to chop those recipes down to half or quarter and to tweak them to your own liking if it doesn't turn out as good as you thought and you think of ways you could have made it what you want it to be.

Also, try more simple recipes at first rather than more complex ones...but keep in mind that you don't HAVE to do dehydrated recipes...you can do the ones that only call for a food processor such as pate's or just do desserts.

I find that after a long period of eating simply, sometimes I CRAVE dehydrator recipes and after eating them a few times I'm good and can go back to eating more simply.

So, don't totally give up on them...maybe for the time being just to let the sting wear off...but don't be afraid to pick that book up and try again later! There are some TRUE GEMS in that there book! :D

[madmel]

Hi Mary,

I hear you! We all do...

I have just tossed out a batch of pizza bread, actually only the burgers I made using the dough, the crackers I really like. Strange, same dough, but with the burgers the spices are overpowering.

I have made onion bread, falafel, fruit leathers, stuffed mushrooms and was very happy with all of this. The onion bread is my daily staple actually.

I have received my Excalibur just about a week ago and am now putting together a list of things I want to try out. I usually half the recipes if I am not too sure how they will turn out and start with simpler ones too. Sometimes I omit a couple of spices when I know I don't care much for them anyway.

I don't think dehydrated food is bad for you, but I think it shouldn't be a major part in your nutrition. Fresh food should be the biggest part of your daily intake, at least that's what I think.

Don't give up, Mary - I am sure you will find recipes that turn out well.

BTW: What kind of dehydrator are you using? I have discovered that with my new Excalibur the same recipes turn out much better, texture and taste. Just a lot better than with my old round stackable dehydrator that was too hot anyway.

All the best,
mel

[Rawkinlocs]

PS -- I thiink it's also helpful to try recipes from a variety of books. Maybe your taste matches better with some authors than with others. For example, I adore Anne Whigmore, her writing, her philosophy, etc, but don't really like her recipes. I guess our tastebuds don't match. Juliano's writing and persona kind of get on my nerves but I find his recipes delicious.

This is so true, Asil! I have heard some who could eat up almost everything in LOLF but find Juliano's recipes appauling and vice versa...thank you for pointing that out! :)

[rawpriestess]

I think Rawkie has several good points here, one specifically is that I've noticed, that I have been eating simply fruits for about a month or more, can't remember, and tonight I had a burger patty and onion bread, I really wanted it, it was good, but I'll probably go back to just fruit for a while now, as I've had my "dehydrated" fix. LOL

I really mostly like fresh fruits now, that's about all I ever eat anymore.

[JEN]

I messed up so many recipes in the beginning and I hate to waste food, especially with what we pay for organics. It took me a time or two to get it down and now Im pretty good at it. I too, cut recipes in half all the time just in case I dont like something. I just made the eggplant parm last week and it was really good. It was rich for me as Im used to eating much simpler now, but I had the craving so I made it. I didnt dehydrate it very long but I did brush my eggplant with a little olive oil first. It came out very soft and I was pleased with the results. My 17 yr old ate it so it must have been similar to sad. I make Alissa's calzone crust recipe all the time....I make it into crackers, flatbreat and pizza crust. It is sooo easy to make. I change the spices in it to vary the flavors and I top it with all sorts of things. Sometimes avos, tomato and onion, sometimes spinach dip and cheese, sometimes guacamole and sour cream, sometimes marinara and sometimes nothing...just the crackers. !!! Some other favorites are her enchiladas, carrot pecan burgers, and pesto or cheese stuffed mushrooms. You'll get the hang of it so dont give up. If youre not sure about a recipe just ask us first and we will gladly share any tips we might have :) . Let us know what youre making next and what time dinner is :p

[JinxieKat]

Another thing to keep in mind is the quality of your spices. I know that I couldn't stand alot of the raw recipies I tried at first, yuck, yuck. However I've found out that using fresh spices, particularly fresh, local grown garlic makes a big difference. The garlic I used to buy in the store just is way too much. Now the stuff I can get at the farmers market.. hmm.. delish! I would use 1/3'rd of a clove of the grocery store stuff and now I can use a whole clove like a recipie asks for. Yumm!

Jinx

[Mary]

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for the good advice and encouragement! I won't give up on dehydrating... it was just disappointing that 2 of the 3 dehydrated recipes didn't work out for me this time, especially with the cost of all the food.

I am hoping I can somehow salvage the cinnamon roll recipe... since it's still undehydrated and cut into slices, I was thinking I could perhaps blend it all together with a little more water and make pie crusts? Any other ideas?

Everyone loved the eggplant parmesan, except for the uncooked eggplant! I wanted butter-soft eggplant, but the recipe still tastes really good! I will echo what R.P. said though - it was very rich and it's not something I could eat every day, since I'm used to simple fresh fruits and veggies. I found that I needed to eat very light today to compensate for the richness of the nut sauce yesterday, which felt right anyway!

It sounds like the onion bread is a winner! I will definitely have to make that as well as some of the other recipes you guys recommended.

Again, thanks so much for the feedback - I feel much better about it now!

Blessings,

Mary