{"id":49852,"date":"2014-07-07T00:09:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T07:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=49852"},"modified":"2014-07-07T00:09:23","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T07:09:23","slug":"self-sufficiency-merit-badge-expert-level-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/49852","title":{"rendered":"Self-sufficiency Merit Badge, Expert Level, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<span style=\"color: #800080;\">The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/\">Sisterhood Merit Badge program<\/a>,<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> now with 5,892 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20148,416 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #339966;\">Wondering who I am? I\u2019m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/10477\">former life<\/a> \u2026<b>\u00a0<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>For this week\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.farmgirlsisterhood.org\/badges-fk-self-sufficiency.asp\">Farm Kitchen\/Self-Sufficiency Expert Level Merit Badge<\/a>, I was really, really enjoying my food dehydrator. I mean, I was in love with the little miracle maker. My tummy full of yesterday\u2019s beef jerky, I moved on to some vegetarian options. Pineapple, \u201csun\u201d-dried tomatoes, apples, banana chips, peas, and plums. Mm! And don\u2019t forget mangoes, papayas, peaches, and kiwis. Dry your own teas, make your own soup mix, gosh! The possibilities are keeping me up at night with hunger pangs (or they would be, if I hadn\u2019t stashed some dried nectarines in my nightstand).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49917 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dried-pineapple030805-048-MJ3.jpg\" alt=\"dried-pineapple030805-048-MJ3\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-49932 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dried-bananas030805-022-MJ3-jpg.jpg\" alt=\"dried-bananas030805-022-MJ3-jpg\" width=\"360\" height=\"270\" \/><\/p>\n<p>P.S. Don\u2019t have a food dehydrator? You can try setting\u00a0your oven\u00a0to a low temperature. But some ovens don&#8217;t go low enough.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of my favorite recipes:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Homemade Dried Onion Soup Mix<\/strong> (although I usually use it for other things besides soup: casseroles, sprinkled atop steamed veggies, in meatloaf or burgers, or as a base for <em>other <\/em>soups)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>8 t dried onion flakes (why, dry your own, of course!)<\/li>\n<li>1 1\/2 t dried parsley (again \u2026 do I even need to say it?<\/li>\n<li>1 t onion powder, and turmeric<\/li>\n<li>1\/2 t each celery seed, sugar, salt, and pepper<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Store in a Mason jar or Ziploc bag.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Citrus Mint and Licorice Tea<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Zest of 2 lemons and 2 oranges (remove with veggie peeler, then chop)<\/li>\n<li>one\u00a03-inch piece of ginger, finely chopped\n<ul>\n<li>1\/2 small fennel bulb (can substitute whole star anise, but if you do, add the anise in at the last step)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>1 cup tightly packed mint leaves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>1 cup dried cranberries or apricots<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dry your zests, ginger, and fennel until dried. Dry the mint as well (you can put them in together, but the mint will be ready the quickest). Crumble the mint when cool enough to handle and steep with hot water (about 2 T per 1 cup water).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_49933\" style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-49933\" class=\"wp-image-49933 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/600px-Poiswasabi.jpg\" alt=\"wasabi peas\" width=\"360\" height=\"360\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-49933\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by GuillaumeG via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Homemade Wasabi Peas<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>one package frozen (defrosted) or fresh peas, dried nearly completely (let them be a little chewy still\u2014we aren\u2019t done drying them yet<\/li>\n<li>2 T white rice vinegar<\/li>\n<li>4-5 T wasabi powder<\/li>\n<li>1 t mustard powder<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Toss the nearly done peas with the mixture above. Return to dryer and finish drying. Eat alone as a spicy, yummy snack or add to your own Gorp mix, trail mix, or popcorn.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/chocolate-covered-fruit-strips.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-49935\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/chocolate-covered-fruit-strips.jpg\" alt=\"chocolate-covered-fruit-strips\" width=\"360\" height=\"520\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Chocolate-covered Dried Fruit<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>assorted dried fruits that go well with chocolate (Is this an oxymoron, Jane, my girl? Doesn\u2019t EVERYTHING go well with chocolate?)<\/li>\n<li>dipping chocolate (dark, milk, white\u2014whatever floats your boat)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dip cooled fruits in warm chocolate. Let dry (if you can you have more willpower than I) on wax paper. These are most excellent for gifts. Like, a gift <em>to<\/em> me <em>from<\/em> me. Happy Tuesday, Jane \u2026 you know, those kind of gifts. The best kinds.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 5,892 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far\u20148,416 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ\u00a0 Wondering &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/49852\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/49852\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gladsome_sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}