If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. Anne Bradstreet

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. Ether 12:27

Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season therof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul. And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion. D&C 59:18-20

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Dehydrating condensed soup

More experiments with dehydrating in my oven.  I had a larger can of condensed chicken noodle soup, the new size they came out with a while ago -- glad they haven't totally replaced the smaller cans.  This new size gives 3.5 servings, according to the label, so I divided it up into 4 servings and put one on parchment paper on a cookie sheet to dehydrate (one I had for lunch that day, the others went into single-serving containers in the fridge to be used over the next couple days.) 

It dehydrated very well, but the chicken pieces looked dark and I thought they might be tough eating.  But since there's not that much meat in those condensed soups, I wasn't too worried about it.  I dehydrated it over night. 

So for lunch today, I had the dehydrated soup.  I put all the dried pieces into a 2-cup glass measuring cup and added water to the 1 cup level and into the microwave for 2 minutes.  Then I left it in the microwave for 20 minutes.  After that it seemed quite well hydrated, but I nuked it for another minute to get it hot again. 

Very good flavor, noodles and chicken very well hydrated, and the chicken was just fine.

I think it could do with a bit less liquid.  Next time, I'll fill with water only to the 3/4 cup line and see if that is enough liquid. 

I could do 2 or 3 servings at a time, being careful to keep each serving in a circle all by itself so they can be packed as single servings, but I only did one because this was an experiment. 

I haven't yet tried to dehydrate a single serving of a home-cooked meal.  I only "cook" once a week now, as I have plenty of single-serving frozen meals in my freezer and the extra I get from cooking once a week adds more variety.  The Tex Mex Chicken Rice skillet dish I did last night served myself, the sister missionaries, plus 8 single servings in the freezer. 
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