We are quickly entering into my favorite season: The season of STRAWBERRIES!

As my most desired snack as a child, and my low sugar go-to fruit as an adult, I simply can’t get enough of this delicious red berry! My family loves strawberries so much that when they are in season, we each eat about a pound a week (so that’s 4 pounds of bright red strawberries in our refrigerator!)

Not only are strawberries delicious, they are super healthy for you, too. They are loaded with antioxidants, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K and act as a natural anti-inflammatory. Strawberries help fight in the battle of breast, cervical and esophageal cancer.

Strawberries are even good for your eyes! The Archives of Opthalmology recently published a study in which strawberries were found to be one of the fruits that can lower the possibility of contracting age-related macular degeneration by over one-third when you consume 3 servings a day.

Incorporate Strawberries into your day!

Strawberries complement foods so nicely that you can pair it with every meal.

Breakfast: Try slicing up strawberries to add to your oatmeal. I love the way the cold berry blends with the warmth of the oats. If you eat good ol’ old fashion oats, you might find that you no longer need to add sugar (like brown sugar, honey, etc) since the strawberries add amazing flavor.

Lunch: To add dimension to your yogurt, try adding some diced up strawberries!

Dinner: Sliced strawberries are the perfect topper to a spinach salad with walnuts and a vinaigrette dressing.

Dessert: Dip strawberries into a fat free, no sugar added pudding! Drizzle no sugar added chocolate syrup over whole strawberries.

Snack: Nibble on dehydrated strawberries as a snack on the go. Don’t forget juicing and blending, too!

Strawberry Blending and Juicing Recipes!

Blended Strawberry Juice (pictured above)

• 2 cups fresh whole strawberries
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Torini’s Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Cut strawberries into thin slices. Sprinkle over with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla syrup (this is the same syrup you’d use to flavor coffee, tea, milk, etc). Leave in the fridge for two hours until the juice starts to come out. Process the strawberries with cold water and lemon juice in a blender. Strain the juice if desired and serve chilled.

Strawberry Lassi

• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 cup greek yogurt
• handful of ice cubes

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend till mixed. You can play with the taste of the Lassi by trying different flavored greek yogurts.

Apple Strawberry Juice

•  5 apples
• 1 cup of strawberries

 Cut the stems off of the strawberries and apples. Juice the rest and enjoy!

The Subtle Strawberry 

• 1 cup of blueberries
• 1/3 cup of strawberries
• 1 apple

Cut the stems off of the strawberries and apple. Juice the rest and enjoy!

What are your other favorite foods to add strawberries to?! Tell us in the comments!

The Health Benefits of Dehydrating Food

Not only is dehydrated food much easier to store than canned food, it is a lot healthier, too. Canned food is cooked, and as soon as you cook any food, you take away many of the nutrients that it contains. Dehydrating food preserves all of the nutrients, so the food is still as healthy after dehydration as it was when it was fresh. You can buy food that is dehydrated, but can you always be sure that the food was fresh at the time of dehydration?

When you use one of the many different models of food dehydrators that are available, you can make your own dehydrated food right at home, ensuring that your dehydrated food always come from fresh sources. And this is often a lot less expensive than buying food already dehydrated, because you are doing the work yourself, which isn’t really much work at all, especially when you use a food dehydrator such as the Excalibur 3900.

The Lexen Healthy Chef is a four-in-one meal maker, which allows you to dehydrate food, steam food, cook rice, and even make your own yogurt. When you have this machine in your kitchen, it eliminates the need for many other kitchen gadgets, saving you a lot of money and counter/cupboard space.

Making Healthy Treats with a Dehydrator

If you are like millions of people all over the world, you love to snack on tasty treats that often aren’t the healthiest for you. There are many delicious treats that you can make with food dehydrators.

If you like dried fruits, you can dehydrate apples, pineapples, grapes, cranberries and more, and when you add your dried fruits to nuts, you will have a delicious trail mix that is great to munch on. Or, you can even make your own tasty beef jerky, which will help eliminate cravings for both salty and chewy treats, without all of the chemicals and other additives that go into commercially prepared jerky. You don’t have to limit yourself to beef, either.

Get creative, and try using poultry and pork to make delicious jerky that your whole family will love to snack on. And this is a healthy treat, too, because meat is loaded with protein, and the dehydration ensures that the nutrients are all left intact.

A really handy form of food to have around is dehydrated food, because it has so many uses. For example, produce can be dehydrated and used for stews, soups and other delicious recipes all year long. So, even if one has far too many vegetables from their garden, the food will not spoil. Another great example of popular dehydrated food is dehydrated fruits, such as raisins, apples and pineapples, just to name a few. These go great with nuts and a few chocolate chips, and make a great on-the-go snack (trail mix).

Types of Food Dehydrators

There are many different types of food dehydrators, and they come in a variety of sizes, so there is definitely one to fit into just about any kitchen. They can dry fruits and vegetables, and, for those of you who love such treats as beef jerky (which is delicious when made with the right marinade recipe…experiment to find your favorite flavor), you can even dry meats, such as beef and poultry (fish too) in a food dehydrator, and many people use dehydrators and smokers interchangeably.

There are three types of food dehydrators, those that blow hot air from an element in the bottom of the machine, of those that blow hot air form an element on the side of the machine, and those that blow hot air from the top of the machine. Food dehydrators do not use a lot of electricity either, and it is actually cheaper to use one of these handy little gadgets than to use a conventional oven to dry foods, which is done over long periods of time at low temperatures.

How A Food Dehydrator Works

Food dehydrators have shallow trays that stack on top of one another, which the food is placed on. For the best and fastest results, the food should be sliced thinly, and placed on the trays in single layers. Basically, a food dehydrator will suck the water from whatever food you are trying to dry.

Different foods dry at different speeds, so it may be necessary to check the foods at specific intervals, especially if you are drying different types of foods at the same time. Also keep in mind that there are some really delicious flavor combinations that can be created with a food dehydrator, so have fun and experiment with different flavors. Just remember that in order to prevent juices from meats dripping and contaminating other foods, it is important that you place any meats on the bottom racks.

It is incredibly simple to dehydrate your own food, and it can save you a lot of money in the long run. Think about it. Many of us waste a lot of food because we buy too much, and end up throwing it away. With a food dehydrator, we can preserve a lot of those foods, even meats, which can save hundreds of dollars each year. There are many different types of food dehydrators available. To learn more about the various types, you can find all kinds online at http://www.877myjuicer.com/dehydrators.html.

Dehydrating will dry food at temperatures high enough to remove the water, but low enough to keep enzymes intact.  In the raw food world, dehydrating temps are below 112 degrees.  This allows vitamins, minerals and enzymes to be preserved.  Fresh fruit can take longer than certain grains.  Teflex sheets are liners that will let you dry watery and thinner foods without them slipping through the mesh screen.  Experiment with the times.  Flip the cookie or fruit to make drying time faster.  Eating a raw diet?  You don’t have to sacrifice the warmth of the food when you use a dehydrator.

Save money?  Absolutely, with dehydrating.  Drying food is great for preserving food.  Dry apples, corn, tomatoes and meat to preserve and store.  Dried foods keep well because the moisture content is low.  The high cost of commercially dried foods has brought back the popularity of drying food at home.  Don’t forget nuts and seeds.  From almonds to pumpkin.  Top with your favorite spice before dehydrating.

Here are some simple recipes:

Sweet Potato Chips

Slice two sweet potatoes with a spiral slicer into thin slices and add 1/4 olive oil and 1/4 lemon juice and coat well.  Lay the chips flat on dehydrator screen and sprinkle with cayenne or pepper to your taste.  Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 8-10 hours or until crispy.

Alternatives for mixing with potatoes:  Try Bragg’s Amino, Apple cider vinegar, sea salt

A Basic Pizza Crust

2 1/2 cups buckwheat groats, soaked and sprouted. 1/3 cup olive oil and any herbs you have on hand to taste, like oregano, basil or pepper.  A little liquid amino and place all in the food processor until a dough is formed.  Dehydrate about 4 hours flipping half way through. You can even put these out in the sun to dry!  (Add other ingredients such as, ground flax, onion, parsley, garlic, red pepper)

Almond and Date Pie Crust

1 1/4 cup soaked almonds, 1 cup dates chopped, 1 tblspn water, 1/2 teaspn vanilla and some cinnamon.  Chop the nuts in your food processor and add dates until finely ground.  Add remaining ingredients.  The crust will be slightly damp.  Press the mixture and dehydrate for one hour or leave in the sun.  Top with everything from fresh fruit to pumpkin.  Yum!

And for the kids….Fruit Leathers

Puree any fruit until smooth and add lemon juice to keep fruit from darkening.  Add honey for sweetness if desired.  Spread fruit onto drying tray and dry for 6-8 hours.  Top it or fill it.  Let the kids decide!

These dishes will last in your fridge for days, and you can eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner.  My personal favorite about raw food.  Experiment with what you have.

Be happy and be healthy!

Most would think that juicing on the road is impossible but that’s because so many people think of the big, heavy electric juicer that takes up a ton of space.  There are several light, portable and extremely functional manual juicers available like The Healthy Juicer by Lexen that work well for this type of situation and are so small they will fit nicely in any travel bag along with the rest of your prized possessions.  Because they are masticating juicers, they are perfect for wheatgrass and leafy greens but most are powerful enough to juice apples and carrots and whatever else your heart desires.  So even if wheatgrass is hard to come or you forgot to pack you’re fruits and veggies before you left, you can surely get your hands on something judicable and healthy.

Dried Fruits like figs, prunes, dates and even papaya, mango, apricot, and cranberries are all high in fiber which will keep the digestion rolling and something yummy like banana chips have almost a potato chip-like taste.  If you’re a do it yourself dehydrator you’ll probably already have some of these ready to go.

Raw fruits and vegetables in a cooler are essential not just for juicing but to snack on as you go.  Oranges, bananas, apples, grapes and any other unpeeled fruit will make great munchies as will baby carrots, celery or any sliced veggies.  Make sure you wash everything before you leave home and put anything sliced in a Ziploc or vacuum sealed bag.  It will preserve your snacks a little longer and will make it easier to eat while driving top speed through the inferno.

Food bars, food bars, food bars.  If you’re without them and you’re in need of a snack while gassing up you’ll end up with a half unwrapped Snickers hanging out of your mouth while you drive away… and then the guilt, the shame, the remorse.  It’s just not worth it.  Any health food store will have a plethora available (yeah, I’m thinking of Three Amigos too).  My favorites are made by Organic Food Bar.  There are tons of options, many are vegan and they are all USDA Organic certified.  (And we don’t even sell them so you know I’m not just a pitch man).

So that and several bottles of purified water will get you where you’re going.  Once you’re there lets hope you find a few healthy restaurants or a health food store because this articles long enough already.  Besides, I’ve gotta run…

Be well,

Juicy Josh

www.877myjuicer.com

What’s amazing is that dehydration hardly affects the nutritional value of foods at all, especially when the process takes place in your own home. When you dry foods in a dehydrator at home under gentle conditions, you produce a product far superior to anything that can be purchased in the grocery store. And compared to canning and freezing, which both involve extreme temperatures, food drying is the least damaging form of food preservation.

There is a minor loss in Vitamin C when food is dried because it is an air-soluble nutrient and food drying is an air-based process. Vitamin A is completely retained and minerals available in certain fresh fruits-such as potassium, sodium and magnesium are also not altered when the fruit is dried. The caloric value of food doesn’t change when it’s dehydrated either and dried fruits and vegetables are high in fiber and carbohydrates while being naturally low in fat.

So perhaps there’s something to the overall preservative effects of being dry. Moses was 120 after 40 years wandering around the desert and he’s just one of many centenarians in the Old Testament. I’m not making any promises, but I’m loading up on figs and long walks.

Check out our sick selection of dehydrators!  The Healthy Chef is a pretty good one.

Be well,

Juicy Josh

These are the three methods of preserving food naturally without adding any preservatives and will prove most healthy for you.

1) Freezing - One of the most common forms of food preservation is freezing.  It works by reducing the temperature to a degree that it reduces the water activity to prevent microbial growth.  This form of food preservation is so common because it is so simple, only requiring a freezer, and works with a wide range of foods.  Generally by freezing food products you can increase their preservation up to several months.  You can freeze food products longer, however it requires extremely low temperatures of zero degrees Fahrenheit or less which most freezers cannot achieve.

2) Drying / Dehydrating – Dehydrating or drying is one of the oldest methods of food preservation that dates back many years to sun drying.  The concept behind food dehydrating is very simple, remove the moisture from the food and the growth of bacteria can be controlled.  However, it must be completely dried or bacteria will grow and your food will spoil.  This process is simple, requires very little space, and all you need is a food dehydrator.  Most people like the dehydration method because the drying process drains the excess fat from the foods making them rich in carbohydrates and fiber, and loosing very little nutritional value.

3) Canning – Canning is a popular yet more complicated method of preserving food.  It involves cooking your foods and sealing them in sterile cans or jars, and boiling the containers to kill any remaining bacteria. Their are many factors that if not performed correctly will result in an unsuccessful attempt.  Factors such as humidity, altitude, the region in which you are located, the nature and quality of the food, the air/space left in the jar, and even the shape of the jar all play a vital role in being successful at canning.  To successfully attempt canning you will need a canner, a canning kit, and quality canning jars.  Depending on which foods you are canning, you will need to do some research as to the best methods for them individually.

There you have it.  These are our three favorite methods of food preservation.  They are fairly simple and allow your food to retain most of the nutritional value.