EASY AND HEALTHY RECIPES, TIPS FOR HEALTHY LIVING, FOOD REVIEWS, ETC

Friday, February 26, 2010

Food Dehydrator (aka Jerky Maker)

I got an email this morning from one of our new colleagues inviting everyone for Friday happy hour at Rivals.  It is a new place in town – pretty spacious, with very comfortable bar stools, nice ambiance, cheap drinks and great fried pickles.  Friday evening is special family time for us so even if I wanted to I could not make it and never have.

Friday dinner is usually roast or stew cooking in the crock pot while I’m at work---or something easy to prepare after a long day like a nice, tender grilled steak (on my indoor electric grill), jerky salad and fine wine from Stone Hill Winery.   I add beef jerky to my salads as it’s my son’s favorite salad and baked potato topper.   It’s pretty good. Who does not love beef jerky? It’s salty, sweet, peppery…very addicting … and… it's not cheap!

When Cookware.com contacted me to review one of their products, it was a toss-up between a food dehydrator (aka jerky maker) and a multi-cooker (that can bake, roast, steam and slow cook).  I was leaning on getting the counter top multi-cooker.  Preparing meals would be a breeze but when I talked with Hubby and my son, the unanimous vote was for the jerky maker.  I think they’ve gotten tired of ALL my failed attempts at making beef jerky!!!  Then Mr. J  said ,  “If  you use a food dehydrator, maybe it might turn out  just an itty-bitsy, teeny-weeny better than our latest teriyaki....umm…umm...teriyaki CHARCOAL!?!?!  That made me laugh…maybe it was really time to give it a try!   I’ll let you know how it works for me.

5 comments:

Sharlene T. said...

You're gonna love it.

Anonymous said...

How does this food dehydrator work for other things e.g fruits or veggies?

Sharlene T. said...

I've been using mine for the past three years and it takes care of all the veggies and fruits I want dehydrated. Also makes great leathers, and dries your herbs to perfection. I also ordered the additional trays and mine is now 12 trays high. I simply rotate the trays after two or three hours.

Momgateway said...

Thanks Sharlene. I'd like to dry blueberries and persimmons in the late summer and fall.

Dewi said...

Wow, I always want this dehydrator, it become pretty handy when you have quite plenty of fruit during harvest day.