Zucchini, what can one say about a zucchini?  I honestly had to look it up to make sure I spelled it right, and I wasnt.. They are one of the most prolific veggies around.  At the end of every summer, you see frantic gardeners with zucchinis the size of baseball bats, trying to give them away to anyone who walks by.  Don’t leave your car windows open around a garden, you might find several in your backseat! 

There are so many recipes for zucchinis, bread, casseroles, stuffed, etc. 

My favorite is zucchini chips made in my dehydrator.  They are delicious and such a healthy substitute for other kinds of chips.  I make plain and garlic flavored, both are great. 

To make the chips, first you need a zucchini, easy enough to find.  I usually try to use the smaller ones, but if you end up with a baseball bat, you can always cut the slices in half.  The main secret to great chips is not to slice them too thin.  Too thin dries too thin and they end up breaking all over your trays and its a mess to clean up.  I usually slice mine about a half inch thick.  Dont peel them, the dark green skin is attractive on the chips.  Lay them on your trays.  Half I leave plain and they will have a sweet taste.  The other half I sprinkle a little garlic powder on them or garlic salt, or whatever kind of seasoning you think will compliment the zucchini flavor.  Dehydrate them according to the instructions with your dehydrator or you can just check them periodically.  When they are done, gently peel them from the tray, pop them in a ziploc bag.  Don’t even bother to try to seal them to make them last.  Once you taste them and share with your friends, they are gone…. 

I just listed a couple of dehydrators in my store and plan to add 2 more, plus extra trays.  I am also adding a mandolin slicer to help slice the veggies.

I honestly can’t say enough good things about owning a dehydrator.  I have had one for about 18 years.   It only came with 3 trays, but I took care of that, and added 9 more, plus 2 liners to make leather or jerky. 

I used to can, my mother in law taught me how to cold pack tomatos, and nothing beats opening up your cabinet and seeing all those shiny jars with those bright red tomatos in them.  When its below zero outside, and you open up a jar of tomatos, they taste like summer.  But then I had my son. 

Working full time, taking care of a baby then child, the house, the yard, I was just too tired to can.   I saw a dehydrator, figured why not, and never looked back.  

Let me give you some examples of the things I’ve made and trust me, everything tastes great. 

Tomatos:  use roma tomatos to dry.  Regular tomatos tend to dry too thin and will stick to the tray.  Roma tomatos seem to have a more tomato flavor.  I just wash them, slice them almost a half inch, lay them on the trays with a little room around them, put the lid on and set it to tomato.  In a few hours, they are totally dry.  I take them off the tray and put them in a sealed bag.  ( I still have my original Daisy Seal a Meal and use that to seal the bags)  I plan to add to the store this weekend the updated model of a seal a meal.  You can either toss the tomatos into soups or stews or sauce or crumble them, mix them with seasonings and use them on a salad or chicken or fish.  You can reconstitute them in hot water.  They will grow back to about 2/3 of their original size.  They also taste good just as a crunchy snack, if you have a taste for tomatos. 

Part 2 will my be next favorite zuchini chips…

hello world!.. 

I have finally decided to give in and start to blog.  I’ve wanted to for a very long time,  enjoy reading other blogs and figured why not. 

So, a little about me.  I’m the mom of a college son, who goes to away to college.  (that was traumatic)  I’m engaged to the most wonderful man and  will get married someday.  No hurry on that one… I work full time and started an ebay store about 5 years ago.  www.nothymetocook2.net  and hope someday to be an ebay millionaire.  Hey, I get tons of spam emails telling that I can…  

I’m a bigtime animal lover, I have 4 dogs and 3 cats.  I didnt plan on having that many, it’s just how things have worked out.  I love to cook, sometimes, love to knit, all the time, love my store and can spend hours working on it.  I don’t like housework, at all, but it has to be done so I get it over with as soon as possible so I can get on to other things.

First of all, I have to say, I love my online store.  I think I was born to own a store.  I loved playing store when I was little, I loved setting up the things I would “sell” and having my toys buy them.  I even had a toy register with a bell when I made a sale.  

My dream has always been to own a “brick and mortar” store.  But being a divorced, single mom, who needed her job to support her son, that wasnt in the plans.  But having an online store  on eBay was something I could afford, and  it’s starting to work out well.  Finding and setting up with vendors so I can sell their products, working with customers, stocking my vt shelves is just great. 

I try to carry things that I feel are durable, a good investment for your money, and would be things that I would use comfortably in my home.  Now, I have to admit, I would be making a heck of a lot of sauce if I used the 80 qt stock pot I carry, but you know what I mean..

I also try very, very hard to keep my prices down so they are affordable.  My profits in my store are minimal, so that I can offer you good deals.  I also work with my distributors, and they offer me deals that I can offer to you.  With the cost of gasoline driving up the costs of everything, including shipping costs, it’s not been easy.  I’ve tried to roll in shipping costs into the price, making things a little easier.  We’ll see how that works.

So, please feel confident in shopping at my store.  I will always answer your questions, and provide you with the best quality service I’m capable of. 

take care and have a great day today….

Looking out the window, trying to decide if its rain or snow coming down outside.  It’s nice to spend a quiet day at home today after spending the last two days traveling back and forth to Indy trying to find new living quarters  for my college son. 

His plan was to live in a house with 7 other guys. 

Mom’s idea was either an apt. with ONE friend or an apt. by himself.  

He attends college in Indianapolis  and the cost of their oncampus housing or apartments close by is astronomical in price.  He’s a freshman now, but will be taking 18 credit hours in the fall, plus he has to submit a portfolio for acceptance to the art school. 

After two days of looking, he finally found a one bedroom apt. in a complex about 10 min. from school in a good area that he likes. 

It was a hard battle, but it was a good one.  We went through all the pros and cons of  both sides.  Voices were only raised once, which is a good thing. (actually, it was only mom’s voice that was raised)

It’s still so hard to believe that the little boy who used to cuddle with me on the couch has grown up into such a strong, capable young man. 

I did a good job of preparing him to leave home to go to college.

I just forgot to prepare me for it.