New Freeze Dried Ready to Eat Meals!

 

Each garden season is unique with variations in how crops perform, when they mature, if they germinate and numerous others factors. As I harvest and plan out how I'm going preserve my harvests I always have my standard favorites and I always enjoy trying something new. 

Having a Harvest Right freeze dryer has expanded my options.  So one of the things I have wanted to do with freeze drying is prepare meals, appetizers, or side dishes for a quick and easy meal with limited prep.

So today in the freeze dryer, I have 3 different side dishes:  Swiss Green Bean Bake, Sautéed Summer Squash Medley, and a Bean and Corn Salsa called Cowboy Caviar.

Early fall is the perfect time to put these meals and sides dishes together.  As some crops slow down and harvests are more sporadic it's a great time to use a combo of end of season crops.

First I will share the recipes then the run times, rehydrating info and then a taste test.

Swiss Cheese Green Bean Bake before freeze drying.

Swiss Green Bean Bake

2lbs green beans 1" pieces

Cook the beans in a water or steam until tender around 10 minutes.

Prepare sauce:

1 Tbs butter

1 Tbs flour

1/4 c milk

Melt butter in a saucepan whisk in flour and cook until slightly bubbly.

Whisk in milk.  Remove from heat and stir in:

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 c sour cream

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Drain beans and combine sauce and beans in a shallow casserole dish.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 400.

Allow to cool and spoon into a  tray lined with silicone freeze dryer mats.  This recipe fit perfectly in one medium tray. Adjust recipe according to how many trays you want to do.

Place in the freezer if you are pre-freezing

Sautéed Summer Squash Medley before freeze drying.

Summer Squash Medley

In a large non stick skillet melt a small amount of butter.  For freeze drying use as little fat and oil as possible. Add the following vegetables and spice and sauté til tender.

1 medium yellow squash sliced.  If it's large cut slices into 1/4's.

1 medium zucchini, sliced

3/4 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and julienned (optional)

1 medium onion, sliced

1 medium red pepper, julienned

1 medium green pepper, julienned

3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

Mix seasoning:

1 tsp dried thyme or 1 Tbs fresh thyme

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Cook until tender.  Cool and spread in silicone lined trays.  This filled one medium tray. This can be used in fajitas, soups, or stand alone.

Cowboy Caviar before freeze drying.  Hard to not eat this all fresh!

Cowboy Caviar 

(Brian Witmer published in the Harvest Right Freeze Drying book)

Add all ingredients into a bowl with seasonings and mix.

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can black eyed peas drained and rinsed

1 can diced Mexican tomatoes or plain dice tomatoes will work (I use my own canned  Mexican tomatoes)

1 can corn drained and rinsed or fresh corn cut off the cob

1 or 2 diced avocado

1 chopped onion

1 red or orange diced pepper

1-3 jalapeños depending on how much heat you want

Fresh cilantro

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

1/4 cup lime juice

Mix and taste with a tortilla chip.  Increase spices as desired.

This fills 2 medium trays 

So I have 4 full trays of 3 different sides or appetizers ready to freeze dry. 

Freeze dry time: It took 24hrs in the freeze dryer without refreezing.

Results:

Swiss Cheese Green Beans:  So they were pretty good just as a snack! I rehydrated a few bites to see if I liked the texture of the green beans.  They were good!  I rehydrated with hot water but used a bit too much the sauce was too thin but it was delicious! Almost as good as fresh! 

Freeze dried Swiss Cheese Green Beans!

I used fresh green beans from my garden but you could use canned or frozen green beans.  Also you could rehydrate and put the beans in a casserole dish and top with corn flake crumbs mixed with butter.  Pop it in the oven just to warm it up.  Definitely will do this one again.

Swiss Cheese Green Beans rehydrated.  I added too much water. Thicker sauce would have been better.

Freeze dried Sautéed Summer Squash

Sauted Summer Squash:  Honestly this was amazing just eating freeze dried!  The combo of spices, squash, peppers, and onions was perfect! I had to seal the jar so I wouldn't eat it all.  Great healthy non sweet snack!  Planning on doing more with the rest of my zucchini and summer squash this season.  I have other recipes of sautéed squash I will also try.

Freeze Dried Cowboy Caviar

Cowboy Caviar or Bean and Corn salsa:  This was not something I would eat without reconstituting except the avocados. But it was so delicious reconstituted just like I made it fresh. I would add more avocados next time.  I used hot water to reconstitute and just drizzled it on and gently stirred. Wait before added too much water. You don't want liquid in the bottom of the bowl just enough water to rehydrate everything.

Cowboy Caviar rehydrated.

So yummy on chips!

All 3 turned out fantastic! Love my Harvest Right Freeze Dryer! So with freeze drying you can alter or change the recipe to suit your taste.  Canning is a science and recipes shouldn't be adjusted for safety reasons.  But freeze drying is an art so be creative!

Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer is perfect to store freeze dried and dehydrated items.