Dehydrator update and The Waiting Room game
Comments(22)
Photo: Herbacious border detail
Our cheap and basic dehydrator continues to delight us. I’m reaping the rewards of dehydrating fruit and vegetables when they were on offer or marked down on the CFC. As all the chopping and preparation has been done prior to dehydrating a slow cooked meal can be prepared very quickly.
This week I had to go for blood tests. I think that the doctors in Newmarket might be suffering from blood testitus as the clinic is always packed and you have to arrive early to get in the queue. I wanted to make our slow cooked skirt of beef stew but time was of the essence. So all the vegetables that I used were dehydrated ones – mushrooms, Fenland celery, Chantenay carrots, onions and garlic. I store the dehydrated food in zip lock bags with the original weight and the dehydrated weight written on the outside. This makes the conversions really easy.
I’ve also found that putting all the dehydrated ingredients in a bowl and covering them with boiling water for a five minute soak before they go into the slow cooker seems to work well as they are already starting to plump up when they are added (including the water) to the slow cooker. I was able to prepare this meal in ten minutes. Switched the slow cooker to auto and shot into Newmarket.
In the hospital I grabbed the penultimate number and found an empty chair. Once the number cards are gone the blood test lady has her full quota for the afternoon. There lies the rub. People keep on arriving and being turned away. Some people get very angry and insist that it’s their right to have a blood test. No wonder the blood test lady looks harassed and stressed.
I sat reading my book Restless
When I finally got home three hours later I was welcomed by the aroma of slow cooked beef stew. Perfect.
Now I am keen to try making beef jerky in the dehydrator. Watch this space!
Back to the snow again
Who is responsible for clearing the snow from the pavements in the UK??
Recipe for chicken, mushroom and tomato risotto
Thank you for your comments. And a bit of silly bath time fun with the Frothing Sea Monster trick!
Cutting energy costs
Recipe for sausages baked with herby garlic infused beans, bacon and tomato
HG
Hi Fiona
i too am reading Restless at the moment. I belong to a local Book Group and this was this month’s book. I am thoroughly enjoying it and like the way the book moves from past to present and wonder what will happen when the two collide as they inevitably must. I am learning much I didn’t know of British activities in WW2. Anyway I should finish it this weekend. Enjoy.
Isn’t people watching wonderful???
I am shocked at this deli style take a ticket approach at your local clinic, and believe me I would DEFINATELY be one of the ones making a fuss. In fact you wouldn’t be far wrong if you sat and guessed that I would be the one who was very loud, very rude very waving arms about and quoting the patients charter and have to be escorted from the clinic by security after ranting about paying my national insurance contributions and the state of the NHS was a disgrace and demanding to see the hospital site supervisor LOL.
Luckily blood tests are by individual appointment in my part of the country and good job too as whenever I go the whole of the gaggle of nurses end up having to have a go at it, normally with me starting off quite bright and breezy about the whole affiar, progressing to a rather paloured grey laying down, to a going to vomit and pass out sort of stage, quite often with having to give up altogether after 10 to 12 collection tubes have been disgarded as they have clotted immediately with contact with the outside of my body. I am hoping you never have such problems as arms covered in yellow and purple bruising and needle marks get you some very strange looks especially in the summer months when you’re in short sleeves. Needless to say I have never been a blood donor!
Good luck for the results.
Giving blood for any reason is never a fun time, and next time I’ll remember your game. It sounds like a good way to distract yourself.
It’s also interesting to hear about your local health care system. Here in the states, health care reform is a huge deal, and because congress has been wrangling with it, there have been a lot of news stories about how health care systems in other parts of the world. The British health care system is always covered, so it’s interesting to hear that it’s not so perfect.
I have a dehydrator setting in my wall oven, so I will remember to make use of that this summer!
Who thinks up these ridiculous systems? Anybody with half a brain can see the flaws in that plan! Anyway, glad you came home to those lovely smells. I couldn’t live without my slow cooker. If hubby is off work during the week, I often leave the slow cooker on to torture him throughout the day with wonderful aroma’s. He’s desperate for his supper by the time we all get home! XXX
Three hours! Good lord, isn’t there a better way…
So good you had the forethought to get that slow cooker stew on the go – I love cooking with beef skirt, it makes such a deep rich gravy.
I had to have a whole range of blood tests done the other week, thankfully the nurse at the GPs did it and as I’d arrived early she called me in straight away and I was back in my car and almost home before my appointment time! I’d be one of those hopping mad people if I’d been sent away and told to come back tomorrow!
Celia
Goodness what a crazy system – my gp or practice nurse takes any bloods and sends them off.
On another note, I’ve really tried hard to ignore the increasing presence of ads on the blog, guessing thats its an entirely needed income stream and realising they are well chosen and relevant to your followers-but do we really have to have poker/ gambling ads???
Paula the NHS is far from perfect but from what I recall of the statistics I studied last year the cost works out at about £2 per week per person, as a proportion of the GDP it costs us half as much as the US insurance system and it manages to be a universal system to boot so it does have its up sides
I may be biased in the NHS’s favour because my dd has tested out several departments in our local hospital and wears glasses and hearing aids (all provided free) and also because I am a student radiographer but I will concede that Fionas hospitals blood testing system is rubbish
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Hi Rachel – regarding the ads, yes indeed they are an attempt to increase our income and hopefully avoid having to sell up and downsize.
Sorry if they annoy you, but they are targeted at the 6,500 casual visitors who visit here from Google every day and not at our 500 or so regulars. Just ignore them. Even Delia, Nigella and Jamie host advertising these days. It’s the way of the world.
Actually, that poker video is quite amusing and a good production, IMO. I love poker and have been to Vegas but I doubt it is going to seduce any of us into thinking that one can make money easily at any form of gambling.
My local hospital bloods dept operates a similar system except they do keep dishing out tickets for the time they are open – until just before they close – I never waited more than 40mins or so, which has got to be better than 3hrs!
Am racking my brain for funny comedy moments but am drawing a blank after a long,weary day. Will have a think and post later… TTFN
Here too any bloods (or other samples of bodily production!) are taken in your local GP surgery the day they’re wanted and sent off to the hospital. Your local powers that be seem to have made a serious error of judgement.
ah, blood tests. The joy. the unadulterated suffering.
And as to Restless, am I alone in thinking that it went a bit awry at the end? I liked it, until the very end. It went on for too long after the interesting stopped.
Is this one of the new polyclinics that is supposed to be an improvement on GP surgeries? It sounds appalling!
Paula, no health system is perfect, but the NHS is better than an insurance based system. Everyone gets free care: there is no need to decide on the basis of cost whether or not to take a child to see the GP, no fear that losing a job means losing health care too, the threat of loss of health insurance isn’t a divorce weapon.
I have seen good and bad practice in both countries, and prefer it here where care is largely determined by need, not by wallet.
You must try kale chips in your dehydrator! remove large centre rib,discard. Tear the leaves into large pieces, massage lightly with a bit of olive oil, salt and lemon juice. The time will depend on your machine but they should look dark green and be crispy to the crunch!
Fiona, did I ever mention that dehydrated kale is amazing in soups and stews?
It seems to have more flavor dimension than fresh kale. I don’t understand it.
Danny !! Re the ads….carry on allowing them on…please. After following this delightful blog for quite some time I most definitely have gained a fair amount of trust in your and Fiona’s discernment ! Still, I trust my own discernment too and I choose to check out some ads and ignore others as I do in my every day life….go for it you two and do not be put off….
Dee – thanks for expressing your support. That is really appreciated.
I totally understand and empathise with the sentiments expressed by Rachel and others on here. But, since Fiona was forced to retire from normal work on 14-July 2009, everything changed. Running an ad-free site at a cost of almost £100/mth is no longer an indulgent hobby. We loved to keep it ad-free for the past three years and, if we had a choice, we would have loved to keep it that way.
But needs must . . .
The good news is that there is a useful piece of software that we can install. It means that anybody who has registered, and who signs in when they visit this site, will not see any ads.
I must check it out. No guarantees, but it may allay dissatisfaction.
Fiona — No matter the country or the illness, navigating the medical establishment is so very grim. I’m very sorry it’s taking so much of your time and attention. Bad enough to be sick!
If you’re a William Boyd fan, and you haven’t read it already, you may find that A GOOD MAN IN AFRICA will keep you entertained on your long waits. It’s a favorite of mine.
Hi Fiona and everyone,
I have now brought a deyhdrater so I am ready to go although I suspect I shall use it more in the summer..
Can I ask do you slice the veg very thin and do you just do this with a knife? And is the Kale just curly Kale please. Any recipes would be fab.
Our bodies and health are so linked with our emotions I have noticed that with my IBS. And although I know this its still hard to change my reaction to things and people who push my buttons ..
I hope you get things sorted soon
Blessings
Pammie
Hi,
I love the idea of the dehydrator!!
I usually slice & freeze mushrooms which I buy in bulk, but the dehydrated ones you buy in packets at the supermarket have lots more flavour!
I know where you’re coming from with the blood test scenario! I have to go every month…but I’ve sussed it now…go 15 mins before the shut off time…on a Friday…they’ve got through all the patients by then and they’re looking for an early finish for the weekend…bingo!! it’s empty! x
There are advantages and disadvantages to whatever system we have for blood and other testing. I’m very glad that I have a doctor’s surgery within a few minutes walk where if I need a bloodtest the GP does it there and then. Likewise I have also had an ECG and the most wonderful counsellor I could ever have wished for all on site. I’m sure they do all kinds of other things too that I don’t know anything about as I have never needed them. My mother does complain about having to go to a clinic which is a short drive away but has the benefit of very experienced staff doing providing each different service. I took my mother down for a blood test once, we didn’t wait long and as she was called in I stood up to get a magazine to read while I waited for her. I had barely sat down again before she reappeared. I assumed there must have been a problem but in fact it was all over! So pros and cons, I guess if you have to go regularly you get to know the system and how to work it to your advantage.
I’m coming late to this — got a bit behind with my blog reading — but I’d just like to add my support for the ads. No-one really likes to see ads on their favourite sites, but as a regular visitor for years, I was always impressed by the amount of unpaid effort you both put into the site. When the ads appeared, I was actually pleased to think that they would be bringing in some much-needed income and rewarding you for your work
I haven’t particularly noticed the poker ad; most I’ve seen seem to be highly relevant (gardening/cooking), and are not glaring/flashing, so that’s fine by me. Just don’t start having those belly fat ads that seem to be everywhere 
Thank you for all the dehydrating ideas.
I bought mine to dry herbs and hops for pillows. Then I tried sliced plums. The damsons, after a lot of fiddling with the cherry stoner, were glorious and are going to be dipped in plain chocolate.
I’m definitely going to dry some veg next.