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Oct 1, 2020

Day Trip, Drying Squash, Review Vidalia Dicer/Chopper


Day Trip-
With the smoke coming and going from the California fires we finally had a break last week. A bit of a rain storm blew in last Thursday/ Friday which clear the skies. Saturday morning I woke up and the skies were deep, deep blue. We have been wanting to drive up to McCall for the day, just to get out of town to get a change of scenery. Saturday morning I decided to check the air quality in McCall since it had been pretty bad up there as well. Separate from the California fires there was a fire west of McCall and the smoke is drifting from there too.  Turned out the air quality was great! I asked Dave if he wanted to take off for the day and go to McCall and it was a resounding yes! The forecast was a little bit of intermittent rain coming and going, so we dressed for cooler weather with some possible rain. There were a few storm clouds here and there driving up-





Skies clearing

Outside McCall

After we got into town we stopped at our normal McCall Brewery for lunch. From there we went to Stacy's cakes and got some desserts to take home since they closed in the afternoon. We did our normal Loop driving all the way around the lake and then hit a fun thrift store, Toby's. I spotted a heavy steel Fleur-de-lis hose reel, of all things. I decided to buy it, $8.00, and do something else with it-

Front

Top

Base

I asked Dave if he can have a pal at work use a grinder and remove the two Fleur-de-lis pieces.  That's the plan, then I will re-purpose. More on that project later! 

Lake side, water's low 




Wildflowers in a park-




We drove down the highway on the backside of McCall for a change of scenery. We never did hit much rain at all. I hit a dollar store that's a different chain from Boise's and I found a little lantern for Autumn for $5.00, has an LED candle-


All in all was a great trip, gorgeous scenery and fun! 



Drying Squash-
We had a good harvest of our yellow squash this year. I decided to dry some to use for soups over the winter. I have a nice little Nesco food dehydrator, so I got it out and cleaned it. You could use a baking sheet for this as well. I sliced all the squash up about a quarter of an inch thick then I had quartered it-


After I got all the squash laid out, and stacked I turned it on, I left it for about three or four hours. Next  I rotated the trays. Ran another 2 to 3 hours and it was all done! 


I basically had two large squashes condensed down to 1 quart canning jar. Reminds me of a jar of sunshine!




Review Vidalia Dicer/Chopper- 
I had seen this Vidalia brand dicer/chopper on someone else's blog and thought I wanted to try one. When I made corn relish a while back it took me forever to dice up all bell peppers and onions. I figured it might be a real time-saver and it turns out it is! I was really impressed by the fact is a very, very heavy composite material. It is not cheap flimsy plastic-



Nice sharp stainless steel blades

Comes with two blades and cleaning tool-


Measurements on the side- 


Heavy box- 


I was making some black bean soup for the cooler weather. I decided to use it to test drive by dicing up some bell peppers, tomatoes and onion. Separate from being much faster you also get very uniform size pieces, which is great for cooking. I started off with a bell pepper, a little older, the skin was a little shriveled. Basically I cut it in quarters, took out the seeds and white pithy part-

Just lay down the pepper, close the top down, done!


Worked great for the onions and tomatoes too! 



Washed well but a few bits here and there

Cleaning tool comes with it, really helped! 


Use the tool, rinse well, grid came out clean-


I give it two thumbs up, great for all kinds of fruits and veggies, etc. I used the chopper blade, the dicer is even smaller, will be great for fine work. With soup season coming, and making more homemade salsas, I'm happy! Amazon link on left sidebar for more info!       


                                                                
                                                                    


8 comments:

  1. Nancy

    Nice newsy post. What a gentle fun day!
    I am cruising amazon for Vidalia dicer/chopper.

    I would make good use of it as my garden grows in the coming years.

    How efficient do you feel your dehydrator is energy wise? I believe I have shared that I have the same one but got it just before we moved and haven’t had much use of it.

    Being new to on grid living I am always erring on the high side then quite surprised I can use something and I don’t have a triple digit bill.
    I guess this on grid will take more than a year to figure out.

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  2. Thanks! In the past I have run it outside, using some of the already hot air. I'm not sure how much energy it uses? I've seen designs for outdoor, non-electric ones online. They use big screened trays to dry, might be an option?

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  3. Sounds like you had a fun day. My kinda of mini vacation. I just found your blog a little while ago Im really enjoying it. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks Judy! Thanks for coming by and there's lots to explore here

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  4. What beautiful photos. Sounds like your outing made for a perfect day.

    I've never seen a food chopper like that. I wouldn't have thought it would do well, but you prove it to be a useful tool!

    Good job with the squash. Dehydrating works really well for small bits of food and soup is the perfect use for them.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! We really needed a nice long drive yes trying to squash work really well I was happy that it have came out

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  5. Hi Nancy :) I really enjoyed the photos of your trip, what amazing skies! Nice review of the chopper. I really need one, and I like gadgets! :) I love your jar of sunshine!

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    1. Thanks we did to the air smell like pine trees and the fresh rain made the are super clean. Glad you like to review! I was really happy it wasn't cheap flimsy plastic but something pretty substantial I will definitely be using it again here soon when I make some more corn relish or Chow Chow thanks!

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