Homemade Green Powder for Smoothies and Washing Greens the Easy Way

Ever wonder how many fresh greens fit inside a one pound container of powdered greens? Wonder no longer.

Homemade Green Powder for Smoothies
Every year I try to dehydrate lots of green things, turn in to powder and use in our smoothies (just remember to add a little extra liquid to the smoothie!). I've been wondering for a while how many greens I am actually putting in to my smoothie when I add a tablespoon or two and since Google turned up no answers for me (IMAGINE THAT! Maybe I was not using the right search words??) this year I decided to figure it out myself.

To begin my experiment I started with one pound of two kinds of greens: kale and spinach. In each photo they are pictured side-by-side, kale on the left and spinach on the right.

FRESH

DRY

POWDER

I did two different kinds because I wanted to see how they compared when dehydrated and turned in to powder. Both were the same ... each pound produced about 1/2c of powder (maybe a tablespoon over a half cup) and weighed nearly the same (a gram or two different).

Now, on to WASHING all of those greens.
Sometimes I have to wash about 25lbs of greens in one day. That's a LOT of greens to try to put through the salad spinner!!! So what I do instead is wash the greens in a bowl of water, put into a pillow case, secure the end with a rubber band and put it through the SPIN CYCLE of my washing machine. This works prefect! Of course I still have to spin them in several batches but it is a real time saver.
For those who do not know, spinning greens helps pull the water off and dries them quite a bit. This in turn helps them to keep longer in the refrigerator. If you are planning to dehydrate them, do not bother spinning :)

Beet greens ready to spin.

Set dial to final SPIN cycle.

I hope this was helpful! Maybe you have a more efficient way than this? If so, please share!

Kombucha Revisited

Almost FIVE YEARS AGO I did a post on brewing kombucha tea. We do things a tiny bit differently now ... here is a video I did recently to show how we flavor our kombucha. Let me know if you have a different method that works for you :)

FLAVORED KOMBUCHA TEA

General Update

Drilling fence post holes

Preparing to build the new meat bird and layer houses

Tilling the garden spot

Greens from our raised beds ... got about 6lbs so far :)

Selling our organic, heirloom starts

Picking mushrooms

The best seat in the house ... but ...

... now she thinks all windows are hers

Easy Homemade Sauerkraut

Making your own sauerkraut is super easy :) I know I've posted a 'how to' blog before on this subject but here is a quick video demonstration. I hope it is helpful!!

Easy Lacto-Fermented Apple Chutney

Another super easy lacto-fermented food ... probably a good one for beginners since it is sweet. Excellent alone or paired with yogurt, pancakes, cottage cheese, etc. Video at bottom :)

3c chopped apples, any variety
1/2c seeds or chopped nuts - sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc.
1/2c dried fruit (chop if larger) - dates, figs, dried apricots, raisins, etc.
1/2c distilled or filtered water
1/4c fresh lemon juice
1/4c starter (whey, water kefir, ginger soda, kombucha, liquid from carrot or other veggie ferment, etc.)
2T unrefined sweetener - pure maple syrup, honey, sucanat, rapadura, etc.
1/2t sea salt (such as Redmonds Real Salt)
1 - 2T spices to taste
(I use a combination of spices but you may use only cinnamon or a pre-made mix such as 'pumpkin pie spice'.)
My combo: 1T cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg, 1/2t ginger, 1/4t cloves, 1/4t allspice, 1/8t cardamom, 1/8t anise seed ... or something like that :)

Mix together thoroughly. Place in a 1qt mason jar with a tight lid or an airlock (D-I-Y Fermenting Airlock Tutorial). Leave on the counter to ferment 2-3 days, after that store in the refrigerator. Keeps about 3 weeks but really you should have it eaten by then. :)

For more videos please see our youtube playlists.