Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

My need for dried and fresh herbs will increase dramatically with the opening of our new Bed and Breakfast, Casa Bella . I relied heavily on my kitchen garden the first time around and look forward to planning and planting another garden in a few weeks. I dried quite a few seeds over the late summer, fall and winter; hoping to grow them this season in my own garden, My hope is that everything will taste as good as the original store-bought version. How often can you even say that anymore? Too often the fruit and veggies have no flavor and mealy textures. So, we'll see. One of my big goals for the year is to create raised beds on our empty lot behind the cottage and share it with a few neighbors and friends in the hopes of creating a "co-op" garden filled with herbs, vegetables, melons, fruit bushes and trees. I love our Newnan Market Days and am thinking about selling my herb and spice blends that I dry and blend from leftovers of episodes of Home At Last! Which f...

Years ago I was able to walk into one of the popular kitchen stores and buy small boxes of dried green peppers pieces! Not the seeds! They were either poblanos or jalepenos. As usual, the stores get you hooked on a product and stop carrying it! For years, now, I have been hunting for something to replace one of my favorite additives in the pantry. Frustrated, I decided to dry my own. This picture was taken ten days after bringing them from the store. Now, I imagine that it would be a lot faster with a dehydrator but I don't have room for another piece of equipment. My methods are primitive but I know the results will be worth it. I might try placing them on racks inside my warming oven. It only heats up to about 100 degrees which could easily produce great results. I will report back to you, later!