Dehydrating Basil

Part of buying a dehydrator was to dry herbs. So when I kept staring at one of my fully grown Basil plants that was beginning to bloom and thinking my Tomatoes have not produced yet to enjoy that Basil.
It took another week for me to tell myself to dry that Basil.

I started to chop a lot of stems off before I thought to read my dehydrator booklet. It said to cut only 3-4 inches below the top just as first buds appear. My Basil was beginning to flower but I was cutting to much. Went back outside and cut the rest as the book said.

It is a lot of Basil. Now to fit it into my dehydrator. The book said to cut off the big leaves and  bend or break veins and stems to aid drying. (the Pumpkin in pic. is from my garden, yum.)

I added more to this one and I ended up filling 6 trays. The booklet said dehydrate between 95-100 degrees and no more.This will take a few days.

Will update when done. Well it took about 2  1/2 days to dehydrate it all. Crumbled all the dry leaves into a cleaned out class jar with lid.

It is an old nut butter jar. The smell is very fresh and the taste is fresher than any store bought dried Basil. Well worth it. Now to keep in dark place away from sunlight and heat. The glass jar will help keep the Basil fresher longer to.

My Basil plant is still alive and thriving. I moved it to a spot that gets afternoon shade.  I may dry more for gifting. I have another Basil plant thriving in my garden to. So happy to be able to preserve this herb for winter time.

Healthy Chocolate Smoothie Recipe

It is getting super hot here and it was time for my favorite smoothie.

What You will need:

1/2 cup of milk of choice
a large handful of fresh Spinach or greens of choice
1 banana Fresh or frozen/defrosted
1 T. Carob powder or 2 T. Cocoa powder
1-2 T. Peanut butter or other Nut butter of choice
Sweetener of choice. I use 1 T. Splenda, or Stevia powder, for my older son I use 2 T. sugar, whatever works for you.
1 cup of ice

Boost options: 1-3 tsp. of Moringa Leaf Powder, 1-3 tsp Maca powder, or your boost of choice.

Put this all into the blender.

Today I boost with 1 tsp. Moringa Leaf powder.

Don't forget the ice.

Now blend.

Looks good to me, but for the picky eaters like my older athletic son whom thinks most stuff like this is gross. I have found that he will drink this when I use 2 T. Cocoa powder instead of carob powder and use 2 T. of sugar. This is very healthy and makes one feel great and full of energy any time of the day for a meal or a snack.