Eating well deliciously!
Today I’m sharing another post from my friends over at MadeByHemp. Since it’s Monday and the start of a brand new week, what better way to start than to share some tips on how you can increase productivity? No, it’s not about recipes, but Read more
In my weight loss journey, I have tried several diets and meal plans in my efforts to lose weight. Out of all the diets, I have tried, the only one that works and that I can easily sustain is the low-carb diet. I came Read more
I first discovered dehydrators when I was on the Paleo diet and looking to replicate foods like dried game meats and venison that were eaten by our Paleolithic ancestors. Dehydrators are used to dehydrate or dry out the moisture from organic and inorganic matter. They are largely used in food preparation to preserve fruits, vegetables, meats, and other prepared foods.
For this post, I’ll review the Excalibur Dehydrator which is well-known in the world of domestic dehydrators and which I used extensively while I was following the Paleo diet. I still use it from time to time when I want to enjoy some jerky or oil-free veggie chips.
Simply speaking, a dehydrator is a machine that removes water from food and other objects by using a continuous circulation of thermostatically controlled warm air. Dehydrators can be used to remove the moisture from fruits and vegetables, animal-based proteins like beef, fish, and venison as well as from prepared foods like yogurt and cheese.
Dehydrators are exquisitely elementary machines comprised of mesh-covered shelves set into a circular or square case. A small motor delivers and circulates warm air over food for a set period until all moisture is dried out. The food is then preserved and can be stored and enjoyed long after they were first bought. Dehydrators come with instructions and they are very easy to use so there should be no fear in obtaining one.
As I mentioned, I never gave having a dehydrator a thought before my stint on the Paleo diet. However, I discovered how valuable they are once I got a dehydrator of my own. Dehydrators can help you save money on your grocery bill by preserving foods and increasing the shelf-life of evaporated liquids. Here is a brief list of what you can do with a dehydrator:
If you need to evenly and slowly remove moisture from any food or even inorganic items, a dehydrator will make your life easier.
The Excalibur dehydrator is one of the better-known dehydrators available for personal use at home, this is because it’s been tried and tested as one of the more reliable ones available in the market. The Excalibur dehydrator comes in several sizes including with 4 or 9 trays that provide ample surface areas for drying large amounts of foodstuffs.
The Excalibur comes with a built-in 26-hour timer and temperature thermostat so you can enter the correct temperature and time needed depending on the item being dehydrated. It also comes with a sliding door and mesh trays that are easy to remove and clean.
The Excalibur dehydrator comes with a Dehydration Guide that gives you information on all you need to know about dehydration along with several recipes and uses that you can try out from the comfort of your home.
I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all you can do with an Excalibur Dehydrator. I already commented on the top three home uses of making dried fruits, fruit leather, and jerky, but you can also use an Excalibur Dehydrator to:
You can dehydrate an entire meal with the Excalibur dehydrator all while preserving beneficial enzymes, vitamins, and other nutrients.
Don’t just take my word for it though because as always, I like to include what others are saying about any item I review. Take a look at some recent reviews and what others are saying about the Excalibur Dehydrator.
Angela E. 5.0 out of 5 stars This Dehydrator is Fantastic! May 8, 2019 Size: 9-Tray Verified Purchase
I have been using this dehydrator every few days to make large batches of dried fruit (apples, bananas, plums, peaches, grapes, strawberries…) and it has worked perfectly. The fruit dries evenly throughout even when I dry thick slices. The fan noise is not terrible – you can hear it, but the sound is similar to a “white noise machine” and it does not bother me. It is easy to clean and we have had NO problems with it at all.
Joanne 5.0 out of 5 stars Love the dehydrator. May 7, 2019 Size: 9-Tray Verified Purchase
Love my dehydrator. I use it all the time. Lots of shelves. Works great.
Devon Silvey 3.0 out of 5 stars Expensive for what you get. May 4, 2019 Size: 9-Tray Verified Purchase
Wish it came with the book that used to be included. The “dehydration guide” is just the small product manual. It really shouldn’t even be included in the advertising…. “your product now includes instructions at no additional cost!”
Dave D 5.0 out of 5 stars Best Dehydrator for Jerky. April 18, 2019 Size: 9-Tray Verified Purchase
What a great machine, I have 10 of these lined in my basement, run them weekly, and make quite a few cases of Jerky. Everyone that tries it thinks it’s better than all the store-bought crap.
Richard Meeks 5.0 out of 5 stars Love this dehydrator April 15, 2019 Size: 9-Tray Verified Purchase
Went from one of the round types to this one, major difference. For me, it’s the difference between going from that light oven you get for Christmas as a kid to the double convection oven as an adult. I like making jerky and this machine makes it enjoyable to do.
These reviews align with my thoughts about the Excalibur dehydrator. It may be slightly pricier than other brands, but as with everything in life, you get what you pay for.
An Excalibur Dehydrator is one of the most effective tools in our kitchen that enhances our lives in several ways:
When you know what’s in your food and when you can make meals without preservatives, you enhance your health and quality of life – This is the greatest benefit that an Excalibur Dehydrator can add to your life.
What do you think? Do you have a dehydrator? Can you use one in your kitchen? Let me know in the comments. In the meanwhile, if you’re in the market for a home dehydrator you can pick up an Excalibur dehydrator here.
The majority of this blog focuses on illustrating how we can use food and recipes as catalysts for weight loss and overall good physical health. However, to achieve a balanced and happy life, it is just as important (if not more so) to have Read more
As long as we are eating the right kinds, food is the cure for much of what ails us health-wise. When it comes to losing weight, we might feel that eating less food will help us in our quest. However, not eating enough is Read more
Among the diet plans I’ve tried, the vegan diet was the most challenging of them all. I never realized how much I relied on animal products and foods until I had to give them up. I couldn’t even eat what I thought were “innocent” foods like eggs or honey! To be honest, though, I wasn’t trying the vegan diet because of the guilt some people feel about eating animal-based products. I was trying this way of eating merely to see if I could lose weight by following a vegan diet.
As always, I set about trying to make eating a vegan diet as painless as possible. This meant I had to find replacements for my favorite meats like chicken, lamb, steak, ground meat, and the like. The meat substitutes I wanted had to be similar in texture and have the mouthfeel I was accustomed to when I ate meat. To this end, I researched the latest vegan meat substitutes and discovered the Beyond Meat brand.
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard all the raves about the Beyond Meat brand of vegan meat substitutes. If not, no worries, in this and future posts, I’ll give brief reviews for their line of vegan “meats” including their signature Beyond Burger. First up for reviews of the Beyond Meat brand, their version of ground beef known as Beyond Beef Crumbles.
My cousin the vegan fitness trainer was the first one to introduce me to the Beyond Beef Crumbles. He handed me a frozen bag of Feisty Beyond Beef Crumbles and asked me to trust him. I do trust my cousin, but I still didn’t have any expectation of really enjoying this imitation ground beef. The first thing I did, was to check out the ingredients before I cooked some up.
The Feisty Beyond Beef Crumbles is made with the following ingredients:
Water, Pea Protein Isolate, Canola and Sunflower Oil, Spice, Rice Flour, Tomato Powder, Sugar, Potassium Chloride, Contains 0.5% or less: Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Tapioca Maltodextrin, Onion Extract, Acacia Gum, Salt, Chili Pepper Extract, Natural Flavor, Garlic Extract, Paprika Extract (For Color).
Given that this is a ground beef substitute, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could recognize all the ingredients in what would normally be highly processed food. The nutritional profile of the Feisty crumbles was also impressive with a whopping 13 grams of protein in a half-cup serving. These beefy crumbles were also fairly low in calories with only 90 calories per serving.
So far so good, now, I had to cook some up to see if the taste matched the promise and quality of its ingredients.
After carefully scrutinizing the ingredients on the Feisty Beyond Beef Crumbles it was time to bite the bullet and prepare my first meal with this vegan ground beef substitute. I felt like using it to make a quick and easy meal as is my wont, so I decided on making soft tacos. I whipped up a batch of my einkorn tortillas before making the Feisty crumbles because the crumbles cook up in a mere three minutes.
The first thing I did was heat a bit of oil in a nonstick pan and add the Feisty Beyond Beef Crumbles. As it heated, I smelled the earthy spices similar to cumin and paprika. The texture was much finer than you would see in regular ground beef. I was afraid to stir it too much for fear that I’d end up with a slush instead of a nice chewy ground beef texture. Thankfully the crumbles were ready in only 3 minutes.
I prepared my soft taco by spreading the prepared Feisty beef crumbles on an einkorn flour tortilla and adding a bit of cilantro and a few slices of avocado and tomato. I rolled it all up and took a big bite. The verdict? It was delicious! I was not expecting it to taste so good and I was shocked at my enjoyment. This vegan thing wasn’t going to be so bad after all!
Here’s my brief breakdown of the pros and cons of the Feisty Beyond Beef Crumbles:
Pros
Cons
Even with these two small cons against it, I enjoyed the Feisty Beyond Beef Crumbles and I would eat it again even without following the vegan diet exclusively.
You would think that the only difference between the Beyond Meat Beefy Beef Crumbles and the Beyond Meat Feisty Beef Crumbles is that the Feisty one is seasoned. Alas, this is not the only difference between the two and they could not be more different from each other in both taste and texture.
The Beefy Beyond Beef Crumbles is made with the following ingredients:
Water, Pea Protein Isolate, Canola And Sunflower Oil, Rice Flour, Spice, Tomato Powder, Contains 0.5% Or Less: Yeast Extract, Sugar, Potassium Chloride, Tapioca Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Salt, Acacia Gum, Onion Extract, Natural Flavor, Garlic Extract.
Although the Beefy version of the crumbles has many of the same ingredients as the Feisty version, they are quite different in taste. Where the Feisty Beyond Beef Crumbles fails, the Beefy Beef Crumbles excels. For example, when you look at the Beefy version of the crumbles, you would swear you were looking at actual ground beef from a cow. It’s actually very eerie how closely Beyond Meat managed to emulate the look and texture of ground beef.
However, the appearance is the only quality that’s similar to real ground beef as I found out when I made my first meal with the Beyond Meat Beefy Beef Crumbles.
I made another quick and easy meal with the Beefy Crumbles. Instead of tacos, I made corn pasta elbows with Beefy Crumbles and Basil Tomato pasta sauce. In an attempt to boost the flavor of the Beefy crumbles, I added a bit of fresh garlic and onion to the pan before sauteing the crumbles and adding the sauce.
I followed the instructions on how to cook the Beefy Crumbles and fried them for about three minutes after cooking down the fresh aromatics. After draining the pasta, I added the Beefy crumbles and pasta sauce mixture over the top. I was looking forward to eating this meal because it looked delicious. I took a bite.
The actual texture and taste of the Beyond Meat Beefy Beef Crumbles are in a word, horrible. The texture was hard and it felt like I was chewing rubber pellets. I was surprised to be disappointed in the Beyond Beef Beefy Crumbles because their Feisty version tastes good even though the texture leaves a bit to be desired. The Beefy Crumbles make a pretty picture when served with a bit of sauce and pasta, but the taste is atrocious.
Pros
Cons
As much as I enjoyed the Feisty version of the Beyond Meat Feisty Beef Crumbles, I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone buy the Beefy version of the Beyond Meat Beef Crumbles.
I never thought there would be any real difference between the two versions of Beyond Meat Beef Crumbles, but boy was I wrong. How could two similar products made by the same company be so different? The Feisty crumbles are well seasoned and delicious. The Feisty crumbles are small yes, but when combined with other bulking additions like pico de gallo or avocado, it makes a very tasty and satisfying meal that you’d swear was ground beef.
The Beefy style crumbles on the other hand is just bad. It has what I imagine the flavor profile of dog food to be. On top of that the Beefy crumbles were just rubbery. They were the right size and greatly resemble actual ground beef but that’s where the similarities end. In the war between Beyond Meat Beef Crumbles the Feisty version wins hands down.
In a word, yes. If you’re a new vegan who still misses the flavor and texture of ground beef, then I highly recommend you try the Beyond Meat Beef Crumbles. Be sure to choose the Feisty version and stay far away from the Beefy version. Even if you’re a seasoned vegan, you too can enjoy Beyond Meat’s Feisty Beef Crumbles.
If you’ve never tried the Beyond Meat Beef Crumbles Feisty, you can get some here.
