Print the recipe card!  dry veggie powder mixes

Condiments and seasonings go a long way towards adding variety and interest to your food storage, but buying commercial jars and mix packets can get really expensive and nibble away at your real food budget. I stumbled on this homemade version when I was figuring out new things to do with our dehydrated vegetables.  The huge bonus is that you can make your own custom dry mixes while using up any dehydrated veggies that aren’t family favorites or that you’ve discovered don’t reconstitute well. Dry mixes like these have a multitude of uses, limited only by your imagination. So far I’ve used them for chowder and soup bases, pesto, casseroles, omelets, salad dressing and dips.

The following recipe was just the dehydrated veggies I had in my pantry to show you the idea. They made a tasty combination, but please feel free to experiment with whichever dehydrated or freeze-dried vegetables (see notes) you have, or change the amounts to suit your taste.

 Ingredients:

¼ c dehydrated bell pepper

½ c dehydrated broccoli

¼ c dehydrated cabbage

½ c dehydrated carrots

¼ c dehydrated celery

½ c dehydrated green beans

½ c dehydrated onion

½ c dehydrated sweet corn

1 Tbsp Italian spice mix – or – 1 tsp each dry basil, oregano & thyme

1 Tbsp dry cilantro

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp tomato powder (see notes)

½  tsp dry red pepper and/or jalapeno flakes (optional, if you like some heat)

½ tsp each salt & pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Grind the dry vegetables and seasonings in a blender or grain mill to suit your taste. Use a coarse grind if you like a chunkier texture similar to the vegetable dip, or a finer powder if you prefer a smoother texture similar to Green Goddess dressing. I’ve ground mine medium-fine because I planned to use them for a creamy dip.

Combine well, and store the mix in an airtight container. This recipe made roughly a pint, which I keep in my pantry in a sealed quart mason jar.

To Prepare Creamy Veggie Dip:  Shake veggie mix well, then combine ¼ c of mix with ½ c warm water to cover. Set the veggie mix aside to rest and rehydrate (about 30 minutes), then drain off excess liquid and combine with 1 c sour cream, yogurt or softened cream cheese.

To Prepare Veggie Pesto: Shake veggie mix well, then combine ¼ c of mix with ½ – 1 c water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower temperature and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain off excess liquid, combine with ½ c olive oil and serve over cooked pasta (a little goes a long way!).

To Prepare Veggie Omelet with Powdered Eggs: Shake veggie mix well, then combine 1 tsp of mix and 1 Tbsp of egg powder with ¼ c warm water for each person. Blend well and allow to rehydrate (about 5 minutes) before cooking. Adding milk powder, sour cream powder, butter powder or cheese powder will also greatly improve the flavor of powdered eggs, but you may need to adjust the water and amounts depending on which brands you use.

Notes:

• You must use brittle-dry vegetables for this recipe if you want to store the dry mix/powder in your pantry. If you’re planning to use the mix right away, you can add diced leather-dry vegetables like sun-dried tomatoes or peppers, or simply add those in during your final preparation.
• If you have freeze-dried tomato chunks, they work better in the chunky versions than the dry tomato powder… however plain dehydrated or sun-dried tomatoes are normally not dry enough to grind in a mill or to add to a dry mix you intend to store in the pantry.
• More ways to use the vegetable powder mix:
  • Add to plain tomato sauce (or simply tomato powder and water) for instant pizza/pasta sauce, or to your normal pizza/pasta sauce to sneak extra veggies into your kids’ diet.
  • You can also add ¼ to ½ tsp of your veggie powder to the Whole Wheat Cracker recipe to make your own savory Vegetable Crackers.
  • Add 1 tsp of Old Bay Seasoning and 1 tsp of lemon juice to 1 c of the prepared veggie dip and combine with two 10-12oz cans of crab, tuna or salmon for the best seafood salad EVER!