Homemade Beef Jerky = Success!

I decided to just dive in and do something awesome with my new dehydrator.  So I made Beef Jerky!

I'm actually very pleased with my $20 Dehydrator.  The dehydrating times are a lot better than I thought, I figured since I didn't buy a "nicer" (more expensive) dehydrator with a fan the times would be a lot longer but they are actually comparable to other top models, in my opinion.  The beef jerky was done in less than 11 hours.  Just be sure to "rotate" the trays so everything gets dehydrated evenly, especially if you have more than 2-3 trays going at one time.  By "rotate" I mean take the tray on top and move it to the bottom, and do this every few hours.

I made some last week and it got gone in 2 days!  So I had to make some more this week, this time I bought a bigger piece of meat so it'll last me longer.  

I didn't really follow a recipe, although I looked through many online.  A lot of people like to use flank steak or round steak.  I used Round Roast, but from what I've read just about any cut of beef will work, just make sure there is as little fat as possible in the meat.  From what I gather you pretty much put what sounds good to you in the marinade.  Here's what I used:

Soy Sauce (this was the main ingredient for my marinade)
Worcestershire Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (to make it spicy)


Trim as much fat ass possible off the meat.  Cut your meat into 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices.

Marinade as long as you want.  Some people say to marinate overnight, others say 6-8 hours.  On my first batch I marinated it for 30 minutes, and it tasted great.  The second batch I marinated it for 2 hours, and didn't notice a difference flavor wise, the main difference I is the second batch was spicier because it had more time with the crushed red pepper.

Depending on how thick your jerky is, as well as how dry you like it, will depend on how long it needs to dehydrate.
I did the first batch for 11 hours.  The second batch I accidentally went to long, about 13 hours, so it was dehydrated too much.  It's still edible it is a lot easier to tear and will be chewy once your start chewing it.

But if you find you've dehydrated it more than you like I found a trick online that I tried and it works!:
Take a piece of bread and put it in the center of a zip-lock bag with the beef jerky around it and leave it overnight or until the jerky is how you like.  The jerky will absorb the moisture from the bread.  The bread will be dry like toast when you take it out.

$20 Food Dehydrator - Part 2

Well it worked!  It actually didn't take as long as I thought it would.  Then again, I guess it all depends on how many trays you are doing, and how thick you cut your fruit/veggies.  It took less than 11 hours for the apple slices, just a bit longer for the orange slices.

So over all I'm pleased with it.  Not bad for $20!  Now the test will be will it hold up and continue working for years to come?  It does come with a 2 year warranty (of course I have to send in the warranty card first :-P ) but hopefully everything will continue working just fine.  Now let's see what else can I dehydrate?!

$20 Food Dehydrator

Today I bought a cheap food dehydrator for $20.  Yep $20.  But like I said it's cheap, nothing fancy, not top of line, name brand or anything.  I bought it at ALDI's  They've had them in the past but wasn't sure if it would be any good.  They came back again this season and I thought I might as well give it a try instead of waiting until I find $300 laying around that I don't need for something else :-P

Every time I have seen them at ALDI they have sold out pretty quick.  I know one of my area stores has already sold out and another only had 4 left, as opposed to a week ago they had around 15.  It comes with 5 trays, the base, the lid, and instruction manual/recipe book.

I currently have some apple and orange slices in it.  From what I can tell it does not have a fan, so dehydration times will probably be a lot longer than those high priced models.  I may go ahead and add some pineapple as well.

I'll post an update within a day or so (whenever it finishes) and let y'all know how it works!

*****UPDATE 8:08 PM*****

Out of curiosity I put a thermometer through the top and with three trays it is reading 140° F.

New Addition to the Family!!!!

Baby Charles (Charlie) is here!  He was born at 3:56 am and weighs 5lbs 2oz and is 19.2 inches long!

Welcome Charlie!!!

Time Warner Speed Tests

Well I just got my Time Warner Turbo hooked up and ran a couple of speed tests and here are the first three results:

So if these speeds keep up, I'll be pretty happy! ^_^

Changing ISPs

This evening we'll be switching our Internet service from Windstream to Time Warner.  I've been waiting for Windstream to provide faster service here, but every time I've asked them if they will be upgrading soon they always told me there were no plans in the near future.  So I've decided to make the switch.

I've actually been against cable most of my life because you don't have a dedicated line and you have to share bandwidth with everyone around you, so this will be my first experience with it.  I'm hoping for the best, so we'll see.  I figure I can always change back again if I don't like it, so I might as well give it a try.

Right now we're getting 6Mbps from Windstream, and I've signed up for 15Mbps down and 1Mbps up from Time Warner.  Here is my SpeedTest from Windstream:

I'll post one from Time Warner this evening after they come hook it up, cross your fingers!

Ranch Chicken Nuggest & Cheese Fries

I've been really busy with work and other things so tonight we had Ranch Chicken Nuggets and Cheese Fries.  It's very easy, requires very few ingredients, and you can make as little, or as much as you like.

Ranch Chicken Nuggets:
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into cubes
Ranch Salad Dressing
Italian Bread Crumbs

Preheat oven to 400° Dip the Chicken cubes into the Ranch Dressing and then roll in the Italian Bread Crumbs.  Place on a baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes or until Chicken is cook through.  Serve with Ranch Dressing for dipping sauce.


Cheese Fries:
1 bag of Frozen Fries
1 can Cheddar Cheese Soup

Cook the fries according to the directions on the bag.  Move fries into the center of baking pan and spoon Cheddar Cheese Soup over fries, as little or as much as you want.  Heat in oven until Cheese is warm.