Dehydrating is a brilliant way to preserve seasonal produce, reduce waste, and enjoy tasty, healthy snacks all year round. With just a dehydrator or a low oven, you can transform fresh fruit and vegetables into shelf-stable treats that are perfect for snacking, adding to recipes, or gifting.
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This year, I had an abundance of apples and decided to borrow my brother's dehydrator and try my hand at dehydrating. The results were amazing, chewy apple chips that not only keep for months but also won over my teenager!

It worked so well that I dehydrated the extra beetroot I had in the kitchen, and just wow. They are delicious and great with the apples. Even my brother, not a beetroot fan, liked them!

How to Dehydrate

• Peel your apples or beetroot.
• Core the apples.
• ​Slice thinly and evenly (a mandoline is useful here).
• For apples, a quick dip in lemon water helps prevent browning (I didn't bother!)
• Arrange slices on dehydrator trays or baking parchment in a low oven (about 60–70°C).
• Dry until crisp but not burnt, I did 12 hours in a dehydrator.
• Cool completely before storing in airtight jars.

The best part? Dehydrated apples and beetroot keep for months, are easy to store, and mean you always have a zero-waste, healthy snack at hand. They’ve become so popular in our house that the apples are nearly all gone,  I might even have to buy more just so I can dehydrate them!

Geraldine Fitzpatrick

This month's recipe from The Happy Pear would be delicious in a mezze, and add last month's recipe, Labneh.

This roasted beetroot hummus is a deliciously creamy and vibrant dish, perfect for serving as a dip. The earthy sweetness of the roasted beetroot pairs beautifully with chickpeas, garlic, and tahini to create a delightful blend of flavours.

Serves 12

Ingredients

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 x 400g tins of chickpeas
• Juice of 1 lemon (approx 50ml lemon juice)
• 2 tbsp light tahini
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 250 g beetroot
• Salt and black pepper (to taste)
• 4 tbsp water (optional, for adjusting texture)

Method

• Preheat the Oven: Preheat your oven to 180℃ (fan-assisted).
• Prepare the Beetroot: Roughly chop the beetroot into bite-size pieces and place them on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes or until the edges are slightly charred.
• Warm the Chickpeas: Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Place them in a pot of boiling water and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes to warm them up. Drain them afterwards.
• Blend the Hummus: In a food processor, add the peeled garlic, roasted beetroot, drained chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, 1 tsp of salt, ½ tsp of black pepper, and 4 tbsp of water. Blend for 2-3 minutes, until smooth.  Add more water if needed to achieve your desired texture.Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
• Serve: Serve the hummus in a bowl, surrounded by toasted pita bread fingers for dipping. Enjoy!

Geraldine Fitzpatrick

I tried Dr Coy’s Chicken Bouillon recently, and it’s quickly become one of my favourite cupboard staples. The flavour is rich and comforting, thanks to the chicken, herbs, and 16 organic vegetables, without any of the additives I usually try to avoid.

I’ve used it in soups, sauces, curries and casseroles. Every time it tastes like I’ve spent hours making stock from scratch. One small tub makes around 20 servings, so it’s great value too. For me, it’s an easy, wholesome way to make everyday cooking that bit more delicious. Review by Pauline

Let us know which of our products are your favourites and why
Email Geraldine [email protected]

This is often what I do with left-over rice. In this case I had cooked some buckwheat and was trying to figure out what to do with it. 
 
People often find it difficult to know what to cook when they get home from work.
 
I look around at what I have on hand and come up with something … left-overs are the best thing to start with. If I had mashed potato the night before, I might make croquettes.  If it was risotto, I might make Arancini … and when it is a grain, I make a stir fry or this type of chickpea salad.
 
This ‘salad’ is very filling, it can me a meal all by itself.  You can even warm it up a little if you are in the mood for hot food.
 
Enough for 2 servings

Recipe
 INGREDIENTS

• 2 to 3 cups of cooked buckwheat or any other grain – allowed to cool or use left-overs
• ½ a cucumber – cut into small cubes
• 1 red pepper – cut into small cubes
• ½ a medium red onion – finely chopped
• 1 tin of chickpeas – drained
• A big handful of fresh parsley – finely chopped
• A few tablespoons of olive oil
• A tablespoon or two of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• A pinch of sea salt

 
 
METHOD

1. I almost always use left-over rice or other grains, barley, bulgar, buckwheat or wheat berries. When the grain has cooled well it stay together when mixed up with other ingredients.
2. Mix everything together after chopping then add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and one of lemon juice, a sprinkle of salt and mix well, then taste it.  You may want to add more olive oil or lemon juice or salt.
3. Voila, that easy …and it always tastes good!😊

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​​Bon Appetit
 
Jacques, from Hungry Soul

This month I am recomending a podcast rather than a book.

​I had a listen to the first podcast of Dr. Richard Rocker lately and want to draw you attention to it.

https://www.rockerclinic.com/podcast/  Called The Integrative Continuum

Richard describes it as a
“Go-to source for cutting-edge insights into health, fitness, rehabilitation, and holistic medicine.

Diving into the world of Functional, Integrative, and Natural Medicine, exploring how we can bridge science, practice, and holistic therapies to restore health and vitality. Each episode will feature practical insights, inspiring conversations, and real tools you can use on your own health journey.”

This may be a very useful tool in your virtual medicine cabinet. 

​Anne Maher

The news today talks about the consultant fees in hospitals, highlighting costs that would seem to me to be excessive. A quick check on AI tells me that the average would be, let’s say, up to €400K a year. Call-out fees, private work etc, seem to bump this up. Earnings of €1M have been reported.
 
That amount would pay a lot of farmers to provide food as medicine. It’s easy to say that. But that is not how it works, alas.
 
We justify huge amounts of money and resources to be spent on health. Is it value for money?
 
Here’s a crazy idea. What if such consultants were paid on the success outcome? What if they were rewarded to reduce patient numbers by ensuring they recovered? We appear to measure the metric of medications delivered as a success.
 
Medication overload and toxicity is being increasingly acknowledged, though, and the reality is sobering. Have we poisoned a generation with paracetamol? The genie is out of the bottle regardless of the scientific skirmishes of who is right and wrong. We are beginning to question everything as a population, and that is no harm. Maybe this nourishing food thing is encouraging critical thinking…
 
I am keeping an eye on a company called Revero.
 
Here is the future of healthcare, where the expertise is in your pocket as a tech enabled on line medical clinic. Virtual clinics of experts to support you find the root cause of your issue. Autoimmunity being a hot topic among the other metabolic disorders.
 
Of course, the personal touch is important but hey this is a game changer on health care costs. I wonder will it come to Ireland? Or is this model here already?? Let me know…

​Anne Maher

I’ve said it countless times, but it is worth reminding folks that FAT is good for us… If you are still afraid of this vital nutrient, you have been brainwashed by decades of propaganda. Have you got low-fat products in your house/fridge? It may not be a coincidence that you are suffering with your health..
 
If we had not taken on board this belief and changed everything with our foods, I wonder where we would be now… we took on the butter substitutes, the trans fats, the added sugar, the high fructose corn syrup, the sugar substitutes, the refined salt, the colours and flavours…. All to make food taste somewhat palatable. We have paid the price and continue to do so.
 
Do not think that a jab will solve this…
 
Let's go back to eating fat instead! Simple! The fat on the rasher, cream on the milk, full-fat coconut milk… etc., it's not a hardship. Trust me…
 
I am so glad to see that whole milk is returning to school meals in the US. This is the start of a recovery. 

Anne Maher