My son gets a kick out of reading everything these days, so he announced, “Do Not Drop!” when the UPS man came to our door. He figures the UPS man wrote it on there, or maybe “he told the printer to put those words there.” I think I was wasting my time trying to explain to him that the people who made the box wrote it, and that the people at CookWaresPlus.com who sent the box knew that it shouldn’t be dropped.
And why, you ask, should one not drop this box?
There’s a fancy kitchen appliance in it.
- It’s for preserving the summer harvest.
- It comes in black or white.
- It is the square brand, not the round one.
- It has trays.
Nope. Not a great big stockpot. Nice try though.
I have visions of 15 square feet of strawberry fruit rolls. Crispy nuts done all in one batch. Summer tomatoes powdered for tomato paste, so I can avoid the BPA lining in cans.
I’m sure you figured out by now that the lovely ladies at CookWaresPlus.com sent me an Excalibur Dehydrator to play around with. I’m looking forward to finding out new ways to use one, as I’ve only borrowed a friend’s not-quite-as-high-quality-brand before.
Don’t get jealous, now. There’s a box for you, too. How could I leave out my incredible readers?
As soon as Kitchen Stewardship has 4,000 subscribers, as seen in the green “readers” box in the right sidebar, we’ll have a little giveaway opportunity for a 5-tray Excalibur Dehydrator, valued at $179.90. (After the Spring Cleaning Carnival, if we happen to hit the numbers before the end of May.)
Mary and Sylvia at CookWaresPlus really want you to be able to get yours in time for summer harvesting, so let’s get there before July, shall we dears? 
I’m so excited to be able to share this opportunity with you. I think a dehydrator is even less intimidating than a grain mill, as not everyone may be ready to grind their own grain (hence mine still being in its box!), but anyone can slice and dry out strawberries or pineapple for on the go snacks.
Here’s the part where you’re glad you’re already a subscriber. Right now on this post, you can leave a comment for a bonus entry in the Excalibur dehydrator giveaway, whenever it happens.
The catch? You need to already have been a subscriber before today. Newbies, welcome aboard! You’ll get more opportunities like this, but I have to give a little gift to those who are already hanging in there with me.
Last time I did this, it was pretty doggone fun to “get to know” so many of you. This time around, I might as well make use of the fact that you’re leaving a note. Tell me something about yourself. It could be how many kids you have, your heritage, why you eat real food, how you discovered KS, your concerns for the world, what’s on your armpits…whatever. Help me get to know my readers a little better – and then let’s start brainstorming how to get even more people along for the ride here! Four thousand, here we come!
Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week with the Healthy Snacks to Go eBook rolling out and Mindful Momma educating us all about parabens in personal products. It should be a great week!
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Don’t miss the next bonus entry opportunity for either the Excalibur dehydrator or the Nutrimill grain mill! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter or get KS for Kindle.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
Disclosure: CookWaresPlus.com provided me with a very, very nice dehydrator, free of charge, in exchange for some advertising and happy mentions leading up to the giveaway. They are providing an Excalibur for you to win, too, although mine is better. Why? Because I’m the blogger. They’re can’t demand a positive review, though, and their generosity in now way affects my opinions. Those are pretty set in stone, in case you haven’t noticed! See my full disclosure statement here.
I’ve been a subscriber for a month or so now…
And I’m getting married to an amazing guy in 99 days.
I’ve been a subscriber for a couple months now, and I’ve been dying to try dehydrating. I tried it once in high school, using an old window screen in the HOT attic (NC summers are hot). But I was a little worried about rust from the screen and fiberglass from the attic insulation, so that was a shortlived experiment. I’d love to try it “for real”
I found you because I’ve just recently read Nourishing Traditions and was excited and intrigued by everything it said. I’ve been following a bunch of blogs that align with its healthful eatting since.
I have two very small children… one is just two years old and the other one will be one next month!
My biggest question is baby food.. I get how to prepare fresh foods (then I freeze them) … but other then microwaving, I feel stuck about how to reheat them safely and timely. I suppose I could start by putting them in the fridge overnight to soften, but then I’m stuck!
By the way… one of the most interesting things for me when reading is that I thought I was eatting generally healthy stuff… and now I know, it’s ALL processed!! *shudder* you should see my fridge!!
Katie Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Tricia,
Katie
Do you have a toaster oven? I put a cube of baby food in a glass dish and toast it, once for thawed and twice for frozen. I remember my son eating some things thawed but cold that I never would have expected, too!
I doubt I can win the dehydrator, but who doesn’t like to talk about themselves? I found KS sometime before Christmas, and my first comment was about Christmas traditions in Slovakia, where I now live with my husband and two daughters. Originally from Canada, I spent three years in MI at Ave Maria College. I was the only Naomi commenting until today – I saw someone else named Naomi! so now I’m Naomi H.
Okay, what can I tell you that you might not know?
We might be moving home to Texas at the end of the summer. A dehydrator DOES sound like something I would actually use! Thanks for all the work you do here! I love learning from you!
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..Loyal Little Flowers =-.
I’ve been a subscriber for 6 months or longer.
Thanks for your email about pots and pans – I am going to buy cast iron sometime in the next month (after dragging my feet for far too long!). I hope my husband will come to love cooking in them – right now he’s a bit resistant. On a completely different topic: I bought 4 organic, heirloom tomato plants at the farmers market yesterday. So exciting! Purple tomatoes, here we come!
What a great giveaway! I knew what it was after the second clue! Yea!!! I’ve been dreaming of buying one for a while, along with a grain mill and cast iron pots and a large stock pot and….you get the idea. I’ve been a subscriber in RSS for a while now.
and with dishwasher “detergent”. Thanks for everything, Katie!
I came to real foods by the way of dealing with my eczema that was (and still is) out of control. I’m just getting ready to start the GAPS diet. Yikes!
You’ve helped me out several times already..with chicken stock (mine always gels now
I’ve subscribed for a while now… something about me I ama Christian and inspirations from your blog have made up my entire birthday wishlist this year!
I’ve been subscribed for a couple months now. I’m fresh out of college, teaching in DC public schools, and trying to get my life together so my husband and I can make a smooth transition from being a healthy low-impact couple to being a healthy low-impact family. I love love LOVE the wide array of topics you touch upon and the great guidance offered through your posts.
Hi. I’d love to win a dehydrator. I’ve been grinding wheat for years but have never purchased a dehydrator and I’ve heard that Excalibur is great. I’m a grandma and live in Idaho and have enjoyed your blog on Google Reader for about six months.
Hi-I’ve been a subscriber for a while now. I have done quite a bit of your recommendations. My DH is very reluctant to try the raw milk, though and I just heard a couple of kids getting E.coli,possibly from the raw milk. I make the deodorant and stopped bargain hunting all the cheap processed foods and cleaning supplies. Excited about healthifying my family with real foods and natural products. Thanks!
You continue to be one of my favorite blogs, ever (and for more reasons than just your awesome giveaways. I’m stoked for this one!!!! I would love to invest in an excalibur, but it would be awhile before we could save up for one. Would love to win it!
I’ve been a subscriber for about 8 months and LOVE KS.
Something that I love about my past is that I grew up in Japan in a family of 9 kids (my parents were missionaries). Because of how different the food is there, my mom was always a “real food” cook since packaged and boxed foods really an option. How she did it all and was such a great wife and mom and teacher and missionary is beyond me, but I am so thankful for her example and that she is just a phone call away for any help I need.
My favorite “real food” is fish in it’s freshest form – SUSHI!
.-= Sara-Beth´s last blog ..Overheard at my house – “bummer!” =-.
I’m from Canada and have just come back from living in Japan two weeks. I discovered a lot about organic and natural food while in Japan but could not buy anything. Now I’m really excited to be able to shop at the specialized food shops and the farmers’ markets of Montreal.
.-= kanmuri´s last blog ..Inspired =-.
Things about me . . . let’s see
1. I work for a professional chorus.
2. When people find out where I work, they usually assume that I MUST be a singer.
3. I am actually a crummy singer, and would never dream of auditioning.
I’m an email subscriber.
Thanks to you, I made yogurt for the first time! It was awesome. Oh, and my roommate (and everyone I work with) thinks I am an absolute lunatic because I make my own bread (and now yogurt haha). Sigh. Oh well. At least I can come here for some like-minded people
Wow, what an awesome giveaway! I’m 25 and married, no kiddos, but on a tight budget and convinced we need to eat healthy, without BPA and toxins. Trying to be as organic as possible and into our second year as a container gardener! Keep up the great work and oh how I hope I win!
What a cool giveaway!!!
I subscribed a long time ago, then took a break from blogging and unsubscribed from most blogs that I was reading, but luckily for me, I just renewed my subscription a week or so ago. Phew!
As for my armpits, I’ve got deodorant and that’s all since I just shaved those babies this morning!
.-= klutzymama´s last blog ..A Lesson On Recycling =-.
Oooooo! I would love a dehydrator. I’ve been borrowing my sister-in-laws. Maybe this is the reason I’ve put off buying one.
I have crispy almonds drying as I write this!
I have been subscribing via email for about a month or two months. I stumbled on your blog and love it. I have two kids, daughter age five and son age three. We are all on a gluten free and plant based diet. I would love to dehydrate my own fruit and veggies! I used my friends and was not that impressed. Please let us know what you did and how the kids liked it.
.-= Keilah´s last blog ..Diet and Exercise =-.
I would love a dehydrator!! My daughter has food allergies and with corn being one of them (it’s in everything) we have been eating more and more real foods. I’ve found that I love cooking for my family and coming up with healthy snacks.
Hi! I’m Elizabeth, and I’ve been reading your blog for a month or two. I am new to the Real Food movement and trying to decide just how much of this I can realistically pull off with such a busy household and the Outrageous Cost of eating Real Food!!! I have ten children, with eight still at home. I actually have a dehydrator, which I just had my husband pull out of storage. My daughter is going to wash it off and we are going to start with some strawberries and blueberries . . . .
.-= Elizabeth Ours´s last blog ..Renewing Your Vision for Your Home =-.
I found your site about a month ago & recently subscribed. I have three kids, 5, 2, & 6 months, & have been trying to switch over to only real foods. A dehydrator would be great for that to be able to make snacks for on the go.
Woohoo! Glad I am already a subscriber
That is an awesome dehydrator, you will love it! And so would I, should I win 
I subscribe! I want to eat real food because I used to have PCOS and my husband has type 1 diabetes.
I just used my dehydrator for the first time, and it was great to have the use of my oven! The only downside was that it was loud and in my tiny apartment there is nowhere to hide it.
I came across your blog while researching green cleaning – very new to it, but have been using homemade dishwasher soap, laundry soap, & general cleaning items for about 6-8wks. I like your “baby steps” attitude – we did away w/paper napkins & are using cloth, trying to recycle as much as we can; & I make many homemade foods, bread, etc. For Mother’s Day, I told my husband I want a laundry tree! ( which may or may not go over well in my neighborhood, but I am “high on the hill” & planning to have it in the back yard ; > )
i have 3 kids (aged 3,5,7) , and a husband with lots of allergies, some of them food. his diagnosis is what started me on this journey a couple years ago. i made limited progress until a few months ago when i discovered my new next door neighbor drank raw milk. i’d read about it but didn’t know how to get it since it’s illegal in my state. she loaned me her nourishing traditions book, which gave me more info to search on and is what eventually led me to this great blog. thank you, thank you, thank you for blogging about your experiences ~ blogs like this from real people help me see that i really can do better for my family!
I’m a fairly recent subscriber – maybe a week or 2 now. I love it!
I’m a homeschooling mom of 5, about to celebrate my 10th anniversary of marriage, and with kids whose ages are 9,7,5,4, and 2. We’ve been on a journey to healthier food for most of our marriage, or at least since our oldest was an infant and I first started hearing people talk about organic foods. We lived in Seattle at the time and had a service that delivered organic produce to our home every week, so I started using that. Then I read Fast Food Nation and started seeking out healthier meats.
Now, after years of eating only grass-fed beef and (mostly) pastured chicken and pork, and drinking raw milk from local farms, I am on another journey to learn more about soaking grains and making other healthy diet choices.
And I almost forgot – a big part of this journey came from our dealing with food allergies with our oldest 2 kids. They are eating everything now after treatment with NAET most of last year, but all that label reading really taught me a lot, and we eat very little processed foods even though now we can eat just about anything.
It’s always a learning process, and I’m glad to know about your site to help me along my way!
I knew it
the square not round gave it away…I have been reading your blog everyday since finding it about a year ago and susbscribe by email. I enjoy making as much food from scratch as possible and love seeing what works and what doesn’t for you in your life.
I joined this group last month and have LOVED your blog. I am working backwards in your blog to catch up on everything I’ve missed, and am soaking grains this week!!!! Wow! So much to learn and Incorporated. Thanks for helping us to eat this elephant ONE BITE at a time!
Thank you!
Hi,
This is the first time I have commented on posts, but I wanted to let you know that I have really appreciated your posts on grains and phytates. I have been digging through research and the latest WAP journal and trying to make sense of it all too.
I tried your granola bars, but sorry to say they didn’t turn out so great, however it led me to a DEHYDRATED version! When I used to bake granola it was always so frustrating. Dehydrating gives crispy granola and granola bars! When my round dehydrator goes to dehydrator heaven, I am getting the excalibur for sure!
OHhhhhhh I am sooooo jealous! I looked this baby up on line and MAN is it awesome…no wonder you are so excited. I have been a subscriber for a few month now…..what shall I share with you today….I would love to make fruit roll ups and dehydrated fruit and nut snacks in large quantities for my 4 boys…especially with summer coming up and all the wonderful farmers markets with their fresh yummy healthy fruits and veggies!!! Woo hoo…I have my fingers crossed, but know that no matter who our lucky winner is they will put it to good use! Good luck everyone!
hey there! Love your blog. I have one kid and we live in brooklyn. We have an ancient oven that runs so hot I can’t even use it to dehydrate when it’s off! We have great access to whole real foods all over the city, and belong to a raw milk club too. Pretty good for being in the city! Thanks for all you do.
Ooohh… I used to have an old dehydrator which didn’t work. I’ve had visions ever since then of yummy dehydrated food but the goodwill hand-me-down didn’t cut it. Yippee for a giveaway!
Let’s see… about me- I’ve got 3 kiddos- 3 yr, 1 yr, and 4 mo. I just started a journey to better foods after #3 was born. Hadn’t dropped any weight for 3 mo. Cut out HFCS, most sugars, and most foods, and dropped 12 lb. just like that. I love raw milk, but can’t find a place closer than 45 min. away to buy it. I’m a born-again believer and appreciate how you incorporate your beliefs into everyday life.
Too cool!
I’m an existing subscriber too. We are trying to eat real food as hubby has diabetes. Love your blog!
I’ve been a subscriber for several months now. I started looking for homemade baby food recipes online and eventually started making my own chicken stock, using coconut oil and storing leftovers in glass jars. I am very interested in a combination of saving three things: money, my family’s health, and the planet. It’s great when you can do all 3, and Kitchen Stewardship has been a fantastic asset. I love that Katie is committed to being investigational and open-minded… I am a biologist with a dabbling of knowledge in nutrition: I am open minded about natural foods/remedies/treatments, but I need to see real procedural evidence, not just vague explanations that can come off as new-age navel-gazing. I can accept that we don’t yet have all the answers for why something is better for us than another option, but that’s not going to stop me from asking those questions, and I love that Katie won’t stop asking them either!
My boys are 27 and 24 – they sure grow fast! We’ve been eating real food for the past 5 years, but I sure wish that we had known how to do it sooner.
I’ve been a reader for a few months now. I probably am the oldest reader you have — I am 66 years old (67 the end of this month!!!!!) I am presently using my daughter in law’s American Harvest dehydrator to experiment with and have made some dried plum tomatoes, some onion flax crackers or flatbread, and have dried some apple slices. I am working on a carrot flatbread right now and would love, love, love to win the Excalibur – would be a great birthday present! I enjoy reading each installment of your blog. I found you blog while searching for healthy living recipes – vegetarian, raw, gluten free. I have recently been diagnosed with diabetes type 2. Healthy eating and living is a must now. Good luck with your blog.
WOOHOO! I am already subscribed also….I love to dehydrate, the best dehydrating book out there is Mary Bell’s, she is a dream and makes things so easy!
I am an email subscriber! I love your blog and can’t wait to see how you use the dehydrator.
.-= arlene mobley´s last blog ..Pioneer Woman Cooks Flat Apple Pie =-.
As a mom to six kids under ten who does her best to provide healthy snacks, winning a dehydrator would be a wonderful blessing! I’ve enjoyed reading your blog for over a year now, I believe.
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Culture Flows from Worship =-.
grrrr just lost my typing lol. I love your open expressions of your Catholic faith. I’m learning how my food choices (like everything, of course) should stem from my belief in God and how He’s ordered everything in our world, including the food He gives us. It’s a long, slow shift. honestly, I probably started looking into W.A. Price and “real food” after my children both didn’t nurse due to reacting to something in my milk. I’m like, what’s up w/ my body?! Anyway, would LOVE a dehydrator. I’ve been looking at the excaliburs, but they’re $$$ and I don’t know where I would keep it! Our kitchen is so tight. But if I WON one I’d make space, lol
I subscribed a little while back:-)
I’m a homschooling mama to 4 kiddos who loves to grow my own food…though I haven’t been able to do that for the past year due to various moves and temporary housing. Looking forward to having my own home in a couple of months, yeah!
Seeing the mention of strawberry fruit leather makes me jealous! I have tons of strawberries I am making jam, marmalade, lemonade concentrate, etc. out of. If I had a dehydrator, I could make the leather. Talk about icing on the cake!
I am a forever subscriber who is very interested in a dehydrator for nuts and, maybe, tomatoes and fruit. It will be an education for me.
For very good reasons: hurry up and become a subscriber!!! You don’t know what you are missing!
we try to be locavores so we just went to pick strawberries at a farm down the road. i grew up eating fresh and local & plan the same for my kiddos.
Dehydrator would be great for so many things like crispy nuts I got in the oven now.
I’m from Montreal. I don’t mean to complain but I just wanted to rant because it’s really hard and/or expensive to find real food here. No Whole Foods, No Trader Joe or any other big organic store. Only small health stores … btw WHY??? Raw milk and real pastured eggs are illegal. Grass-fed meat is really hard to find and really, really expensive. Many internet mail order websites don’t deliver to Canada or it is so expensive that it ruins otherwise great prices.
But I’m trying to do the best I can:))
HI. I was making serious progress in improving my family’s diet and then I got pregnant. I was wiped out the first 3 months. The fourth pregnancy is much more exhausting. Now we are packing and moving. We should be in the new place by the end of the month. I’ve still been following everything and am vowing to try it all, especially the soaked granola bar recipe, when this chaos is all over.
I’m one of your subscribers!! Can’t wait for more to join in so we hit the goal!
A little about me…
My name is Suzanne and I live in Texas with my Newlywed Husband (we’ve been married 3 months today! Yay!) We are trying to live our life with the sole purpose of honoring God, and we believe that nutrition, frugality, and green living play a huge part in that as stewards of the resources God has given us! We also believe that we have to be good stewards of our time, so we’re trying to figure out the best way to steward our time, money, resources while balancing all of these goals. We both work full time and have no children, so time is somewhat limited (but not as much as you busy mom! I’m so impressed!!!)
I see your examples and lessons through this blog as a modern day version of Titus 2 as you are teaching the younger wives (like me!) Thank you for this blog! You’ve taught me soooo much, and it’s such a blessing to me as I try to learn how to be a good wife, homekeeper, and hopefully mother someday!
Suzanne