DIY Green Smoothie "Powder"

Right - so this whole idea started because I have SO MUCH CHARD in the garden right now. Like,

trimming and laying out the chard for dehydrating

I'm *almost* sick of eating it. Almost. So I decided to start preserving it now - and rather than go with the traditional freezing of the chard, I decided to dehydrate it! Super easy.

Step 1: Clean the chard.

Step 2: Dry the chard.

Step 3: Trim off the stems, and save those for making bean salad (use to replace the celery).

Step 4: Lay in a single layer in your dehydrator, or place right on the oven racks like I did.

Step 5: Put your oven on the lowest setting (mine goes down to 150 degrees F) and let it cook for... hours. Like, three hours, or until it's dry and crumbly.

Step 6: Put it all in a food processor and whip it, whip it good, until it's all finely ground.

Step 7: Store in an airtight container.

I'll call that done!

You can add it to green smoothies, soup, dip... and other cooking things. Sorry, not super creative with the how to use it right now. BUT I'm sure that you'll think of something!

BEWARE - allllll of that chard in the first photo dehydrated down to less than a cup of chopped, dried greens. Don't add a ridiculous amount to your smoothie, a whole salad's worth comes to just a couple of teaspoons. If you add more than that you take the risk of... well, probably a lot of time on the potty.