Chris M.'s Vegetarian Tuscan Kale and White Bean Soup

I think that my Mom originally got this recipe from a Pat Robertson/CBN publication. I ate a lot of it without upsetting my blood sugar.

And there was enough methane to run a small motorbike.

She hit the nail on the head when she said that no matter what you do with these ingredients or similar ones, you won't go wrong.

---

Vegetarian Tuscan Kale and White Bean Soup

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup diced onion
4 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cup packed chopped kale
1 14 oz can of Italian –style diced tomatoes
1 14 oz. can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 14 oz. can of sliced carrots, drained

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and
cook 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add broth, kale and
tomatoes and cover and cook 5 minutes or until kale is tender. Add
beans and carrots and heat thoroughly.

Serve hot. Top with crunchy croutons and grated Pecorino Romano Cheese.

Chef's Notes:

These are my Mom's comments on her variations:

I have copied the recipe just as it appeared in the newspaper. Of course I did it my way. I used a large can of tomatoes (28oz. or so) and I don’t think they were the Italian style. I used either peeled or
chunks or whatever was on the shelf. I used chicken broth and probably 2 cups instead of four because I used the large can of tomatoes. Also I used fresh carrots and sautéed them with the onion. You would need to cook a little longer. Whatever you do I don’t think you could go wrong.

In doing the kale don’t forget to cut off the large stems of the kale.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Kale Recipes

15 Kale Recipes

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S.A.'s Canned Chicken Recipe

A well-tested recipe adapted from another Air Force wife at England AFB, Louisiana, a base now long-closed. Even picky eaters like this one.

If things do ever go as predicted, knowing how up use your stores efficiently and effectively will be important. The current way of eating with a separate large meat serving, servings of vegetables piled on a plate might become a memory. Cooks will revert to traditional peasant and poor people foods that stretch ingredients, such as soups and casseroles. (Don't worry, in my home we are never without homemade soups, a pot of beans, and casseroles in the fridge. This is how I was raised.)

Are you using your canned chicken stores? Those chickens take some getting used to, but it is possible to cook with them and mask the tinned flavor and stringy texture. It's like canned tuna: very different from the fresh product, but with a good recipe can be made palatable. Learn to cook with your stores now in order to be happier in an uncertain future.

The following cold salad recipe is easy, tasty, and uses few ingredients.

Chicken Rice-a-Roni Salad
(a pasta dish using a bit of chicken)
serves 10-12

1 box Chicken Rice-a-Roni
1 13 oz can of chicken (like those from Sam's Club or Wal-mart)
6 green onions
1bell pepper
1 bunch of celery (as many ribs as you like. I use five ribs, since I like celery.)
1medium jar marinated artichoke hearts
Mayonnaise
Butter

Drain artichoke marinade into a bowl.
Open chicken can, drain, give can juice to the dog, rinse, break chicken pieces up with your fingers. Cover with marinade, stir to cover and coat the chicken well, and let sit while you prep the other ingredients.
Cook Rice-a-Roni according to package.  (Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet, add Rice-a-Roni and brown vermicelli pasta pieces until golden.  Add 2.5 cups of water, the seasoning packet, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, cook 15-20 minutes until rice is tender.) Allow to cool.

Dice the green onions, bell pepper, and celery. Put the chicken and marinade mixture in a small electric chopper and pulse in batches until not so stringy. Do not turn this into a purée, it should still have some texture. (This step could be done manually with a knife or other piece of kitchen equipment.)

In a large bowl, mix the cooled Rice-A-Roni, chicken and marinade, onions, celery, bell pepper, and artichokes. Stir well. Add mayonnaise as needed to flavor and bind.  You may or may not need much or any, depending on the size of the marinated artichoke jar you used. Cover and refrigerate this the night before to allow flavors to meld.

Chef's Notes:

This is a good and flavorful bad times recipe which can utilize a small can of chicken; fresh, dehydrated, or freeze dried vegetables; pasta/rice package; and a jar of marinated artichokes. Omitting the mayonnaise would make this a good grid down recipe as you probably have bell pepper and onions from your own garden.

Some might not like the sodium load, but we don't eat this daily. This recipe is just another defense against appetite fatigue.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Canned Chicken Recipes

Start With Canned Chicken--Quick and Easy Recipes

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Cooking oil spray

2 extra large zucchinis, shredded

1/2 cup chopped sweet onion

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1/2 cup garbanzo bean (or really any bean flour will work well)

1/8 cup dried minced onion

1 tsp. dried garlic

3 egg whites (if you don't eat eggs, substitute

1 T Xantham gum or 3 T potato starch for the binder)

For Dressing:

1 cup plain greek yogurt

1/3 cup water or orange juice

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 Tablespoon onion powder

1 Tablespoon garlic powder

6 large leaves fresh spinach or 3 T dried powdered spinach

4 leaves basil

2 leaves parsley

Directions

Heat a large skillet sprayed with cooking spray over medium-high heat.

Stir zucchinis, onion, carrot, garbanzo bean flour, onion, garlic and egg whites together in a bowl until well mixed. Divide zucchini mixture into equal portions and shape into large patties.

Pan-fry zucchini patties in the hot skillet until brown and crispy, about 3 minutes per side.

Place yogurt, water or orange juice, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and spinach, basil, and parsley in a food processor; pulse until mixture is smooth.

Drizzle over zucchini pancakes to serve.

Chef's Notes:

This recipe can be made doubled and you can cook the patties in advance, for a good quick cold lunch, or reheat the patties as a side dish to a meat. Or cook them as you need them during the week.

Original recipe makes 6 patties. (For my family, I double this recipe.)

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Vegetable Pancake Recipes

Crispy Traditional Potato Pancakes

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C. in Florence's Sandwich Spread Recipes

Cottage Cheese Sandwiches
1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
8 slices brown/wheat bread
4 tablespoons margarine
1 egg
2 tablespoons cold water
Covo (cottonseed and peanut oil) or your favorite frying oil

Mix the cheese and nuts together. Spread on 4 slices of bread. Cover with remaining bread. Beat egg and mix with water. Dip sandwiches into egg and water mixture and fry in hot oil until golden brown. Serve with chips.
 
Peanut Honey Sandwiches
6oz. Cream cheese
1/3 cup Honey
12 slices Brown/wheat bread
peanut butter, creamy or chunky
Mix cheese and honey together. Spread six slices of bread with this mixture. Spread remaining six slices of bread with peanut butter. Sandwich bread together and eat!
 
Date and Orange Sandwich
2/3 cup dates
1/4 cup Orange Juice
12 slices of bread
pat of margarine
 
Heat dates and OJ together in a stock pan. Heat until dates are blend with juice. Leave to cool. Spread between buttered slices of bread.
 
(The following is a sandwich that takes a bit of time. in my youth [in Rhodesia] I would have used Dairibord Butter or Stork margarine, Willards salt, Colcom bread, but they are gone and I live in the US, so we do with what we can get.)
 
Rarebit Sandwiches
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 grated/shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mixed (prepared) mustard (I like stone ground/dijon)
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
2 tomatoes
6 slices (meaty )bacon
6 slices Bread (I like 100% whole wheat)
seasoning

Chef's Notes:

Toast bread. Cook the bacon crisp and set aside. lay toast on serving plate.  in large bowl beat egg with a whisk. set aside. Thinly slice tomatoes thinly length wise. place two slices of tomato on each bread. In sauce pan melt butter and then add cheese, stir until cheese has melted. Add salt and mustard. stir a second. stir in milk SLOWLY and then pour in mixture on top of beaten egg. stirring continuously. (From heat of sauce the egg will be cooked) sprinkle tomato with salt and pepper. Cover all bread with sauce. top with the bacon and serve while dish is hot.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Sandwich Spread Recipes

Cold Sandwich Recipes

Rhodesian Recipes

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Wayne B.'s Homemade Ranch Dressing

Dry Ranch Mix
1/2 cup instant minced onion
1/4 cup onion salt
1/4 cup garlic salt
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 cup garlic powder
2 cups dry parsley flakes
2 tablespoons dry dill weed

Measure first five ingredients, minced onion, onion salt, garlic salt, onion powder and garlic powder, into a blender or food processor and blend until combined. Stir in parsley and dill. Store and keep mix dry. A Mason jar or freezer bag work well. Label and include instructions for dressing or dip. Label it. You think you will remember, but you won’t.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
1 cup plain yogurt (or mayonnaise)
1 cup of buttermilk
juice of ½ lemon
2 Tablespoons Dry Ranch Mix

Combine 2 Tablespoons dry mix, one cup plain Greek yogurt, lemon and one cup buttermilk. Allow flavors to blend for at least an hour in the fridge before using.

Chef's Notes:

If you use only plain yogurt, the whole jar of dressing is just 200 calories.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Dressings and Vinaigrettes

Olive Oil Dressings

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Matt The Teacher's Cranberry Pumpkin Pie Spice Hard Tack

I've tried many of the  hardtack recipes that are floating around on the web (including some that have been featured here on SurvivalBlog) and I find that most of them are so bland that they make Saltines seem like a five course meal!  So, I decided to mix things up a little bit and what I came up with is something I've dubbed... 

Cranberry Pumpkin Pie Spice Hardtack:

4C unbleached flour (you can go 50/50 with whole wheat or all whole wheat but I personally don't like it)
2C rolled oats (quick oats, don't have to be steel cut or anything fancy but steel cut will work just fine)
1 Tbsp baking soda 
1 tsp ground sea salt (you can use regular iodized salt but I think sea salt is healthier and tastes better)
Cinnamon to taste
Pumpkin Pie spice to taste
1C milk (I use 2%, but you can use 1%, nonfat or plain water if it's all you've got)
1C extra virgin olive oil (if you've run out of oil you can use an extra cup of milk or water)
1C dried cranberries, blueberries, (or whichever dried fruit you like best)
Mix all the dry ingredients.  Then Pour in the wet ingredients and mix.
Roll out to 3/8" thick (thinner and it'll be brittle, thicker and it'll be too moist inside)
Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter
Put onto 2 greased cookie sheets and dust with flour
Bake 20-25 minutes at 375 F.

Chef's Notes:

I know that a few of the ingredients will probably eventually turn rancid, but I've eaten these out to a month and they just get a little harder.  The real benefit over traditional hardtack is that it's got dried fruits which have sweetness and vitamins and antioxidants and the pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon help your mouth to produce saliva so you don't need to down a huge canteen of water to get one down.  Additionally, if I end up making hardtack for myself and other family members who are out on defensive patrols in a grid-down situation they won't have to last over a month.  Remember keeping up the troops morale is important and it helps a lot if they actually like the food.  If all it takes is a little dried fruit and spices to take something uber-bland and turn it into an almost-cookie, then to me it's well worth it.
Imagine how many times you could make this if you had a 50 pound bag of quick rolled oats, 50 pounds of unbleached flour, a couple big bags of dried fruit, etc.
My next step is to try making this on a dutch oven lid over my rocket stove. Soli Deo Gloria!

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

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K.A.F.'s 1890s Cordials

Diana Berry's favorite beverage from Anne of Green Gables was a Raspberry Cordial. Here is a recipe for a Raspberry Cordial taken from an Almanac of 1892. Note, Cherry or Grape cordial may be made in the same fashion.

Raspberry Cordial

Crush one pound of raspberries and store into them one quart of water and the juice of two oranges; add a thinly sliced lemon, cover, and let the mixture stand for two hours, then strain, and add one pint of sugar.

Cool or ice before serving.

Blackberry Cordial

Crush ripe blackberries, and to each gallon of juice add one quart of boiling water; let it stand twenty-four hours, stirring it a few times; strain , and add two pounds of sugar to each gallon of liquid.

Cool or ice before serving.

Chef's Notes:

Put in sterilized jugs and cork tightly.[JWR Adds: These are non-alcoholic recipes, but they could ferment.]

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

More Cordial Recipes

How to Make Homemade Liqueurs and Cordials

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KAF's Tamale Pie

Serves 5 to 6

1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 c yellow cornmeal
3 c boiling water
1 1/2 c cooked, ground, or shredded left over beef
2 c beef broth
2 cloves fresh minced, or 1/2 tsp. dried chopped garlic
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
salt to taste

Boil the water in a medium sized pan. Sift the 1 tsp. salt and cornmeal gradually into the boiling water and cook, constantly stirring for 10 minutes. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix cooked meat, and broth, add garlic, salt if needed, and chili powder.

Line the sides and bottom of a casserole pan with the cornmeal mush mixture, and reserve leftover mush for topping.

Next, fill with the meat mixture. Now spread the reserved cornmeal mush over the top or drop on top by spoonfuls.

Bake in a preheated oven 425 F for 25 minutes, or until the top and sides are browned. Serve.

Chef's Notes: This recipe is a great way to use up left-over beef.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Tamale Pie recipe

Quick and Easy Mexican Recipes

Cornmeal Recipes

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K.A.F.'s Italian Tomato Bisque

This bisque is made from Dried Storage Foods

Ingredients

1⁄2 c dried chopped onions
1 c dried carrot dices
1⁄2 c dried celery
2 qts water
1 c dried tomato powder
1⁄2 c dried tomato dices
1⁄2 T italian seasoning spice blend
1⁄2 T granulated garlic
1⁄2 T seasoned salt
3⁄4 T kosher salt
1⁄2 T texas pete or any mild hot sauce
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 c heavy cream
1⁄2 c parmesan cheese

Instructions

In a 6-quart stock pot, combine the onions, carrots, celery, water, tomato powder, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, and spice blend and bring to a simmer, stirring to blend well.

Let soup simmer for about 20 minutes covered, until all items become tender.

Add the hot sauce, vinegar, cream, and parmesan and stir well to blend.

Chef's Notes:

For a thicker soup, reduce the liquid by simmering longer before the final cream is added. Use a hand-held blender and puree soup to a smooth consistency, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Tomato Bisque From Scratch

Shrimp Bisque From Scratch

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Tina M.'s Mashed Potato Soup
 
28 cups potato flakes
10 cups dry milk
1 1/4 cups chicken bouillon (smash the cubes)
5 teaspoons celery seed (heaping)
2 teaspoons pepper
5 teaspoons parsley (heaping)
5 teaspoons chives (heaping)
 
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, blend well.  Store in an airtight container.
 
Serving instructions:
Place 1/2 cup soup mix in a soup bowl or mug.  Add 1 cup boiling water and stir until smooth.  Let soup stand 1-2 minutes to thicken.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

A Creamy Potato Soup recipe

Easy Potato Soup Mashed Potato Flakes Recipe

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KAF's Five Fruit Bread

1 16 oz. can fruit cocktail
3 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 c melted butter
1/4 c toasted slivered almonds
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 Tblsp grated lemon peel

Drain the syrup from fruit into a measuring cup and add enough water to it to make 1 cup.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
Stir syrup into flour mixture along with the eggs, butter, and lemon peel.
Stir in fruit and almonds.
Pour into greased 9 x 5" loaf pan.

Bake at 350 F for 1hr and 15 minutes.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Fruit Bread Recipes at AllRecipes.com

Bread Machine Fruit Loaf Recipes

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Linda H.'s Quick-n-Easy Red Beans and Rice
 
2 tbs. olive oil
3/4 c. chopped green pepper (about 1 medium green pepper)
3/4 c. chopped onions (about 1 small onion)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lb. cooked smoked sausage (such as Hillshire Farms), cut into 1/2" half-rounds
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (14.5 oz.) red beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. hot red pepper flakes (or to taste)
salt and pepper, to taste
hot cooked rice
 
In large saucepan heat olive oil and saute green peppers, onions and garlic till softened, 3-4  minutes. Add sausage and stir and cook another 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes, beans and seasonings. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaves and serve over rice. Makes 4-5 servings.

Chef's Notes:

"This quick and easy weeknight supper is much more delicious than it's humble ingredients would suggest. We enjoy it often over brown rice to increase the nutrition quotient, along with using a quart of our home-grown and home-canned tomatoes. And it would adapt easily to my emergency pantry supplies - I would simply substitute a can or two of Vienna sausages for the smoked sausage. Enjoy."

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Bean and Rice Recipes at CD Kitchen.

Black Beans and Rice

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

21 Tasty Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes

Gleefully Gluten-Free (Healthy Desserts & Snacks)

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Mandy's Dried Fruit Cookies
 
3/4 C mashed / pureed bananas
1/3 C vegetable oil (the higher the smoke-point the better)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 C oat bran
1.5 C oatmeal
1.5 C dried fruit in small slices or dice (may be a mix)
1/2 C raw nuts or seeds (may be a mix)
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix bananas, oil & salt together first. Work in bran, then oatmeal. Finally fold in fruit & nuts/seeds. Use a TBS measure or scoop to place dollops of dough on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake 20-25 min. or until slightly browned at the edges. Store in an air-tight container in a cool place or refrigerator.

Chef's Notes:

I've used this one for years. It works with a wide variety of dried fruits, nuts and oils (coconut oil adds crunch) and is a fine way to use frozen overripe bananas. At 100 to 105 calories per cookie, three of them with a hot drink or milk make for a good breakfast on the go!

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Frugal Kitchen Tips

The Home Baking Glossary of Terms

25 Easy Cook Recipes For Meatloaf : Quick & Simple Recipes with Ground Meat (and a veggie one too!)

How to Stretch a Chicken: 42 recipes to make the most of a whole chicken, leftover turkey, or even pesky squirrels (Cooking Adventures of a Thrifty Mama)

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Karen D.'s Tortilla Soup

Creamy Tortilla Soup

2 cans chicken
2 cans chicken broth
1 jar garlic salsa (we love Trader Joe's)
8-16 oz. heavy cream
Shredded cheese
Tortilla chips

Put chicken in pan and smash with fork.  Add broth and salsa.  Heat until soup is hot and simmering.  Add your desired cream and heat.  Spoon soup into a bowl; add crushed chips and cheese.

Chef's Notes:

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Quinoa Recipes For Weight Loss: Health and Weight Loss Recipes

35 Slow Cooker Pork Recipes: Pulled Tenderloin Meals to Quick and Easy Pork Chop Recipes for Your Crock Pot

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Cynthia C.'s Carrot Cake

Here is a very good and easy from-the-pantry recipe for Carrot Cake made with canned carrots.

2 Cups flour
1 Cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp ground ginger
1 egg (or 1 heaping tsp soy flour with 1 tsp of water)
1 cup raisins
1 can sliced carrots- NOT drained
1 snack cup of pineapple bits -optional (drain but retain juice in case batter is dry)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts nuts- optional
1/2 Cup oil

Put the carrots in a large bowl and mash a bit with a fork or pastry cutter. (to look like shredded carrots)
Add dry ingredients and raisins (and pineapple & nuts if using) and mix well. (The carrot liquid should be enough but if batter is too dry add a bit of the pineapple juice or water)

Grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet and put the batter in it, cover and cook on low heat about 30-40 minutes. 
If desired, when cool, drizzle with confectioners sugar icing.  It is delicious!

Chef's Notes:

I have also baked this in a 350 degrees oven in two 6" cast iron skillets and made it up as a layer cake with cream cheese frosting.

I baked it for about 25 minutes and checked to see if it was done. Your mileage may vary, depending on your oven.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Best Canned Food Recipes

Canned Chicken Recipes

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

31 Leftover Ham Recipes

The Compleat Cook: Expertly Prescribing the Most Ready Wayes, Whether Italian,Spanish or French, for Dressing of Flesh and Fish, Ordering Of Sauces or Making of Pastry (from 1658!)

I'll Have The Soup And Salad

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OkieRanchWife's Cowhand Soup

This doesn’t freeze well but I doubt there will be any leftovers to freeze. In an emergency situation this great because the liquid comes from the cans.

2 pounds of ground beef or bison
1 medium red or sweet onion, chopped, (can use dried)
3 cloves of minced garlic, (can use dried or powdered)
4 stalks of green onion, chopped, (can use dried)               
3 cans of Mexican style tomatoes (Rotel)
2 14 ounce cans of ranch style beans
2 14 ounce cans of red kidney beans
1 14 ounce cans of whole kernel corn
2 4 ounce cans of chopped green chiles
Sliced jalapeño peppers, to taste.
1 envelope of taco mix
1 envelope of Ranch dressing
Worcestershire sauce (to taste)
A-1 sauce (to taste)
Salt & pepper (to taste)
Extra Cumin if you want
Extra Cayenne Powder if you want

Cooking sequence:
Brown the ground meat in a stockpot. Cook until browned and crumbly.
Add the onion, garlic and taco mix. Stir until well mixed.
Add ranch beans, kidney beans, tomatoes, chiles, corn, jalapeños.
Add the ranch dressing mix, Worcestershire sauce and A-1, salt, pepper and cumin.
Mix well and simmer for 1 hour.

Chef's Notes:

Do not drain any of the canned ingredients. They all go in the pot.

Ladle into soup bowls. You can garnish with shredded Cheddar Cheese if you'd like.

- OkieRanchWife

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Soup Recipes

50 Soup Recipes

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Gluten-Free Made Easy As 1,2,3: Essentials For Living A Gluten-Free Life

30 Delicious Poke Cake Recipes

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Larry The Painter's Chicken and Dumplings

Here is a quick, easy, and really tasty stew.
 
2 -tbsp olive oil ( vegetable oil works too )
6- boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
1- can of corn, drained, or 1 cup of frozen corn
1- large carrot, chopped, or 1 cup of frozen carrots
1- onion, chopped
3- cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
 1/2 teaspoon  of kosher salt
1- teaspoon of dried dill. rub dill ( between your hands to release more flavor)
1- cup of water.
 
Dumplings.
1/2 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon of salt.
1- teaspoon of baking powder
1- egg
1/4 cup of milk
Mix it all together to make a spoonable dough
 
 
In a pot, brown chicken in the oil,  for a few minutes on medium high, just to get it brown - Maybe 2 or 3 minutes on both sides.
dump all your veggies and spices in and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so covered. 
 
Next, spoon your  dumpling batter into the stew a tablespoonful at a time, cover,  and cook for  additional 10 minutes.
 
Enjoy!

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Camping Survival now has a recipe page devoted to storage food recipes.

A new blog: Survival Recipes for a Declining Empire

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

The Green Gourmet Little Book of Charcuterie : An Introduction to the Art of the Charcutier - Smoking and Curing Meats, Forcemeats, Terrines, Sausages & Blood Puddings

Recipes With Honey - For All Seasons

The Cornbread Bible: A Recipe Storybook

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Chris P.'s Ranch Stew

This is a family recipe I wanted to share. This stuff is great, especially in the colder months. Enjoy!
 
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 med./large green bell pepper, diced
1 sm./med. white onion, diced
1 can corn, drained
1 can (plain) diced tomatoes
1 can (plain) Ranch Style beans
1 can Rotel
1 can water (for additional soupiness)
Chili powder, salt, and pepper to taste
 
Combine ingredients in large pot, simmer with pot covered, stirring and tasting occasionally, until peppers and onions cook down and flavors have mixed well.

Chef's Notes:

Serve with saltine crackers and sliced sharp cheddar cheese, or with cornbread.

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Delicious Beef Dinners

The Broke-A** Cookbook

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Mama June's Amish Brown Sugar Pie

I have been making this pie for holidays since I was 14 years old. It's inexpensive. easy and tasty. It's from an old Amish recipe, brown sugar pie, and sets up rather like a caramel custard.

The bonus here is the pie crust recipe, which is flaky and delicious and eliminates rolling! the Amish cookbook called it a "pat-in-pan" crust. Add a little garlic salt and flax or wheat germ and it's the perfect crust for quiche! (My preferred way to use up our eggs.)

2 cups flour, white or wheat, more as needed
Pinch salt
1 tsp or so of sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I have used olive oil, too)
1/2 cup milk (reconstituted powdered milk works great here)

Put all dry ingredients in an 8 inch pie plate. Whisk oil and milk together in separate bowl. Slowly pour into pie plate, gently stirring into flour mixture with a fork. Use your fingers to form the crust, pressing the mixture up the sides and fluting the top (to make it pretty!) by pinching all the way around the top of the crust.

Now for the filling.

1 can evaporated milk
1 1/3 cups of brown sugar
2 tbsp flour
Dash cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
2 to 3 tsp butter

Chef's Notes:

Add flour and brown sugar right into your pie plate with the unbaked crust. Pour in can of evaporated milk. Sprinkle on cinnamon and nutmeg, add pats of butter here and there. Now bake at 350 for an hour or so until crust begins to brown.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Traditional Pie Crust

Top 20 Pie Recipes

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

35 Slow Cooker Chicken Recipes

Slow Cooker Chicken, Pork, Beef & Beans Soup Recipes

First, the Soup: Healthy Soup, Stew, and Chili Recipes (a Scrumptious Low-Calorie Recipes Cookbook)

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Katy's Kentucky Chili

1 lb ground or finely diced meat
Chili Powder to taste (I tend to use a lot - 1 small jar or equivalent)
3 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 8 oz can diced tomatoes (optional)
24 oz water (3 tomato sauce cans measure)
3 15 oz cans Ranch Style Beans
1 cup macaroni or broken spaghetti pieces

In a dutch oven (or similar sized pot) brown meat until done, drain the excess fat & return to pot. Add chili powder, stir into meat until fully dispersed.  Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, water and Ranch Style Beans.  Bring to boil & let it simmer for a few minutes.  You can precook the macaroni or add it directly to the pot & let it cook in the chili (a great way to conserve water if cooking in a disaster situation).  Once the macaroni or spaghetti is done, you are ready to serve.

Serve with crackers, chips, Fritos, etc., and top with cheese (cheddar, Monterrey Jack, etc.  I even have a daughter that puts Parmesan on hers).

Variations

You can  use any kind of canned beans available, such as black, pinto or kidney.  But the Ranch Style beans add a lot of flavor you otherwise do not get.

Add fresh chopped onion, celery and or bell pepper after browning the meat.  Let it cook for a few minutes before adding the remaining ingredients.

Vegetarian - Cook without the meat and eliminate the pasta.  Serve over rice - combined with the beans in the chili, you have a complete protein (or pretty close).

Cook without the pasta, serve over spaghetti & you have chili pasta.  Top with any cheese you may desire & serve with garlic bread.

Cook without the beans and less tomato sauce and water & serve over hot dogs.

Customize this recipe the way you want - it is very flexible.

Chef's Notes:

Try this on a cold winter night and you will find you do not have any leftovers for the next day.  And if you do - lucky you.  Its even better warmed up.

This meal can be as inexpensive or as expensive as you want to make it.  Best of all, it can be made entirely from stored goods & is ready to eat as soon as all of the ingredients are incorporated - usually 30 minutes or less.

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I was given this hand-written, hearty recipe 20 years ago by an Air Force wife. It's super nutritious including several vegetables, potatoes for carbs, and bacon for protein.

When planning meals, I like to think of how to incorporate small amounts of protein (a la Dan Fong in Patriots) for nutrition and flavoring from stored foods such as canned meats and either commercial dehydrated foods or my own stores. This soup features root vegetables and is a great starter or can be the meal along with some good bread. It's easy to make as nothing needs to be pre-cooked or sauteed.

4 large potatoes
2 stalks celery 
2 T beef bouillon granules
2 strips canned bacon (or use fresh)
4 carrots 
1 large onion
1/2 t. pepper

Peel vegetables, dice everything.  Combine ingredients, add water, about 2 inches to cover all. If using dried veggies, adjust water for rehydration. Cook everything until soft.  Allow to cool.  Puree in blender.  Heat to serve.

Chef's Notes:

Sprinkle a little paprika or cheese or chopped herbs on top, if desired. A real crowd pleaser. Who doesn't like bacon and potatoes and tons of flavor?

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Reader Louise B. recommended The Food Substitutions Bible: More Than 6,500 Substitutions for Ingredients, Equipment and Techniques by David Joachim

liked this: Homemade Meals In A Jar

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Mike W.'s Stir Crazy Cake

I have seldom found a cake recipe this easy not to mention tasty as well. This is called Stir Crazy Cake and I found it in a small book sponsored by a cigarette company that purported it to be "Chuck Wagon" cooking. I will pass it along as it stands for all to enjoy.

For the cake itself--

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cooking oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups cold coffee (or cold water, but you should use coffee)

For the topping--

1/4 cup sugar (Raw sugar, or turbinado, would be best)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Put flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl; mix well. (I used a wire whisk, and was careful to break up any cocoa clumps.) Then, transfer it to an un-greased 13x9x2 inch metal baking pan. Form three wells in dry mixture. Pour oil into one well, vinegar in one and vanilla in one. Pour cold coffee over all ingredients and stir with a large fork or whisk until well mixed. (I started with the fork but switched to the whisk, and found it much better than the fork to get all of the dry ingredients combined.) DO NOT BEAT.

Combine remaining sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over batter. Bake in 350 degree F oven for 35-40 minutes.

There. That's better. It's quick and easy to prep, bakes quickly and turns out very well. Enjoy!

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Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs. lean ground meat
½ bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
½ average size head of cabbage, rough sliced (thinner than ¼ head)
1 can Ranch-style beans
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (or comparable diced tomatoes with chilies)
1 can crushed or stewed tomatoes
1 tbl spoon chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground meat with bell pepper, onion, and celery. Drain.
Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
Drop temperature and simmer covered for 1 ½ hours.

Chef's Notes:

Serve with cornbread or french bread.

I usually double all ingredients and freeze the leftovers. I'll also use a beef roast instead of hamburger. Cook the roast in beef broth and cube it to go into the stew.

Lastly, I've found more cabbage is better. For a single batch, I use as large a head as I can find.

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This recipe started off as an “oops” and turned into a great side dish. I was making a Rye Batter Bread, but hadn’t greased the pan well enough. When I went to remove the bread, it came out of the pan in chunks. The taste was great, so I didn’t want to waste it, but it wasn’t going to work for sandwiches.
We’ll start with the Batter Bread:

1 ¼ cups warm water (100-110F)
2 ½ t dry active or instant yeast
2 T honey
2 T oil or softened butter
1 c Rye flour
2 c Wheat flour
1 ½ t Salt
1 T Caraway seeds

Combine water, honey, and yeast. Let rest for 5 minutes. Stir in oil or butter, the rye flour, and 1 cup of wheat flour. Stir in remaining wheat flour, salt, and caraway seeds. Cover and let rest in a warm place for about 30 minutes. Stir down the batter. (It will not have raised much in this step) Spoon into a well-greased 9x5 bread pan. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Now for the Stuffing:

4 T butter
1 small onion, minced
4 ribs of celery diced small
1 loaf Rye bread, cut into small cubes and dried
1 c dried cranberries
2 to 2 ½ cups chicken broth or apple juice
2 t sage

Melt butter in Dutch oven or deep sided frying pan. (I prefer cast iron, because it can go from the stove top to the oven, which means fewer dishes to wash.) Cook onions and celery in butter until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and add cranberries, sage, and Rye Bread. Stir in chicken broth or apple juice slowly, until mixture is moistened. The amount needed will depend on how dry your bread is. You don’t want mush, but you don’t want to end up with cardboard either. Cover and bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Check once after about 25 minutes. If stuffing is too soft, remove cover for the rest of the baking time. If too dry, stir in a little more liquid. If just right, don’t touch it!

Chef's Notes:

The pie won't set up completely but does become firmer as it cools. Mmmmm. Super tasty!

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Pumpkin Soup, by Mama in Texas

Pumpkin Soup
Serves 6
(Adapted from a recipe in the classic "More With Less" cookbook)

Melt in a large heavy kettle:
                2 T. Butter
Add:
                ¼ cup chopped green pepper
                1 small onion, finely chopped


Saute until veggies are soft, but not brown.

Blend in:
                2 T. flour
                1 t. salt
Add:
                2 cups chicken broth
                2 cups pumpkin puree (1 15-oz. can)
                2 cups milk
                1/8 t. thyme
                ¼ t. nutmeg
                1 t. chopped parsley
 
Cook, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened.

Chef's Notes:

This is a fall and winter soup favorite in our house.  We often serve it over rice.  It is not at all a "sweet" soup.   It has a great cheesy flavor.

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N.G. in Minnesota's One Pan Wild Rice Hotdish

This is a very simple recipe that allows for a lot of flexibility. There are five basic components, and the combinations are endless. This is a great thing when you cant just run down to the corner market to shop. Wild rice is plentiful in my area. I can buy a 12 oz bag for $2.99. If wild rice is expensive, or not common in your neck of the woods, substitute white or brown rice, and adjust accordingly. Instead of 2 cups wild rice and 6 cups water, use 3 cups white or brown rice and 6 cups water.

2 Tbls Fat (I prefer butter or bacon grease, but oil could be used)
1lb Meat (chicken, grouse, pheasant, beef, pork, venison, turkey, rabbit, etc) cut into ½ inch pieces
1 Onion finely diced
2 c Wild Rice
6 c Water or Broth (chicken or beef depending on meat choice)
3 c Orange Veggie (squash, sweet potato, carrots, etc or combination of any) cut into ¾ inch cubes
1 c Dried Fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots, apples, strawberries, etc)
3 c Green Veggie (green beans, broccoli, celery, etc or combination of any) cut into ¾ inch pieces
Salt and Pepper

In a 3 qt or larger Dutch oven, deep sided frying pan, or stock pot, over medium high heat, melt fat. Brown meat and onion for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add broth and rice. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes. Add orange veggies and fruit, stir, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add green veggies, salt and pepper to taste, stir, and simmer an additional 10 minutes, or until water is absorbed and veggies are tender.

Chef's Notes:

This recipe will easily serve six adults. If you are using leftover cooked meat (a great way to get rid of a holiday turkey) add the meat when you add the green veggies. If you are using canned veggies, use the water from them as part of your broth and then add the veggies during the last 10-15 minutes so they don’t become mush. Dried veggies can also be used so long as you adjust the amount of liquid needed to account for them rehydrating.
If you raise or hunt your own meat, and grow your own veggies, this recipe will cost less than $.60/person. That cost can be brought down even more if you use white or brown rice. Not bad for a colorful, nutritious, hearty meal.

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Steve in Rhode Island's Dish With No Name

Here's a recipe I'd like to share that's both inexpensive and nutritious. It's been around for years and I'm sure it goes by lots of different names. It was passed down to my Mom from my Grandmother and she fed four of us kids back in the day when prepping and just getting by was a way of life and had no name. I raised my two daughters on it and now that they are grown and it's just the youngest and myself I still make it.
 
The great thing about this is that it makes a LOT of food and the ingredients are simple and can be bought in any market. It's cheap and you can stock up on the ingredients as they last for years. This is a two pan meal. I can make this meal for under $3.00.
 
Ingredients:
One 28oz can of Whole Peeled Tomatoes.
Two 16oz cans of Pork and Beans. Campbells or store brand. The 16oz is average size.
1lb of Elbow Macaroni.
Optional is a diced onion and some spices. I like garlic powder, oregano, and black pepper.
 
In a good sized sauce pan, cook up some diced onion in a little oil.
Add the Whole Tomatoes and mash them up with potato masher or something similar.
Simmer, add spices, then add Beans.
Cook up the Elbow Macaroni.
Add the cooked and drained Macaroni to the sauce and mix. Let it sit for a bit.

Chef's Notes:

Add some Parmesan Cheese to taste.
 
You'll be amazed how good this meal is and how many people it can feed.

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup - cooked rice
2/3 cup - Molasses or cane syrup
1 teaspoon - Salt
1 Tablespoon - Butter
1 teaspoon - Cinnamon
4 cups - Milk

Stir together all of the ingredients except the milk. Once they are thoroughly mixed, then add in milk. Stir well. Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Bake for the first hour stirring occasionally. Then finish baking without stirring until it is firm, which is usually about 2 hours.

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My Survival Bars are "Filled Oatmeal Cookies". They are wonderful "stored foods" cookies, full of fiber and packed with nutrients. They are our cookie of choice for a quick breakfast. They are great if you are out hunting or hiking. They require no fresh ingredients!

They are also good! Our neighbor girl says they are the best cookies that I have ever made (and I make a lot of cookies!) I got the recipe from my dear friend "Lady Day". Here is the recipe.

1 1/2 C. Shortening (or lard or butter)
1 1/2 C. Brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda mixed with 6 T. hot Water
3 C. Oatmeal (I use thick cut)
3 C. Flour (may use white or whole wheat)
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. Salt

Combine shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well. Add soda in water, nutmeg, salt, flour. Stir in oatmeal. Add more water or flour to make a nice, workable dough. Roll out thin. Cut out with round cookie or biscuit cutter (or whatever shape floats your boat). Lay cookies on cookie sheet, place desired filling on them (1 tsp. or so) and top with another cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. There is no need to seal the edges. My preference for filling is raspberry or blackberry jam. However, any kind of jam would be wonderful or you could use a raisin filling (good stored foods item).

Raisin filling:
Grind or chop fine 1 1/2 to 2 C. raisins, dates or prunes. Add 1 C. sugar and 1 C. water. Bring to a boil. Mix 2 tsp. cornstarch with a little water for thickening.

Chef's Notes:

I often make these cookies with a drizzle of frosting on them. This certainly isn't necessary, but sometimes I want them to be a little fancy.

JWR Adds: For the original recipe post (with some photos), see Enola Gay's great Paratus Familia blog site. (One of our favorite blogs.)

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Jan C.'s Buckwheat Shortcake

This came from an early 1900s recipes book:

Take three or four teacupfuls of nice sour milk, one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in milk; if the milk is very sour, you must use soda in proportion with a little salt. Mix up a dough with buckwheat flour thicker than you would mix the same for griddle cakes, say quite stiff. Pour it into a buttered tin and put directly into the stove oven and bake for thirty minutes, or as you would a shortcake from common flour.

It takes the place of the griddle cake, also the shortcake, in every sense of the word — nice with meat, butter, honey, molasses, etc. No shortening is used.

If any is left, wet the top a little and warm it up for the next meal; it is just as good as when fresh.

Chef's Notes:

Note from the book: "The author urges everyone to give it a trial, saying from personal experience that a dyspeptic can eat it, when no other warm bread could be tolerated. He also warns that sometimes, at the first trial, one may fail from the milk being too sour for the amount of soda used, or from making the dough too thin."

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Judy N.'s Only Whole Wheat Bread

Preppers are always looking for a way to use their Wheat Berries.  Here is a recipe that does not require you to grind your wheat more than once. 

Step 1:  Mix together the following:
1 package Dry Yeast                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

1 ½ cups Warm Water                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

1 Cup Warm Milk                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

1 Tablespoon Honey                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

1 Tablespoon  Molasses                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

1Tablespoon butter                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Allow  the yeast mixture to sit for 5 minutes

Step 2: Mix in a separate bowl:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
4 Cups coarsely ground wheat flour   (plus extra for Kneading)

1 teaspoon Salt

Step 3: Blend the yeast mixture with the flour mixture. Mix until you have a smooth dough (if the fixture is liquid add coarse ground wheat flour – if the mixture is too dry add warm water.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Step 4:  Remove Dough from bowl and place on a floured work space. Knead it thoroughly, using as much whole wheat flour as necessary so the dough is not sticky when finished.

Step 5: When dough has been kneaded to a smooth spongy consistency, place it into an oiled bowl, cover and allow to proof in a warm place for 40 minutes or until doubled in size,

Step 6: Punch down in bowl until air has been forced out.  (Once or twice)  Cover and allow dough to rise for 30 minutes.

Step 7: Divide dough and for into 2 or 3 round hearth bread loaves, place on a cookie sheet dusted with corn meal.  Cover and allow increasing about ½ to 2/3 in size. 

Step 8:  Right before the loaves go into the oven make a wash of egg, milk and water. And brush the top of the loaves.  Also make a slash or two with a very sharp knife.  The brushing of the egg mixture will give the loaves a great crust and the slash will allow the bread to bake more thoroughly. 

Step 9: Bake in a preheated oven of 400 degrees F for 30 to 45 minutes.  (If the bread is getting to dark in color, lower temperature to 375 F.)  To check the loaves are done, tap on the top for hollow sound. 

Chef's Notes:

If you can resist temptation allow loaves to cool on a cooling rack.  If not enjoy with butter and honey while still warm from the oven. And share!

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Here is a very quick beer bread recipe that is great when you don't have time to make a normal loaf of bread.
 
Ingredients:
3 cups sifted flour (sift through sifting screen to avoid making the bread hard)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 12 oz can or bottle of beer
1/4 cup melted butter
 
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients and beer in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly to avoid dry spots. Mixture will be stiff.
3. Pour into greased loaf pan.
4. Pour melted butter over mixture.
5. Bake 50 minutes to 1 hour or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy!
 

Chef's Notes:

The crust is crunchy and very satisfying, particularly when served with a hearty stew. Preparation takes about three minutes and just one bowl.

I normally use an unfiltered pale ale, and flavor varies depending on choice of beverage. Non-alcoholic beer can be used, but then you should add a packet of dry yeast to get proper rise.

I am confident that this would work with a small Dutch oven or other alternative cooking method, as well.

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Lisa N.'s Taco Soup

Here's a recipe that uses nothing but canned goods and packaged seasonings. It's very simple--just throw everything together and heat. A great favorite at our house!

2 cans kidney beans
1 can whole kernel corn
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes with chilies
1 small can green chilies (Optional: this will make it very spicy. Use less or none at all, to suit to taste.)
1 pkg dry Ranch dressing
1 pkg taco seasoning mix

Mix all ingredients together in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer at least 30 minutes.

Chef's Notes:

Do not drain the juices from any of the cans--everything goes in the soup.

One option is to add browned ground beef or canned chicken breast.

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1 pound ground beef, venison, or elk, crumbled/browned/drained
1 onion, chopped/sauteed
 
Put above in a large pot and add:
 
1-2 Tablespoons taco seasoning mix
1-2 Tablespoons ranch dressing mix
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn (hominy is good too)
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes
 
Add water to suit your preference for consistency.  Simmer.  Serves 6.

Chef's Notes:

Can be topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips.
 
For freezing in individual containers, don't add any extra water until you get ready to reheat.  If frozen in flat containers, it can be kept at your desk and will be nearly thawed in time for lunch.  This recipe is very flexible regarding substitutions (ex: hominy, garbanzo beans).  And it's a good way to cycle out your canned food stockpile.

JWR Adds: It is noteworthy that for most soup and stew recipes that include canned beans, corn or tomatoes, you should NOT drain the juices from the can before use. Just pour the entire contents of the can in to the soup. Not only will this add to the flavor of the soup, but it will also add slightly to its nutritive value. Don't pour those nutrients down your sink drain!

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Mrs. RLB's Spicy Jalapeño Venison Breakfast Sausage

This recipe for venison sausage has some heat to it!  I tried other recipes which seemed too bland and so I doctored this recipe until it was just right.  Since it is deer season, I thought this would be the best time to submit it.  You can make less if you like by cutting the ingredients by the same proportions.  Have a glass of ice water ready to drink the first time you taste it, just in case you find it a little too hot for you.  You can always adjust the spices to your suit your taste.

24 lbs ground venison
3 lbs pork fat
3 packages   (0.75 oz)   fresh sage (2.25 ounces total) or from your garden
6 Tbsp ground red pepper
12 Tbsp ground black pepper
2 tsp mace
2 very large bulbs of garlic (not cloves), cleaned, cloves are crushed
5 whole jalapeño peppers (minus seeds)
12 Tbsp Kosher salt
1 ½ cups cold water (or more as needed for blender)  

Add water, spices, garlic, seasonings and jalapenos to blender, and blend on high until spices are very blended and smooth.  In the absence of a blender, chop ingredients very fine and add to water.  In a large bowl, blend the venison, fat and pour in the spice blend.  If you use your hands, you may want to wear gloves due to the heat of the jalapenos.  Bag and freeze in portions that are useful to you.  
 
To cook, make into patties and fry on stovetop as you usually would with other breakfast sausage.

Chef's Notes:

Again, you can always adjust the spices to your suit your taste.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Patrice Lewis (of the excellent Rural Revolution blog) shares her recipe and experience in making a deep dish chicken pot pie.

Dutch oven cooking expert Karl Moore has posted some great recipes.

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Adele Davis Low-Sugar Granola

This is nutritionist Adelle Davis' recipe, that I copied from a magazine in a doctor's office waiting-room more than 30 years ago, and have since shared with many dozens of people.

In a large pan (a shallow roasting pan is good) combine dry ingredients, mixing well:

5 c. regular rolled oats

1 cup chopped almonds

1 cup raw sesame seeds

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup powdered milk (not instant mix)

1 cup soy flour [or wheat flour]

1 cup wheat germ.

In a 2 cup measuring cup, combine 1 c. honey and 1 c. vegetable oil.  Mix very thoroughly with the dry ingredients.  Using a large mixing spoon in each hand saves time.

Spread evenly in the pan and bake at 300 degrees.  After 30 minutes, remove from oven and stir the mixture.  Return to oven for another half-hour or until a toasty golden brown.

Stir and chop so that clumps don't form upon hardening. Toasted nuts could be added while stirring.

Store in airtight containers.

Chef's Notes:

This granola tastes like oatmeal cookies, but is much more nourishing - and wonderful to take on long trips where mealtimes are uncertain. Small zip-lock baggies and plastic spoons are easy to pack.

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Chef's Notes:

I should mention that there are many different recipes on the Internet including ones for instant potatoes and also no potatoes--instead using barley flour.
To get a taste without the work, quite often you can find lefse some supermarkets.  Albertson's, to name one, usually has Gudrun's brand lefse in the freezer or check for a local Sons of Norway Lodge as they quite often have fund raisers where they sell homemade lefse.
Enjoy!

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Potato Recipes

Celtnet Norway (Norwegian) Recipes and Cookery

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Rose’s Bean Hamburger Casserole

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sauté in a large skillet:

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup chopped green pepper, chopped (optional, or other chopped veggies or olives)
1/4 to 1/2 lb. hamburger (or ½ pint jar hamburger or other meat)

When the meat is brown, stir in:

1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
2-1/2 cups cooked beans
1-1/4 cups (about 1 can) tomato soup, tomato sauce or diced  tomatoes
1 beef bouillon cube, dissolved in 1 cup hot water
2 cups cooked rice

Chef's Notes:

Heat and simmer a few minutes.  Place in a greased casserole and bake 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with 1/2 cup of grated or sliced cheese.  Return to the oven just until cheese melts.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Tuna Casserole Recipe

More Casserole Recipes

Rose M.'s "Magic Mix" White Sauce Mix

Combine:
4 C nonfat dry milk
1 C flour
¼ C corn starch
1 C butter or shortening (or a combination)
 
Combine all very well with a pastry blender, or better yet, with a food processor or mixer.
 
To use, combine 2/3 C Magic Mix with 1  to  1 ½ C water (depending  how thick you want your sauce and what you’re making), and simmer until thick. You can start with less water and add more water if you want a thinner sauce, or even add more mix to get the consistency you want.
 
Store in your refrigerator in a coffee can. I add a piece of masking tape with the basic white sauce recipe.
 
Variations
 
Cheese Sauce
2/3 C Magic Mix
1 ¼ C water
1-2 C shredded cheddar cheese (parmesan works well for an Alfredo sauce)
Combine Magic Mix and water over Med. Heat stirring until thick. Add cheese and stir until well blended. This is a good base for mac and cheese, or over pasta, or veggies.
 
Cream of Chicken soup, condensed
1 C. Magic Mix
3/4 C. Chicken Broth (either from a can, bouillon, or liquid from canned chicken)
1 t. Dry Parsley
Dash of Onion Salt
Combine and stir over Med. Heat until thick. Use in recipes for condensed chicken soup.
 
Cream of Mushroom Soup, condensed
1 C Magic Mix
1 4.5 oz. can Mushroom pieces and stems, drain, but save liquid (or use dehydrated mushrooms and use leftover water)
1/4 C. Water + water from mushrooms (1 C total)
Dash of Onion Salt
1-2 drops Kitchen Bouquet, optional 
Combine and stir over Med. Heat until thick. Use in recipes for condensed mushroom soup.
 
Cream of Celery Soup
1 C. Magic Mix
¾ C. Water from Cooking Celery
1 C. Chopped Celery, cooked and drained (or use dehydrated celery and use the water left over from hydrating the celery as my water)
Pinch of Celery Seed
1 t. Dry Parsley Flakes (optional)

Chef's Notes:

Combine magic mix and water from cooking celery. Stir constantly over medium-high heat until it thickens. Add in celery, celery salt and parsley. Use in any recipe calling for canned Cream of Celery soup.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

How to separate an egg yolk from the white - Chinese style... (You don't need to speak Chinese to understand this. Thanks to Hardy M. for the link.)

Pioneer Cooking Recipes

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Top 30 Easy & Delicious Burger and Sandwich Recipes

Edible History: Easy Ancient Celtic, Gallic and Roman Techniques for Leavening Bread Without Modern Commercial Yeast

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Jackie and Brenda's Venison Chili

1 ½ pounds ground venison
2 cans light red kidney beans, drained
1 Six ounce can tomato paste
1 Twenty eight ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
Chili powder and ground red pepper, to taste.
 
Brown venison and onion together in large pot or Dutch oven. Add all other ingredients and cook on low heat for 1 to 1½ hours or 1½ to 2 hours if using dried beans.

Chef's Notes: Dried kidney beans can also be used but be aware that red kidney beans require longer soaking than other beans to reduce the risk of red kidney bean poisoning. Consuming as few as 4 or 5 raw or improperly cooked red kidney beans can cause severe, rapid-onset food poisoning characterized by nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Red kidney beans have a high concentration of phytohaemagglutinin (or lectin), which is toxic unless destroyed by high temperatures.
Red kidney beans should not be cooked in slow cookers, which do not achieve sufficiently high temperatures to destroy the phytohaemagglutinins and might actually increase their toxicity. Red kidney beans should not be sprouted.

The beans should be left to soak in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours (preferably overnight). Drain and rinse before cooking. Be sure to boil the beans for at least 10 minutes and stir periodically. Cook chili with dried kidney beans for 1-½ to 2 hours.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Best Chili Recipes from Big Oven

The Chili King

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Fifty-Two Sunday Dinners A Book of Recipes

Free Cookbooks For Kindle: Linked List of Over 100 Free Classic Cook Books

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Michelle W.'s Baked Oatmeal

The following shared with me by my wonderful neighbor and adopted mom, who received it from the owner of a bed and breakfast in the heart of Amish country, Lancaster Pennsylvania.

I double the recipe, mix it overnight and cover with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge. the next morning, as soon as I awaken, I remove wrap, put pan in a cold oven, turn oven on to 350 and bake about 1 hour or until the top is brown and crunchy.  I like to add fresh fruit (blueberries, peaches, apples are divine) prior to baking but my son prefers it plain. This is my "go-to" dish when I have a houseful of guests for holidays.

Baked Oatmeal
Preheat oven to 350
In a 2 qt baking dish, mix well:
2 eggs
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil  (can substitute applesauce but top will not be as crunchy)
1 tsp vanilla

Add and mix well:
3C oatmeal 
1C milk
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon/spice of your choice

Bake about 30-45 minutes or until top is brown and crunchy

Chef's Notes: Serve warm with milk.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

The Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

Strawberry Oatmeal Cobbler

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Recipes Tried and True

Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking

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Chef's Notes:

This is my family's favorite meal and it works great for food storage.  You can also make this in a dutch oven by heating the soup to a boil and then pouring the corn bread on top and letting it bake.  So yummy on a cool weather camp out!
 

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Corn meal recipes at RecipeLand

Palmetto Farms Corn Meal Recipes

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

The Ultimate Meatloaf Cookbook

Green Smoothie Recipes: 99 Fountain of Youth Superfood Secrets

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Marie's Zucchini Ratatouille

2 TBS olive oil
1 large zucchini squash, sliced in half lengthwise and then into semicircles
1 medium onion, sliced
2 TBS minced garlic (fresh or reconstituted dried flakes)

Heat oil at 400 degrees in an electric skillet and add squash, onion and garlic. Saute for about 15 minutes until zucchini slices start to brown.

Add:

1 TBS chopped herbs: basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme are best.
Add 2 Roma tomatoes, cut in wedges and saute an additional 5 minutes until tomatoes are soft

Chef's Notes:

We served it over leftover tuna/rice casserole (not at all French!) and it was really good.  Could also accompany grilled chicken or fish. Quite popular this time of year in the south of France, but they use eggplant instead of zucchini. 

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Ratatouille at RecipeTips.com

Ratatouille in the Catalan style

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Cavelady Cooking: 50 Fun Recipes for Paleo, Low-Carb and Gluten-Free Diets

25 Artisan Style Bread Recipes : Bake Beautiful Sweet and Savory Loaves at Home Without A Bread Machine

Simple Emergency Food Storage

The Late Memsahib's Molasses Taffy

Ingredients:

1 Cup granulated Sugar
1 Bottle (1-1/2 Cups) Dark Molasses
2 tsp vinegar
1-1/2 Tbsp Butter
1/8th tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Coating: Powdered Sugar

Directions:

In a THICK 3-quart saucepan, mix molasses, sugar, and vinegar. Heat and stir CONSTANTLY until it reaches the hard ball stage.
Remove from heat. Add butter, salt and soda. Stir until foaming stops.
Pour into -a well-buttered pan. Pull the taffy by hand until it is light and stiff.
Using buttered scissors, cut into bite-sized pieces (1/2 diameter cylinders x 1 inch long. Roll in powdered sugar. Keep cool to prevent candy from sticking together.

Chef's Notes: This is actually more of a hard candy than it is a taffy. Pulling taffy is an art and great exercise. Be sure to butter your hands and have a couple of able helpers (also with butter on their hands.) makes a beautiful golden-colored brittle taffy.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Home Candy Making

Candy's Life

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Favorite Farmers Market Recipes

Eating for Weight Loss (How to Lose 100 Pounds)

30 Perfect Popcorn Recipes : How to Make Sweet & Savory Gourmet Popcorn at Home

Cake Recipes from Scratch - Grama G's Top Ten Can't Get Enough Cake Recipes

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This is a quiche-like pie. Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 tablespoons cold water
3 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
1 cup fresh corn kernels, about 1 large ear, or canned or frozen
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Recipe Steps:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

To prepare pre-baked crust:
Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, add oil and water and gradually stir them in to form a soft dough, refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan, and press into the bottom and up the sides. Trim any overhanging crust away. Line the dough with a piece
of foil or parchment paper large enough to lift out easily; fill evenly with pie weights or weight it with dry beans. Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the foil or paper and weights. Let crust cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

To prepare filling:
Whisk eggs and milk in a bowl. Sprinkle half the cheese over the crust, then layer half the tomatoes evenly over the cheese. Sprinkle with corn, thyme, 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper and the remaining 1/4 cup
cheese. Layer the remaining tomatoes on top and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour the egg mixture over the top.

Chef's Notes:

Bake the pie until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean,
40 to 50 minutes. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Reader Mandy I. recommended: The Little House Cookbook: Frontier Foods from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Classic Stories by Barbara M. Walker.

DIY gadget makes veggie burger or chicken patties

Currently Available as Free Kindle e-Books:

Brilliant Beef Recipes

A Man and His Slow Cooker

Two Stinging Nettle Recipes from Notutopia

Stinging Nettle Pesto

Ingredients

¼ lb. young stinging nettle leaves
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup pine nuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup firmly packed grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Prep:

- Fill a large pot halfway full with water. Add ¼ cup salt and bring to a boil.
- For washing the nettles, fill a large bowl with cold water. Using latex gloves or tongs (if you're allergic to rubber), submerge the nettles in the water and let them sit for 5 minutes. Remove the nettles
and discard the water. Wearing gloves, pull the leaves from the stems and discard the thicker stems.
- Put the cleaned washed nettles in the boiling water pot and boil for 1 minute. Drain in a colander and spread the nettles out on a baking
sheet. Let cool completely. Squeeze out as much of the water as possible and coarsely chop.
- Place the nettles in the bowl of a food processor, add the mint, garlic, pine nuts, and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Process until the mixture has formed a pesto paste, then pour in the olive oil last.
Transfer the pesto paste into a bowl and fold in the cheese well into the mixture. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Chef's Notes:

Wear gloves when foraging, picking and handling stinging nettles! They have earned that name for a reason! Pick and use only young, delicate nettle leaves for this dish (wearing thick gloves and long sleeves, of course). If the nettles are clean enough, skip the cold-water stage of this recipe and go straight to the
blanching stage. Do not include any thick stems in this mix, you can blanch the stems and the leaves together and leave the stems on; they grind down into a paste just fine. This pesto is wonderful with fresh pasta, or used as a dressing for rolled tortillas.

Stinging Nettle Spaetzle

Ingredients:
2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 cup fine chopped blanched stinging nettles
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Prep:
-Pour flour into bowl, make a well in the center.
- Mix eggs and milk in well of flour, and slowly incorporate them into the flour. Mix thoroughly.
-Let dough rest preferably in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
-Season the batter to taste with salt and pepper, and mix in the chopped blanched stinging nettles. Let rest at room temperature for at least another hour for the flavors to mull.
-Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, place a perforated pan over the pot.
-Pour batter into the perforated pan, then use a bench scraper to push all the dough through the hole perforations into the boiling water below.
-Cook briefly until spaetzle is floating, then remove from water, using a spider, into a large bowl with EVOO in it.
-Toss the cooked spaetzle in a bowl to coat with olive oil, then pour out onto a sheet pan to cool.

Chef's Notes: Wear gloves when foraging, picking and handling stinging nettles! They have earned that name for a reason!

Big Ben’s Chicken Asparagus Rice Casserole

Sometimes spontaneity can yield a pretty good result.  This recipe was thought up on the spot at fish camp one night, and the result was a quickly emptied  pot. 

3 cups Jasmine white rice
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2 lbs fresh asparagus spears
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Combine rice and 6 cups water.  Mix in soups and chicken breasts.  Cover and bake for 1 hour on low heat (275-to-325 degrees F), stirring occasionally.  Trim root ends of asparagus.  Mix into chicken and rice gently along with the cream and half the cheese.  Sprinkle remaining cheese over top and return to low heat for another half an hour. 

Chef's Notes: Feeds six hungry folks.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Recipe.com. (The Granddaddy of all recipe web sites.)

Rabbit, Hare and Squirrel Recipes

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Big Ben's Sausage Lentil Soup

2 lbs mild Italian sausage (mine was homemade, more lean than what you'd get at the store), crumbled

6 cups mirepoix, diced small (that's 1 1/2 cups celery, 1 1/2 cups carrot, and 3 cups yellow onion, diced to approx 1/4 inch cube)

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) Use 1/4 cup if your sausage will render as it cooks. (Mine doesn't.)

2 tablespoons (4 to 6 cloves) minced garlic

10 cups water or stock

1 ea 15 oz can diced tomatoes (fire roasted preferable)

1 ea 4 oz can tomato paste

2 sprigs fresh (approximately 2 tsp dried) thyme

1 1/2 tsp ground white pepper

1 lb dry lentils, rinsed and sorted

3 cups vegetable stock, or 2 tbl roasted vegetable soup base (if using the soup base add 3 more cups of water, I prefer the soup base to bouillon cubes or granules, but it is only a matter of preference.  The soup will be fine with dried bouillon as long as you don't go overboard and remember to add the 3 cups of water)

In a large pot, heat 1/2 of the EVOO over medium heat.  Add the mirepoix and the garlic and stir often to prevent scorching.  Sort of a fast sweating process.  Meanwhile, heat the remaining EVOO over medium heat in a skillet (if needed).  Brown the sausage in the skillet, breaking it up evenly and allowing it to sear well.  When browned and broken up well, add the sausage to the mirepoix.  Deglaze the skillet with 1/2 cup of water or stock, scraping the bottom to lift off the little bits.  Pour the deglazing liquid into the mire poix. 

Add all the remaining ingredients to the pot with the mirepoix and the sausage and mix well with a wooden spoon.  Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat and cover with lid.  Simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until lentils are almost falling apart tender and have absorbed plenty of liquid.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Roland suggested these web sites:

South African Recipes

South African Game Recipes

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Brad's Budget Artisan Bread
 
In the spirit of sharing, I thought I would offer a recipe for bread that high-end bakeries charge a lot of money.

You will need the following reusable items (and after these purchases sit is very inexpensive):

Baking (aka Pizza) Stone
Pizza Peel (The thing you slide pizza into an oven with, but you could use the back or a sheet pan if you flour or corn meal it well so the dough can slide off easily)
Food grade container or tub with a lid (not air tight, but so it will keep stuff out)
A pan for holding water in the oven (I use the bottom part of my Broiler Pan)

Ingredients:
6 cups of water that feels barely warm to the touch.
3 Tablespoons Kosher or Sea Salt
3 Tablespoons of SAF Instant Yeast
13 cups of unbleached white flour.
A little extra flour for sprinkling.
Corn Meal if you prefer it to flour for coving your peel.

Stir ingredients together in order listed above in the container you purchased. No need to Knead the bread, just stir it all together.  The dough will look wetter than your usual bread loaf would, but this is how it should be.
Let stand on the cupboard for 2 hours. You will be amazed at how much it grows in the container.
Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours ( you can use it after it has stood on the counter for two hours, but this will make it easier to handle)

It can now be kept in the fridge for up to a week.

When ready to use, sprinkle a little flour on your hands and on the top of the dough then just tear off a hunk the size you want to use, and shape it into a ball. You don’t want to handle the dough too much and it really doesn’t need it.  Place the dough on the floured / Cornmeal covered Pizza Peel and then gently rub flour on the top of the round of dough (this is called a gluten cloak) and score the top of the dough with a sharp knife. This will help enable it to rise.  You can be as creative as you want to with the scoring.  I prefer just cutting lines shaped like “((|))”, but you could do a square or any other design you wish. Let it stand for 20 minutes on the peel, and then set your oven to 450F with the baking stone and pan in the oven. When the oven hits 450 the dough will be ready. If the bread hasn't risen much don’t worry, it will in the oven (this is called Oven Spring). With the hottest tap water you can get out of your sink, fill a glass to about one and a half cups. Take the glass and your pizza peel to the oven. Open the oven and with a jerking motion, slip your dough onto the baking stone. Next quickly pour the water into the pan (which should be below the baking stone) to 'flash' your oven. Then close the door and let the bread bake for about 30 minutes. Remember the bread is really going to rise so make sure you have no racks above the stone.

Chef's Notes:

When the bread comes out of the oven it will have a crackling crust you can thump, but it will soften quickly. Let it rest on a rack for a while if you are not eating it right away (I dare you to wait....yeah you won’t) then the crust will become chewy and crunchy again, but the inside will be moist and delicious.

If you use a grapefruit sized round of dough, you should get about 8 loaves out of this recipe and it will take less than 15 minutes of hands on time each day. There is a bakery near my house named 'Kneaders' and they charge $6 for one of these loaves. When I make it, I make at least two loaves and then give one away to someone in the neighborhood or at work. I also barter with it for eggs, so enjoy the fruits of your labors. We find that we pay about $1 for each loaf we make, and I know exactly what is in it.

When serving this bread, I recommend real butter and raw honey for an exceptional treat.  These loaves also make really great bread bowls for chili, stews, and especially chowders.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Ancient Roman Recipes

Wild Game Recipes

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Wiley's Chuckwagon Pecan Pie Recipe

Here's a ranch favorite I love to take to potlucks and calf-ropings. No one has a clue that it's main ingredient is Pinto Beans!

            1 C mashed pinto beans (cooked, unseasoned and well done)
            2 C sugar
            4 eggs
            1/4 lb butter
            2 tbs molasses or dark corn syrup
            2 tsp vanilla
            1/2 tsp salt
 
Cream sugar and butter. Add well beaten eggs, molasses, and salt. Beat in well-mashed beans (that have been cooked, unseasoned and well done.) Pour into an unbaked pie shell. Pecans may be sprinkled on top before baking. Bake at 350 F until firm. It's easy and delicious!  Happy Trails!

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Howard G. mentioned that there is a great list of Old Cooking Definitions and Temperature Equivalents available at the Preparedness Advice Blog web site.

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I like to shop Costco, they offer a spiral sliced ham for about $20 which kept in the fridge has a very long storage period, however I have found that cooking the ham, and then dividing up serving portions in zip locks works great, the big treat for myself is to leave a portion of meat on the bone and freezing until ready to cook.
 
My recipe, requires a large crock pot, I unfreeze the ham bone with the residual meat, overnight I soak a large bag of navy beans per directions, I like to prepare the soup early a.m. by starting out putting  the ham bone with meat first into the crock-pot(again the biggest one made)  next I add the following in this order navy beans(white beans), a quart of chicken broth, 1/8 cup of salt (don't worry its not going to be too salty) 2 tablespoons pepper, 1 onion(diced small as you can get it,) 1/4 cup hot sauce, 1/4 stick of butter.  At this point you should room for additional liquids, I suggest either water or more chicken broth, fill the crock pot up to within 1/8 inch from the top.  Set the crock pot on high, make sure the crock pot has a location or a large pan sitting underneath in case you get a little run over( but if you maintain the 1/8 inch level you should be ok) and let it cook for at least 12 hours. Also it will thicken up on its own.

Chef's Notes:  This is a great meal to leave perking while you are away from the house, because when you return home, the smell of that meal cooking makes even the pickiest eaters hungry. You will see the meat has separated from the bone, and if you have a dog(s) in the house, they will be very happy to get a tasty bone.  I serve with cornbread, or fresh bread and nothing else, this is a complete meal,  sticks to your ribs and the smiles around the table are evidence enough you have a hit.  Very few meals give off the aroma that puts a smile on your face like Navy bean and ham soup,  I have tried different things for value, for around 25 bucks complete cost of all the ingredients you get several meals from the sliced ham, another round of meals or more from the soup, and even the dog has a treat.  You can stretch this by adding more bean, and as most people know, it gets better each time the left-overs are reheated.  That's a winner for everybody on a budget.  

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Taste of Dutch oven cooking offered at Chuck Wagon Gathering and Children's Cowboy Festival. A tip of the Stetson to Jeremiah R. for the link.)

Just Dutch Oven Recipes

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Martha in Indiana's Whole Wheat Bread
 
3 cups warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
Dissolve the honey and yeast in the water in a large crockery bowl.
Pray for 5 minutes while the yeast "activates", becoming foamy.
Stir in 3 c. W.W. Flour, stir for 5 minutes to develop gluten.
Add 1/3 c. Honey, 4 teaspoons salt, 1/2 c. Applesauce and stir for another 5 minutes.
Add flour (6-7 cups) till a stiff dough is formed.
Turn out on floured board and knead until elastic and smooth.  A good test to see if it is kneaded enough is to pick up the dough and then drop it, it shouldn't stick to your hand.
 
Place dough in a greased crockery bowl and place in a slightly warmed oven into which you have put a pan/bowl of warm water.  Dough rises much better in a warm (not hot!), moist, environment. Let rise for 40 minutes or till it doubles in volume.
 
Punch down and divide/shape into 4 loaves.  Place in pans and let rise for 40 - 60 minutes in a warm/moist oven.  Remove from oven and preheat to 350 degrees, bake for 40 minutes or until it sounds "hollow" when loaf is thumped.  After turning out to cool, I baste the tops of the loaves with butter.
 

Chef's Notes:

I've used this simple recipe for whole wheat bread for almost 30 years.  It always turns out well. I have ground my own flour using hard red winter wheat and used it in the recipe as well as store bought whole wheat flour, both work equally well.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

OldTimeRecipes.us

Fajita.biz

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Angela in Eastern Oregon's Stuffed Green Pepper Soup:
 
1 Lb ground Italian Sausage or 1 can LTS Ground Beef
8 Cups of Boiling Water
1 1/2 Cups White Rice
3 tbls dehydrated Onion Flakes
1 tbls dehydrated diced carrots
1/4 cup dehydrated Celery
1/2 cup dehydrated Green & Red Pepper Flakes
3 tbls Dehydrated tomato powder, add water until it has a paste consistency.
2 tbls Beef Bouillon
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
 
In skillet brown the Italian Sausage (breaking into bite sized pieces), some will want to drain of the excess grease but I do not as it is tasty and needed in the right situation. In a large stock pot bring your water to a good rolling boil.  Add the rice, onion, celery, carrot, green and red peppers along with the tomato powder that you have rehydrated. Let cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the Italian sausage, beef bullion, cayenne flakes and garlic powder. Continue to cook at a low simmer for 30 minutes.
 
I serve this with a good crusty bread and a bit of goat cheese for spreading.

Chef's Notes:
As a kid my grandma used to make stuffed green peppers and I have to admit they were not my favorite thing. Luckily our taste buds mature as we do and now it is a family favorite. Making the individual peppers is time consuming and some seem to go to waste. But when I make Stuffed Green Pepper Soup all that is left is a pot to scrub! Enjoy!

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Campfire Cooking

Backpacking Meal Recipes

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Jackie's Venison Jerky

2 to 2-1/2  pounds venison roast, fat trimmed, sliced very thin  (an electric slicer works well for this)

Ingredients for marinade:
11/3 tsp. garlic powder
4 tsp. onion powder
1 -1/3 tsp. black pepper
4 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned salt
4 tsp. Accent
Dash of meat tenderizer
1 cup Kikkoman low-sodium teriyaki marinade and sauce or regular soy sauce depending on how much salt you want to add
1 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

Add dry ingredients to a large bowl. Add the teriyaki sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Stir with whisk until well blended. Add sliced venison to marinade, cover and refrigerate overnight or 8 hours. After 8 hours, remove venison from marinade one slice at the time and place on dehydrator tray. When trays are full (usually 3 or 4 trays), set dehydrator to highest setting or 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook for approximately 4-5 hours, checking meat frequently during last hour. (High humidity may prolong dehydrating time.) Jerky can be kept refrigerated in Ziploc bags for several weeks, if it lasts that long!
 

Chef's Notes: This recipe should work equally well with meat from deer, elk or antelope.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Staple Food Recipes

Spring Fruit and Vegetable Recipes

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Ray R.'s Chicken Stew

We have a favorite soup recipe, made as follows:

Chicken Stew
16 c Water - for a soup instead of a thick stew make this 20 to 24 cups - we use water from our Berkey filter since it tastes better.
16 tsp Knorr tomato/chicken bouillon - adds a great flavor.
25 oz boneless skinless chicken - this can be fresh, frozen, or home canned - it is about a quart of my home canned chicken.
1 c Dry pearled barley - we buy these in 25 lbs sacks at Restaurant Depot which we first learned of from SurvivalBlog. We pack then into canning jars and vacuum seal then with a Food Saver using the wide mouth canning jar
attachment.
2 c dry lentils - again purchased in 25 lbs sacks at Restaurant Depot.
2 tbs dried onions - substitute fresh if you have it
1 tbs minced garlic
Large dash Maggi seasoning to taste - adds a great meaty flavor - we use the USA produced stuff made by Nestle, but it is made in many countries, and most Asian supermarkets carry it and Asian made copies. Maggi is sort of a wheat-based soy-flavored sauce product, but with no soy.
2 cans white beans - we have been using beans from the LDS cannery. Since they are no longer doing wet pack canning we will have to find another source or go to dried beans soaked overnight.
2 cans Rotel - the smaller size cans not the large restaurant sized cans.
2 cans diced tomatoes
25 oz fresh carrots - or the equivalent in dried carrots

Bring all of the above to a boil, then turn the heat down to a low simmer.
Simmer at least a couple of hours or as long as all day. We can fit a half recipe in our crock pot.

Wait 1/2 to 1 hour before serving add the Spinach.

7 oz fresh spinach or the equivalent in dried spinach.

Chef's Notes:

Yields about 29 cups of stew (about 120 calories per cup), or a few more servings if you started with more water.

My wife likes this as is. I spice it up in my bowl with a with a few dashes of Liquid Smoke, and some Chipotle Smoked Tabasco sauce.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Jo N.'s Oatmeal Bread

I like this recipe because it makes three nice loaves with little effort.  You do not need to attend to the bread that closely so you can go off and do other chores while it is rising (2 times) and baking.
 
Today was bread making day for me, and this is an easy recipe that can be made with supplies we all should have on hand.
 
Oatmeal Bread (makes 3 loaves)
4 c boiling water
3 c oats (Quaker Oats, not instant)
7.5 to 8.5 c flour (regular is fine and is what I use)
2 packages yeast (4.5 t if you buy yeast in bulk, as I do)
2 T salt
4 T oil (I use olive but any vegetable oil will do)
1/2 c honey, maple syrup, molasses or combination thereof
 
Pour boiling water over oats in a large bowl and let cool.  Stir in 2 cups flour and the yeast. Place in warm, draft-free space, uncovered, and let rise until double in bulk (usually about 2 hours). Punch down and work in rest of ingredients, including enough flour to make a dough that you can knead.  Turn out onto flour-covered surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding flour as you go so dough is firm but pliable and not sticky.  You cannot over-knead this bread.  Divide dough into 3 parts and shape into loaves.  Place each in a greased loaf pan.  Allow to rise until double, again about 2 hours.  Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, but can take as long as 60 depending on your pans.
 
Turn out and cool.  I like to make two loaves of regular bread and one loaf of cinnamon raisin.  I do this by kneading in about 1/2 to 1 c raisins before shaping the loaf.  I pat the dough out flat (could roll, but then I need to wash rolling pin) and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  I roll up dough like a jelly roll and place seam-side down in greased pan and let rise and bake with other two loaves.
 
If you are skilled, you can bake the bread in a Dutch oven on a camp fire but I live in suburbia and a campfire is not allowed!  Bread is not like an oatmeal cookie with flakes of oatmeal.  It is a light colored, fine crumb bread that makes the most excellent toast.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

S.A.'s Hearty Bean Soups

First, if your family doesn’t feel that a hearty bowl of beans is a meal, you need to start down this path as soon as possible. In my childhood, even though coming from a comfortable, educated home, every single Saturday, while the house was being cleaned and weekly grocery shopping done, a big pot of pinto beans was on the stove simmering away. My parents, both raised during the Great Depression, descendants from Civil War families, had also lived through rationing during WWII. The pinto beans were served with cornbread slathered with butter. My father would crumble his cornbread into a tall glass and top it off with buttermilk. He had barely survived starvation as a teenager yet lived to be 88.

This is a survival recipe. It uses ham fat, which is critical, vital, and imperative for metabolism. Read James Michener’s novel Poland to see how hungry and deprived people feel about eating fat. If your diet is balanced, the fat in this recipe is just one more menu item that will not hurt you, but rather help keep your body well-functioning.

Onto the recipe: This works for any kind of bean, but my most favorite is black-eyed peas. You can use canned or dried. If dried, sort out the pebbles, rinse dirt off several times, soak overnight if you wish to hurry the cooking, cook until done. I always use a crock pot. Some people add a small amount of baking soda for gas. I don’t find it necessary.

·         1-3 cans of beans (use the beans, liquid, and rinse/swish with a little water to get everything from the can)
·         1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Chilis
·         Fat trimmed from a cooked ham

Buy a real ham, cook it, trim off the fat and save every fat scrap as you eat the ham. (Of course, leave on a little when you fry ham for breakfast as fat is tasty when caramelized.)
When you are ready for a pot of beans, dice the ham fat into a skillet. I use non-stick spray and a little olive oil to cut down on sticking to the pan. Brown the fat pieces and the ham bone and render the fat. When done, first allow it to cool and then gently pour the grease and fat pieces into the crock pot. Now put a can of Rotel into the skillet to de-glaze. Stir around until you get everything loosened.
Now pour the contents of the skillet (Rotel tomatoes, little brown bits scraped from the bottom of the skillet) and all the beans or peas or lentils or whatever with the liquid into a crock pot. No additional water is needed. Everything is well-cooked, but I let it go on low for a couple of hours to marry all the flavors. As the ham bone is in the crock pot, the last of the remaining meat and fat will loosen. Take out the bone and remove every last scrap bit and return to the pot. Some people think adding a tablespoon of vinegar releases some additional nutrients from the ham bone. I do this, but it doesn’t affect the flavor at all.

When done, serve with a dash of salt to taste, some chopped cilantro for green. Other optional toppings are fresh onion if you like, some sliced jalapeño or serrano pepper growing from your garden (right?) if you need more heat, or a trickle of Pepper Sauce, if desired. Commercial Pepper Sauce is simply small hot peppers bottled in vinegar, or you can make your own. As the vinegar gets used up, just continue to add more vinegar to refresh. A bottle lasts almost forever. You can choose to add nothing and this bowl of beans is still amazing and wonderful.    

Chef's Notes:

If you must have some starch, artisan bread, cornbread, tortillas, flatbread all go along nicely. Remember, while beans are a protein substitute, they are still carbohydrates. So you are covered there.   
Some cases of your favorite beans and Rotel tomatoes are a cheap, nutritious, and delicious way to increase your stores.
I eat this almost everyday for lunch and eagerly look forward to it. Fat has more calories than meat, so you will not get hungry in the afternoon. It’s rib-sticking, as they used to say. 

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

19th Century Recipes

Selected Recipes from Colonial Williamsburg

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Lin H. wrote: "Don't buy spaghetti sauce in jars or cans since it is easy, thrifty and adaptable to make your own. You know what's going into it, you can do many different meals with the one basic homemade recipe, and the ingredients are easily kept in your home (and preparedness ) pantry."
 
Lin H.'s Easy Red Spaghetti Sauce
 
1-2 tbs. olive oil (optional, depending on your meat choice)
1/2 lb. meat (ground beef or pork or venison, bulk sausage, diced smoked sausage, cut bacon, Vienna sausage dices, cut pepperoni slices, diced canned ham; the possibilities are wonderfully various)
1/2 c. diced onions (or 2 tbs. dried onion flakes)
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp. dried garlic, rehydrated; or 1 tsp. garlic powder)
1 can (14-16 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 heaping tbs. Italian seasoning (or 2 tsp. each basil and oregano)
1/2 tsp. ea. salt and pepper, or to taste
1 tbs. butter or margarine (optional)
 
In a large skillet or saucepan crumble and brown meat with onion and garlic till done (if using pre-cooked meats, heat oil then stir-fry meat, onion and garlic till onion is translucent, 5 minutes or so). Drain grease. Add rest of ingredients. Bring to just-boiling at high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasonings if desired. Makes roughly 4 servings.
 
Now you're ready for (plan on 12-16 oz. pasta for most of the meals below, to serve 4):
- Spaghetti, of course. Serve over cooked spaghetti or other pasta.
- Lasagne. Layer sauce with lasagne noodles and a cheese mixture and bake.
- Have you tried Cabbage Lasagne? Substitute steamed cabbage shreds for the pasta layer in lasagne. It's delicious.
- Baked ziti/penne. Toss sauce with cooked ziti or penne tubes in a casserole, top with cheese, and bake.
- Stuff manicotti or giant shells with a cheese mixture, pour sauce over and bake.
- You can add vegetable nutrition to any of these dishes. Zucchini rounds, chopped spinach, and peppers (sweet red, green bell, or hot varieties to taste) all adapt well.
- Italian soup. When sauce is done add 2 cans (14-16 oz. ea.) beef broth, 2 c. water, a can of drained beans and diced veggies of choice (zucchini or any squash, peppers, celery, carrots, peas, spinach and cabbage are all good). Simmer till veggies are almost tender and add 1/2 c. uncooked pasta the last 10 minutes.
- Add a cup of half-&-half to your sauce, simmer 10 minutes, and stir in cooked pasta for a creamy "Hamburger Helper type" stovetop dish.
- Spread sauce on unbaked pizza crusts (will make 2-to-3 pizzas), top with diced veggies, sprinkle cheese over and bake.

Chef's Notes:

I hope this can be helpful. Sharing good food with family or friends is a blessing, in good times and bad.

Reader Matt R. Adds: "The only thing I can possibly add to Lin H.'s delicious sounding spaghetti sauce contribution is something I learned from my half-Italian cousin:  Canned tomatoes and sauce are acidified for safety and can be pretty 'twangy'...  To cut the acid, add very finely chopped carrots to the sauce - about a half cup to Lin's basic recipe should be about right.  You can chop them so finely nobody will ever know they are there.  Added early and simmered for 15-20 minutes, they add no carrot-y taste but their mild sweetness goes a long way to eliminating the acid and canned taste of the tomatoes.  The beta carotene can't hurt either...  Once you do this you'll never consider making spaghetti sauce without them."
 

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Mrs. G. suggested Cooks.com

Cousin Al mentioned that Faith and Survival has a useful collection of dehydrated food recipes.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

1-1/2 cups dried mushrooms
2 cups hot beef bouillon, make it from powdered or cubed bouillon
4 cups milk, made from powdered milk
6 tbsp. flour, all purpose
1/2 cup dried onions
1/4 cup margarine, or powdered butter
1 tsp. kosher salt
Parsley flakes for garnish

Directions:
Sauté mushrooms and onions in margarine in a heavy saucepan for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine bouillon, milk, salt, and flour. Blend until smooth. Add to sautéed mushrooms and onions. Cook over low heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Garnish with parsley. Makes about 8 servings.

Chef's Notes:

This can easily be made into a mix by creating it using all dried ingredients.
When ready to cook, just add the 6 cups of water  to the jar of mix in a pot, and continue to whisk the solution while bringing it to a boil.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Lee M. wrote to mention that he liked this site: HelpWithCooking.com.

H.M. mentioned that CookingCache.com has more than 7,000 recipes available.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Tennessee Guy's Pancake Recipe

Here is my favorite pancake recipe:
 
1 cup of sour cream
 
1 cup cottage cheese
 
1 tablespoon sugar
 
1 cup of flour
 
Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
 
It is also good to put a heaping  1/2 cup of oatmeal in place of 1/2 cup of flour!
 
This recipe will give you mouth watering pancakes. Enjoy!

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

H.E. suggested the recipe collection at Everyday Food Storage.

Tom in Iowa recommended the 19th Century Recipes Archives at Hearth and Home.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Notutopia's One Pot Beefy Mac N' Cheese

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground meat
1/8th cup dried diced onions
pinch of garlic powder
1 T parsley flakes
salt and pepper
1 lb. elbow macaroni or egg noodles
1 8oz. can Bega cheddar cheese cut in small 1/4 inch cubes, or 1/2 cup
of cheddar cheese powder

Directions:

In a 4 quart pot with a tight fitting lid, fry the ground meat with onions, seasonings and parsley flakes, until meat is browned. Do not drain oil from the meat. Add 5 cups of water to the meat mixture and bring to a rapid boil. Add the pasta, stir well and boil for 5 minutes. Cover the pot and turn off the burner. Allow the pasta to continue cooking and expanding and do not open the cover. In 10 minutes, open the cover, and stir in the cheese until melted. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

"Cabinetman" over at The FALFiles Forums recommended this traditional cookbook: Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking published by J.G. Ferguson and Associates Chicago, 1953. Cabinetman's description: "There’s a 77 page index to give you an idea of how comprehensive this book is. I can’t stress enough how valuable this book would become during as SHTF situation because it provides many alternatives to traditional cooking techniques as opposed to modern cookbooks which rely on microwaves and electronics and a lot of pre-packaged ingredients. In this book you start with picking the veggies from the garden, getting the feathers off a newly dispatched broiler, or carving up an elk. However, she also details more modern ingredients that may be frozen or butchered at a shop. It’s not a cookbook full only of rustic techniques but both old and newer ones. They are most certainly techniques that will help you adjust to a less-modern way of feeding a family."

Reader Lee M. mentioned that there are some great recipes posted in the discussion forums at the Mrs. Survival web site.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Notutopia's Long Term Storage Chicken Ragout 

Serves Four

The dry ingredients for this recipe (everything but the chicken meat and the water) can be multiplied and bulk mixed and then vacuum packed in quart size mason jars with an O2 absorber for long term storage.

1 c dried diced or sliced carrots
1/2 c dried sliced celery
1/2 c dried diced or sliced potato
1/4 c dried sliced mushrooms
1/4 c dried sliced olives
1/4 c dried chopped onion
2 T tomato powder
1 T dried parsley
1 c dried peas
3 cubes chicken bouillon
pinch of anise seed
ground pepper, to taste

2  8 oz. cans of boned chicken (or fresh equivalent)

Directions:
Bring all ingredients in 7 cups of water, to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook until tender for 15 minutes.
Add in the chicken, cook 5 more minutes.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Bill M. in New York recommended Utah's Chef Stephanie Petersen's web site, where she explains and shows how to use Honeyville and Augason freeze-dried / dehydrated ingredients to self-produce pre-mixed long-term (25 yrs) food storage meals in a jar.  Her  "52 Method" web page explains how to do it, and includes downloadable (PDF) shopping list needs, recipe cards, tutorials and features on-line videos showing how to make 12 + different long-term (multi-serving) food storage meal mixed and stored in wide-mouth quart mason jars with oxygen absorbers. She is always adding new recipes. All of this information is contained as you browse this web page. She has many other great recipes included on her web site.

Jen. K. suggested a web site with lot of great antique recipes: FoodTimeline.org

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Keri's Whole Wheat Bread
1 ½  cups hot tap water
3 Tablespoons oil
¼ cup honey + molasses to equal 1/3 cup 
     (or about 1 ½ Tablespoons molasses)
½ Tablespoon salt
4 cups whole wheat flour
½ Tablespoon **active dry yeast

Put ingredients in the order your bread maker requires. Dry ingredients first or liquid ingredients first.  I use the dough setting and then bake in the oven.   When dough is ready to shape,  pour out dough and stretch into a rectangle.  It will be a little sticky.  On floured board, roll up loaf like you do for cinnamon rolls.  Pinch the ends.  Put in greased and floured loaf pan hiding the pinched ends at the bottom, let raise 30 minutes to an hour.  Don’t let the dough over raise or it will get a sour yeasty smell and taste and can deflate while baking.  The bread will raise a little as it bakes.

Bake 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.  I have a big loaf pan, if you use a regular size pan, you may need to make 2 loaves and bake 25-35 minutes.  You will know when the bread is ready because it will smell done, and when you thump the bottom of the loaf it will sound hollow.

Kitchen blender directions:

Grind about 3 c. of wheat to make 4 c. whole wheat flour.  In 5-qt. mixer bowl, combine water, oil, honey, molasses and salt.  Mix. In a small bowl, mix 1 ½ c. flour with yeast.  Add to liquid.  Mix for 5 minutes on speed 3.  Change to dough hook.  Add remaining flour and mix on speed 2 for 5 minutes. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until double in size.   Stretch dough into a rectangle.  Roll up loaf like you do for cinnamon rolls.  Pinch the ends.  Put in greased and floured loaf pan, let raise 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Bake 350°F for 45 minutes.  I have a big loaf pan, if you use a regular size pan, you may need to make 2 loaves and bake 30-40 minutes.  You will know when the bread is ready because it will smell done, and when you thump the bottom of the loaf it will sound hollow. 

By hand: 
In large bowl mix with a heavy spoon or hands: water, oil, honey, molasses and salt.  Stir in 1 cup flour and yeast.  When all ingredients are well combined add the rest of the flour stirring in one cup at a time (approximately 3 more cups).   Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5-10 minutes. This step is very important to loaf quality and will make your arms and shoulders get very strong :)

Because you are using your hands to knead, the dough will be very sticky.  You may find that you are adding more flour to make the dough workable. This is normal, but add just enough flour to make a smooth and elastic dough.  Too much flour makes the finished loaf dry.  Try not to use more than 1/2 cup. 

** I use active dry yeast, instant dry yeast or compressed yeast.  It is different than the yeast our grandmas used.  It does not need to be proofed and mixed with the water beforehand.  It is added with the flour and works perfect every time.   It may not seem like 1/2 Tablespoon is enough, but it is.  

Chef's Notes:

A little trick is to oil a liquid measuring cup before you measure the honey.  Pour 1/4 cup of honey in your measuring cup, then add the molasses until it measures 1/3 cup.  The honey mixture will pour right out.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Carla P. recommended: How To Smoke Meat on a Gas Grill

Shelf Reliance (one of our advertisers) publishes some handy recipes on their web site.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

R.G.'s Cinnamon & Spice Cookies

Here is an old family favorite.  This fits right in with SurvivalBlog as it stores well and travels well.

4 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
5 egg yolks
1 egg white (set additional egg whites aside)
1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice
1 cup of honey, warmed

Sift dry ingredients on a board or in a bowl. Add eggs and enough honey to make a medium stiff dough. roll out to about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 2-inch rounds (I use a juice glass.) Brush with slightly beaten egg whites. Dip in a mixture sugar, cinnamon and finely chopped nuts. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown, at 350 degrees.

Chef's Notes:

My grandparents came to this country from Austria-Hungary in 1908. This is a recipe that my grandmother brought with her. This is my favorite cookie. These cookies are keep extremely well (they contain no shortening) and are great for mailing to servicemen and women.

For colorful Holiday cookies you can use a cinnamon-sugar mix colored by a couple of drops of food coloring.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

A reader mentioned a very useful blog on Survival cooking, recipes and menu-planning.

John and Abigail Adams sent us the URL for a site on North American Indian Recipes.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Recipe of the Week

D.T.C. in Maryland's Favorites

Hot Milk Cake:

2-eggs
1/2 c. milk
1 Tbsp. butter
3/4 c. Sugar
1c Flour
1 tsp - Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 325 deg.
1) Put milk and butter in saucepan on low heat. Melt butter into milk. Do not let milk boil, but it should "steam".
2) Mix eggs and vanilla together until "airy" then add, slowly, the sugar to the egg/vanilla mix until dissolved.
3) In a separate bowl, add the remaining dry ingredients and blend well.
4) Slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture until it is the consistency of cookie dough.
5) Add the hot milk to the mix and blend gently until thoroughly blended and "thin".
6) Coat a 8"x8" square or 10" round baking pan with Pam, margarine or butter and flour.
7) Place in oven quickly... The purpose of adding the milk/butter already heated to the mix is that it starts the action of the baking powder so the cake begins "cooking" before it gets to the oven.
8) Bake for 25 minutes or until a knife pushed into the center of the cake comes out clean...

Whole Wheat Bread:

This recipe gives loaves with a thin, crisp crust and a soft, but not grainy, center.. I made 1 loaf in a loaf pan and 1 braided loaf. Enjoy!

Step 1- grind enough wheat for 3 cups of whole wheat flour...

Ingredients
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast 
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour (approximately)

Directions
Bring 1/2 cup water to boil. Add to it the milk , sugar and salt in a large bowl. Let cool to luke-warm. In a separate container add the yeast to a 1/2 cup of warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes... Add the dissolved yeast, whole wheat flour and 2 cups of the white flour to the first mixture. beat thoroughly then turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough and add more white flour as needed so it becomes easy to handle. Let dough rest for 10 minutes. resume kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch dough down and cut into two loaves, place in greased loaf pan (or form into loaves) and let rise again. Once the dough has risen, put into a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes. Check bread and remove from oven when it makes a hollow sound when you thump your finger on it. Allow to cool on racks. Enjoy.

Four Baby Food Recipes

Here are a few baby food recipes...

Rice Cereal using "powder" 
Ingredients:
1/4 c. rice powder (brown rice ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the rice powder while stirring constantly.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, mix in formula or breast milk and fruits if desired
3. Serve warm.

Rice Cereal with whole rice 
Ingredients:
1/2 c. rice (brown rice, basmati or jasmine)
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the rice and stir.
2. Simmer for 20 minutes or according to package directions; stir 1/2 way through cooking time.
3. When rice is finished and a bit cool, add it in 1/2 cup measurements with liquid of your choice (breast milk, formula, water etc.) and puree as needed. Keep a watch as you puree so that the rice does not turn into paste!
4. Serve warm mixed with fruits, veggies and liquid of your choice. 

Oatmeal Cereal 
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of ground oats (do not use the Instant or Quick Cook varieties), ground in blender or food processor
3/4 cup - 1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the oatmeal powder while stirring constantly.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, mix in formula or breast milk and fruits if desired
3. Serve warm.

Barley Cereal 
Ingredients:
1/4 cup ground barley (barley ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to a boil. Add the barley and simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly
2. Mix in fruit juice or add fruits if desired
3. Serve warm

Chef's Notes:

These recipes came with permisssion from the site, Maryland Preparedness Forums.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

K.A.F. recommended a site with a lot of recipes for storage food: EverydayFoodStorage.net.

Susan C. in Texas sent a link to a web site that has all sorts of mixes you can make yourself to save money. Susan notes: "Many of these mixes are healthier than store bought ones. OBTW, I find that these recipes call for too much salt."

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Ken E.'s Chicken and Stuffing
 
Ingredients:
 
1/2 lb of Chicken or 2 Chicken Breasts.
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup.
1 box of instant stuffing.
3 sticks of celery.
1 cup of water.
 
In a crock pot, or Dutch oven place the raw chicken and chopped celery and can of cream of mushroom soup set on low heat. cook for 3 hours or until chicken is just past pink. In a separate container add the stuffing mix and 1 cup of water and mix well. Add the stuffing to the chicken and soup mixture. Serve. This makes a meal for two healthy adults, or two kids and two adults when adding a side dish.

Chef's Notes:

Our family of four likes to double the recipe. This amount of food gives me the ability to bring it for work the next day. The left-overs can be eaten hot or cold I have done both.
 
In the recipe I stated that the pot needs to be set at a low heat. I know that if you're out in the sticks, without electricity and you are cooking with a fire. It might be a good idea to cook the chicken first then add the other ingredients after the chicken is done. Cooking the ingredients with the chicken allows the flavors to intermingle.

Jenn in Arizona Added This Suggestion:

"I have made this dish in my crock pot several times. I would like to suggest to those who do not like Cream of Mushroom soup to try using either Cream of Chicken or Cream of Celery soup. You can also use the same amount of chicken broth in place of water. This usually tastes better. Also, one other thing I like to do as the recipe I have calls for is to add a little butter in pieces to the top of the stuffing mix. I also did a search not too long ago and someone suggested you can prepare turkey this way, as well."

Note From JWR: Translating Old-Fashioned Measurements -- Small Increments:

The following are rough estimations of some small increments often found in old recipes:

Tad: 1/4 Teaspoon
Dash: 1/8th Teaspoon
Pinch: 1/16th Teaspoon
Smidgen: 1/32nd Teaspoon

(Of course, you mileage may vary, since these were not standardized measurements, and the terminology might vary significantly!)

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Reader Bob. B. suggested to taking a look at the oft-cited The Provident Living (LDS) Food Storage and Emergency Preparedness web page. He suggested; "Especially look at the 'Dry Pack Handouts' label in the right-hand list. Great recipes for basic foods."

My old friend Fred the Valmet-meister sent me a link for a web site devoted to cowboy dutch oven cooking and sourdough "start" as well as some sourdough recipes.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Pumpkin Soup, by Mrs. R.L.B.

Pumpkins store very well, which makes this a great recipe to have on hand. I have made this with a variety of pumpkins and other winter squash, including butternut squash, but I have also used some pretty odd looking varieties of squash out of curiosity at the store. (If it kind of looks like a pumpkin, it will probably work. ) This soup has always come out great despite my experimentation.  When you plant your pumpkins, consider planting a variety so that you have a better chance of growing and storing successfully.
 
Two tricks to better storage of pumpkins are: 1) to let them set out in the sun for a week to harden the crust and, 2) to leave a length of stem on when you harvest them (see the book Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables by Mike Bubel and Nancy Bubel, a very worthwhile book!)  Then move them to your cellar.  Everything else in the recipe grows in the garden or can be stored in a can or as a dried spice. If you store canned pumpkin, you can still make this up, or consider making batches ahead of time and canning with a pressure cooker.  Just take out the anise before canning.
 
Another great source of pumpkin recipes is the little cookbook "The Pumpkin Book".  This came out of the Pumpkin Festival held at Half Moon Bay, California. Note:  Don't forget to add a food press to your survival kitchen list. 

It's worth making now! Get some practice on this one and try it at least once with butternut squash.

Pumpkin Soup

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Pinch of nutmeg

2 Tbsp Shallots or Onions

Chopped finely ½ star anise

1 tsp garlic, minced

4 cups chicken stock

3 Cups pumpkin

2 Tbsp butter (not really necessary, I seldom add it)

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Ground salt and pepper

Cut the pumpkin in half, scrape out those precious heirloom seeds and don't lose them. Bake the squash in a solar oven or similar oven with a little water in the pan, until it is easily pierced with a fork. Mash or puree the cooked squash in a food press and set aside. (If you have electricity still, use a food processor). Add a little oil to the cooking pot, then add the shallots, garlic and cook, stirring often to soften. Add the squash and the spices and cook stirring for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Season well with salt and fresh pepper and just before serving add the butter and whisk in.

Chef's Notes:

I have cooked this many times without butter and can't tell the difference.

The anise can be fished out, rinsed, dried and reused a couple of times in future batches.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

The gals over at Food Storage Made Easy have compiled a free cook book with shelf stable ingredient recipes from their readers. This is a great book to add to your kitchen reference binder.

Check out the plethora of great recipes and tips at Red Dirt Cooking, such as this one: Cowhand Soup.

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Dale in Tennessee's Bean Stretcher

A favorite of mine as tested among our group and deemed worthy after being served at a church pot luck. I came up with this after pondering a few days on how to mix some of the random stored food we keep on hand in our pantry. We have enjoyed the various canned Bush's Grillin Beans for the robust flavor and stock them by the case on our shelves but I wanted a way to make a meal out of them instead of having just a side dish.

Solution: Black bean fiesta grillin beans as a flavor base for a chili type meal. I add in chunks of beef for the current civilized version, but any meat ends up savory by the time the meal is ready. Your stored rice still supplies a nice bulk to fill everyone up, while the random meat and a couple cans of beans provides quick and easy taste.

Serves 3-4 adults:

2 cans of black bean fiesta grillin beans stewed slowly while you brown approximately 1-to-1.5 lbs. of meat. Beef cubes, two squirrels, one rabbit, half a chicken, or a pile of crawdads from the creek. Add the cooked meat to the beans. Mix in 2 cups of cooked rice. Serve in a bowl with cornbread on the side.

To stretch your supplies of canned food you can boil up some normal beans from your dried stock of black or pinto beans and mix it in. Stretch things further by serving over a large pile of rice just to give some flavor and variety for day 243 of "ohboyriceagain". If you have some onions, potatoes, or other soup staples you can use them to expand the meal into a sort of gumbo (add a bit of water to keep things from caking together).

While the supermarket is still up and running try this version out the next time your group gets together for a training or retreat construction day:

2 cans of grilling beans
1 lb. beef cubes
6 chicken tenderloins cut into chunks
1/2 lb. jumbo shrimp

Chef's Notes:

Just fry up the meat and drop it into the simmering beans. Serve in bowls then add in sharp cheddar cheese cubes on top. Fried pies on the side. Do not expect to get much work out of your team after such a meal.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Reader Chris H. recommend Cooking Wild magazine, a publication dedicated to wild game recipes.

Marie K. found the Cookit! web site, that offers a "History Cookbook" which is categorized by time periods (such as Prehistoric, Romano-British, Saxons & Vikings, etc.) Within each time period, videos of individuals costumed for the era demonstrate how different recipes were prepared. They show how to make Girdle Bread over the fire (Medieval recipe) or Beancakes (Saxon/Viking recipe) or Roman Lentil Casserole also known as Pottage (a Romano-British recipe).

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Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively ? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Wolf Brother's Hardtack

Based on the Civil War Recipe:

Army Hardtack Recipe

Ingredients:

4 cups flour (preferably whole wheat)
4 teaspoons salt
Water (about 2 cups)
Pre-heat oven to 375° F
Makes about 10 pieces depending on how you size them.

Instructions
Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Add just enough water (less than two cups) so that the mixture will stick together, producing a dough that won’t stick to hands etc.

Mix the dough by hand.
Roll the dough out, shaping it roughly into a rectangle.   What I did was to roll it into a cookie sheet that had about a 1/2 in lip all the way round.

I cut the dough into rectangles and used a 3 tine fork to punch holes in the tops.  Kinda/sorta like what you see today with crackers.

Bake for 30 minutes. Turn each piece over and bake for another 30 minutes. The crackers should be slightly brown on both sides.

Chef's Notes:

The fresh crackers were still somewhat soft.  I left them out overnight and the next day checked them again.  Still a bit soft.

So I stacked them in a toaster over, set the temp at 140 degrees and let them bake for about 4 hours.

I wound up with truly hardtack.

I divided them into eight Ziploc bags. 

6 months later tried the first bag.  Result was like you read about - Hard to bite, works better to sop liquids up.

1 year later - same condition.

2 years later - gave most of the bags to a Civil War re-enactor group - they loved them.  Gave the recipe to one of the wives.

Another year later - tried the remaining bag.  No change.

At all times these were stored on a shelf in a closet in my house.  No real temperature extremes. 

No one has suffered any ill effects.

I plan to try to make portable soup, pemmican, parched corn, and pinole.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Mrs. Light suggested bookmarking and printing reference copies of the resources at Food Storage Made Easy.

John F. mentioned a link to a lady's site where she features 52 weekly recipes using dehydrated foods, with a complete list of ingredients, and recipes.  

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Recipe of the Week

Today we present the first installment of a new column, "Recipe of the Week". (As suggested by Mrs. M.T. in Alaska.) These will primarily be recipes for storage food. Most weeks we will also feature at least one link to other web sites and blogs that have useful recipes and austere environment cooking resources. Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? We are particularly looking for recipes with an emphasis on: storage foods, wild game, home-raised livestock and garden produce, and austere cooking methods (such as solar ovens, Dutch ovens, and so forth.) Please e-mail us your favorites for posting. Thanks!

G-man's Cold Breakfast

1 cup oatmeal (rolled oats.)
1/3 cup powdered milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
Add raisins, to taste
Add hot water to match the desired consistency

Separately, take:

2 tablespoons of peanut butter (fresh, or reconstituted)

1 multivitamin tablet

Chef's Notes: Ingredients store for many years without refrigeration. No cooking or power source required. Generates no smoke or cooking odor. Only one bowl and one spoon needed. Minimal cleanup. Contains 26 grams of complementary protein and about 660 calories. Also, really inexpensive!

And speaking of breakfast foods, reader Mike F. wrote: "I found that quinoa replaced hot cereal for me in the morning. 1/2 cup of quinoa to 1 cup of water/ boil then simmer till the water is all gone. I've also found that if you add vegetarian canned beans (like Bush's vegetarian beans) to quinoa it makes a good replacement meal that would work in a taco. I sometimes have quinoa for dinner with a salad (kale) and found that it's a great mix."

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Bill D. mentioned that Abby and Amy at Safely Gathered In have compiled many great recipes. They have an e-book (downloadable or printed) that is well worth the small fee. It is well organized, readable, and a key reference for cooking in hard times.

Laura W. says this makes her feel very comfortable: Scotch Broth recipe.

One of JWR and Avalanche Lily's favorite sites that often gets into the nitty gritty of wood stove cookery is the Paratus Familia blog.