Made these, based on Melissa Joulwan's "Well Fed" book.
Took 2 small-medium zucchinis and my mandoline slicer with the julienne attachment. Julienned the zucchinis until I thought I'd start shredding my fingers, so it was really like 1.75 small-medium zucchinis.
Sprinkle generously with salt, put in a colander, make some threats, and watch the zucchini sweat.
After a while (20 minutes ish), I patted them somewhat dry with paper towels. Roughly chop some garlic.
In a saute pan, heat up a spoonful of coconut oil, add zucchini, garlic, and a few shakes of red pepper. Cook until desired doneness. Really, really good.
Scooter
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Backpacking Chili Attempt
So, this post will be in a work in progress.
Chili:
Chop one large onion, saute in some chipotle olive oil. Add 2 lbs. ground beef. Do your best to break it up into small pieces. Add chili spices as desired - I added smoked paprika, chili powder, and cumin. After that is all done, add another onion and 2 bell peppers. Let that all saute for a while. (5 minutes.)
Pulled out a little bit of the food and put in a different container for eating tonight.
Add 1 large can (28 ish oz.) and 1 small can (14 oz ish) diced tomatoes of desired flavors.
Bring to a simmer for 15 minute or so.
Puree with an immersion blender (to make the pieces smaller and more uniform for both dehydrating and re-hydrating purposes.) Make good looking chili look like dog barf.
Peel and shred 2 smallish sweet potatoes. Add to the mixture. Makes it look even more unappetizing with the orange intrusions.
I'm letting it simmer for a while, then will cool and dehydrate. We'll see!
Scooter
Update 3/28/12: Actually measured and dried these - dried one cup per sheet. After drying, I put 2 sheets in ziploc bags, and smushed them around to make the pieces smaller again.
Rehydrating test: Added one bag to 2 cups warm water, brought to a boil, turned the stove off and put the lid over the pot, let sit for 5 minutes. It rehydrated really well, was still delicious, and was easy. We'll call this one a win.
Chili:
Chop one large onion, saute in some chipotle olive oil. Add 2 lbs. ground beef. Do your best to break it up into small pieces. Add chili spices as desired - I added smoked paprika, chili powder, and cumin. After that is all done, add another onion and 2 bell peppers. Let that all saute for a while. (5 minutes.)
Pulled out a little bit of the food and put in a different container for eating tonight.
Add 1 large can (28 ish oz.) and 1 small can (14 oz ish) diced tomatoes of desired flavors.
Bring to a simmer for 15 minute or so.
Puree with an immersion blender (to make the pieces smaller and more uniform for both dehydrating and re-hydrating purposes.) Make good looking chili look like dog barf.
Peel and shred 2 smallish sweet potatoes. Add to the mixture. Makes it look even more unappetizing with the orange intrusions.
I'm letting it simmer for a while, then will cool and dehydrate. We'll see!
Scooter
Update 3/28/12: Actually measured and dried these - dried one cup per sheet. After drying, I put 2 sheets in ziploc bags, and smushed them around to make the pieces smaller again.
Rehydrating test: Added one bag to 2 cups warm water, brought to a boil, turned the stove off and put the lid over the pot, let sit for 5 minutes. It rehydrated really well, was still delicious, and was easy. We'll call this one a win.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Backpacking Frittata
Continuing with some backpacking meals experiments. Got this recipe (mostly) from my sister:
Peeled and grated about 4 medium sweet potatoes. Heated these with water in a bowl in the microwave for a while. (I'll say 5 minutes, although I don't remember at all.)
In a cast iron skillet, heat up some coconut oil, finely chopped onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Add as much of the sweet potatoes as you think will fit. Add 1 lb. of un-frozen spinach. Add 10 eggs. Realize that the ridiculous amount of veggies you put in is overwhelming the eggs. Add more eggs. Probably up to 16. Cook on the stove for a while, then cook at 350 until the eggs are set.
Break it up into small bits, spread on dehydrator trays. Took 24 hours on the small spinny one.
Review on re-hydrating:
Added too much liquid to the freezer ziploc bag. Very edible. Needed more spices.
The experiment continues.
Peeled and grated about 4 medium sweet potatoes. Heated these with water in a bowl in the microwave for a while. (I'll say 5 minutes, although I don't remember at all.)
In a cast iron skillet, heat up some coconut oil, finely chopped onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Add as much of the sweet potatoes as you think will fit. Add 1 lb. of un-frozen spinach. Add 10 eggs. Realize that the ridiculous amount of veggies you put in is overwhelming the eggs. Add more eggs. Probably up to 16. Cook on the stove for a while, then cook at 350 until the eggs are set.
Break it up into small bits, spread on dehydrator trays. Took 24 hours on the small spinny one.
Review on re-hydrating:
Added too much liquid to the freezer ziploc bag. Very edible. Needed more spices.
The experiment continues.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Pork Roast in the Crockpot
So, I wanted to try this from PaleOMG.
2 heads cauliflower, riced. (My food processor doesn't have a shredder attachment, so these were much smaller than I would have liked. More like 1/4 sized riced. This does come into play.)
Around a 4 lb. "Fresh Pork Ham Roast." I don't really know cuts of meat all that well, but it had the word roast in it, so I went for it.
Put is all in the crockpot for 8 hours, along with some cumin, 1 cup broth, salt, and pepper.
Review:
The meat was great! The over-watered cauliflower garlic mush, not so great, nor quite as visually appealing. (I still ate it, of course. I think this is where bigger sized cauliflower pieces would have been better.) Mine looked basically nothing like the picture, I think due to the different cut and tiny cauliflower bits. My roast had a bone in it, and we carved the meat off, vs. shredding. All in all, I'd make the meat again like this, might try some different things with the surrounding vegetables.
Scooter
2 heads cauliflower, riced. (My food processor doesn't have a shredder attachment, so these were much smaller than I would have liked. More like 1/4 sized riced. This does come into play.)
Around a 4 lb. "Fresh Pork Ham Roast." I don't really know cuts of meat all that well, but it had the word roast in it, so I went for it.
Put is all in the crockpot for 8 hours, along with some cumin, 1 cup broth, salt, and pepper.
Review:
The meat was great! The over-watered cauliflower garlic mush, not so great, nor quite as visually appealing. (I still ate it, of course. I think this is where bigger sized cauliflower pieces would have been better.) Mine looked basically nothing like the picture, I think due to the different cut and tiny cauliflower bits. My roast had a bone in it, and we carved the meat off, vs. shredding. All in all, I'd make the meat again like this, might try some different things with the surrounding vegetables.
Scooter
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Turkey Cranberry Sweet Potato Stew
As promised in January (of last year), here is a recipe involving cranberries. Basic idea taken from here.Defrost:
A bag of cranberries.
A thing of cooked turkey.
In a stock pot:
Saute up some onion, garlic, and celery. Add salt, pepper, and ginger. Add chopped sweet potatoes and a splash of honey vinegar. Add a bunch of chicken stock. Bring to a boil, let it simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cranberries and turkey, bring to a boil, let it simmer for another 15 minutes.
Pretty good - interesting combination of the sweet potatoes and the tart cranberries.
Scooter
Oh yeah - I also put in a couple crumbled strips of bacon.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Backpacking Dehydrated Curry - at 100 posts!
Decided it was time to get serious about testing some potential backpacking dried meals. Found one for Thai Curry at Brett on Stuff and decided to follow it a little bit. Sort of.
So, instead of getting coconut cream, I thought I'd take coconut milk, and try to get the cream from it. You can do this by opening the can, and letting the cream solidify on top. I tried to do it fast by putting the entire can in the fridge, which basically makes solidified coconut milk, not coconut cream. Ah, well.
Put about 1/2 cup in a dish over medium high heat and let it bubble away for a while. Added some green curry paste and similarly let it bubble away for a while, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, open and drain two cans of chicken. (Costco-sized cans).
Peel and shred a sweet potato. Put it in a microwave safe bowl with some water, cook for about 3 minutes. Drain as best you can, press some of the water out.
Open a bag of frozen veggies. I did the "spring mix" from Smiths.
Pull out your dehydrator and make additional "screens" for it with parchment paper. Spread all ingredients out on screens, parchment paper, or trays.
2 trays of chicken, 1.5 of veggies, 1 of sweet potato, and .5 of curry paste. This still left over some chicken, some sweet potato, and about half the bag of veggies. Huh.
And you might be thinking that the veggies seem giant. You are correct, but I was too lazy to try to chop them down more. And everything in general might be a little crowded. Whatever.
The idea for this recipe is to add some dried minced garlic and onions, some spices like turmeric and ginger, and see where it goes when I re-hydrate it. We'll see. Stay tuned for updates.
Scooter
24 hours later: The sweet potatoes seem to be dry, the chicken is getting there, I'm not sure the paste will ever actually be dry, and I was right about the veggies being giant. They are close. I will let it spin overnight just to make sure on everything.
36 hours later: I put everything (dried stuff, some dried garlic, dried minced onions, turmeric, ginger, and salt) in a gallon ziplock bag, and tried to smush it all together to break down some of the bigger pieces. Will taste test tomorrow.
Taste Test: Added the dried mixture (which came to 9.4 oz in the bag) to 6 cups boiling water. Covered, let simmer for 10 minutes. At 10 minutes the chicken was still a little chewy. At 20 minutes it was a still a little chewy, but we called it good. And called the whole thing good overall. Super spicy. Like, really, nose-blow-inducing-make-you-fan-your-mouth-spicy. Next time, less curry paste. And that's a long simmer time for backpacking. Might try chopping the chicken into much smaller pieces to see if that helps the re-hydrating process. Made about 3 servings.
So, instead of getting coconut cream, I thought I'd take coconut milk, and try to get the cream from it. You can do this by opening the can, and letting the cream solidify on top. I tried to do it fast by putting the entire can in the fridge, which basically makes solidified coconut milk, not coconut cream. Ah, well.
Put about 1/2 cup in a dish over medium high heat and let it bubble away for a while. Added some green curry paste and similarly let it bubble away for a while, stirring occasionally.
 |
| Delicious Curry Paste! |
 |
| Bubbling milk. |
Meanwhile, open and drain two cans of chicken. (Costco-sized cans).
Peel and shred a sweet potato. Put it in a microwave safe bowl with some water, cook for about 3 minutes. Drain as best you can, press some of the water out.
Open a bag of frozen veggies. I did the "spring mix" from Smiths.
Pull out your dehydrator and make additional "screens" for it with parchment paper. Spread all ingredients out on screens, parchment paper, or trays.
2 trays of chicken, 1.5 of veggies, 1 of sweet potato, and .5 of curry paste. This still left over some chicken, some sweet potato, and about half the bag of veggies. Huh.
And you might be thinking that the veggies seem giant. You are correct, but I was too lazy to try to chop them down more. And everything in general might be a little crowded. Whatever.
The idea for this recipe is to add some dried minced garlic and onions, some spices like turmeric and ginger, and see where it goes when I re-hydrate it. We'll see. Stay tuned for updates.
Scooter
24 hours later: The sweet potatoes seem to be dry, the chicken is getting there, I'm not sure the paste will ever actually be dry, and I was right about the veggies being giant. They are close. I will let it spin overnight just to make sure on everything.
 |
| Trays after drying. |
 |
| Rehydrated spicy goodness! |
 |
| The bag o' dried stuff. |
36 hours later: I put everything (dried stuff, some dried garlic, dried minced onions, turmeric, ginger, and salt) in a gallon ziplock bag, and tried to smush it all together to break down some of the bigger pieces. Will taste test tomorrow.
Taste Test: Added the dried mixture (which came to 9.4 oz in the bag) to 6 cups boiling water. Covered, let simmer for 10 minutes. At 10 minutes the chicken was still a little chewy. At 20 minutes it was a still a little chewy, but we called it good. And called the whole thing good overall. Super spicy. Like, really, nose-blow-inducing-make-you-fan-your-mouth-spicy. Next time, less curry paste. And that's a long simmer time for backpacking. Might try chopping the chicken into much smaller pieces to see if that helps the re-hydrating process. Made about 3 servings.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Pesto Meatballs!
I'm pretty sure the pesto I defrosted was from here. About 1/2 cup.
Mix it up with 1 lb. deforested* ground beef
Form into spheres about 1" in diameter.
Bake in the oven at around 375 for 25ish minutes.
I'd placed parchment paper on the sheet, but should have done aluminum foil to really catch all the drips.
Still as garlicky as ever! They held their shape, but they're not the most sturdy and bound together of meatballs ever.
scooter
* Somehow I typed deforested instead of defrosted. And since I think it's funny, it's staying.
Mix it up with 1 lb. deforested* ground beef
Form into spheres about 1" in diameter.
Bake in the oven at around 375 for 25ish minutes.
I'd placed parchment paper on the sheet, but should have done aluminum foil to really catch all the drips.
Still as garlicky as ever! They held their shape, but they're not the most sturdy and bound together of meatballs ever.
scooter
* Somehow I typed deforested instead of defrosted. And since I think it's funny, it's staying.
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