Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil

Ingredients

• Baguette bread, French bread or similar
• fresh basil leaves
• tomatoes (any kind, cherry tomatoes are best), diced
•  garlic cloves, minced
• fresh parmesan cheese
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• olive oil, to drizzle

Directions

This is a very simple recipe to put together.

• First you thinly slice the bread and place on a baking sheet.
• Add your fresh basil leaves.
• Add diced tomatoes, and drizzle with olive oil
• Sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese

This photo really sums up the process.

Enjoy your tasty appetizer!

Hummus

Ingredients:

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, half the liquid reserved (alternatively you can cook up your own chickpeas – if you want to make it totally from scratch)
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste (freshly ground preferred)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Use a mortar and pestle (or food processor if you lucky enough to have one). Add garbanzo beans (chick peas), chopped garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and salt into the mixing devise.

Blend until creamy and well mixed – use a little elbow grease on this one.

This is about what it should look like.

Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and pour olive oil over the top.

Serve with pita chips. Enjoy!

Sausage Gumbo- Backpacking Recipe

A Grant and Nicky original!

Serves 2 hungry hikers

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup bell pepper
1/4 cup corn
1/2 cup okra
Spices
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 bouillon cubes

1/4 cup tomato sauce leather
1/2 cup Italian sausage (although you should consider substituting hamburger which would  be easier to dehydrate)
3 cup water

Instructions:

At Home:

Combine in a 2-quart ziplock bag: rice, vegetables and spice mix.

Pack tomato leather and sausage separately in a small plastic bag (approx. 1/2 cup bags). Include tomato leather and sausage in larger ziplock bag.

On the Trail:

Combine all ingredients with the 3 cups of water in pot and soak for five minutes.

Light stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking with the lid on for one minute.

Remove pot from stove and wait ten minutes. Insulate pot if possible.

ENJOY!!

Chinese Pot Stickers

One of our favorite appetizers!

Ingredients:

2 cups cabbage, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 lb chicken breast (original recipe has pork)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons white wine
1 tablespoon green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon peanut oil
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced

1 package wonton wrappers
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chicken stock

DIPPING SAUCE
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

Instructions:

1. Sprinkle salt over the shredded cabbage and let stand for 5 minutes, then squeeze out liquid.
2. Cook chicken in a bit peanut oil and set aside to cool
3. Mix cabbage, chicken, soy, wine, onion, oil, ginger and garlic. Filling can be frozen for later use.
4. On each wrapper (keep them covered with a damp cloth so they do no dry out) place about 2 tsp of the mix and seal the edges, use a bit of water on the edge, try to press out all the air and ensure they are tightly sealed.

5. In a large skillet heat 1 tbsp oil, fry dumplings for 1 minute or until golden on one side

6. Add 1/4 cup of stock into the pan, reduce heat to low, cover.

7. Cook, without turning for about 7 minutes or until the dumpling is translucent and most of the liquid has evaporated Uncover and on higher heat cook for another 5-7 minutes or until the bottoms are dark brown, drain put on a platter and keep warm.

8. Mix the dipping sauce and serve with warm or hot dumplings.

Fighter Biscuits

Full of flavor! Fighter Biscuits make a great quick breakfast… or pre-battle meal on the go

Ingredients:

1 lb hot or Italian sausage (raw)
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
3 cups Bisquick

[Possible alternative/substitution to 3 cups of Bisquick:]

3 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup  butter

Directions:

• Combine the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly – I prefer to use my hands — it’s messy, but the easiest way to go.
• Be sure you add additional milk until dough is sticky almost too sticky to handle.

• Roll the dough into 2-3″ balls  and place on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

• Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Fighter biscuits can be made ahead and frozen – microwave before enjoying :)

Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry

makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
•  3 cloves garlic, crushed
•  2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger root, divided
•  1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
• 1 small head broccoli, cut into florets
•  3/4 cup snow peas
•  3/4 cup julienned carrots
•  1/2 cup celery
•  2 tablespoons soy sauce
•  2 1/2 tablespoons water
•  1 onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup green pepper
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 2 cup Jasmine rice

Note: The amounts and types of vegetables in this recipe may be adjusted. Other possible ingredients include green beans, mushrooms or spinach.

Directions:

In a large bowl, blend cornstarch, garlic, 1 teaspoon ginger, and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil until cornstarch is dissolved.

Mix in broccoli, snow peas, carrots, and celery, tossing to lightly coat. Leave onion and green pepper to the side to add later.

Heat 1 tablespoons oil in a wok over medium heat. Cook chicken completely and then remove from wok onto plate to add in again later.

Cook vegetables in 1 tablespoon of oil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Stir in soy sauce and water.

Mix in onion, green pepper, salt, chicken and remaining 1 teaspoon ginger.

Cook until vegetables are tender but still crisp.

Serve with rice and soy sauce.

Enjoy!

Salsa Rice and Beans – Backpacking Recipe

Serves 2 with hearty appetites

Ingredients:

• 1 cup instant rice
• 1/3 cup dried corn
• 1/3 cup dried bell peppers
• 1/2 cup dried black beans
• 1/2 cup salsa leather, tightly packed
• 1/2 cup dried taco flavored beef
• 3 cups water

At Home:

Dehydration

Dehydrating can be done in your normal electric oven. Place oven on the lowest temperature setting and prop open the door a few inches using something made of metal (i.e. a mixer beater). Items to be dehydrated can be places on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper.

Dehydrate vegetables and beans according to the following amounts and dehydrating times:

Corn - 8-12 hours (1/3 cup of corn equals about 1 cob or about 1/2 cup of frozen corn)

Bell Peppers - 8-12 hours (1/3 cup of bell peppers equals about 3/4 of a pepper)

Black Beans – 6-8 hours (1/2 cup of beans equals about 10 ounces of canned beans – Be sure to drain and rinse canned beans)

To prepare 1/2 cup of dehydrated beef:

Brown about 1/2 pound of lean ground beef
Add 1/2 package of taco seasoning and about 1/4 cup of water
Cook for about 5 minutes
Spread on dehydrating sheet and dehydrate for about 8 hours

To prepare your salsa leather, spread salsa on a parchment paper to a thickness of approximately 1/8 inch:

Dehydrate approximately 6 hours. Salsa leather should look about like this when it is finished:

Packing

Pre-measure and pack meal ingredients in a plastic bag. Pack salsa leather separately in a small plastic bag.

On the Trail:

You will need a pot large enough to hold all your dry ingredients and some sort of camp stove.

Combine all ingredients in pot with water and soak for five minutes. This allows for initial re-hydration without the use of the stove.

Bring to a boil, and continue cooking with the lid on for one minute.

Remove pot from stove and wait ten minutes. Insulate pot if possible.

This is what the delicious Salsa Rice & Beans should look like when it is finished:

Grant and I found this recipe to be exceptionally good out on the trail after a long day of hiking or canoeing.

This recipe and more fine backpacking recipes can be found here.

How To Dehydrate Food In An Oven

Hi everyone!

This week, I am going to show you all how to make dehydrated foods using just a normal electric oven. Dehydrating your foods is a great way to prolong the shelf life, lighten the weight, and overall increase storage space. By dehydrating foods, Nicky and I have noticed we are 1.5 times more efficient with packing by using dehydrated foods, not to mention the lighter weight and exquisite flavor!

So.. What will you need?

- An oven (obviously!)
- Something to jam the oven open to allow air movement, we use a mixer beater to keep it propped open, but just use any metal object to prop it open.
- Parchment paper
- Cooking sheet(s)
- Knife
- Pot with a lid and metal colander/steam basket (only certain foods require blanching)
- And lastly, whatever you want to dehydrate!

For this example, we will show you how we dehydrate corn, ground beef, chicken, spinach, peppers, and black beans.

So.. For step one, we will want to assemble these items. We will be blanching the corn and peppers. If you are dehydrating other items, you can refer to this sheet here in order to see what you need to do.

In order to blanch, you need to have a pot with a lid and fill it with a bit of water. Bring the water to a boil, and place the vegetables in the colander/basket. The vegetables shouldn’t be touching the water, and covering the pot will allow you to have high heat for the water to boil quickly.

Here you can see us blanching our corn on the cob.

Blanching Corn

After blanching the corner, use a knife and to cut the corn from the cob. Spread it out on parchment paper on a cooking sheet. You can see how we did this below.

Corn on Sheet

So! Our corn is done. Now onto the beef and chicken. We had frozen leftover beef cooked and seasoned with taco seasoning, so we decided to just dehydrate that. The chicken we cooked in a pan and shredded it. You can see both of these below!

Beef and Chicken

The beans and peppers are VERY easy to dehydrate. Just wash and rinse, and spread them on the sheet. The spinach required blanching. You can see all of these items on the cooking sheet below!

Spinache, Peppers, and Black Beans

And now that we have all of our cooking sheets, let’s relish in our beautiful work that is ready to be dehydrated!

Let’s Dehydrate!

Now comes the easy part! What you’ll want to do is set your oven to the LOWEST temperature. Typically, this will be around 160 degrees. It might not list the temperature, it might instead just say “WARM” or something like that.

Place the trays inside the oven, prop the door open a few inches by using the metal mixer beater or whatever metal item you can find to prop it open. Now it’s the waiting game. After twelve-ish hours you can remove the items! Since we do this pretty often in preparation for backpacking trips, we often set it up in the evening and take it out in the morning. It also helps our oven automatically shuts off after 12 hours… Yours may do the same, but I would consult the manual first!

Here is our finished product:

Dehydrated Food

Now you may notice that some of the corn is a little brown. This, unfortunately, is a slight downfall to dehydrating in an oven – it does cook the food slightly. However, we have used these dehydrated foods in recipes out on the trail (stay tuned for those posts!) and can vouch myself that you won’t be able to tell the difference.

Dehydrated meals are without a doubt the best meal we feel you can take out on the trail – You just can’t beat lightweight, compact, nutritious, and extremely tasty food!

Let us know if you have any questions about this process, we’d be happy to help! And stay tuned in for more on dehydrating foods and backpacking recipes!

French Bread

Equipment:

• Mixing Bowl (we have found that a wooden mixing bowl works beautifully, but plastic works just as well)
• Rising Bowl (can be same as mixing)
• Baking Stones (or unglazed quarry tiles, see photo below – these are great cheap alternatives to baking stones at 17 cents a square)
• Wooden Peel (optional)
• Flour Shaker (optional)
• Instant read thermometer (optional)

Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (optionally substitute 2 cups of all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour)
• 2 teaspoon active quick rising dry yeast (we recommend Red Star active dry yeast)
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• Pam cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Place  flour in your mixing bowl. Spoon the yeast on one side of the bowl, and the salt on the other side.

Pour in the warm water and mix together with hands until the dough comes together in a mass. Hand mix dough for a couple of minutes. Dough should clear the sides but still be slightly sticky.

If it is too sticky, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time. If too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water to dough to adjust. This is what the dough looks like when it is too sticky:

Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

2. Hand mix again for a few minutes. Take the dough out and place on a pre- flour dusted peel or counter. Knead the dough by hand, incorporate more flour as you need. This is what it should look like during the kneading process:

Knead by hand until the dough is very satiny, smooth, tight and formed into a nice, compact ball:

3. Place this dough in a large lightly oiled bowl (we use Pam spray). Turn dough over so that all sides have a thin coating of oil. Cover bowl with a towel and set in warm place for 1 1/2 hours to let rest and rise.

Dough should almost double in size:

Side note: While the dough is rising, about 1 hour into the rising stage, preheat your oven to 450F and place baking stones into the oven to heat up.

4. After the dough has risen fully, lightly punch dough down and form back into a ball. Poke your finger on the surface – the dough should give into the pressure and slowly creep back up. Here’s what it should look like:

Cut the dough into half – you’ll shape one half at a time (keep the other piece in the bowl under cover) Pick up the dough and let gravity stretch it out. Rotate the dough every few seconds as you hold the “corners” of the dough. Continue until it forms a big rectangle. We want to make sure at this point not to pull the bread, and to be gentle with it in order to allow for a nice rise. This process should look like this:
 

Dust your work surface with flour and fold over the ends of the dough like this:

Dust your work surface with flour and fold over the ends of the dough like this:

Using a vertical hand press down the bread lengthwise down the middle of the bread like this:

5.  Pinch all sides shut. Be sure the tuck in the ends. IMPORTANT – make sure that all ends including the short ends are pinched tightly to create a seal. If the bread looks a little lopsided, you can try to fix it by letting it rest 5 minutes and gently stretching it out again. This is what it should look like:

6. Turn the bread over so that it is seam side down. Cover the loaf with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat with the other dough ball. Leave the loaves to rest on your well-floured pizza peel or cutting board for 30 minutes.

After resting, take a sharp paring knife and make 3-4 shallow, diagonal slashes on the surface of the loaf:

This allows the steam in the bread to escape so that it expands evenly during the baking process.

7. When you are ready to bake, prepare a 1/2 cup of water ready next to the stove.  Slide out oven rack with baking stones to allow more room for transporting the loaves onto the stones. Carefully slide the loaves onto the baking stones. Throw the water on the oven floor. Immediately close the oven door. This created steam which will create a nice crust to the bread. Obviously this process may depend on your oven type, a pie tin and water could be a replacement if you can’t toss water into the bottom of the oven. This photo shows this action, just before closing the oven door:

Bake 20-25 minutes. Check temperature of the bread, the internal should be 190-210F. Remove and let cool before cutting into it.

Ta Da!

I was proud!

 [This is my first time attempting the French Bread recipe. Grant made it a number of times before so he provided guidance throughout the process. We also got this recipe and process initially from this article.]