Camp Bread Recipe

Before you head out to camp mix the dry ingredients together, fill and label bags. I like to use the gallon sized bags even though this will fit in a quart size bag.

The gallon is big enough to mix the dough and after kneading it you can use the bag for raising the dough in.

My recipe makes a half sized loaf. I am still working on this recipe. I have made some breads, adding powdered eggs, honey (honey in condiment packages is great for this), and have tried a few that I liked with tomato powder and basil flakes. I really wish that I would have written those down. You can basically adapt any recipe to suit your tastes.

1 1/4 Cup Flour (I used All-purpose for this)

2 1/4 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/8 teaspoon dry yeast

2 teaspoons powdered milk

The label on this should read "Bread Dough". For your own good label that

Bring an extra quart sized bag with a few cups of flour in case you should need more during kneading and for other cooking projects.

Once you get to camp start your fire and boil some water. Pour 1/2 Cup of that water into a cup with 2 teaspoons of butter or shortening.

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Right now I have to tell you that I forgot that step before kneading and had to add in 1 teaspoon of olive oil as I was kneading. Then before I put it into the plastic bag to raise I smothered butter all over it. If you mess up, improvise!

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Let that cool to just warm and pour right into the bag. I prefer to mix with one hand and hold the bag with the other in case I need a clean hand to grab more flour. Try to get in the habit of mixing and kneaded with your non-dominate hand. There is a very good reason for that.

Once you have a good ball going in there you can take it out and knead it on a clean smooth surface, floured if necessary.

Once the dough is smooth and elastic it is ready to put back in the bag to raise.

It took me a long time to understand what smooth and elastic felt like, because I never really kneaded it long enough to get to that point. 15 minutes of kneading or more may just be what it takes. Kneading the dough does all kinds of magical things to it that you can learn about elsewhere if you desire. If you want to get good at it, close your eyes and feel it.

Dough needs a still and warm place to rest. You won't have much success with it if you put it in your back pack and start hiking. However, if you have to be on the move, you can make a "bun in the oven" pack to hold it in next to your belly. For the guys out there you can call it your "beer belly bag".

When the dough has risen to twice it's size it is ready to bake or slow roast over a campfire as with bread twists. Then there are some of us that also like to deep fry it.

You can use powdered eggs to make an egg wash for it.

Roll it in flour to ash bake it.

Brush melted butter on it.

There really is so much variety that you can do with breads.

If you are low on flour there are many wild plants that can help you stretch your flour supply.

I will do a post on that later.

Being at camp you will not have the ability to watch the temperature while you are baking your bread so you will have to eye and ear it. Golden brown crust and a hollow sound when tapped on and it is done. You can also check with a toothpick as you would a cake.

You can also take your own bread recipes and divide them by 1/4th as most recipes I have come across are for 2 loaves. For recipes with eggs in them, the powdered eggs are much easier to divide.

I have not tried powdered butter with this yet, but that is on the to do list.

I hope I have given you enough ideas to help you be more cozy at camp.

Thank you for stopping by.

Please feel free to comment.

Dee Dee

Spice of Life

Spices and herbs play such an important part of our lives.

Beyond just seasoning our foods, some have medicinal values which I will not go into since making any claims of health benefits will get you in trouble with the FDA, sad but true, so I just want you to look into them on your own and see how beneficial herbs are.

I will try to stick with flavors here even though I would love to direct you to sites like http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/herbvit.htm and http://www.advance-health.com/fourthievesvinegar.html

which will bare disclaimers as they should.

I started cooking with herbs more after I started growing them in my garden and because of my garden I became a better cook. Tarragon is chicken's friend! Basil, parsley, lemon balm, mint, dill, oregano, rosemary, thyme and sage fresh from the garden can be a culinary dream.

Baking Soda (is better than toothpaste) and vinegar are great cleaners.

Having a big selection of spices, herbs, cooking wines, vinegars, sauces and oils will provide you with what you need to make small wild game lose a bit of that "gaminess" that turns people away so often. Raw, organic apple cider vinegar is a good thing to have on hand.

There has been so much negative talk about salt that many people are staying away from it even when they shouldn't. The truth is we need salt. I choose sea salt. Soon most people will look at salt as they do raw milk.

Garlic has medicinal properties but since I would prefer it not to be regulated by the FDA as one I can't tell you how to use it for healing .

Like Garlic, onions also have a use in the medical world. If you accidentally put a freshly cut slice of onion on a bee sting you will see what I mean, but stay away from chopped onions at a buffet style salad bar. Never let a sick person near chopped onions that you intend to eat. Do feed a sick person foods with raw onions and/or garlic.

Why? I wish I could tell you. Please try to learn about these things while you still can.

I came back to this post this morning hoping to finish it right, but I honestly can not.

I am sorry that I feel I can not freely give you information on these things that may lead you to better health, but I don't live in a land of free speech anymore. A major food contaminator (GMO) is in deep with the FDA and has been working to silence those with natural knowledge to keep their drug (pharmaceutical) making friends happy.

Okay, now I can't even talk about flavors because thinking about the restrictions has left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, there are those that want to steal what keeps us cozy. That is why I push to learn how to make things and cook things that are so easily gotten from a store. It may take longer to do and that is fine. I take pride in what I can do and they can't take that away.

Thanks for stopping by.

Dee Dee

Chicken Chimichangas from Home Storage Part 2

Finishing the chimichangas, you put the hot meat filling on the flour tortilla with a layer of sour cream and cheese (Monterey Jack is best but I used Co-Jack) and first fold the ends up and then fold up the sides. Secure with a toothpick and either put in a deep fryer or use a skillet with a few inches of oil, turn when golden brown.

Be careful you don't burn your finger like I just did. Oil spatters if you don't turn the food carefully, and sometimes even when you do.

If you store the meat mixture in the fridge, heat it before putting on the tortilla or it may not be hot enough after frying.

This is not a high end restaurant recipe, but it really is quite good for stored foods. I don't have a recipe for a topping sauce yet because they get eaten to fast to experiment with that, but there are sauces that you can put over it. I haven't felt a need for a sauce either.

I put the pictures on in reverse order so that the finished product would be seen first. I am sorry I couldn't show pictures of how to roll it up but that would require more hands than I have and there are youtube videos on how to wrap a chimichanga. I hope this helps to add to your use of stored foods.

I am going to go try to knit with my burned finger now.

You all take care and cook safely.

Thank you for stopping by.

Dee Dee

Chicken Chimichangas from Home Storage Part 1

I start here with some very basic talk about preparedness for those of you who may not be storing foods and may think it is not necessary.We buy canned chicken by the cases to have in our storage pantry. I also buy the cans of Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles by the case as well.

It's best to have a years supply of food on hand of foods that you eat for many reasons. Gardens can fail, storms can wipe out nearly everything, jobs can be lost in a flash. Then there are reasons so frightful to think could happen like a disruption to the power grip by an EMP which would bring our current way of living to it's knees.

I hope none of these things happen, but if they should I will not be one of the people racing to the grocery store to clean out the shelves there.

So now we come to rotating the cans so they don't expire. When loading the shelves put new cans behind older cans. Learn to use your canned goods so that you don't just stare at the cans wondering what to do with them.

Here is the recipe I created for Chimichangas.

2 9.75oz Cans of White Chunk Chicken breast

1 10oz Can of Diced Tomatoes with Green Chiles

1 teaspoon Dried Ground Cumin

1 teaspoon Dried Minced Garlic

1 Tablespoon Dried Onion Flakes

Substitutes.

You may substitute the canned white chicken with re-hydrated freeze dried chicken, though I am unsure of what the measurements would be. You would have to add more water as well.

Put all of the ingredients in a skillet, including the liquids from the meat and tomatoes. Add half a can of water (use tomato can as measure) mix well and bring to a boil. Turn temp down to simmer until meat is shredded and most all of the liquids are gone. This took nearly three hours on medium low heat.

It's ready to use for Chimichangas or for putting on Nachos.

I will have part 2 up shortly.

Thank you for stopping by.

Dee Dee

Alfredo Pizza Recipe from Home Storage.

If you are looking for another recipe for getting your pantry rotated or for what other things you can add to it for variety, here is one for you.
You can also use fresh ingredients as well.

I make my own pizza crust from scratch which results in a fabulous restaurant quality pizza.
I rehydrate the freeze-dried ingredients while the dough is rising.

After the dough is rolled out I pour the Alfredo sauce on the dough as I would regular sauce.

MAKE SURE YOUR REHYDRATED INGREDIENTS ARE DRAINED AND DRY.
This is very important if you don't like mushy pizza.
I then put the shrimp on, the spinach, the mozzarella cheese and then the mushrooms in that order.
This is pretty easy to make and as far as how much of each you use, as a rule of thumb I use equal portions, like one cup of each. It depends on how big your pizza is. You can omit the mushrooms, add onions in a smaller portion (like a 1/4 Cup), and you can also use chicken in place of the shrimp.

The canned Alfredo is convenient to store and has a shelf life 2 years out.
The Dehydrated Mushrooms are really awesome, to add most flavor to them, saute them in butter until slightly brown. This will also help to pull some of the excess water out.
If you like a stronger garlic flavor a little bit of minced garlic will go a long way.
The Dehydrated Cheese really does melt as it is cooked.
Bake as instructed by the dough recipe. Mine was 450 degrees F for 10 to 16 minutes.

If the power is out you can bake on the grill using a few bricks on the grate, put your pizza on that and cover the grill, or you can use one of these Camp Ovens like I have.
There are other ways to bake outdoors as well so research for your area, but NEVER use wet rocks or bricks. They can explode. Baking on a wood fire adds a flavor like you wouldn't believe to breads!

I wish I could show you a picture of the pizza but there was nothing left by the time I got to it.

I know that this strays a bit from yarn but that is bound to happen with me. I would like to thank Emergency Essentials and Provident Pantry for their Freeze-Dried foods!

Thank you for stopping by. Any questions or comments are welcome!