Three B's Casserole: Barley, Beans, and Beef

This is a good one. This is a Classic slow cooking recipe. You can make this in a crock-pot, but it won't be as good. This recipe is based on a traditional Jewish Sabbath recipe called a Cholent.  Basically a Cholent is a stew that is simmered overnight for 12 hours and then eaten for lunch on the Sabbath when no cooking is allowed. This would work well for camping, put the pot in a banked coal fire and cook overnight.

• 1 1/2 pounds of Beef chuck, trimmed and cubed
• 3 Tbl of paprika (Hungarian)
• 2 Tbl Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 4 Carrots, cut into rounds
• 2 Onions, sliced
• 3 Celery Ribs, sliced
• 1 cup dried Lima beans
• 1 cup Red kidney beans
• 1 cup Pearl barley (medium not quick)
• 2 pounds Potatoes, peel and cut into 1 inch thick slices (Yukons work well)

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees
2. Using a large bowl, toss the beef in 1 Tbl of the paprika, 1 Tbl of salt, and 1 tsp of Pepper
3. Using a large Dutch oven arrange the ingredients into 4 layers. Sprinkle the layers with the remaining spices. 
4. Layer (1) is the carrots, onions, and celery
5. Layer (2) is the beef
6. Layer (3) is the lima beans, kidney beans, and the barley
7. The final layer (4) is the potatoes
8. Fill the Dutch oven with enough cold water to cover the potatoes by 2 inches
9. Cover the Dutch oven, and bring to a boil on top of the stove. Remove then bake in the oven for 8 hours(minimum) or overnight.
10. Check the water level once or twice. Add more if all of the liquid has been absorbed.
11. The Casserole is finished when the water is absorbed and the potatoes are browned and soft.
12. Serve it hot and enjoy.

Back to Basics Grain Mill

As I have written we ordered a small shipment of  Wheat from the LDS. To add to this I purchased 50 # of  cleaned dent corn from the Feed store for under $10 bucks. To grind this we purchased a small hand mill called the  "Back to Basics 555 Grain mill" from Amazon.com I found reviews online for the small mill and most were good. I am aware that its is small and also manual. Later we intend to get a good electric mill budget permitting.  On note, the company that make the mill has been bought out by a larger one. To get parts for it the website is different. Try Here

How the Bunny grows my Tomatoes

As you know I have been all worked up about getting into the garden. This morning I got out there and worked a little home-grown fertilizer into the soil. Basically I added the current crop of "bunny Poo" or rabbit manure to the area and worked in with the hand tiller. A funny story how we ended up with THE BUNNY, her majesty Gwen. Several years ago, Heather, my wife, went to a Yarn Festival in Bethel Missouri. When she left I told her "nothing living" who knows, she could have come home with a sheep! She returned with a big smile on her face and a little French Angora Bunny.

The whole Idea was this: Heather would groom the bunny (who would sit still) and then spin the fur/hair into yarn. Right. The first time she "plucked" the rabbit it BIT her and hopped off. So, she became a Pet not a project. Rabbit manure, unlike horse or cow, can be added directly to the garden and will not "burn" the plants. Earthworms love it. I use unscented ground corn cob as bedding for the rabbits cage. This is for two reasons. First, the cob material is biodegradable and will add organic material to soil. The second reason is one of finances, its cheap. A 50# bag of cob is about $10 dollars from the feed store. An 8-10 # bag of a similar material from the PET store   $10 dollars. The feed store is a better deal. I get my rabbit pellets there also.
 That was several years ago. Now Gwen the bunny is more like Gwen the Super Rabbit. She got Big Fast! Larger than a average cat she weighs about 10 pounds.

We clean her cage every couple of weeks, saving the bedding and "addition" to the garden. Generally, I add it to the compost pile. Next weekend we will start filling the planters and raised beds that we have been working on. I intend to mix compost, Bunny Poo, Hummus, and garden soil together. This should give me a "good mix" for most of my veggies. I'll keep you informed.

Gentlemen, Start your Grills!!

With Spring approaching and the weather warming up its time to dust off the grill and get ready. Soon the smells of meat cooking will permeate the air. Get a head start on now. Here are a few Rubs that will make the next Bar-B-Que a hit.

1. Coffee Dry Rib Rub

• 2 cups of light Brown sugar
• 1 cup of Chili powder
• 1/4 cup of Paprika
• 1/4 cup of Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup of ground coffee (dark roast)
• 1/2 cup of medium ground Black pepper

-Combine well and store in an airtight container. Use on ribs and Brisket

2. Chimichurri Rub

• 3 Tbl dried Oregano leaves
• 3 Tbl dried Basil leaves
• 2 tsp dried Parsley
• 2 Tbl Kosher salt
• 1 Tbl ground  pepper
• 1 Tbl dried Savory leaves
• 1 Tbl smoked Paprika (also called Pimenton Dulce)
• 1-2 tsp dried red pepper

- combine well and store in an airtight container. This is an Argentina blend that works well on Beef, Chicken, and Fish

 3.   Greek Wet Rub

• 1/4 cup of Oregano leaves (Fresh)
• 2 Tbl of Rosemary leaves (Fresh)
• 3 Tbl of Olive Oil
• 1 Tbl of Lemon juice
• 2 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of Lemon rind
• 4 garlic cloves, minced

- Place in a blender or food processor and blend until well chopped. Works well on Lamb, Poultry, and Seafood
**if using dried ingredients reduce amounts by 1/2

Spring is Fast Approaching

Spring is almost here. My wife and I are just itching to go play in the dirt. We got out this morning and tilled the garden beds up, cut back the brush, and cut down a small tree. I saved all the leaves and brush, it will make a good start for the Compost bin. My plan is too put in my potatoes, carrots, and beets next weekend (weather permitting). I'm going to use a Modified planting scheme similar to the Old tire planters described by Backwoods Home Magazine. There was an article in the New issue about growing in Straw. I'm going to use plastic Tubs. I plan to punch a few holes for drainage and set them on rocks. Inside the tubs I will fill with a mixture of compost, straw, and leaves. We just bought a couple of Used tubs from the Goodwill store for $3 bucks a piece.

Very Easy Native American "Fry" Bread

• 1 cup flour

•  1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/4 cup powdered milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• warm water

Combine the ingredients and slowly add enough warm water to form dough. On a
lightly floured surface, knead dough until it
is smooth soft and not sticky. Cover and let
rest 1 hour. Shape into small balls and pat into flat circles about 1/4-1/2
inch thick. Set aside. In skillet, heat 1/2 inch vegetable oil. Brown dough
circles on each side and drain on paper towels.

Something to think about when ordering Online

   Here is something to ponder when ordering LTS (Long term Storage) items online. A few weeks ago we ordered some of the items I have discussed: cheese sauce, TVP, Butter, and Wheat. We received everything  just fine, with one exception; Security.  You may ask What? Security?  Its more of an OPSEC issue than anything else. (Operational SECurity)  What you need to ask yourself is how paranoid are you and who knows what you are getting in the mail?.  The shipment form Honeyville comes in a large box marked Honeyville, no big deal. The UPS guy dropped it off and left. The shipment from the LDS cam Fed EX. The fedx lady stopped and asked me how much this stuff was. This shipment was in a White box with screaming Red letters that said WHEAT!.  It being somewhat public info and easy to look up I told her the price ($26.00 per case, free shipping). She then told me that a "fellow in the neighborhood" gets a shipment from Emergency Essentials every couple of weeks for the last 2 Years! I was blown away. The Issue is that the Fedex lady is telling the whole neighborhood about your stuff. Something to think about when you order online.

TVP Spaghetti With Hearty Mushroom Sauce

Makes 3 servings

1/2 cup textured vegetable protein (TVP) flakes or
granules
1/2 cup boiling water
8 ounces spaghetti
2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onions*
1 garlic clove, minced*
1 cup chopped mushrooms*
2 cups tomato sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
salt to taste
Place the TVP in a mixing bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Mix well and set aside.
Cook pasta, drain, and set aside in a serving bowl.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium to high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion
and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and TVP, and sauté for 5 more
minutes. Stir in the remaining sauce ingredients and bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat
and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well.
**Optional, Use dried veggies in place of fresh. Be sure to soak in hot water to rehydrate

Black Bean Burgers

Serves 2

• 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained *
• 1/4 cup diced and sauted onions
• 2 slices multigrain bread, finely crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder, black pepper, and onion powder (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1/2 cup cracker crumbs

In a large bowl, mash the drained black beans. Add the sauted onions, crumbled bread, and spices. Mix thoroughly. Add about 1/4 cup of cracker crumbs (or just enough to be able to form patties from the mixture). Using your hands, form the mixture into 1/2-inch thick patties. For a breaded burger, gently coat each patty with more cracker crumbs.
In a lightly oiled non-stick pan, fry both sides of the patties. Serve with a garnish of lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, and any other condiments on buns or over a bed or rice.


**For Taste substitute 1/2 the beans for 1 cup of TVP (beef flavored)

Powdered Cheese sauce Update

 So, as you know I ordered some Powdered cheese sauce to try it out. Tastes like Cheese. We mixed some up, its a 1 to 4 ratio. One part cheese to four parts hot water.  The more (extra) cheese you add the thicker it gets. It tastes a lot like Cheese-whiz or that canned Nacho cheese that you can buy. Its not exactly what I was hoping for. I really wanted something not as "Saucy" and more solid. I used my Googe-Fu and found this. I was Unaware that dehydrating cheese was even an option. It sounds like I have a new project in the coming months. I'll keep you informed!

Powdered Butter (Update)

Well I had a chance to open the can of butter and try it out. The basic recipe is 3 TBL of the powder to 1 TBL of warm water. It works well. The "butter" has the same feel and taste as real butter. I used it for making Grilled Cheese and had good results. One note, if you are chilling it to make large amounts of butter use a little more water than the recipe calls for.

Buying Wheat From the LDS (Latter-Day-Saints)

 Like all Disaster Preparers we feel that LTS (long term storage) should consist of things like grains and beans. The LDS church sells some of these foods on their website and from the canneries. It seems to be a really good deal. We had never ordered from them before so we tried it out. To start we ordered a case of wheat (6- #10 cans) and 100 oxygen absorbers. Shipping was FREE!, and it shipped Fed Ex.

 

What I like about these cans is this; they are already sealed, they have a shelf life of 20-30 years, and we know that the quality is good. It also takes the expense and time of doing it ourselves out of our hands. We intend to track down the "local" cannery and see what they have, but the online was a good experience.

Links to check out    Online Catalog and Your Local Cannery

Free Survival Books and Info

I just came across this site it for FREE survival PDF's. Lots of good Info that covers gardening, Canning, EMP, NBC, Foxfire books, communications, etc. You get the idea. Check it Out Here

Honeyville Food Products

Last week we placed an order with Honeyville for some of their LTS (Long term Storage) products. We ordered a TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) variety pack, some powdered butter, and cheese powder. We chose Honeyville because of their Flat rate of postage. $4.99 for your entire shipment! Its a deal. Fast shipping too, about a week.

Like a lot of folks I have read about the butter, but have never tried it. This weekend I will. If anything I can use it in cooking. The cheese powder is a little like the stuff that comes with instant mac-n-cheese. We will see. I've cooked with TVP before. Its fairly easy. There are literally thousands of Vegetarian recipes that call for it. I'll dig out a few and post them here.

Our seeds Came Today!!

We got our seeds in the mail today. Pretty quick service for both the Baker Creek company and for Seed savers. As I posted earlier we ordered seed collections. From Baker we ordered two, the large collection and the small collection.

 A nice thing about the Baker seeds is they are grouped for both Southern and Northern Climates. I called to make sure of the Northern climate pack for the St Louis area. The Northern Small package is 30 packets with 15 types of Veggies.

 

The Northern Large package is 60 packets with 25 types of veggies. 

 

Both seed collections came packed in nifty metal Paint cans. As a bonus they included 1 package of Heirloom Tomato seeds. It looks a really good bargain for the price. As a plus we know for a fact that the seeds will grow in our area.

From the Seed savers exchange company we ordered two packages of their Heirloom Favorites collection. We have ordered seeds from them before, but we noticed this year that their collections were kind of small. this collection is not as fun as the others but does cover the basics. These came packaged in a padded manila envelope with came in the mail, today.  

 

All that is left for us is to finish working on the gardens, wait for the snow to melt and start planting. I'll post progress pictures as I go.

Easy Brown Bread Recipe

• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 2 Tbl shortening
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 Pkg of active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup Brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup Molasses
• 5 - 5 1/2 cups of AP flour
• Melted butter or Margarine

1. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl
2. allow to cool to warm (110-115 degrees)
3. Dissolve the yeast in warm water (separate bowl)
4. Add the sugar, then add the oat mixture, molasses, and 3 cups of flour
5. add enough flour to make a soft dough
6. turn the dough onto a flat surface and knead until smooth (6-8 min)
7. place the dough in a greased bowl, turning once to coat both sides
8. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place, 1 hour
9. Punch the dough down and divide in half; shape into loaves
10. Put the loaves into greased loaf pans, cover and allow to rise until doubled (30-45min)
11. bake at 375 degrees for 30 -45 minutes or until golden brown
12. Cool on a wire rack

Vegetable Cassarole

Here is a good one for those of us that Garden. We are always looking to use as much of our Homegrown Veggies as possible.

• 2 large potatoes, sliced thin
• 2 Tbl vegetable oil
• 1 Red onion, cut in half, thin slices
• 1 leek, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 3 1/2 oz  Broccoli Florets
• 3 1//2 oz Cauliflower Florets
• 2 small turnips, quartered
• 1 Tbl AP flour
• 3 1/2 cups Vegetable stock
• 2/3 cup Hard cider
• 1 apple, sliced
• 2 Tbl sage, chopped
• 1/2 cup of cheese
• salt and pepper
• (optional) pinch of Cayenne

1. In a sauce pan of boiling water cook the Potatoes for 10 minutes, drain
2. saute the onion, leek, and garlic in the oil (2-3 minutes) 
3. add the remaining veggies and cook 3-4 minutes
4. stir in the flour and cook 1 minute, Gradually add the stock and cider. Bring to a Boil.
5. Add the apple, sage, cayenne, and season to taste
6. remove from heat and add to a cassarole dish
7. arrange the potato slices on top to cover
8. sprinkle with cheese
9. cook 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown

Very Easy White Bread

• 2 pkg Active dry yeast (1/4 oz)
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup dry milk powder
• 1/2 cup Vegetable oil
• 2 Tbl Sugar
• 1 Tbl Salt
• 8 1/2 - 9 Cups of AP flour
• 1 Tbl butter or Margarine, Melted

1. Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup of water in a mixing bowl
2. Add remaining water, milk, oil, sugar, salt, and 3 cups of flour
3. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes or until smooth. ( By hand mix with a Spoon)
4. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough
5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic( about 8 minutes) Don't know How? Watch this Video. 
6. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn it once to grease the top
7. Let it rise in a warm place until it doubles, about 1 hour
8. Punch the dough down and shape it into 2 loaves
9. Place it into 2 loaf pans, cover, and allow to rise about 1 hour
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until done. 
11. Cool on a wire rack then brush with butter

Getting ready for Spring, Seed Catalogs are In!

  Well, its time to start planning the early growing season. Seed catalogs are now available! There are two companies that we use. One is "Local" (Missouri) the other is Western. We like Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and The Seed Savers Exchange.
 Both companies have an Excellent product. This year we are going to purchase The Heritage Farm Favorite collection from Seed savers. Its $13.50 for 6 Vegetable varieties: Beets, cucumbers, carrots, Dragons tongue beans, Tomato, and a lettuce mix. From Baker creek we are ordering  the $55.00 seed collection . This is 30 packets of seeds, that is its 15 types of veggie with 30 varieties. We are also ordering the $ $99.00 seed collection. Its a little bigger with 25 types of veggie and 60 varieties. It contains 60 packets of seeds. Our plan is to use some of the seeds, save the rest. I am going to double our growing area this spring, plus my wife Heathers uncle Ernie is putting in a Large garden. Some seeds will go to him, but he is most likely growing hybrids this year. When the packages show up I'll post the pictures.

Making GORP

Gorp. It sounds like something an Alien would say just before he Probed you. Its a familiar term for the Hiking and Backpacking crowd. According to Wikipedia its short for "good old raisins and peanuts". To those from New Zealand and Austrailia its called Scroggin. Author Jack Kerouac wrote about Gorp in his book "Dharma Bums" (get a free ebook copy HERE). The Idea is very simple. Easy snack food that is both high in energy and high in Fiber. Its something that will give you that added long term boost that candy alone won't do. The recipe is Easy. Its all up to your tasted and creativity. Here's some Ideas.

• Granola
• Nuts
• sunflower seeds
• soynuts
• corn flakes
• raisins
• M & M's 
• Chocolate chips
• Flax seed
• Dried fruit

What I like to do is this. I buy Granola cereal from the grocery store. If you watch for sales you can get it cheaper that way. I put the granola in a gallon sized ziploc bag. I then add nut, raisins, and chocolate chips that i buy at the dollar store. Depending on what I have on hand I add other things. Every batch I make is a little different. I made some this morning with granola, raisins, chocolate chips, corn flakes, assorted nuts, and chocolate covered soy nuts. When its mixed well, I portion it out into sandwich bags. This makes a nice sized snack good for most anything. Be creative and Have Fun!