Inspired by these 2 books I decided to make as much of my own backpacking food as possible on our last backpacking trip to the coast. I broke out the dehydrator and tried some new recipes.
Peanut Butter Fudge (these delicious!)
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 (14 oz can) of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 bag of chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients ad press into a 8 inch square greased pan. Bake 30 minutes (I let them go longer). Cool, cut and pack into snack sized re-sealable plastic bag.
Parmesan Cheese Crackers (definitely will make again)
Mix together in a large bowl:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat floor
1/2 cup white flour
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Cut in:
1/3 cup chilled butter
1/2 cup finely graded Parmesan cheese
Stir in: 1/2 cup cold water
Kneed briefly then turn dough onto a floured board. Preheat oven to 350. Oil 2 large baking sheets. Roll dough as thin as possible on floured board. Cut into rectangles. Bake 5 minutes or until bottoms are brown (I flipped once).
BLACK PEPPER PECANS (this is my mom's recipie- usually an h'orderve , but great for backpacking)
1 T black pepper
2 t salt
1/4 c butter
3/4 c brown sugar
4 t water
2 2/3 c pecans (or almonds)
Preheat oven to 350. Line large cookie sheet with foil. Lightly butter foil. Mix pepper and salt in small bowl. Melt butter in large non-stick skillet over med-low heat. Add sugar and water. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add nuts; toss to coat. Cook over med heat until syrup thickens and nuts are well coated, stirring occasionally, about 5 mins. Sprinkle half of pepper mixture over them. Transfer nuts to baking sheet and separate with fork. Sprinkle with remaining pepper. Bake 10 minutes. Cool. Can be made 4 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.
Thai Noodles
Cook, then drain in a colander: 18 oz. vermicelli pasta. In a skillet heat up onion, garlic and broccoli. Add 3/4 cup crushed peanuts, 2 teaspoons minced ginger, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 3/4 crushed red pepper flakes (I used sriracha sauce and added 1/2 can of coconut milk). Stir with noodles and spread on dehydrator trays until dry. To rehydrate cover with water just above food in pot, boil and serve.
Chorizo/Sweet Potato Burritos
I just cooked up chorizo and bake sweet potatoes then dehydrated each separately. Boiled over coals (has to cook for a long time) until everything was soft. It was really good!
(I also played around with dehydrating eggs- both with things in them and plain- and both turned out weird when re-hydrated, so I am not going to write about them)
My apartment window is somewhere around where that arrow is pointing to.
This is my view out of my apartment window (so the opposite view of the above picture)
Here are some pictures of my apartment. I'll post more once I decorate and settle in more. Today was exhausting! Getting use to the time change has been a challenge since we had to jump right into work. I keep waking up in the middle of the night wide awake and then feeling like I'm dead tired at about 3:00pm. Tomorrow is our first day of "School". We spent hours getting the classroom, materials and programs ready to go- yet I'm still a bit overwhelmed by all the new information. Starting to get a better feel of the area and the bus system. Again, I am so lucky to have someone helping me :)
