Angela in Eastern Oregon's Stuffed Green Pepper Soup:
 
1 Lb ground Italian Sausage or 1 can LTS Ground Beef
8 Cups of Boiling Water
1 1/2 Cups White Rice
3 tbls dehydrated Onion Flakes
1 tbls dehydrated diced carrots
1/4 cup dehydrated Celery
1/2 cup dehydrated Green & Red Pepper Flakes
3 tbls Dehydrated tomato powder, add water until it has a paste consistency.
2 tbls Beef Bouillon
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
 
In skillet brown the Italian Sausage (breaking into bite sized pieces), some will want to drain of the excess grease but I do not as it is tasty and needed in the right situation. In a large stock pot bring your water to a good rolling boil.  Add the rice, onion, celery, carrot, green and red peppers along with the tomato powder that you have rehydrated. Let cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the Italian sausage, beef bullion, cayenne flakes and garlic powder. Continue to cook at a low simmer for 30 minutes.
 
I serve this with a good crusty bread and a bit of goat cheese for spreading.

Chef's Notes:
As a kid my grandma used to make stuffed green peppers and I have to admit they were not my favorite thing. Luckily our taste buds mature as we do and now it is a family favorite. Making the individual peppers is time consuming and some seem to go to waste. But when I make Stuffed Green Pepper Soup all that is left is a pot to scrub! Enjoy!

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Campfire Cooking

Backpacking Meal Recipes

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Jackie's Venison Jerky

2 to 2-1/2  pounds venison roast, fat trimmed, sliced very thin  (an electric slicer works well for this)

Ingredients for marinade:
11/3 tsp. garlic powder
4 tsp. onion powder
1 -1/3 tsp. black pepper
4 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned salt
4 tsp. Accent
Dash of meat tenderizer
1 cup Kikkoman low-sodium teriyaki marinade and sauce or regular soy sauce depending on how much salt you want to add
1 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce

Add dry ingredients to a large bowl. Add the teriyaki sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Stir with whisk until well blended. Add sliced venison to marinade, cover and refrigerate overnight or 8 hours. After 8 hours, remove venison from marinade one slice at the time and place on dehydrator tray. When trays are full (usually 3 or 4 trays), set dehydrator to highest setting or 155 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook for approximately 4-5 hours, checking meat frequently during last hour. (High humidity may prolong dehydrating time.) Jerky can be kept refrigerated in Ziploc bags for several weeks, if it lasts that long!
 

Chef's Notes: This recipe should work equally well with meat from deer, elk or antelope.

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Staple Food Recipes

Spring Fruit and Vegetable Recipes

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Ray R.'s Chicken Stew

We have a favorite soup recipe, made as follows:

Chicken Stew
16 c Water - for a soup instead of a thick stew make this 20 to 24 cups - we use water from our Berkey filter since it tastes better.
16 tsp Knorr tomato/chicken bouillon - adds a great flavor.
25 oz boneless skinless chicken - this can be fresh, frozen, or home canned - it is about a quart of my home canned chicken.
1 c Dry pearled barley - we buy these in 25 lbs sacks at Restaurant Depot which we first learned of from SurvivalBlog. We pack then into canning jars and vacuum seal then with a Food Saver using the wide mouth canning jar
attachment.
2 c dry lentils - again purchased in 25 lbs sacks at Restaurant Depot.
2 tbs dried onions - substitute fresh if you have it
1 tbs minced garlic
Large dash Maggi seasoning to taste - adds a great meaty flavor - we use the USA produced stuff made by Nestle, but it is made in many countries, and most Asian supermarkets carry it and Asian made copies. Maggi is sort of a wheat-based soy-flavored sauce product, but with no soy.
2 cans white beans - we have been using beans from the LDS cannery. Since they are no longer doing wet pack canning we will have to find another source or go to dried beans soaked overnight.
2 cans Rotel - the smaller size cans not the large restaurant sized cans.
2 cans diced tomatoes
25 oz fresh carrots - or the equivalent in dried carrots

Bring all of the above to a boil, then turn the heat down to a low simmer.
Simmer at least a couple of hours or as long as all day. We can fit a half recipe in our crock pot.

Wait 1/2 to 1 hour before serving add the Spinach.

7 oz fresh spinach or the equivalent in dried spinach.

Chef's Notes:

Yields about 29 cups of stew (about 120 calories per cup), or a few more servings if you started with more water.

My wife likes this as is. I spice it up in my bowl with a with a few dashes of Liquid Smoke, and some Chipotle Smoked Tabasco sauce.

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Jo N.'s Oatmeal Bread

I like this recipe because it makes three nice loaves with little effort.  You do not need to attend to the bread that closely so you can go off and do other chores while it is rising (2 times) and baking.
 
Today was bread making day for me, and this is an easy recipe that can be made with supplies we all should have on hand.
 
Oatmeal Bread (makes 3 loaves)
4 c boiling water
3 c oats (Quaker Oats, not instant)
7.5 to 8.5 c flour (regular is fine and is what I use)
2 packages yeast (4.5 t if you buy yeast in bulk, as I do)
2 T salt
4 T oil (I use olive but any vegetable oil will do)
1/2 c honey, maple syrup, molasses or combination thereof
 
Pour boiling water over oats in a large bowl and let cool.  Stir in 2 cups flour and the yeast. Place in warm, draft-free space, uncovered, and let rise until double in bulk (usually about 2 hours). Punch down and work in rest of ingredients, including enough flour to make a dough that you can knead.  Turn out onto flour-covered surface and knead for about 10 minutes, adding flour as you go so dough is firm but pliable and not sticky.  You cannot over-knead this bread.  Divide dough into 3 parts and shape into loaves.  Place each in a greased loaf pan.  Allow to rise until double, again about 2 hours.  Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, but can take as long as 60 depending on your pans.
 
Turn out and cool.  I like to make two loaves of regular bread and one loaf of cinnamon raisin.  I do this by kneading in about 1/2 to 1 c raisins before shaping the loaf.  I pat the dough out flat (could roll, but then I need to wash rolling pin) and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  I roll up dough like a jelly roll and place seam-side down in greased pan and let rise and bake with other two loaves.
 
If you are skilled, you can bake the bread in a Dutch oven on a camp fire but I live in suburbia and a campfire is not allowed!  Bread is not like an oatmeal cookie with flakes of oatmeal.  It is a light colored, fine crumb bread that makes the most excellent toast.

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S.A.'s Hearty Bean Soups

First, if your family doesn’t feel that a hearty bowl of beans is a meal, you need to start down this path as soon as possible. In my childhood, even though coming from a comfortable, educated home, every single Saturday, while the house was being cleaned and weekly grocery shopping done, a big pot of pinto beans was on the stove simmering away. My parents, both raised during the Great Depression, descendants from Civil War families, had also lived through rationing during WWII. The pinto beans were served with cornbread slathered with butter. My father would crumble his cornbread into a tall glass and top it off with buttermilk. He had barely survived starvation as a teenager yet lived to be 88.

This is a survival recipe. It uses ham fat, which is critical, vital, and imperative for metabolism. Read James Michener’s novel Poland to see how hungry and deprived people feel about eating fat. If your diet is balanced, the fat in this recipe is just one more menu item that will not hurt you, but rather help keep your body well-functioning.

Onto the recipe: This works for any kind of bean, but my most favorite is black-eyed peas. You can use canned or dried. If dried, sort out the pebbles, rinse dirt off several times, soak overnight if you wish to hurry the cooking, cook until done. I always use a crock pot. Some people add a small amount of baking soda for gas. I don’t find it necessary.

·         1-3 cans of beans (use the beans, liquid, and rinse/swish with a little water to get everything from the can)
·         1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Chilis
·         Fat trimmed from a cooked ham

Buy a real ham, cook it, trim off the fat and save every fat scrap as you eat the ham. (Of course, leave on a little when you fry ham for breakfast as fat is tasty when caramelized.)
When you are ready for a pot of beans, dice the ham fat into a skillet. I use non-stick spray and a little olive oil to cut down on sticking to the pan. Brown the fat pieces and the ham bone and render the fat. When done, first allow it to cool and then gently pour the grease and fat pieces into the crock pot. Now put a can of Rotel into the skillet to de-glaze. Stir around until you get everything loosened.
Now pour the contents of the skillet (Rotel tomatoes, little brown bits scraped from the bottom of the skillet) and all the beans or peas or lentils or whatever with the liquid into a crock pot. No additional water is needed. Everything is well-cooked, but I let it go on low for a couple of hours to marry all the flavors. As the ham bone is in the crock pot, the last of the remaining meat and fat will loosen. Take out the bone and remove every last scrap bit and return to the pot. Some people think adding a tablespoon of vinegar releases some additional nutrients from the ham bone. I do this, but it doesn’t affect the flavor at all.

When done, serve with a dash of salt to taste, some chopped cilantro for green. Other optional toppings are fresh onion if you like, some sliced jalapeño or serrano pepper growing from your garden (right?) if you need more heat, or a trickle of Pepper Sauce, if desired. Commercial Pepper Sauce is simply small hot peppers bottled in vinegar, or you can make your own. As the vinegar gets used up, just continue to add more vinegar to refresh. A bottle lasts almost forever. You can choose to add nothing and this bowl of beans is still amazing and wonderful.    

Chef's Notes:

If you must have some starch, artisan bread, cornbread, tortillas, flatbread all go along nicely. Remember, while beans are a protein substitute, they are still carbohydrates. So you are covered there.   
Some cases of your favorite beans and Rotel tomatoes are a cheap, nutritious, and delicious way to increase your stores.
I eat this almost everyday for lunch and eagerly look forward to it. Fat has more calories than meat, so you will not get hungry in the afternoon. It’s rib-sticking, as they used to say. 

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Lin H. wrote: "Don't buy spaghetti sauce in jars or cans since it is easy, thrifty and adaptable to make your own. You know what's going into it, you can do many different meals with the one basic homemade recipe, and the ingredients are easily kept in your home (and preparedness ) pantry."
 
Lin H.'s Easy Red Spaghetti Sauce
 
1-2 tbs. olive oil (optional, depending on your meat choice)
1/2 lb. meat (ground beef or pork or venison, bulk sausage, diced smoked sausage, cut bacon, Vienna sausage dices, cut pepperoni slices, diced canned ham; the possibilities are wonderfully various)
1/2 c. diced onions (or 2 tbs. dried onion flakes)
2 cloves garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp. dried garlic, rehydrated; or 1 tsp. garlic powder)
1 can (14-16 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 heaping tbs. Italian seasoning (or 2 tsp. each basil and oregano)
1/2 tsp. ea. salt and pepper, or to taste
1 tbs. butter or margarine (optional)
 
In a large skillet or saucepan crumble and brown meat with onion and garlic till done (if using pre-cooked meats, heat oil then stir-fry meat, onion and garlic till onion is translucent, 5 minutes or so). Drain grease. Add rest of ingredients. Bring to just-boiling at high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasonings if desired. Makes roughly 4 servings.
 
Now you're ready for (plan on 12-16 oz. pasta for most of the meals below, to serve 4):
- Spaghetti, of course. Serve over cooked spaghetti or other pasta.
- Lasagne. Layer sauce with lasagne noodles and a cheese mixture and bake.
- Have you tried Cabbage Lasagne? Substitute steamed cabbage shreds for the pasta layer in lasagne. It's delicious.
- Baked ziti/penne. Toss sauce with cooked ziti or penne tubes in a casserole, top with cheese, and bake.
- Stuff manicotti or giant shells with a cheese mixture, pour sauce over and bake.
- You can add vegetable nutrition to any of these dishes. Zucchini rounds, chopped spinach, and peppers (sweet red, green bell, or hot varieties to taste) all adapt well.
- Italian soup. When sauce is done add 2 cans (14-16 oz. ea.) beef broth, 2 c. water, a can of drained beans and diced veggies of choice (zucchini or any squash, peppers, celery, carrots, peas, spinach and cabbage are all good). Simmer till veggies are almost tender and add 1/2 c. uncooked pasta the last 10 minutes.
- Add a cup of half-&-half to your sauce, simmer 10 minutes, and stir in cooked pasta for a creamy "Hamburger Helper type" stovetop dish.
- Spread sauce on unbaked pizza crusts (will make 2-to-3 pizzas), top with diced veggies, sprinkle cheese over and bake.

Chef's Notes:

I hope this can be helpful. Sharing good food with family or friends is a blessing, in good times and bad.

Reader Matt R. Adds: "The only thing I can possibly add to Lin H.'s delicious sounding spaghetti sauce contribution is something I learned from my half-Italian cousin:  Canned tomatoes and sauce are acidified for safety and can be pretty 'twangy'...  To cut the acid, add very finely chopped carrots to the sauce - about a half cup to Lin's basic recipe should be about right.  You can chop them so finely nobody will ever know they are there.  Added early and simmered for 15-20 minutes, they add no carrot-y taste but their mild sweetness goes a long way to eliminating the acid and canned taste of the tomatoes.  The beta carotene can't hurt either...  Once you do this you'll never consider making spaghetti sauce without them."
 

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Mrs. G. suggested Cooks.com

Cousin Al mentioned that Faith and Survival has a useful collection of dehydrated food recipes.

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1-1/2 cups dried mushrooms
2 cups hot beef bouillon, make it from powdered or cubed bouillon
4 cups milk, made from powdered milk
6 tbsp. flour, all purpose
1/2 cup dried onions
1/4 cup margarine, or powdered butter
1 tsp. kosher salt
Parsley flakes for garnish

Directions:
Sauté mushrooms and onions in margarine in a heavy saucepan for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine bouillon, milk, salt, and flour. Blend until smooth. Add to sautéed mushrooms and onions. Cook over low heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Garnish with parsley. Makes about 8 servings.

Chef's Notes:

This can easily be made into a mix by creating it using all dried ingredients.
When ready to cook, just add the 6 cups of water  to the jar of mix in a pot, and continue to whisk the solution while bringing it to a boil.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Lee M. wrote to mention that he liked this site: HelpWithCooking.com.

H.M. mentioned that CookingCache.com has more than 7,000 recipes available.

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Tennessee Guy's Pancake Recipe

Here is my favorite pancake recipe:
 
1 cup of sour cream
 
1 cup cottage cheese
 
1 tablespoon sugar
 
1 cup of flour
 
Place all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
 
It is also good to put a heaping  1/2 cup of oatmeal in place of 1/2 cup of flour!
 
This recipe will give you mouth watering pancakes. Enjoy!

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

H.E. suggested the recipe collection at Everyday Food Storage.

Tom in Iowa recommended the 19th Century Recipes Archives at Hearth and Home.

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Notutopia's One Pot Beefy Mac N' Cheese

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground meat
1/8th cup dried diced onions
pinch of garlic powder
1 T parsley flakes
salt and pepper
1 lb. elbow macaroni or egg noodles
1 8oz. can Bega cheddar cheese cut in small 1/4 inch cubes, or 1/2 cup
of cheddar cheese powder

Directions:

In a 4 quart pot with a tight fitting lid, fry the ground meat with onions, seasonings and parsley flakes, until meat is browned. Do not drain oil from the meat. Add 5 cups of water to the meat mixture and bring to a rapid boil. Add the pasta, stir well and boil for 5 minutes. Cover the pot and turn off the burner. Allow the pasta to continue cooking and expanding and do not open the cover. In 10 minutes, open the cover, and stir in the cheese until melted. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

"Cabinetman" over at The FALFiles Forums recommended this traditional cookbook: Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking published by J.G. Ferguson and Associates Chicago, 1953. Cabinetman's description: "There’s a 77 page index to give you an idea of how comprehensive this book is. I can’t stress enough how valuable this book would become during as SHTF situation because it provides many alternatives to traditional cooking techniques as opposed to modern cookbooks which rely on microwaves and electronics and a lot of pre-packaged ingredients. In this book you start with picking the veggies from the garden, getting the feathers off a newly dispatched broiler, or carving up an elk. However, she also details more modern ingredients that may be frozen or butchered at a shop. It’s not a cookbook full only of rustic techniques but both old and newer ones. They are most certainly techniques that will help you adjust to a less-modern way of feeding a family."

Reader Lee M. mentioned that there are some great recipes posted in the discussion forums at the Mrs. Survival web site.

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Notutopia's Long Term Storage Chicken Ragout 

Serves Four

The dry ingredients for this recipe (everything but the chicken meat and the water) can be multiplied and bulk mixed and then vacuum packed in quart size mason jars with an O2 absorber for long term storage.

1 c dried diced or sliced carrots
1/2 c dried sliced celery
1/2 c dried diced or sliced potato
1/4 c dried sliced mushrooms
1/4 c dried sliced olives
1/4 c dried chopped onion
2 T tomato powder
1 T dried parsley
1 c dried peas
3 cubes chicken bouillon
pinch of anise seed
ground pepper, to taste

2  8 oz. cans of boned chicken (or fresh equivalent)

Directions:
Bring all ingredients in 7 cups of water, to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer and cook until tender for 15 minutes.
Add in the chicken, cook 5 more minutes.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Bill M. in New York recommended Utah's Chef Stephanie Petersen's web site, where she explains and shows how to use Honeyville and Augason freeze-dried / dehydrated ingredients to self-produce pre-mixed long-term (25 yrs) food storage meals in a jar.  Her  "52 Method" web page explains how to do it, and includes downloadable (PDF) shopping list needs, recipe cards, tutorials and features on-line videos showing how to make 12 + different long-term (multi-serving) food storage meal mixed and stored in wide-mouth quart mason jars with oxygen absorbers. She is always adding new recipes. All of this information is contained as you browse this web page. She has many other great recipes included on her web site.

Jen. K. suggested a web site with lot of great antique recipes: FoodTimeline.org

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