Instant Homemade MREs

Calling all people who dehydrate...

...or people who backpack and camp...

...or preppers...

As part of my 'Preppers Project' book series, I am working on a book of recipes using shelf-stable ingredients.  These are actual meals in a pint or half pint jar... from breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and even snacks. They all use dehydrated or otherwise shelf-stable ingredients, then are placed in a jar and stored until ready to use.

Hopefully, I can post lots over the next few weeks. Test the recipes, then post your pix and comments.

Thanks!

Pickled Radishes

RADISHES ... some people like them, and others don't.

• High in potassium ... a diuretic
• Can provide up to 1/3 of daily Vit C required
• Considered an antioxidant that is good for the liver
• Small amount of protein
• Not a or of calories; has some sugar
• Natural source of Vit B6, magnesium, calcium and even zinc!

Radishes are super easy to grow (remember that scene in "Gone With the Wind" when starving Scarlett gobbles the radishes right in the garden?).

They have a quick harvest time ... some as quickly as a month!  You can scatter seeds in a small area and as they grow, thin them out for small tender sweet treats, making room for others to get bigger for preservation.

And always leave some to mature to make seeds for next year's crop.

Since this root vegetable is so healthy, consider preserving them for a rainy day.

Here's a quick recipe that I hope you give a shot at.

Ingredients:
18-20 medium/average sized radishes
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tbl sugar, granulated
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm or hot water

Instructions:

1. Slice the radishes as thinly as possible. A mandolin works well here, but be careful of your fingers!
2. Place the sliced radishes in a canning jar or bowl.
3. Combine the vinegar and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well to dissolve the salt and sugar.
4. Pour over the sliced radishes and let sit for an hour. After that hour, store in the fridge for up to three weeks, or water-bath can like any other pickle.

If you like variety, try adding different spices to the pickling liquid.

Let me know how you liked these.

Who has Power?

Warning! 

Gonna get on my soapbox for a moment.



Visit this link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0RDTZML-7wDuyS-9VoZWNZLWMcFEvsjXG0JfDjchvEIgZY6X61T10n6bc&v=1l5354hYmtk

This (above) video makes me angry to realize (yeah, duh!) that the rich and powerful 2% so firmly controls everything about the rest of us. We (98%) are nothing more than slaves in a degrading global society....given a little freedom so we won't notice we don't really have any freedom.

Sure I have a little power...enough to control how long I can sleep, or how I respond to situations, but we have minimal or no power to control things like medications, homeschooling, how to best provide for my family, whether I can have a pet in my home, and who makes the clothes I wear (and where they are made).

Governments and employers watch and listen to us via phone, computers, etc, even incorporating drones. We now live our lives under a photo-scope (microscope with everyone capturing pictures and vids of anything anywhere and anytime).

If we take a moment to really THINK about our lives, we come to the realization that we have much less power than we think we do.

Twilight Zone...ish.

Ok. Done.

Birthday During Quarantine

Soooo... my birthday was this week...not that it was a special number or anything (once I hit 50, I stopped calculating my age).

I never expected that I would spend this birthday, stuck at home, just my son and I. No special dinner with friends. No fancy meal out (using DoorDash doesn't count!). No fancy cake, or my fave ice cream.

Despite us both feeling sick with coughs and crud, my son made the day special. He actually put on clothes, drew me a card, and was nice ALL day!!I

Attitude matters.

💜

Deviled Egg Dumplings

Sticking with my craving for dumplings, I tried something new. I wanted a bump of protein, so chose eggs for my next experiment.

Sounds weird, I know, but my deviled egg dumplings were delicious.

Started again with boiling water.  Added a squeeze (or three) of spicy brown mustard, about a tablespoon of freeze dried green onion slices, and a little salt. I roughly chopped two boiled eggs and added them to the pot.

Once it was a rolling boil, I added Jiffy Mix dumpling batter. Placed on the lid and checked it about five minutes later.

Soooo delicious!!

Strawberry Dumplings

Started experimenting this week with things from my pantry. For some weird reason I had a sudden craving for dumplings. Now I didn't want chicken and dumplings, so I looked through my freeze-dried items.

Boom.

Strawberries.

I started some water boiling in a small pot. Added a handful of strawberry slices, cinnamon, a little raw sugar, and a packet of lemon juice powder. 

When the strawberries were rehydrated, and the water was boiling, I added the dumpling batter that I made from Jiffy mix.

Placed the lid on and in about 5 minutes I checked. Perfect.  

It doesn't exactly look beautiful but sure tasted pretty yummy !!


I get my freeze-dried fruit (and peas and tomatoes) from  Karen's Naturals (used to be Just Tomatoes). I just placed another order the other day so they do still have product in stock.
https://www.shopkarensnaturals.com 

Growing Radishes for a Spicy Hot

I was looking through my favorite heirloom seed provider (hoping hoping there were some seeds still left to but!), and couldn't believe my eyes!

Looks like these are new for 2020. 

This little gem of a radish is touted as being as hot and delicious as wasabi and horseradish!

Most preppers make sure they have a good amount of rice stored, and some might even have soy sauce and a very few, seaweed. You could go fishing for bass or crappie, and grow carrots.  All of these ingredients could make a delicious sushi / sashimi but wouldn't it be better with 'wasabi' and pickled ginger?

So...grow your own wasabi!

P.S. I ordered these seeds and started a few minutes of them on March 16. They are growing very well.


Link for seeds:
https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/new-items-2020/japanese-wasabi-radish