Camping Food

Canned Barbecue Beans (El Pollo Loco BBQ Black Beans clone)

May 18, 2010 by Rebecca 22 Comments

If I live to be a thousand years old I will never exhaust the possibilities offered by beans. And what is there not to like about beans? They are- all at once- so inexpensive, so nutritious, so easy to store, so delicious, so versatile.

If you’ve been with me here at Foodie With Family for a while you’re pretty familiar with my adoration of beans. They’re a quick, filling, el-cheapo way to feed a growing family.

“Quick? Beans? Well, surely you aren’t making them from the dried state,” sayeth the doubting crowd. Ah, but yes. Yes, I am. And here is where this post morphs from singing the praises of beans to evangelizing about canning. Pressure canning, specifically. And this requires a diversion of some length from beans…

Even if you were raised in a family who canned a great deal of food (as I was) chances are you heard something like this regarding pressure canning, “Pressure canners are DANGEROUS! My Aunt Bertha had one explode on her once. She leapt in front of it to protect the baby who was walking through the kitchen. They had to pull shrapnel from her neck. Just missed the jugular.” (The preceding cautionary tale was an amalgam of the pressure-canning horror stories from my own family members and friends.) The truth is that pressure canners were dangerous.

The operative word here is ‘were’. The reason so many of us have heirloom pressure canner tales of gore from ages of yore is because there were so many of them that actually exploded. But there is a whole new generation of pressure canners on the market now. They have ratcheting, locking lids with metal-to-metal seals instead of the inferior rubber gasket seals and their disturbing likelihood to warp, crack or otherwise deteriorate.

The Evil Genius has inspected Carol (Yes, my pressure canner has a name. Don’t you name your appliances?) and pronounced her to be the domestic equivalent of a small-scale industrial sterilizer. (And the man ought to know, he stares at/operates/programs/troubleshoots the real thing all day long every day. If the fellow who sits in front of the blast window on an industrial sterilizer waiting for little glass vials to explode says it’s safe, I think you can take his word for it. And since I’m incapable of remaining on topic for more than three sentences, let me just ask one thing. Does anyone else find it amusing that a man who is clearly NOT sterile [I remind you we had five sons in nine years] specializes in sterilizers?)

Hello?

Is anyone out there?

“Get back on topic already!”

I can take a hint…

Yes, well. Here’s where I was going with this. Pressure canning is very safe now. Provided you use a new model pressure canner and follow the safety instructions. And don’t let Aunt Bertha near it. Just saying.

As for which pressure canner to use, I prefer this beauty:

This is the second to the largest model made by the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry. Yes, it’s a little more expensive than its smaller siblings or cheap knock-offs made by other companies, but it can hold and process fourteen quarts simultaneously. Come on! That’s seriously amazing. That means that it twice as efficient as models that hold seven quarts. And it can double as a big old boiling water canner. There’s no boiling water canner on earth that can do double duty like Carol.

I have major warm fuzzies for this company. When I broke my gauge (read: my fault completely. I didn’t read the directions.) they replaced it –free of charge- even after I confessed what happened to it. They sent it via Priority Mail. Did I mention they sent it for free? As in gratis? I declared my love for them over the phone. I think they’re used to it. But we were talking about beans, weren’t we?

Ah yes, these beans.

As if Facebook wasn’t a giant enough time hoover for me, I recently discovered the existence of the fabulous and aptly named ‘Canning’ group. In this group was a picture of a batch of barbecue beans one member had made. The original recipe described them as being a clone of El Pollo Loco’s BBQ Black Beans. Having never been to an El Pollo Loco, I had no idea what that meant. One look at the recipe, though, and I knew I had to try it. The method was so simple. And the payoff was huge.

The hardest part of the whole project was waiting two weeks after processing to try them. Their hermetically sealed jars beckoned from their shelf in the basement, “Eat me!”

And boy, oh boy, these beans are good. There is no hint at all of the paltry ten minutes of hands-on time (well, alright, twenty minutes if you count wiping and labeling the jars.) that went into creating this masterpiece. Smoky, spicy, saucy- they taste like beans that have baked for hours upon hours in the oven rather than beans poured from a jar that sat in the basement. These beans alone are reason enough to justify the price of a new pressure canner even if they’re the only thing you ever make in it. How can that possibly be?

Let me paint you a little mental picture. Let’s say, hypothetically, that you have five sons. (Could happen, you know…) And let’s say that two of them are in a play; rehearsal is on Tuesday and the show is on Thursday, a column due Wednesday, paperwork to fill out at the bank on Thursday morning, a house full of company coming for the weekend on Friday and they’re planning on eating with you. Right. So, where in there are you going to find time to make a delicious and filling dinner for your company? Try this one on for size. Throw on a pot of rice. Open and reheat a couple jars of Canned Barbecue Beans. Put a couple links of your favorite sausage on the grill (Kielbasa, smoked sausage, link-chorizo, what-have-you…) and toss together a salad. Fluff the rice, top with the beans and sausage and serve with a salad and something icy cold to drink.

But hang on. It’s cheap, people! It’s dirt cheap! You can’t get food much cheaper than this, and you certainly can’t buy food of this quality for anywhere near this little in any store. And more banging of the drum… it’s so very good for you. Fiber, vitamins, minerals, no funky preservatives or additives. It’s great food the way food was intended to be.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, with no photos and sidebars, click here!

Canned Barbecue Beans

adapted from Creative Canning and Mary Kay Craig

1 pound (or slightly more) black beans or a mix of pinto and black beans, rinsed, picked over and soaked 8 hours or overnight
2 onions, peeled and small
5 small cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 cups barbecue sauce (I used my favorite homemade Kansas City style sauce, but bottled sauce will do the job in a pinch.)
2-3 drops liquid smoke per pint jar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle powder per pint jar, to taste, or 1/2 of a fresh jalapeno, minced, per pint jar.

After the beans have soaked overnight, drain and rinse them. What you see below is mixture of black beans and pinto beans that is approximately equal by weight.

Divide the beans between five clean pint jars. The beans should fill the jars about halfway. Divide the onions and minced garlic evenly between the jars.

Add the chipotle powder (or minced jalapenos) and liquid smoke to each jar.

Add 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce to each jar. Notice how the pinto beans have been stained by the black beans? That’s just inevitable. Don’t let it worry you.

Then add clean, fresh water to the jars to within an inch of the top rim. Insert a chopstick to the bottom of the jar two or three times per jar to release any trapped air bubbles.

Adjust the liquid if needed to maintain one-inch of clearance from the upper rim. Wipe the rims, add new two-piece lids and process, according to your canner’s manufacturer’s recommendations, at 15 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes.

How is that possible that you don’t have to cook the beans first? Pressure canning is more than just efficient, it’s convenient. As you’re processing the jars, you’re also cooking the beans inside the jars. It’s like doing a little bit of kitchen magic.

And now comes the tricky part. You have to wait at least two weeks for the beans to soak up the liquid in the jar. You could even wait four weeks for the ultimate experience, if you can stand it. You’ll be making another batch as soon as you open up that first jar, though. I guarantee you that!

P.S. There was a really neat phenomenon that happened with these jars. Because you form a vacuum inside the jars (by design) when pressure canning, the liquid inside the jars can continue to boil long after they’re removed from the canner. One jar’s contents boiled for thirty-five minutes after it was sitting on the cooling rack! The Evil Genius assures me that this is perfectly normal and safe.

Filed Under: Beans, Camping Food, Canning, Component Foods, Food Preservation, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: barbecue beans, home food preservation, how to can beans

Homemade Hummus

March 22, 2010 by Rebecca 16 Comments

I spent nearly seven years as a vegetarian; those years were spent subsisting mainly on hummus, cheese and big green salads. I long ago enthusiastically re-entered the omnivore world* but still spend a great deal of time conveying hummus to my mouth on various crudites and pita chips.

Hummus is the first rite of spring that I observe every year and it’s on nearly every family-get-together-buffet. When the weather warms up my brain starts nagging me, “Hummus. You want hummus. You need some hummus. Make some hummus.” And like all good voices in the head, it only goes away when it’s obeyed. But I jest. I don’t have voices in my head nagging me about hummus; they nag me to eat chocolate. But that’s another cuppa tea…

The point is this. When I posted about the dreadfully addictive Mediterranean Hummus Pizza I mentioned that I was willing to share my hummus recipe if anyone wanted it. I assumed everyone had their own hummus recipe and that everyone had spent years as a vegetarian living mainly on hummus. That’s the way my thought process works, you see… “If I have done it, everyone has done it, too.” Let’s just say this; apparently not everyone went through a seven-year vegetarian phase the way I did. And equally apparently, not everyone has made a cubic ton of hummus over their lifetime. I see this now. I understand. And I’m going to show you the way.

Extraordinary hummus is so easy to make at home that you’ll never pay for deli-case hummus again. Unless, of course, you’re away from your home and food processor and are struck with a sudden, unabating craving for hummus and there is a tub of Tribe of Umpteen Sheiks staring you in the face. In that case, I fully stand behind spending way too much money on a snack. It could be worse, after all; you could be spending it on Ho-Ho’s. *

*Note to self: Put Ho-Ho’s on grocery list in code so the kids don’t see it. Hide the Ho-Ho’s in apron pocket, hide in closet and apply directly to mouth when needed (i.e. when kids are fighting, arguing, breathing, etc…)

There are a couple of camps in the hummus loving crowd; the smooth hummus lovers and the rustic hummus aficianados. The rustic-hummus crowd is a good one to which to belong if you don’t own a food processor. It is full of coarse pieces of garbanzo beans and bits of minced garlic. It is easily accomplished by mooshing all the hummus ingredients together with a potato masher or -in a gadgetless kitchen- with the clean bottom of a heavy can.

I am an unapologetic, card-carrying member of the smooth hummus contingent. I like a super-smooth, chunk-free hummus that can be spread as easily inside a pita pocket as it is dipped onto a carrot stick or tortilla chip. And since I’m making it, I’m in control here. (This, quite honestly, is probably one of the main reasons I love cooking so much. Control. For more musings on control as a common trait among obsessive cooks -and a killer coffee cake recipe-, see this hilarious post from my ‘Evil’ friend.)

When you make your hummus, you’ll be the one in control. If you want it more coarse, just stop processing it earlier or use something less efficient than a food processor to do your squishing work for you.

Having a container of hummus in the refrigerator is like having one of those Jetson’s food synthesizing devices in your kitchen. Stuff a pita pocket with a layer of hummus, some thinly sliced vegetables and a handful of sprouts and you have a filling, light, healthy lunch in less than five minutes. Feeling peckish? Scoop some hummus into a bowl and serve with a fistful of carrot and celery sticks or tortilla chips.

*Well, like a Jetson’s Food-A-Rac-A-Cycle minus Rosie the Robot Maid and the button that makes food materialize. But you catch my drift, right?

For a photo-free, Chatty-Cathy-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Homemade Hummus

Basic Ingredients:

1-4 peeled garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 [15.5 ounce] cans, drained with liquid reserved) + 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid
6 Tablespoons tahini
6 Tablespoons lemon juice
up to 2 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, curly or flat, rinsed and drained
1/2 to 1-1/2 teaspoons salt, to taste
1/8 to 3/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper (or other ground hot chile pepper), to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Optional, but delicious possible additions:

Minced green onions, cumin, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, curry powder, fresh cilantro leaves, and garlic scapes. But probably not all at once, eh?

Add garlic cloves, chickpeas, tahini, and lemon juice to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. After putting the lid tightly in place, process until a thick, coarse paste is formed, about 1 to 2 minutes. Check the consistency of the hummus. If you’re happy with the texture of the hummus, add the salt, parsley, black pepper and cayenne pepper, and any optional add-ins, and pulse until evenly combined.

If you would like it to be thinner and/or smoother, add the olive oil and process for an additional minute. If you would like it thinner yet, add some of the cooking liquid from the chickpeas along with the parsley, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper, and any optional add-ins and process for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve plain as pictured below, or with a sprinkling of minced parsley as pictured above. Either way it’s magnificent!

Don’t forget the goodies for dipping!

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Beans, Camping Food, Component Foods, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: dried beans, Frugal Food, healthy snacks, kid friendly, party food, quick and easy

Pimiento Cheese

December 29, 2009 by Rebecca 2 Comments

This is the second installment of my Southern New Year’s Foods series. Happy New Year!

Really, The Evil Genius and I complete each other. While I sit here on the couch with the laptop, contemplating pimiento cheese, he is watching ‘Alien vs. Predator’ and talking about which characters he thinks will be eaten. So see? We’re both thinking about food.

This family marches on its stomach. Long before I met my southern transplant husband, I was learning to cook southern food from my Arkansan grandma. And while I’m certain he didn’t marry me just for Grandma’s pimiento cheese, collard greens, and cornbread recipes, I’m equally certain that the ability to execute those dishes well contributed to my charms.

Although I wouldn’t swear to it, I do believe that I detected tears of joy in his gorgeous blue eyes when I placed a dish of this pimiento cheese along with a plate of crackers in front of him so many years ago. Just for the record, there’s no shame in a good ole boy weeping over food like Grandma used to make… He may be Evil, but he still loves his Mammy.

Pimiento cheese is a food that is as big a part of the South as the phrase “y’all”. This flavorful creamy cheese spread is flecked with bits of sharp cheddar and bright roasted red peppers. It is as at-home on an elegant buffet table as it is on humble celery sticks for an after-school snack. Thrown together in a flash, pimiento cheese is big on flavor and low on effort.

Don’t just stop with at the crudites and crackers, though. Whether you trim the crusts and add watercress for sophisticated tea-time sandwiches or slap it between two slices of buttery white bread, pimiento cheese makes a delicious and satisfying savoury sandwich filling. You can’t get much more Southern than a having a pimiento cheese sandwich and a glass of sweet tea for lunch on the front porch. And you just may have the best grilled cheese of your life if you toast two slices of hearty wheat bread filled with pimiento cheese.

A party just isn’t a party without pimiento cheese in some form, and New Year’s Eve is the biggest fete of the year! So break out a bowl this festive spread and have copies of the recipe handy to pass out, because you will be asked. It is that good.

Happy New Year Y’all!

For a printer friendly, photo free version of this recipe, click here!

Pimiento Cheese

Ingredients:

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
16 ounces grated Cheddar cheese (I like to use a blend of extra sharp and sharp cheddar.)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 of a small onion
2-3 Tablespoons pimientos (or roasted red peppers) smashed with juice from the jar.
1/2 teaspoon each granulated garlic, granulated onion, coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Add the cream cheese, mayonnaise, granulated garlic and onion, salt and freshly ground pepper to the work bowl of your food processor that has been fitted with the blade.

Grate the onion into the the food processor on top of the other ingredients.

Pulse until smooth.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the shredded cheddar. Pulse seven or eight short bursts; just until the cheese is mixed into the cream cheese. Scrape down the bowl again and add the pimientos with their juice.

Pulse four or five more short bursts; just until the pimientos are chopped to the point where they are blended in, but still in recognizable pieces.

Use a silicone scraper or spatula to transfer the mixture to a serving dish or storage container. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour prior to serving to allow the flavors to meld.

Leftovers can be kept tightly wrapped in the refrigerator for up to a week.

*If you do not have a food processor simply combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir vigorously with a sturdy spoon until thoroughly blended.

Now slather this on some celery sticks, pour yourself a tall glass of sweet tea and say y’all a few times. You might just like it.

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Camping Food, Component Foods, Holiday Food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Side Dishes, Snacks, Vegetarian Tagged With: Food gifts, kid friendly, party food, quick and easy, quick meal, Southern New Year, traditional food, traditional southern food, Vegetarian

Taco Soup

December 8, 2009 by Rebecca 13 Comments

Is it soup yet?

We lived in Le Roy for just over a decade. We loved our home, our church, our community. We had rebuilt the house while living in it. (This process was helped along by the fact that it was bare studs, floors and outer walls and absolutely-nothing-else when we bought it.) We could’ve stayed and stayed and stayed until we passed beyond the veil. So why did we leave? By the time we made an offer on our current home, we were a family of seven with two morbidly obese dogs and many musical instruments crammed into a 1300 square foot home.

It started way back with the birth of my first son. When we brought Liam home, the phone was ringing and it was the community outreach coordinator from church. She informed me that it was the practice of the church women to provide meals to new mothers for the first two weeks after a baby was born. I accepted (because how can you say no to that?) but secretly thought to myself that I didn’t know why they thought I wouldn’t be able to make our family’s meals. I learned. Quickly.

Those meals came for fourteen days and fourteen nights and they were good.

When, two months later, baby Liam was rushed to the hospital for a life-saving surgery, the women once again provided meals so we could focus on helping Liam recover.

Two years later, just before Aidan was born, my meal angel called again. I was shocked. I said, “I thought the meals were just for new mothers!” She laughed and said, “Well, this baby will be new, won’t he?” I gratefully accepted the offer and the meals. This time, since I had a c-section, the meals were the only thing standing stalwartly between us and a steady diet of cold cereal.

And once again, the meals came for fourteen days and fourteen nights and they were good.

Another two years on, and another beautiful baby boy, the meals rolled in for another two weeks. Ty nursed happily. I reheated happily. I cherished the food I received after the births of my children. You could say they were like manna from heaven. After the births of Leif and Rowan, they kept the meals a-coming like the loaves and the fishes.

I don’t mean to suggest that I carried on having more kids in order to get the free meals from those amazing cooks over at Calvary. That would be just wrong. It’s pure coincidence that I haven’t had any more kids since moving. I kept having children because I loved my boys. Okay. And the meals. Those women were GOOD cooks.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

If you happen to find yourself in Le Roy, New York on a Sunday morning, stop in at the golf-ball church. The preaching is great, the people are friendly and if you’re lucky they’ll be hosting a potluck or a fellowship meal. It’s worth your time. Trust me.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

This family-favorite, Taco Soup, was one of those fabulous meals and was brought to us by my dear friend, Carolyn. It has graced our table many times, and in many forms, over the years since Carolyn came into my kitchen bearing a steaming crock of soup, tortilla chips, grated cheese, and sour cream.

This is a memory soup. One whiff of this bubbling away on the stovetop and my entire body remembers the feeling of cradling a sweet smelling, impossibly soft newborn. I watch my boys eat this and remember their little balled fists resting on my chest as they nursed to sleep. When I eat this I remember my friends who tramped through snow storms to bring my family sustenance and companionship.

When I cook this, I remember taking it to my little sister, Jessamine, after her baby boy, Ezra was born. That time it had a little extra something special in it. When Jessie sat down later that evening to eat it, she found a spider floating in her soup. Whether it came with the soup from my house or jumped in in a fit of despair somewhere else along the road we’ll never know. Her husband ate it anyway. The soup, that is.

As with most soups, many of the ingredients are changeable. Don’t fancy chili beans or pinto beans? Add some pork and beans or kidney beans instead. Do you prefer home-cooked beans? Believe me when I tell you this soup is sublime with them. Replace the chicken broth with beer, add a couple handfuls of masa and you will have an excellent pot of chili. To make a hearty vegetarian soup, replace the chicken broth with beer or vegetable broth, and omit the meat. You can leave as is or add in crumbles or TVP. Feel free to add spiders if you like ‘em. My sister and I will go without.

It’s cold out there. You need soup. You need this soup!

For a photo-free, printer friendly version, click here!

Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef, browned and drained ~or~ 3 cups leftover cooked meat, chopped
1 can (28 ounces) crushed or diced tomatoes
2-3 cups chicken broth or stock (Depending on how soupy you like your soup. Using less broth will result in a thicker soup.)
1 packet Ranch Dressing Mix
1 packet taco or enchilada seasoning (If using seasoned meat, this can be omitted!)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chili beans with sauce
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups frozen corn kernels

Optional for serving:

Tortilla or corn chips
Grated cheese
Sour Cream or plain yogurt
Sliced green onions
Minced fresh cilantro
Diced tomatoes

Slow Cooker Directions (see below for Stove top directions):

In a slow cooker crock stir together meat, tomatoes, dressing and seasoning mixes (if using), black beans, chili beans with sauce, pinto beans and corn. Place lid on crock, turn slow cooker to ‘LOW’ and cook for 6-8 hours.

Serve with or without toppings.

Store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also portion the leftover soup into individual servings and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Stove top Directions:

Stir together meat, tomatoes, dressing and seasoning mixes (if using), black beans, chili beans with sauce, pinto beans and corn in an appropriately sized soup pot. Place lid on pot, put pot over medium low heat and bring to a simmer. Remove the lid and allow to simmer gently for 30-40 minutes or until soup is slightly thickened.

Serve with or without toppings. Store leftovers, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also portion the leftover soup into individual servings and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Filed Under: Beans, Camping Food, Getting Creative With Leftovers, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Main Dish, Meat, Rebecca, Recipes, slow-cooker, Stretching your dollars

Vietnamese Yogurt

November 3, 2009 by Rebecca 23 Comments

Hey! We have a giveaway this week. Details are after the recipe. Stick with me, it’s worthwhile and will make your upcoming holiday baking projects sing!

We are currently in Week Three of a full-immersion ‘get-to-know-influenza’ unit study of our homeschool. One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven. We like to space things out around here -move at a leisurely pace- and we subscribe to rugged individualism, so we’ve each started our full-body look at the flu at a distinctly different time. This is also great for our math studies. Check out the following word problem we composed:

If each person in a family of seven begins a sickness of two-weeks’ duration at a rate of one every fourth day, how long will that family be stuck at home? (And I’m not answering it for you. If I did, what kind of self-respecting homeschool mom would I be?)

So the stomachs (there’s part of this unit’s anatomy study) around here have been craving mild, easy-to-prepare* food. Our normal super-spicy fare swimming in hot sauce has been off the table, quite literally, for the past couple weeks. We’ve been turning to simple comfort food; steamed rice, mild fruit, soups, and stews (Liam, since a babe in arms, has held the immovable conviction that beef stew cures everything. So stew is de rigeur when anyone in our household is ill, even if they refuse to eat it.) And new to the sickbay rotation is Vietnamese Yogurt.

*Well, my stomach has anyway. The rest of the stomachs don’t care how difficult something is to prepare so long as it’s mild. Since I’m the one wielding the tongs, spatulas and whisks, I get to add the easy-to-prepare dictum.

I first read about Vietnamese Yogurt in a post by Todd of White on Rice Couple (two of the blogosphere’s sweetest sweeties ever to be sweet) a couple months ago. Intrigued by the promise of a silky, sweeter-than-its-Western-counterpart yogurt, I decided to give it a go. Since the recipe calls for pantry staples, it was simple to whip it up on a whim. Todd promised in no uncertain terms that it was easy, and boy howdy it was. I raided the cupboard and grabbed a bunch of small glasses (read: jelly jars. What? You use real glasses?). The kids hovered, as they are wont to do, over me as I mixed up the yogurt, peppering me with questions; “Hey! What’s that for?”, “Can I just dip my finger in that sweetened condensed milk?”, “Can I just drink that sweetened condensed milk?”, “Can I at least lick the empty can of sweetened condensed milk?”, “What are you making, Mom?”, “Do I have to eat that stuff?”, “You do know I don’t like yogurt, right?”, etc… So this was the environment in which I made my first batch of Vietnamese Yogurt. If I could do it in the midst of this household’s chaos, anyone could. Next came the hard part. The waiting.

I’ve gone my whole life thinking yogurt is one. thing. only. And don’t get me wrong, I like yogurt. In fact, I make what I think of as ‘regular’ yogurt a couple times a month. And it’s a bit of a production. But what a revelation this particular yogurt was. It was not tangy and sour enough to make my tongue curl back up in my mouth like parchment the way many Western yogurts did; It was mild and gently tart and sweet and totally set my mental picture of yogurt on its ear. If you’ve never had Vietnamese Yogurt before let me clue you in on one of it’s more interesting differences. While it’s totally spoon-able (that is, you can eat it top to bottom with a spoon) it’s also imminently slurp-able (in other words, you could pop a straw in there and drink it down.) It’s almost like a short-cut to a yogurt smoothie. Not to be ignored is the fact that every single one of my kids love it. Even the three inveterate yogurt haters can’t get enough of it. The fact that I found a simple-to-make, inexpensive yogurt that all of my kids like in time to be really grateful for the fringe benefits* yogurt offers is nothing short of a miracle.

*Healthy bacteria for the gut, improved digestion, etc…

For a photo-free, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Vietnamese Yogurt

This recipe is my take on the original White On Rice Couple recipe. The ingredients and ratios are all theirs but I played a bit with the method. Because I’m incorrigible. I should also mention that this recipe doubles and triples beautifully!

Ingredients:

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups water (It should be hot enough that a great deal of steam is coming from the surface of the water, but it should not be boiling.)
1 1/4 cups cold milk (Using cold milk helps bring down the temperature of the mixture to just the right point to encourage the yogurt to set nicely.)
1 cup plain yogurt (This can be any plain or vanilla yogurt you can get at the grocery store. Plain is preferable, but vanilla stands in nicely. Just as good a quality yogurt as you can find.)

Optional for serving:

Assorted toppings: jam, fresh fruit, syrups, granola… Whatever floats your boat!

Prepare a water bath for the yogurt by adding about two inches of water to a wide, deep pot (for example, a canning pot, pasta pot, soup pot, etc…) Place the pan over high heat and bring the water to a temperature where a great deal of steam is pouring from the surface of the water but it is not boiling. Place a tight fitting lid on the pan and turn off the heat. Put a separate kettle of water on over medium heat on another burner. While that heats, prepare the yogurt as follows.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and water until thoroughly combined. And don’t take any guff from that can of sweetened condensed milk. Use brute force to open it if necessary.

Whisk in the cold milk. Set aside.

Measure the cup of yogurt into a medium sized mixing bowl. Gently whisk in a ladle full of the warm milk/water/condensed milk mixture until smooth. Repeat with two more ladles of milk. When it is completely smooth, pour into the remaining hot milk and whisk gently until smooth. Position a fine-mesh strainer or a colander lined with cheesecloth over another bowl and pour the liquid through the strainer. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to press any lumps through the strainer. This guarantees a silky finished yogurt. If you don’t mind a few lumps you can skip this step.

Pour the prepared yogurt into clean and empty jelly or baby food jars or into small drinking glasses. If using 8 ounce jars, this will fill about five or six jars. It is helpful to use jars or cups of a uniform height since you will be putting them in a water bath. Do not put lids on the jars. Why the paper towel covers you might ask? We’re not just fighting the flu around here, we’re also fighting cluster flies. If you have them, you are probably cringing right now. If you don’t have them, let’s just say you don’t want them in/near/on your yogurt.

Remove the lid from the pan of hot water, steam should still be coming from the surface of the water, but not quite as vigorously. If there is no steam, reheat the water slightly. Transfer the pan of hot water to a heat-proof surface. Arrange the jars in the hot water. Yes, that is most of a double-batch down there. Remember I’m feeding a family of seven. Little batches are a pointless tease. And this proves that I know, from experience, that the recipe doubles and even triples beautifully.

Use the kettle to add enough water, if necessary, to come about 4/5 of the way up the sides of the jars. Todd recommends using a funnel to add the extra water to direct it away from splashing into the yogurt cups. I agree wholeheartedly! Lay a bath towel over the pot in such a way that it covers the top of the pot but does not fall down into the yogurt or water. Now the hard part is done. All that remains is to let the water return to room temperature. In my house this takes about four or five hours. You may have to adjust this time slightly depending on how warm your climate (or thermostat) is at the time you make it.

When the water is room temperature, the yogurt should be set (in other words, it may wiggle like a firm jelly when gently shaken, but it won’t be a liquid.) Transfer the jars from the pot to a tea towel.

If using jars, you can screw or clamp on lids. If using cups, cover lightly with plastic wrap. Either way, refrigerate for two hours or more before eating. Around these parts, we like them with a dollop of homemade blueberry jam.

…Or strawberry jam.

Don’t forget to try it with a fistful of fresh fruit sometime; peach slices, crushed or cubed pineapple, pomegranate arils, and mango cubes are all wonderful compliments to the velvety texture of the yogurt. (Don’t tell anyone I said this, but it’s also really good with a healthy spoonful of dulce de leche [yes, I am aware of the irony inherent in that statement] on top for dessert.)

Now, I promised a giveaway and I have a real humdinger of one to share with you. But first, a quick story. A few months ago, one of my Record-Eagle readers, Amy Martin, contacted me to share her recipe for chocolate syrup (which is delicious, by the bye) and some fellow-harried-mom stories. We exchanged a few emails back and forth and in one of them she mentioned that she made and sold hard-to-find vanilla products. She has graciously offered to sponsor a giveaway of a gift pack of the more popular items she sells on her Etsy site. (and if you can browse her Etsy site without becoming famished then you’re a stronger beast than I am.) Can you even imagine a better time of year to get a box full of vanilla goodies? Look at what that temptress Amy is giving to one lucky Foodie With Family reader:

These images all come from Amy’s Etsy shop, SoVanilla.

2 ounces of Ground Bourbon Vanilla. Imagine this baked into some pots de creme or a pound cake. Pure heaven.

15 (count ‘em FIFTEEN!) Bourbon plus 5 (like fifteen wasn’t generous enough) Tahitian Vanilla Beans. Make your own vanilla extract or vanilla sugar. The possibilities are almost limitless.

A bottle of Vanilla Bean Syrup. Drizzle that over some oatmeal with a handful of dried cherries (or just straight into your mouth) and tell me the world doesn’t like a better place.

And finally…

A package of BourbonVanilla Bean and Pecan Granola. Oh yes. Now you see the tie-in to my recipe? If you sprinkle a fistful of this crisp and full-bodied vanilla granola over the top of a serving of silky smooth Vietnamese Yogurt you will think you’ve died and gone to heaven. The kicker is that it’s great for you! Healthy and decadent tasting? That’s a recipe for success.

So, what do you need to do to win this generous package? In Amy’s words:

So Vanilla Giveaway Rules!

The Details:

Simply find the answers to the three questions below by going to the following links: Sovanilla.etsy.com and amyecotarian.wordpress.com. One name will be drawn from all correct answers for the grand prize: A package including 2 ounces of ground bourbon vanilla, 15 Bourbon and 5 Tahitian vanilla beans, a bottle of vanilla syrup and a package of Vanilla Bean and Pecan Granola.

3 other people who have correctly answered the questions will be randomly drawn to receive 3 Bourbon Vanilla Beans. (Rebecca here. I just had to emphasize this. Three other folks are going to receive a prize, too. I’m only terribly jealous that I can’t enter my own giveaway.)

The Questions:

From my blog: amyecotarian.wordpress.com

From the post “Pickled Pink! And Other Things of the Summer”

What wildlife did Amy have to rescue and relocate this summer?

From my Esty Shop: sovanilla.etsy.com

What’s the “fishy” name for the vanilla seeds inside a vanilla pod?

And the last one:

What is one interesting thing you learned from either the blog, Confessions of an Everyday Ecotarian or the So Vanilla shop that you didn’t know before?

Now for my details. This contest is open until Friday of this week, November 6th, 2009. You have until 12 noon, EST on Friday to enter. The grand prize winner and the three other vanilla bean package winners will be announced by 8 PM, EST on Friday. Good luck folks. This is some great stuff!

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Camping Food, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Recipes, Vegetarian

Peanut Butter Balls

July 28, 2009 by Rebecca 27 Comments

Hi friends! The last few weeks have been maddeningly busy. We’ve done a lot of work on our house and property, camped, traveled, been visited, and had animal crises. I hope I have a chance in the next couple of weeks to settle back into a regular blogging routine. With all the fresh produce hitting the markets, I have so many delicious recipes to share with you. Until then, please enjoy this short but sweet (har har. I crack me up.) recipe. And the sweet quick giveaway at the end. Read on!

Peanut butter + Chocolate= Bliss

I cannot think of a combination that makes me happier. There’s just something about the salt and the sweet and the creamy and the crunchy all together that makes my heart go pitter pat. And making Peanut Butter Balls is one of my favorite ways to get that peanut butter and chocolate fix. Chocolate chips, peanut butter, condensed milk and confectioner’s sugar all in one happy little portable package? It’s like an inside-out Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Oh baby. Since it’s made with peanut butter it’s healthy, right? (Don’t you DARE tell me it’s not healthy. Please don’t mess with my happy thoughts…) Even better, these little babies don’t melt in your hands!

This is one of the foods that we take camping with us every single time without fail. It just wouldn’t be a family camping trip for us without the ubiquitous Peanut Butter Balls. They are the perfect camping snack fare since they are high-protein and easily transportable. It’s not just camp food, though. It makes the perfect summer snack, too, since it requires zero cooking, and can be safely transported without a cooler.

Make these. Today. And then make another batch to fill the bowl since you hid in the broom closet so you could eat the entire first batch by yourself. No. Wait. That was me. Sorry.

For a photo-free, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Peanut Butter Balls

For a healthier version of the recipe, use the honey and non-fat instant dry milk.

Ingredients:

1 cup creamy or crunchy style peanut butter (I prefer all-natural peanut butter)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk or honey
1/2 cup powdered sugar or non-fat instant dry milk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Add all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Stir well until evenly combined. At first you might think it’ll never come together…

Just when you’ve decided that you measured wrong, (“I mean, really, how am I supposed to roll THIS stuff?”) it’ll come together and look like this!

Do you have a disher laying around? (In other words, a scoop.)

Is this crucial to the recipe? Certainly not, but it definitely makes the process go a little quicker. If you don’t have one you can just scoop up portions of the peanut butter mix with a serving spoon. No harm, no foul!

Scoop a teaspoon of the mixture into the palm of your hand. Use both hands to roll lightly until it forms a ball. Set onto a plate or into a container.

Repeat with the remaining peanut butter mixture until you have used it all.

Store uneaten peanut butter balls in a tightly lidded container in the refrigerator. Can be left out at room temperature for several hours without problems! Like they’ll last that long…

But wait! I mentioned a giveaway, right? I love my disher. I use it all the time. It scoops cookie dough, meatballs, peanut butter balls (washed between each use, of course) and anything else I can think of that I want in adorable little scoops. I love it dearly. And I want you to have one if you don’t already. So just because I’m feeling full of beans today and also because my birthday is this week I’m giving away a small scoop disher like the one I used above. Specifically, this one:

Do you want it? Here’s what you do. Just leave a comment below. Tell me what you’d make using one of these. If you wouldn’t use it but would give it as a gift, let me know that, too. Or if you have no idea what you’d use it for just say something silly. Preferably in the form of a haiku. Because after Peanut Butter Balls and dishers, haikus are my favorite.

Da Rules and Da Info:

Please have a continental U.S. shipping address handy. I can’t ship this to Alaska, Hawaii, Canada or Mexico. Sorry to my far away and/or cross-border friends.
Please don’t be my relative if you enter. (Well, shoot, if you want to join the family we’ll welcome you. We just won’t give you a disher. Or maybe we will… Just not ’til Christmas.)
You can comment as often as you like, but there will only be one entry per person. I mean it.
Contest is open until Wednesday, 12 EST.
This is a contest sponsored by yours truly. No corporations were exploited, harmed or otherwise injured in the course of this contest.

Filed Under: Camping Food, Desserts, Giveaways!, Happy Healthy and Wise, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian Tagged With: camp food, giveaway, kid food, Snacks

Campfire Home Fries

July 21, 2009 by Rebecca 4 Comments

I come from a camping obsessed family. My Dad is, by trade, a camp manager. My Mom likes to take her blanket outside and sleep under the stars (she also wants an outdoor bath tub, but I digress.) My sister, Jess, and her family are certifiable trail and tent nuts. My brother, Luke, digs the camping but forgets to pack important things, like hats, and has been known to wear underwear on his head to keep it warm in cold weather conditions. I have photographic evidence. Maybe, if enough people ask me to, I might share it. (I’m open to bribery.) My sister, Christina, has the cutest little pup tent ever; I think it’s a defense mechanism to keep my children from piling into the tent with her. My baby sister, Airlia, is the camping-est 16 year old of all time; she is working on getting her driving license with the goal of being able to camp by herself or with her best girlfriends. My stepmom, Val, is the queen of camp cuisine. She made my oatmeal-hating boys into oatmeal lovers; The only catch is that they have to be outdoors in cold weather to eat it.

My husband would be content to stuff a couple pairs of underwear and some energy bars into a backpack and scoot off into the woods for a couple of days. I, on the other hand, am slightly more high maintenance as a camper. My rules are these:

I need toilet facilities. Flush toilet is optional, but the potty is non-negotiable.
I need accessibility to some clean, running water within one half of a mile of where we’re sleeping.
Girlfriend does NOT sleep directly on the ground. The back and the hips do not like accommodating the not-pillowtop ground.
If it’s raining I want shelter that does not leak or require bailing out.
I need a well-stocked cooler and I need to bring my favorite camp cookery set-up.*

*“Camp cookery set up?” I hear you say. The Evil Genius once noticed that my favorite massive cast-iron skillet**($20 at Walmart, thankyouverymuch) was a perfect fit with my propane turkey frying rig ($25 after shipping on eBay andthankyouagain.) This is the perfect outdoor cooking space for anything you would pan fry; eggs, fish, stir-fries, fried potatoes, etc… All you have to do is find the most level spot at your campsite (in this case, it was the parking space) and set up your rig. Ta da! Have a gander at the ultimate camp cooking set-up:

**Let me tell you about this pan. It is the largest size cast-iron skillet you can get at Walmart. It’s not in the kitchenwares section. Oh no. It’s back in the camping/outdoors department. You just have to know where to look for appropriate sized cooking vessels when you’re trying to feed a family of 7. If you own/buy one of these bad boys and haven’t seasoned it yet, you’re in luck. Try this trick on for size. Position a cooking rack as low as you can in a charcoal grill over a good pile of hot coals. Rub the inside and outside of the pan with neutral vegetable, canola or peanut oil. Place the pan, upside down, directly on the cooking rack in the grill. Cover the grill and allow it to cook until the coals run out. Wait until it is cool to remove it. Voila! A beautifully seasoned pan that would impress your Southern granny. (My pan impressed my Southern granny both with its size AND it’s beautifully seasoned finish.)

When we camp, it is all about the relaxation. Camp food is an integral part of a fun time. You have to have the obligatory hot-dogs-over-open-flame meal night, and you’d better bring the goods for s’mores because you haven’t faced angry children until you’ve gipped them of their campfire s’mores, let me tell you. But we like to try a couple non-traditional camping fare meals each trip. One year we brought the fryer rig and our wok and made campfire stir-fry. It was LATE (because we foolishly decided to make it the same night we arrived and set-up camp) but it was delicious. Another year, I made several dozen crumpets to toast over the open fire after reading (and drooling over) the accounts of Sophie toasting crumpets for Jack in the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O’Brian. They were out of this world when slathered with homemade ginger marmalade. And there were many sticky fingers afterward.

And here’s a paradox for you. In the real, non-camping world, I don’t do breakfast. Don’t hate. I just have never been a breakfast person. I forced myself to eat breakfasts when pregnant, and believe me, it was a real test of willpower. But when I’m camping? Oh heaven help me, I need breakfast. I need a hot, fatty (and phatty), massive breakfast. Val’s campfire oatmeal, cooked with dried fruit and brown sugar and served with monster pats of butter and/or cream and/or maple syrup fits the bill. When it comes my turn for cooking breakfast or when we’re camping without extended family, I break out my trusty cast-iron enforcer and whip up either campfire scramble (fried potatoes and veggies with scrambled eggs) or the ultimate camp home fries.

Last weekend, when we camped at the gorge-ous (Oh, I just slay myself with the puns) Letchworth Park, I opted for home fries. Picture this.

You wake up in your tent or camper. It’s cool out and you tug your socks a little higher. You step out in to the majestic woods, give a good stretch, and within moments, you’re standing in front of a hot, sizzling pan of roasty-toasty, brown, fat-laden potatoes. How is this possible? It’s part of what my Dad calls ‘Campcraft’. Simply put, you prepare everything you can before you even leave home to pitch your tent. Once at camp, you keep two steps ahead of what you need. In other words, I cut all my food that will need to be cut and package it carefully in my cooler. We make sure we have dry firewood AND an axe to cut kindling or keep us covered if the park bans imported firewood. The more you camp, the better you get a campcraft. You know what you absolutely need to take, what you can make once you’re there and what you don’t need at all. It’s one of the beautiful parts of camping that is unrelated to the splendor of nature. It just feels good.

Let’s get back to the home fries for a moment, yes no? In my book, great home (or camp) fries only require 4 non-negotiable ingredients. Potatoes, fat (and LOTS of it), salt and black pepper (and LOTS of this, too!) Surely onions and garlic add something amazing, but when you’re out in the woods, sometimes you just have to keep it simple.

For our home fries, I used a great many left-over salt potatoes. *Full disclosure moment: I deliberately cooked triple the amount of salt potatoes that I would normally cook because I wanted the home fries at camp. You can use any leftover boiled potatoes you have or you can boil up potatoes in advance. The key here is starting with a boiled potato. I’ll share my salt potatoes in a future post. This is admittedly putting the cart before the horse but these home fries are so sublime I wanted to share them with you toute de suite. Feel free to add onions and garlic to the mix. I always add onions and garlic when I make these at home, so I put a little note in the recipe to indicate when you should add them. It goes without saying that this recipe can be prepared on a standard stove-top. (But then I just said it, didn’t I?)

And I feel an explanation is in order on the fat. I use a combination of butter, bacon fat, and canola oil both at home and at camp. I use a lot of fat in this recipe but there is no getting around it. If you want to sit down in front of a steamy bowl of crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, beautiful mahogany brown potatoes there is no substitute. As a courtesy to my thighs and rear, which already are bordering on requiring their own zip codes, I do not make this half as frequently as I would like to. But when I do it, I do it right.

Oh, and you can expect a few more camping-related recipes in the coming weeks. Did I mention we’re nutso for camping? And that we’re camping a couple more times this year? Par-tay!

For a photo-free, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Campfire (Kind of) Home Fries

Ingredients:

about 4 pounds of waxy type potatoes, boiled and chilled. (We prefer salt potatoes with their skins still on.)
1/3 cup bacon fat
1/4 pound butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup- 1/3 cup canola oil (or other clear, neutral oil)
salt and black pepper, to taste
Optional: 2 cups chopped onions, 2 Tablespoons minced garlic (or 1 Tablespoon onion powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder.)
Serve with hot sauce, ketchup or your preferred condiment. (I know someone who only eats this with maple syrup. I will not name names.)

Before leaving for camp (or before going to bed), chop all of your potatoes into cubes that are approximately 1- 1/2 to 2 inches at their widest points.

Place in an airtight container near the top of the cooler. Alternately, you can double bag them in zipper type bags to keep water from the cooler out of the potatoes.

Once you’re ready to cook the potatoes, place a heavy-bottomed skillet over a medium to medium-high flame or camp fire (or on a medium to medium high burner on a stove top).

Add bacon fat and canola oil to the pan and allow it to heat with the pan. When pan is hot and bacon fat is melted add the butter and stir until butter is completely melted and foamy. Add the chopped potatoes.

Stir vigorously to chuff up the edges of the potatoes and to coat with oil. After the potatoes are evenly coated, allow to cook without stirring. The potatoes will pop, sizzle, and protest, but try to ignore your impulse to mess with them just yet. (An obvious exception to this would be loads of smoke coming from the pan…) Once a brown crust has formed on the bottom layer, flip or turn the potatoes over in sections. Allow that to brown on the bottom without stirring. (If you’re using onions and garlic or the powders, add them here!) After that layer has browned on the bottom, stir to break up the big sections and expose the as-yet unbrowned sections to the hot pan surface. When potatoes have nearly reached desired doneness, remove the skillet from the heat (or turn off the burner) and allow the pan to cool slightly. This will continue cooking the potatoes somewhat, and you should have beautifully browned, crispy potatoes to doctor up as you wish.

Oh my gracious. There are no words to describe how delicious these are. They’re beyond delicious; they are an experience. When you sit down at your campsite over a hot bowl of these potatoes with a bottle of hot sauce at your elbow you just know that everything will be alright in the end. Really. Just look at them one more time.

Do you have any foods that make you feel that way? If you don’t, feel free to borrow these. But if you do, I’d love to know what it is. What food makes your heart sing?