eat your violets

spring is finally here. i have been walking the fields and wooded areas on the farm waiting for the first offerings to make their presence known. fiddlehead ferns should be up shortly here, and this will be my first year to try to preserve them....i am going to try pickling them. i'll let you know how it comes out.

i have been inspired by some of my favorite blogs this winter. i'll be watching for thistle for a new experience.....Feral Kevin says the stems are similar to cucumber when raw; like green beans or asparagus cooked:

http://feralkevin.com/


Rebecca Lerner talks about violets in her blog this morning, "First Ways" :

http://firstways.com/2011/04/17/five-things-to-do-with-wild-violets/

i follow Rebecca's blog via email, and on Facebook. in a sleepless moment last night, i read her latest entry on my cell phone, and thought of violet jelly.

Violet syrup:

fill a qt. canning jar with the blossoms, packing tightly for richer syrup. pour boiling water over them, just covering blossoms. cap tightly, and let sit 24 hours. strain.

to each cup of liquid, add juice of 1/2 lemon and 2 cups of sugar. bring to boil, pour into pint jars and seal.

**use as a gentle laxative and cough suppressant

Violetade: add 3 tbsp. of syrup to cold water.

sprinkle on anything from pancakes to fresh snow. (fresh snow becoming somewhat of an oxymoron, sadly enough)


this definitely needs re-doing without sugar. suggestions welcome!

Violet jelly:

follow procedure for syrup. to each cup of liquid, add the juice of one lemon and 1 pkg. of Surejell. bring to boil, add 4 cups of sugar. hard boil for 1 minute, and pour into jelly jars.

yikes, the sugar! i haven't made this stuff in awhile, looks like some experimenting is needed.

Violets are rich in vitamins C and A. 1/2 cup of greens supplies as much vitamin C as 4 oranges, and more than RDA of vitamin C.

i do not know where this info comes from, and cannot vouch for it's accuracy.  i've been making this off and on for a couple decades, and can vouch for the beautiful color in the jelly jars, and the delicate flavor.

thermos cooking a la heidi

heidi just did a post over at vansteaders on thermos cooking. i haven't done it in some time, and with the cold weather approaching, will welcome hot food with little effort or fuel consumption. one of my biggest complaints was poor results in cooking brown rice. heidi's blog shows success with that, here

you can read my old blog post on making a reflectix cover for my thermos here.

thermos dimensions: 4" diameter and 7"tall
                    circumference of thermos alone 12.5"
                    circumference with cozy 17.25"
                    20 oz. (0.59 liters)

some photos of my thermos:

fry-bake pan pizza

okay, i tried the pizza in the fry-bake pans today. i started out by heating the last four charcoal briquets i had in the van in my grilliput collapsible firebowl (that is a whole 'nother blog post, my firebowl!) i used a dry pizza crust mix that i mixed with 1/2 cup warm water from the tea kettle, and let it sit for 10 minutes in a warm place (the dashboard of the van). i smooshed it out into the bottom of the expedition size pan (10 1/2") and added sauce (ragu pizza sauce from a jar)....

and shredded mozarella with "jamaica me crazy", a pepper blend i got at Granzella's this spring, liberally sprinkled on top.

i put the four hot charcoal briquets on top of the pan, which was on my butane one-burner stove using the scorch-buster riser bar. the flame was set on about medium (i never said this was scientific) and i set the timer for the 10 minutes recommended on the crust package. after 10 minutes, it was nowhere near done. it took an additional 10 minutes to finish the baking to get this....

which was a really good tasting pizza that was just slightly undercooked, meaning that the cheese wasn't as bubbly as i would have liked, and the crust, though done, was not browned much.

i think there may be a couple reasons for this.....one, i only had the 4 briquets on top. if you remember my post a few days ago about the cinnamon rolls, i had a real twig bonfire going on that one. i think with more briquets or additional twigs, i would have gotten a better temp for baking. and second, there was a breeze tonight, and the flame did alot of sputtering. i imagine that would effect the temperature. i think i will turn the flame up higher next time.

still the pizza was really good, and certainly a nice break from the usual for dinner. i'm gonna try again next week, and see if i get better results. i'll keep ya posted!

thermos cozy

i recently picked up a double-walled stainless steel thermos to try out for thermos cooking. initial attempts with brown rice and steel cut oats and wheatberries brought mixed results, which i will chronicle in a later post. one thing i decided was to try to make a cozy that would increase heat retention and inprove cooking.

so i have this friend. really. and when he's not out slummin', sometimes he talks to me on the phone and we solve the worlds problems. or even my thermos cooking ones. so the other night ron starts, in the way he is so talented for doing, to throw out all these ideas on how to improve on the cozy i am dreaming up, and then to top it off, he leads me to believe that i am even thinking them up on my own! how sweet is that?

so anyhow, my Stanley Thermos Food Jar is 7" high, and 4" in diameter. i am telling you this because i don't have the can of coconut milk handy that is my universal item for size reference. eh. the jar holds 20 oz., which is a perfect size to cook a meal for me, and not have to worry about refrigerating leftovers. this jar is also unique in that it's mouth is wider than any others i've seen, making clean-up easier. i started out by cutting a sheet of reflectix 16" by 8 1/2 ". this was easy using a 16" wide roll of reflectix that tara left here last year.
i taped it around the jar securely, but not too snugly, using that silver foil tape backed with paper that laren told me was perfect for joining reflectix together. it did this very well, and quite sturdily, considering it is the flimsiest feeling stuff...like sticky tinfoil.

ask michael about the time i sent him out in the dark along a highway with just inches of shoulder to park on, to try to to tape my headlight back on with this stuff, after smacking a deer and bringing a new level of excitement to his vacation. he may have repressed the memory :-)

i cut two discs of reflectix to make a double layer base for the first cylinder

and taped them in place.

i made a second cylinder of reflectix just slightly larger than the first, and put a double thickness base on it.

the larger cylinder slides over the top of the smaller cylinder, efeectively and quickly giving you a double walled cozy surrounding the whole jar. it is light and compact and will work for keeping heat in, for cooking.....or out, for an iced drink.

the project, once ron had inspired it, was simple, and took about 15 minutes to complete. now i can begin, in earnest, my thermos cooking experiments.......

foldable pocket cooker

here is another piece of cooking gear that i have. it is called the foldable pocket cooker, and is available from Sportsman's Guide or at amazon. it retails for about 12.95. it comes in a nylon carry case, as shown below.
i really like this little cooker. it uses twigs, pinecones or even a couple of charcoal briquets for fuel. i have even used those sticks of compressed wood that they sell in camping stores as firestarters. there is a door that opens to adjust draft or to feed the fire.

here you see me using it with 4 lumps of charcoal. the can of coconut milk is for size reference. i am cooking some boneless chicken with garlic and peppers in a foil pouch. it came out really good, and didn't take long to cook. not very scientific, cause i didn't time it when these pics were taken. nor did i take pics of the finished meal. i was hungry :-)

this stove is kinda heavy for backpacking, but i love the idea of using natural fuels. it is a great little back-up stove for the van. i find cooking in a pot on top of this a little unnerving, because i am clumsy and always fear knocking my meal hither and yon, but i love it for foil packet cooking.

i have another piece of gear for cooking. that's the next post. please share any experiences you have had with this stove, and i highly recommend you readers subscribe to comments, cause we get some really informative ones!

Fry-Bake pans

i had long been looking for an alternative to my heavy cast-iron cookware that would allow me to bake, just as i did in my dutch ovens, yet was lightweight, versatile, and could withstand the rigors of camping and life on the road. last year i took the plunge, and bought a set of the Fry-Bake pans i had read so much about in backpacker magazine and at the NOLS site. i got the set....the alpine model (8" in diameter) and the expedition model (10 1/2") with the heavier lids. they have been my main cookpans at the farm and on the road. they are hard-anodized aluminum...no non-stick finish to wear off, and you can use metal utensils and scrub them with sand, if necessary, without harming the cook surface. i love them. up til now, i hadn't used them as an oven. i decided to try them out before i hit the road again. so as not to confuse the results with possible recipe errors, i decided to bake some pillsbury cinnamon rolls out of the can. above you see my coleman butane one-burner stove, a bottle of walnut oil, the rolls, the expedition pan, a can of butane, the alpine pan, and the scortch buster "riser bar" that i purchased separately.

the riser bar provides a space between the bottom of the pan and the flame to help prevent scorching.

you need to take extra care that the pan doesn't slip off, but my closest call came when i actually bumped the table.

i used the larger expedition pan (10 1/2 "). the recipe called for a 9" pan, so i could have used the smaller alpine, too.

the raw cinnamon rolls in the pan. this is the part where mutt got interested:-)

i built a little twig fire in the indentation on the top. you can use charcoal briquets or coals from your fire, also.

conflagration not necessary! the recipe called for 17 minutes of baking time. never one to take direction, i decided to make it 20 minutes, assuming that the fry-bake pan would be less efficient than an oven. wrong.

the rolls came out beautiful! the only thing wrong was the bottoms were a little too browned. if i had stayed with the 17 minutes baking time, they would have been perfect.

they were delicious anyway! i had them with spearmint tea.

this is the lid after baking. not a pan you would find in (mumble)artha's kitchen!

so i am pleased as all get-out with these pans. i have already made everything from eggs and bacon to porkchops to spaghetti and stews to oatmeal in them. although these nest compactly, i think i will take the larger expedition model on the road, and leave the alpine as the farmhouse pan.

i think they are worth every cent i spent. this cookware will outlive me, i'm sure.

my next experiment will be to do my homemade whole wheat pitas in them. i'll let you know how it goes.

here's a link to the website:

http://www.frybake.com/

Moose Goo

i wanted to share with you a favorite food that is good rations for camping or hiking. it is made with corn flour (masa harina, not corn meal), honey, and peanut buter. i will post the recipe as it was created. i noodled with mine to make it a little less sweet, when i do it again, i will write down my version and post it here.
if you click on the blog post title, it will take you to joe's site, where there are other variations and recipes.....
okay, blogger will not let me cut and paste the recipe, so you'll have to follow the link. if you try it, you'll have to let me know how you liked it. or share your version!

van cooking gear

on vandwellers, celtic gypsy woman posted that she finally has her van, and is beginning the fun journey of setting it up for vandwelling. this is so exciting.....it's always fun to tweak your gear and your set-up (my van is an ongoing project as i do more and more shake-down trips) but there is nothing like the exhilaration of your "first time"! she asked this morning what the rest of us did for a kitchen, and i decided to get rolling on a pictorial project i've been thinking about, so here goes......
this is my newest acquisition in my quest for the perfect water bottle and it might be a winner. it is multipurpose and only cost $5. it is a zyliss shaker bottle, and has a flip spout to drink out of (the flip cap makes it easy to open while driving, and keeps dog slobber off where i put my lips). it holds 16 oz. which makes it perfect for the crystal light protein drink packets i like, and has a little disc inside the lid that helps mix the powder. it has a wide mouth, and is easy to clean and disinfect with a couple sprays of my Clorox Anywhere. it hasn't leaked on me yet in normal everyday use and shaking, although the cap does not seem secure enough to toss into a pack unguarded. it has measuring marks, so i was able to eliminate my measuring cup :-)
these are my cookpots. the hae tea kettle by GSI is lightweight and sturdy and perfect for heating a couple cups of water for tea or oatmeal or ramen. the copper boiler is a heavy but beloved rendezvous pot....as you can see it has seen alot of campfires. i can still smell the aroma of a smokey fire faintly when i heat it up :-) it holds water enough for a 2 packet ramen stew with salmon and veggies. a little harder to clean, because of the historically correct little rings around the middle, but worth the extra effort. my frying pans are the Banks Fry-Bake pans which double as ovens. the smaller alpine model is pictured, and will cook a small batch of cinnamon rolls, or a small omelet. the larger model (not pictured) will do a big batch of biscuits or stir-fry for a couple people. on the left is the riser, or scorch buster. i will be doing a seperate blog on the fry-bake pans with some cooking experiments. i had an 8" nonstick frying pan by GSI with a folding handle that i just removed in my ruthless gear purge last week after returning from the west coast. i fully intend to keep it from creeping back in. we'll see.
eating stuff.....MSR alpine plates which are smaller, sturdier and pack flatter. an insulated mug big enough for tea, cup-a-soup, 2 packs of oatmeal, or 1 pack of ramen. my hand thrown mug/bowl made by a friend at rendezvous. i have several of her pieces. they are heavy and don't pack well, but i love eating out of this bowl, so it stays. for now. the rubbermaid bowl is one of those that packs flat, and comes in handy for many things. i use this one for salads or a mixing bowl, and as a small dishpan on a rare occasion.
doing dishes......i usually wipe out my mug or bowl with a paper towel, spray with clorox anywhere, and wash it out. no need to rinse, the clorox anywhere is diluted to disinfecting strength but safe for people, pets and babies. i often respray after scrubbing the dish and let it dry for maximum disinfection. the white spray bottle with the blue top in the back is the travel size clorox anywhere. bandanas make good dishcloths, easy to wash and they dry quickly. a few sprays of clorox keeps them fresh and clean smelling. it's handy to have a lid on your dishpan, in case you can't dump it when you are done, like in a walmart parking lot....
i use backpacking utensils mostly. the gadget with the blue handles is my pot lifter that safely grabs handleless pots and pans. you recognize the can opener. the black thing in the upper left hand corner is an MSR folding spoon. it works for stirring, ladeling, and even measuring....inside lines mark off tablespoons and partial cup measurements. some backpacking recipes are written according to numbers of "MSR spoonsful". a spatula, extending roasting forks, and a mini extendable blowpipe complete the set. no Ron, not weapon type blowpipes.....this is for blowing a stream of air at the base of your fire so you don't catch your cowboy hat on fire.

igloo water cooler....keeps ice for several days....holds 1 gallon of water and 1 bag of ice. the rubbermaid narrow refrigerator bottle fits the shelf next to the igloo and holds 1 1/2 gallon. my butane stove on pull out shelf.
i traded 6 smaller plastic drawers for two larger ones after extreme downsizing. my hope will be to lower the bed somewhat to prevent knocking my noggin on a daily basis.
my new paper towel holder with a mini bungee cord! michael is so smart :-)
my old paper towel holder....a mini plunger that fit into the cup holder in back. i can now reclaim the cup holder, and have one roll of paper towels accessible from the front or back.
proof that i can't see my thumbnails very well :-)

so comments would be appreciated if you liked this pictorial essay....i will do more on other gear!