~Sarah

Kirk and I are hoping to start the filming of season 2 this weekend. Hopefully get a few episodes in the “can” and ready for production.

~Sarah

Bill has designed a smaller version of the highly popular White Box Stove, designed for the solo hiker. It has everything the original has, just a smaller stature. It will boil you 2 cups water in a little over 6 minutes and will run for up to 14 minutes on 1.3 fluid ounces of HEET fuel.

The Solo Stove works best with pots such as: MSR© Titanium Titan Kettle, Vargo© .9L pot, Snow Peak© 900 or 1100, Evernew© Titanium #1, #2, #3 and flat bottomed ‘tea’ kettles such as the GSI HAA Halulite. (Not for use with tall narrow pots such as the Heinie or Ti/stainless steel mugs.)

Original White Box Stove on left, White Box Solo Stove on right (we carry both in our store):

Bringing to boil 2 cups water in a GSI HAA Halulite tea kettle.

I shot a quick video of the stove in action:

~Sarah

He did a blog entry/video recently on Gluten Free Japanese Noodles:

Enjoy!

~Sarah

Even better you can use this recipe to make 1 brownie or a whole bunch of them. The ratio is: 2 Tbsp dry mix and 1 tsp yogurt powder per brownie. You will need 1 Tbsp water for each as well. I made 4 brownies in the video so I packed in a sandwich bag 1/2 cup dry mix and 4 tsp yogurt powder, which then I added 1/4 cup cool water to the mix, sealed the bag up tight and shook it till combined.

How to steam bake?

For more information on steaming and using the Fauxbaker ideas see here.

Take your pot of choice. Based on pot size and how wide it is determines how many treats you get. In the video I use a GSI Backpackers Set that is a 2L wide pot, which fits 4 Wilton Silly- Feet Silicone Baking Cups. The advantage of the Silly Feet is they have, well, feet! The feet means you don’t need a riser. You want to keep your cups just high enough so water doesn’t boil over into the goods. PackitGourmet also carries a different set up as well for steam baking.

Place the cups into the pot and fill the pot with water till it crosses over the feet. You want at least an inch of water in the pot. Pour the prepared brownie mix into the cups, dividing evenly.

Put the lid on, get the pot on your stove and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, turn the flame down and maintain a gentle boil/simmer. It will take between 10 and 15 minutes for them to “bake”. 10 minutes will give you full on “lava fudge cakes” – done on the outside, molten inside.

15 minutes will be fully baked. In the video I pulled them at 12 minutes. They had a little bit of fudge inside. Once done, let sit for a couple minutes to cool, they will continue to set up as well.

I used my MSR WindPro stove due to the temperature outside – 32* and falling fast. We had quite a bit of snow on the ground today!

Yes, it does use fuel. As a splurge it is fun and well worth it! And rarely will you have anyone turn down a hot brownie!

Enjoy the video as well:

~Sarah

The Morels soaking – the broth produced during the soaking period is an excellent base for a soup or a pasta dish:

A filling meal that is vegetarian as well.

And don’t worry – should you have no desire to eat morels, the pilaf is just fine served by itself! It is quite hearty. If you skip the mushrooms do add in a drizzle of olive oil to the rice.

Cooking in the morning snow in March:

Two Rice and Lentil Pilaf (Served with Morels)

In a quart freezer or sandwich bag:

1/2 cup instant white rice

1/2 cup instant brown rice

1/4 cup diced sundried tomatoes

2 Tbsp cooked and dried lentils

1/4 tsp diced dried garlic

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 stick lower sodium vegetable broth

3 packets or 1 Tbsp shelf stable Parmesan cheese

FBC method:

Add the broth stick contents to the bag and 1 1/4 cups near boiling water. Stir well, seal tightly and put in a cozy for 15 minutes. Fluff up and top with the cheese.

Insulated mug method:

Add the broth stick contents to the dry ingredients and 1 1/4 cups boiling water. Stir well, cover tightly and put in a cozy for 15 minutes. fluff up and top with the cheese.

Serves 1.

~Sarah

~Sarah

The contestants in this round:

Packit Gourmets Nawlins YaYa Gumbo and Alpine Aire’s Chicken Gumbo.

Packit Gourmet’s weighs in at 12.2 ounces and costs $11.49. Alpine Aire’s weighs in at 5.5 ounces and costs $7.43.

Why the large weight difference? Packit’s comes with: a 4 pack of Kountry Boy Sausage that you cut up and add – and the sausage weighs about 4.4 ounces. It is a big part of the meals weight but also what will impress you most. The sausage is fantastic tasting. It also has the flour mixture for the roux, oil packet, broth packet, cornbread Toastee’s and even Tabasco packets for those who like it fiery….

This is what the bag of Alpine Aire’s looks like before adding water – the green things are okra. It is a pretty standard as they come freeze-dried meal.

Packit Gourmet’s simmering on the stove:, it works best in a non-stick lightweight 2L pot. I used a GSI Backpackers Set. The long handled spoons are GSI ReHydrate spoons – we have the new 2009 version in stock now as well.

Finished and ready to sample: In the pot is Packit Gourmet’s and in the large bowl. In the upper right is the Alpine Aire version.

Close up of Packit’s:

Closeup of Alpine Aire’s:

I shot a video making the two meals – Alpine Aire’s is a simple freeze dried meal – just add boiling water, stir, seal and let sit for 15 or so minutes. Packit’s you will need to heat the oil, make a roux with the flour (very easy to do!), then add everything else and simmer for 8 or so minutes, then let rest for 5 minutes. It comes with the tastiest cornbread Toastees they make – which just makes the meal.

While both meals have “gumbo” in the name, there is a huge difference between the two.

Packit’s simply is the winner – there is no comparison. Kirk commented that if you didn’t know it was a “backpacking meal” you would think it was made from scratch. It has a kick from the Jalapeno sausage but isn’t over powering. It is thick, stew like and full of sausage, chicken, fish and plenty of vegetables. Ford loved it as well.

The issue we had with the Alpine Aire was while it made a lot (which was shocking as many commercial meals are really 1 person servings) you kept looking over at the sausage in Packit’s and thinking “hey, this is skimpy looking!”. And bluntly put, the Alpine one was excessively salty – you didn’t get flavor or heat – you got “salt” as the main taste. Which was odd, since if you treated both as a 2 person meal they had about the same sodium levels. Yet, the Packit one made enough to serve the 3 of us for lunch. And that kept the salty sausage down to levels I could enjoy

Ford refused the Alpine Aire after one bite. He didn’t care for it. And that folks is never a good sign – the boy is a bottomless hollow legged vacumn cleaner….and if he refuses a food, then…I hate to say it: it F-A-I-L-S.

The only reasons I can think of buying the loser is if you are counting every ounce, you want convience over a few minutes work and you like simple food

PS: More on the new stove tomorrow.

~Sarah

Of the 4 Dolphins there, the most famous is Winter, one of the two females. Panama is the other and Nicholas and Indy are the males. It was a nice afternoon

We had a late lunch at Guppy’s On The Beach in Indian Rocks. Yum!

~Sarah

To watch the video in HD, visit our Trails & Cooking channel at Blip.TV

Swiss Broccoli Mac & Cheese
In a sandwich bag put:
3 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup powdered dry milk
2 tsp mustard powder
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper

In a second sandwich bag:
8 oz uncooked small shell pasta
1/3 cup diced dried broccoli

Also take:
5-ounces Swiss cheese

Cut the cheese into very small chunks. Bring 3 1⁄2 cups water to boil. Add pasta and broccoli pieces. Return to a boil. Lower the stove’s heat and boil gently with the lid on until the pasta is done according the pasta package, stirring occasionally. Do not drain. Stir in the dry ingredients, then most of the cheese (reserve a bit for topping). Turn off heat and stir until the cheese melts. Serve in the bowls and top with the reserved cheese.

Serves two.

~Sarah