Missing Summer? These s’mores will take you back to warm summer nights and you don’t even need to leave your kitchen. You can make as many s’mores at once as you desire, I recommend two per person. These are amazing right out of the oven, and are an easy and very fast meal/snack. Since your pan is lines with foil, you don’t even have to worry about dishes! Also note that the chocolate gets very melted in the oven, so 1-2 small squares is more then enough, and it may get very messy!
1. Turn the oven to Broil, and low if available. Place the graham crackers on the baking sheet. Place chocolate on half and marshmallows on the other half. Place in the oven and check every 30 seconds until marshmallows begin to brown. Do not leave in oven more then 3 minutes! Immediately combine and enjoy.
Fried Rice is so easy and can be made in so many different ways. This fried rice has a little bit of everything. I used up the remaining ingredients from the hot pot, but I also added new flavors. Fried rice is a great way to use leftovers and still be able to feed your family. For this recipe, I used two meats, sliced venison steak and diced bacon. I cooked my bacon before adding it to the dish, so I did have to add a bit of bacon fat just to keep everything from burning. As for veggies, I used a bit of everything. I used sliced mushrooms, sliced water chestnuts, diced cabbage, sliced carrot, sliced onion, and diced bell pepper. I also used 6-8 cups of rice in this dish and it was still very flavorful. If your really wanted to feed a crowd and stretch the dish, you could easily use 10-12 cups of cooked rice. This recipe makes 8 adult sized servings.
Begin by heating the wok over medium high heat. Once it’s hot, add your steak and bacon. Once your meats are both browned, add your veggies, and stir fry until your meat begins getting a nice maillard crust on it, add about 1/2 Tbsp of oil at a time if needed it during this time. Then add tha stock and remaining seasoning until stock comes to a boil.
2. Once the stock is boiling, add your cooked rice. Make sure the rice is fully broken up and everything is coated. Cook rice for 2-3 minutes, then serve.
Hot pot is a very popular dish all across Asia. It includes making a tasty, and sometimes spicy, broth and cooking prepared items in the boiling broth. Hot pot is eaten usually in a group, it does take a while to eat, and does take a good amount of prep time, but hot pot makes great food and a fun experience. First you need a good broth/stock. You can make your own by simmering bones for 4-6 hours, or you can used pre-made broth/stock, either way works. You’ll need some veggies, usually whatever you have. I highly recommend potatoes because they were very good. Mushrooms are a classic addition, and so is cabbage or bok choy. A thin sliced meat is a classic additions, and some bacon cut into thirds provided that. We also had hot pot the next night and was able to cook 1/2 inch strips of venison too! Frozen dumplings aren’t as common, but taste great in the hot pot, and to serve, having one or two varieties of dipping sauce was very nice. The spread above was enough food for 8 servings.
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What You’ll Need
Broth
1/4 Finely Diced Onion
1/4 Cup Diced Pork Belly
8 Cups Broth/Stock of Choice
I made 8 cups of pork stock, then added 2 chicken Bouillons and a sazon goya MSG Packet
2 Garlic Cloves Finely Minced
1/2 Tbsp Ginger Paste
Dipping Sauce
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Fish Sauce
Other Ingredients
Peeled and Thin Sliced Potatoes
Spinach
Sliced Carrots
1 Inch Celery Sticks
1 Can Sliced Water Chestnuts, Strained
1/2 Cup Diced Cabbage
1/4 Cup Diced Bell Peppers
8 Oz Sliced Mushrooms
8 Frozen Dumplings
1 lb Bacon Cut into Thirds
Packets of Ramen Noodles, For Just the Noodles
Equipment
Serving Plated and Bowls
Small Bowls for Dipping Sauce
A Bowl for Each Person
Fork/Chop Sticks and Slotted Spoon for Each Person
Hot Plate/ Rice Cooker
Dutch Oven/ Large Pot for Broth
Separate Utensils for Any Raw Meat
Directions
First make a flavorful broth. I started by boiling 10 cups of water with 2 lbs of pork bones for 5 hours. I started the broth by sauteing the onions with the diced pork belly. Once the onions were soft and the pork belly mostly rendered, I strained the broth through a sieve into the pot with the onion. I then added the minced garlic and ginger, and brought that to a boil.
2. Next, mix together the ingredients for the sauce. The measurements above are for one portion, I made two for our meal, but one shared would suffice for 2 people. Place in a small bowl for dipping. Then prep and plate your ingredients. Presentation is important with this meal. Add a hotplate in the middle and add the pot of broth, heat until it is heated thoroughly.
3. Cooking with the hot pot is rather easy. First, always start with the veggies and dumplings. Raw Meat is cooked on their own after, and finally, noodles are eaten at the end. Soft greens like spinach only need 5 seconds before they can be removed. Otherwise, all veggies can be added to the pot and eaten as they are found. Potatoes may take 2-3 minutes to soften before they are soft enough, and same goes for carrots and celery. You can add frozen dumplings at any point, just wait for them to rise to show they are heated enough. Bacon cooks in about 1 minute, and sliced venison was done in 4 minutes. Noodles only take about 2 minutes to be ready. You can eat ingredients straight from the hot pot, or transfer them to your personal bowl before chowing down.
It was a year ago Saturday that I first wrote a post about being prepared. I felt the need to mention it again and the need to make another post about it as a bit of a public service announcement. My posts about anything other than food or projects don’t tend to get a lot of views, but thank you for reading and for hopefully considering preparations. I grew up as a girl scout, and that taught me a lot of basic survival skills, but more than that, I grew up in a way that has made me want to be prepared for whatever may happen. For that reason, during college I was often the “mom” of the class due to me carrying around just about anything I could need. Hungry? I had snacks. Cut? I had band-aids and a styptic pencil. Pain? I had Ibuprofen and Alieve for Migraines. Just about anything I could need I had, making my bag about 5 pounds heavier, but at least I always had a way to help the situation I was in. It wasn’t always that I would need something, but on the regular when I would need something I always had it.
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When I got married, we had many different goals for our life. When two people come together in marriage, it’s good to have common objectives and goals for the future, and that includes talking about what our priorities should be and what goals we should work towards. Of course, it was always a goal to have a garden and this blog, but I had no idea at the time the pandemic was coming. I have experienced hardship in my life while growing up, but there are many from my generation that didn’t experience any hardship. I’ve always been a bit of a hoarder when it came to making sure we had food, but the pandemic just encouraged me to go until I’m satisfied. It sounds like it’s a bad thing, and if I were stocking up when the stores were empty, then maybe I’d feel a bit more self conscious, but I’ve always been overly prepared with non-perishables and canned goods. So what were some of the biggest changes I made?
One big change I made was trying things I had never cooked with before. The pandemic started to become serious 8 months after I got married and moved in with my husband. My biggest changes were beans and rice. Growing up, I never had them, so even though we don’t have to rely on just beans and rice, each ingredient can contribute to a healthy diet without eating like someone who is in poverty. Another huge change was buying ingredients to bake. I had never had anything significant made from scratch at home. If it comes in a box, why go through all the effort? Well, the basic ingredients for baked goods gives you a well rounded kitchen and a blank slate for so many recipes. Further, I had never had food seasoned by anything other than salt or seasoning packets. Spices add so much life to food, and there are so many cultures you can visit though food and spices. Eating just to eat doesn’t make it an enjoyable occasion, that’s why spice is so important. Try food that is new with spices you may or may not like, even just to say you tried it!
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Those were just some of the basic changes that has helped me to grow as a home chef and as a person. Of course, we never thought we’d be in this situation, but we were glad to be partially prepared before, and thankful we needed very little during the thick of it. This time made us change our goals as a family. I discovered I had a huge love for gardening. This year was my first garden, and it was amazing. So, though we just bought this house less than 2 years ago, we do plan to eventually move to a property with more land for gardening, and maybe some small livestock.
In closing, what are somethings that are good to have on hand?
I’ve found canned meats to be helpful. I like to have a month’s worth of meat in the freezer at the beginning of each month. If you can can your own food, you definitely should, if not, know of good ways to keep what you have good in case of power outages. Fresh fruits and veggies don’t last long, but they are still necessary for a healthy diet, so having even some dehydrated fruit is good for emergencies. Flour is so versatile. Bread, cake, pizza crust, tortillas, and pasta, are a few foods to make with it. You can also use flour for thickening a sauce, coating your food for frying, and making batters. Another thing I like to have is evaporated milk. Condensed milk is sweetened while evaporated milk is just concentrated milk, all you need to do it thin it out with water, then you have a standard milk for whatever you need. Have an extra case of water in the house at all times, you never know if the well may stop working, or if the town needs to do maintenance on the water pipes. And finally, having a first aid kit is very helpful in an emergency. Though the situation may be stressful at the time, it’s nice to not have to worry about having a clean wrap because you should have one in your kit.
Thanks again for reading. I have a real passion for taking care of others and I hope this will give you inspiration for what you may need, or a glimpse into the mind of someone who likes to be prepared.
This weekend I was able to cook up the last of the pork loin roast I prepared. For our last meal, I sliced off a couple more pork chops and prepared some honey mustard sauce to top. Simply mix together the sauce and coat the chops, bake then serve. We had these over spinach and the glaze made a delicious sauce for the spinach too. This recipe makes 2-3 servings, but can be easily altered as needed.
Heat oven to 350 F. Place the pork on the foil lined sheet. Mix together remaining ingredients in the small bowl. Coat each side of the pork with the sauce.
2. Place the pork in the oven. Bake raw pork for 25-30 minutes or cooked pork for 15-20 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 165 F. Top cooked pork with any remaining sauce, then serve right away.
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