Even though I pulled my cucumbers a couple weeks ago, I still have a small mound of cucumbers sitting on my counter. At the same time, my in-law’s garden is just full of cherry tomatoes. So, here is a simple summer salad that uses up some items that may still be plentiful for you this time of year. Add a bit of acid with vinegar or lemon, and balance it with a bit of sugar, if desired.
Garlic bread is a delicious side for any Italian meal. I believe no garlic is too much garlic, and garlic and butter are one of the best toppings for bread. This simple recipe can be used with any bread. I used a whole grain bread and it was quite delicious. If you would rather take a few extra minutes, you could also melt the butter in a small frying pan with the garlic and cook it for 10 minutes on low until the garlic is soft enough to become a paste. If you dice the garlic up finely, it will help cook it faster. This recipe is enough for 4 side servings. I used a 6 inch loaf cut into quarters.
Place Minced garlic and butter into a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir butter until melted. Brush butter over bread and add garlic evenly over bread. Place bread on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes
Remove bread and top each slice with a sprinkle of garlic powder. Serve as a side.
This weekend, Josh and I were looking at an end of season camping trip. As the weather was getting colder, we decided it was now or never for finally going on a summer trip. We chose not to, but I did lots of research, and below that I will have a list of refrigeration free meals and snacks. This is not only a good resource for future camping trips, but it’s a good idea to have some of these items in storage for the next possible natural disaster.
Meals
Cereal with Evaporated/Powdered Milk
Oatmeal with Evap./Powdered Milk, with dried fruit
If you have rice and any vegetables, you can make this dish. Cook your veggies in oil, add your cooked rice and broth, cook together and serve. I added 1 Tbsp soy sauce to the whole wok before serving. This recipe makes 3-4 side sized servings. I used leftover rice, but you can also make new rice for this dish. If you’d like, you can also make this vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken.
These English muffins were very delicious. The original recipe calls for instant yeast, however I substituted in active dried yeast instead. They both seem to work well, however instant yeast seemed to provide less rise during cooking. I also believe that waiting 12-18 hours was unnecessary with active dried yeast, since it seemed to only mature the flavor of the dough. My dough almost had no rise, and with active dried yeast you’d probably be fine cooking these muffins in an hour rather than waiting 12-18. I rolled my dough to about 1 cm thick and that was plenty for the rise I wanted. I also rolled some thicker, and it had no real affect on the overall thickness of my muffins, the only thing that did seem make a difference was what temperature you cooked them at. My first three rose very little due to the pan not being fully hot and heated before cooking. The rest popped up like balloons due to the heat within a minute. My oven has heat settings from 1-9 and I used 4 for this recipe.
What You Will Need
2 1/2 cup Flour
1/4 tsp Active dried yeast
pinch of Salt
2/3 cup Milk
1/2 cup Water
1 Tbsp Butter
Directions
In a mixing bowl, combine first three ingredients. In a separate microwaveable bowl, add your wet ingredients and butter. Microwave until liquid is finger warm and the butter can melt.
Slowly add ingredients until a dry dough has come together. Mix until smooth adding additional liquid sparingly.
Leave dough in bowl and cover with a tea towel and let sit for 1-2 hours. Turn out dough onto a floured surface.
Roll out dough to be 1 cm thick, then use a 3 inch cutter or cup to make dough rounds. Flour both sides of the round and place aside.
Rework dough then repeat step 4 until out of dough. Cover with tea towel and let rise another 45 minutes.
Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium to medium-low heat.
Use a spatula to move the dough to the frying pan leaving room for minor expansion. Cover with a lid and leave for 8 minutes.
Flip your dough, cover, and let cook another 3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Let cool before eating.
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