Essential Signaling Items for Your Emergency Kit

Essential Signaling Items For Your Emergency Kit

ACR Signaling Kit

ACR makes a very nice signal mirror and whistle kit that should be a part of every 72 Hour Kit or Boy Scout backpack.  This mirror provides excellent sighting holes for placing your signal where you want it.  As you can see, the kit includes a lanyard, whistle and float.  I removed the float and added a small flashlight.  This makes highly functional signaling kit.

The ACR signal mirror is easy to use.  You simply make sure that you can line up the mirror with the sun, look through the viewer and then find the red dot that is made by the viewer.  As you can see, the directions are on the back of the mirror.

Last week, our Varsity Scout Team participated in an On-Target event where we contacted various peaks around the state with flashes from mirrors and with HAM Radios.  We mounted this small ACR signal mirror on our large 2' x 2' mirror to help sight in the larger mirror.  The ACR Mirror helped us place a red dot on the mountain that we were trying to signal, which made it a lot easier to hit the other mountain with our flash.

A Combination of Freeze Dried Berries Makes This a Great Dessert

Recently our blog posts have featured different dessert recipes........and why not?  Food storage can be fun and delicious.   Dessert dishes aren't always healthy per se, but when you make your own you can cut out a higher portion of fats, processed foods, hydrogenated oils, preservatives and other ingredients that are a part of the food industry.

For our berry crisp we used a blend of freeze dried berries to add different flavors and tartness.

This delicious treat can be made in the oven, dutch oven or solar oven.

Berry Crisp

8 c. of freeze dried berries

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp whole wheat flour

Rehydrate berries.  To rehydrate berries: boil water, add to berries, let sit for 10-20 minutes, drain water.  Add 3 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp of flour to berries.  Place in an 8x8 in baking dish.

Topping

1 c. regular rolled oats

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. butter, softened

In mixer combine topping ingredients.  Sprinkle over berries.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.  You can also bake in the sun oven.  Time in sun oven varies depending on temperature. 

Freeze Dried Cheese?!

If you like shredded cheddar cheese, try this product.

Freeze Dried Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Many of us love the taste of sharp cheddar cheese and now you can keep it on your shelf instead of your refrigerator.  Once you reconstitute this cheese, it has the taste, texture and cooking characteristics of fresh, shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  You can also just munch on the cheese as a snack straight out of the can.

To rehydrate the freeze dried cheddar cheese, simply add 1 part freeze dried cheddar cheese to 2 parts water.  Make sure the water is lukewarm.  If the water is too hot, it will melt the cheese and clump together.  If it is too cold, the re-hydration process will take a long time. 

After about 5-10 minutes, taste a small amount of the cheese and make sure it is fully rehydrated.  If it meets your satisfaction, drain off the excess water.  If it is still crunchy, allow it to soak for longer.

You can now add the cheese to tacos, casseroles, quesadillas and more.  Chef Tess recently held a kid's cooking class where the kids made hot pockets.  They filled the hot pockets with mozzarella, pepperoni and freeze dried cheddar cheese.  You can check our her recipe for homemade hot pockets by clicking the following link:

Homemade Hot Pockets

We wanted to try the cheese on homemade pizza, so we added some reconstituted freeze dried cheddar cheese to our cheese pizza and it was great.

Hope you enjoy freeze dried cheddar cheese and all of the wonderful things you can make with it!

Mountain House Pasta Primavera

Our Favorite Mountain House Meal

Mountain House Pasta Primavera in Double Serving Pouch

Mountain House Meals are an excellent way to prepare for your next backpacking trip, campout or other outdoor outing.  They are also great for 72 Hour Kits or other Emergency Kits.  Mountain House Meals store for 7 years in the mylar pouches.  The 2 Serving Pouch makes 20 ounces of food.  The best part is that they are easy to make and delicious!

This video review shows you how to reconstitute the meal and how great the Pasta Primavera looks rehdyrated:

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Don't Eat Too Many!

Chocolate Oatmeal No-Bake Cookies

Sometimes you need a quick treat!  Why not make a quick treat that is both delicious and fairly nutritious?  These cookies are easy to make and your family will thank you for taking a bit of time to whip these up.

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

(makes 2 dozen)

Mix in sauce pan on low heat:

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1/2  c. peanut butter

1/3 c. milk

1/2 c. honey

  

Remove from heat and add:

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Stir vigorously and add:

2 c. quick rolled oats

Place round balls on cookie sheet, place in the freezer until firm.  Enjoy!

Granola Bars So Good They Pass as a Dessert

My wife makes the best granola bars imaginable.  To me they are like eating a dessert dish.  I am not a huge dessert guy, but these delicious granola bars are so good that I usually eat too many.  What is great is that while making the bars themselves is wonderful, you also get the added benefit of making your own granola, which you can use as a cereal or yogurt topping.  People who stopped by the store yesterday were able to sample these granola bars, and they were a big hit!  You will have to break out a few of your food storage items, and maybe even hit the grocery store, but it will be worth it.

We wanted to share these great recipes with you so you can enjoy them too:

GRANOLA
Mix Dry Ingredients in separate bowl:

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup almonds, chopped

1 cup pecans, chopped

1 cup cashew pieces, chopped

½ cup sesame seeds

½ cup sunflower seeds

¼ cup chia seeds

½ cup toasted wheat germ

 Melt over low heat:

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup butter (or coconut oil)

½ cup brown sugar

Remove above mixture from heat then add:

1 tsp. vanilla
Then pour over dry ingredient mixture, mix, then spread small amount to cover a 15x10x1 inch baking pan.  Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, stirring once.

 Stir in freeze dried or dehydrated fruit

1 cup freeze dried strawberries

 Cool.  Store in air tight container in a cool place or refrigerator or use in Chewy Strawberry Granola Bar Recipe

CHEWY STRAWBERRY GRANOLA BARS

 

Add to sauce pan:

½ cup packed brown sugar

½ cup butter

1/3 cup honey
In a sauce pan combine brown sugar, butter and honey.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Mix together:

5 cups granola

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup freeze dried strawberries


Pour brown sugar mixture over granola, mix and press into buttered 11x7x1.5 inch pan.  Cool and cut into bars.

WonderMill Electric Grain Mill

Quietest and Fastest Home Use Electric Grain Mill on the Market

WonderMill Electric Grain Mill

The WonderMill Electric Grain Mill can become an important part of your quest for healthy living.  This mill will allow you to effortlessly grind your own wheat, rice, beans, corn, barley, oats, spelt, quinoa and other grains from coarse down to pastry fine.  This mill will even grind the world's smallest grain, teff, down to a wonderful fine flour, and can also handle beans up to the size of garbanzo beans.  You are only able to grind dry, non-oily grains and beans in this mill since oily and most seeds and grains can clog the unit.  (For oily and moist grains and seeds you will need a hand grinder with stainless steel parts.)

The WonderMill Electric Grain Mill features a powerful 1250 watt motor.  The mircronizing grinders provide a smooth, even texture to your flours.  This mill is very efficient and the flour is dispensed into a removable cannister.  The unit is well designed and will help you keep your kitchen clean!

While all electric mills are somewhat loud, this unit is the quietest mill on the market.  The mill is also covered by a life-time warranty.  Please see the video review below on the WonderMill Electric Grain Mill so you can see for yourself what a wonderful mill this truly is:

Instructions on How to Use the WonderMill Electric Grain Mill