Go Chiefs!

“They won! The Chiefs won the Super Bowl!” John jumped up. I grabbed the toppling TV tray table, saving his empty plate from falling to the floor and most of his drink from sloshing out of the glass. You see, John has been waiting since Super Bowl IV in 1970 to see the Chiefs win, or even play in, another Super Bowl. At that time, his dad’s first cousin (John’s first cousin once removed) Darrel “Pete” Brewster was a receivers coach with Chiefs. (I held his Super Bowl ring a few years ago. It filled the palm of my hand.) John still talks about the dollar he received in the mail as the result of a bet with his aunt.

Before Demi Lovato sang the National Anthem, we piled sloppy joe sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and other miscellaneous food items onto our plates. We were ready for the game every team in the NFL hopes to play. The rest of the evening involved eating, watching the game, groaning at the commercials, yelling at the TV, cheering, enduring the halftime show, more eating, more yelling, and a final cheer!

Dishes washed, leftovers stashed in the refrigerator, TV tray tables put away, and the evidence of the game erased (except for the smile on John’s face), we flopped into bed.

Not able to call in sick on Super Bowl Monday (John’s a tough boss), I continued my prep for our Upper Mississippi River trip this summer. From the refrigerator, I pulled the sloppy joe meat (prepared with venison from the deer John harvested on our property in November) and baked beans (cooked in my Instant Pot). I didn’t dehydrate the leftover macaroni and cheese because the fat content in the cheese decreases the shelf life.  I scooped the leftovers onto my ParaFlexx Silicone-lined Excalibur trays, set the temperature for 135 degrees and the timer to eight hours. Over the next few months, I will dehydrate most of our leftovers and store them in vacuum-sealed (with my Food Saver) canning jars until May when I divide them into freezer bag meals and vacuum seal the meals in Food Saver bags.

Leftovers—a word we won’t use much between now and May. Food sitting in the pan at the end of a meal will be in danger of dehydration. I have trained John well. When cleaning up after a venison and noodle dinner, he asked, “I suppose I won’t get to eat this tomorrow night.”

“Why?”

“Aren’t you going to dehydrate it?”

“Hmmm… I hadn’t thought about it. I guess it would work. Let’s try it. I’ll dehydrate some and we can try it tomorrow. If it works, it will be a great addition to the trip menu. I have several cans of venison.”

Into the dehydrator, the venison and noodles went along with Spanish rice and red beans (Instant Pot), refried beans (Instant Pot), and black beans. The next day, I added boiling water to the handful of venison and noodles, wrapped the bowl in a towel to replicate a cozy, and let it set. After 15 minutes, I removed the towel with as much anticipation as unwrapping a Christmas gift. It was soupier than we like but tasted the same as it did at dinner. I have officially added venison and noodles to the menu.

As I write this, I am sitting in Modoc’s Market & Espresso Bar in Wabash, Indiana. Tonight we are staying in the 200-year-old log cabin we lived in for a year while our small home was being built on our property. Last Friday, we stayed in another cabin—our 10 x 16 foot cabin in our woods. While there, we planned for the upcoming river trip by taste testing venison jerky and experimenting with freezer bag cooking.

Our local butcher prepared venison jerky from John’s deer. After sharing a small piece, we had to talk ourselves into saving the rest of the package. We have eight more four-ounce packages of the butcher-prepared jerky. When I make my jerky from the meat the butcher sliced thinly specifically for beef jerky, I will use the butcher-prepared jerky as a benchmark. I am searching for a good recipe. I have officially added venison jerky to our snack menu.

Sitting at our cabin by a campfire (how many people living in Northeast Indiana enjoyed a campfire on January 31?), I added water to the Jetboil and pushed the ignitor. When bubbles appeared on the water’s surface, I turned off the flame and poured the water over the crunchy black bean stew in the freezer bag until the contents were barely covered. After zipping the bag closed, it sat nestled in the cozy. Fifteen minutes later, steam rose as I unzipped the bag. The creamy stew was ready. John took the first bite.

“Well. How is it?” I asked.

“Great. I don’t think I want to eat it out of the cozy though. The cozy would get too messy.”

“On the last trip we ate out of the pan and lid. This time we won’t have pans, and the bag would be too hot to hold.”

“Collapsible bowls would work.”

“If we are going to do freezer bag cooking, we should order another cozy because some of our meals include two or more items, like refried beans and Spanish rice.”

“Let’s do it.” We have officially declared freezer bag cooking (boil, add water to bag in cozy, wait, eat) as our method of food prep.

I just thought of something. Some dehydrated foods, such as rice, are sharp and punch small holes in the bag. The cozy could become soaked with any leaking water after pouring boiling water into the freezer bag. I need to investigate this issue. Stay tuned.

As you can see, one theme this week was trials (experiments). We named one trial “The Granola Bar Experiment,” hoping for tastier results than we had during the “Science Experiment” on zucchini bread, zucchini brownies, and chocolate chip squash cake. On our Wabash to the Gulf trip, we each consumed approximately 100 homemade granola bars. I vacuum sealed all 200. By the end of the trip, the bars were greasy. My assumption is that the lack of air caused the greasiness. Since they contain shelf-stable ingredients (honey, peanut butter, and oats), I wonder if I need to vacuum seal them.  Enter the birth of the Granola Bar Experiment. To begin the experiment, I placed a lone granola bar in a Ziploc bag, which will sit on a pantry shelf until May. Stay tuned for the results.

Not everything this week was a trial or experiment. I dehydrated mushrooms and bell peppers, which I dehydrate even when I am not preparing for a trip. I often add a handful of mushrooms to spaghetti sauce. Grilled rehydrated bell peppers added to chicken make tasty fajitas. 

Speaking of bell peppers—one of our sources of veggies. On our Wabash to the Gulf trip, we (especially John) was not a fan of dehydrated or rehydrated vegetables. On this trip, I am trying to find alternative ways to meet the recommended five servings per day of vegetables. One way is by adding bell peppers to many recipes. I will also add a few veggie servings by hiding zucchini and spinach in tomato-based recipes such as spaghetti sauce and lasagna. In addition, Kroger had veggie pasta on sale last week—each pasta serving provides between ½ and 1 serving of vegetables. Yay, me. Another way is to substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth or water. How many servings will that add?  I don’t know, but every little bit helps.

Although meeting our daily vegetable quota each day will be challenging, meeting the four recommended servings of fruit is easy. I bought bananas at Aldi for 17 cents a pound. Monday, I filled six of my nine dehydrator trays. The dehydrated bananas give crunch to our daily peanut butter wrap lunch. I also use them in homemade granola, banana pudding, banana nut bread, and fruit and nut snacks. For the fruit and nut snacks, I performed another experiment. As I was placing the bananas on the tray, I remembered sprinkling cinnamon on the apples before I dehydrated last fall. I thought cinnamon on bananas might taste good too. I tried it, and the results were positive. I have officially added dehydrated cinnamon bananas to my fruit and nut snack recipe.

One final note. I mentioned a new addition to my prep for this trip—the Instant Pot. Last year, we moved into our new home before the kitchen was completed—no stove, sink, countertop, or microwave. To avoid take out, I ordered an Instant Pot. Think one pot cooking on a white six-foot folding plastic table. I fell in love. Even though I now have a complete kitchen, I still pull my Instant Pot out of the cabinet at least three times a week. (I vow never to prepare boiled eggs on the stove again.) I have officially adjusted many of my standard recipes for the Instant Pot.

Although I won’t have Super Bowl leftovers to dehydrate this week, I plan to dehydrate leftover spaghetti and dehydrated garlic bread croutons (we enjoy the crunch they add to the spaghetti).

Go Chiefs! (I wonder if John will receive a dollar in the mail.)