Handmade Holidays: Cocoa Mix

Last week I shared how to make hand-rolled beeswax candles. This week I offer recipes for spice rub and cocoa mix in addition to the many jarred recipes at the bottom of this post. The series will conclude next Monday with ideas for perfectly packaging your handmade gifts. Have you ever read the ingredients on a box of commercial hot cocoa mix? Very often they are full of unpronounceable additives and artificial flavors.

Cocoa mix is stunningly easy to make at home without all that icky stuff. The final quality will only be as good as the quality of the individual ingredients, so I use organic milk and sugar, fair trade cocoa powder and fresh spices in this recipe.

Package some hot cocoa mix in a vintage jar with a personalized top and you'll have a soul warming present in a matter of minutes. For a truly gourmet gift, add in a waxed paper envelope of homemade marshmallows!

Hot Cocoa Mix fills approximately 5 half pint jars from Alton Brown's foodtv recipe

2 cups powdered sugar (or regular sugar pulsed in the food processor until very fine) 2 1/2 cups powdered milk 1 cup cocoa powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cornstarch 1 pinch cayenne powder (or cinnamon or chili powder)

1. Mix all ingredients together. Whisk to remove caked bits or pulse in the food processor. 2. Pour into containers. 3. Clean up. This is a messy mix to make! 4. Use 2 tablespoons to one mug (8 oz) of hot water.

Other handmade food gift ideas: Liqueur Fruit Jam (apple, peach, or strawberry) Applesauce a loaf of bread (no-knead or cranberry) Sugared cranberries

Camp Food Success: Chocolate Pudding

Imagine that you just canoed for two days, sleeping the night on cold rocky ground.  The lake you paddled across is shimmering and surrounded by great green pines.  Your body aches.  Hunger nags constantly, your tongue having touched nothing colder than room temperature for days.

Then, chef for the evening canoes out to the middle of the lake and pulls out a black plastic trash bag.

Inside, there are two bags of instant chocolate pudding double bagged in gallon ziplocs.

The brown goo, created with filtered lake water and cooled at depth, is served.  First it is spooned into dishes, revealing the lumpy texture of no-whisk-to-be-found mixing.

Later, the server does what needs to be done: he cuts off the corner and squeezes out the last of the pud'.

Inevitable jokes about the dessert's resemblance to excrement begin.  Hilarity continues after campers wipe their bowls with tissue to pre-clean them.

Overall, the camping crowd is surprised: a whim of a dessert, cheap and easy, was not only tasty, but a source of amusement.  Back Country Chocolate Pudding is a delightful success, sure to be repeated on future trips.

Our Canada 2010 trip was exhausting and challenging but the food was great.  This is the first of a few posts detailing what and how we ate.

PS.  The above 'sink in lake' procedure could work for any flavor of pudding including butterscotch, vanilla, or pistachio.  The entertainment value, a.k.a. poop jokes, will be lost if chocolate is not used.

Meal Plan: 19 People 6 Days in Backcountry Canada

We are traveling in Canada right now.  I scheduled this blog post and have several scheduled guest bloggers for the time we're away.  Enjoy! As is often the case when planning an event, the people who care the most about a particular element are the ones who invest in planning that element.  In the case of our Canada trip, I care about food and therefore helped with menu planning, shopping, and packaging of foodstuffs.

The challenge is to feed nineteen people ages four - 63 for six days.  There is no refrigeration available and dry ice will likely only last two days.  All food must be carried over several long portages, therefore weight should be minimized. Food also has to be hung in bear trees overnight, no small feat, so we aimed for reduced bulk.  Fuel and stoves are at a premium, so low cooking items are preferred.

The Menu

Saturday: arriving in South River from a day of driving, camp at outfitters

Dinner at outfitters - brats, beans, green salad, and potato chips

Sunday: paddle all day, camp on North Tea lake

Breakfast - choice of oatmeal, cereal, or granola

Lunch - cold cut sandwiches, side (choose among pretzels, goldfish crackers, animal crackers, dried fruit, granola bars)

Dinner - chicken veggie stew OR penne and meatballs

Monday: paddle all day, camp on Biggar Lake

Breakfast - choice of oatmeal, cereal, or granola

Lunch -tuna salad or salmon with crackers and side (choices above)

Dinner - meat on a stick + veggie soup with dumplings OR bean and cheese burritos

Tuesday: Chill on Biggar

Breakfast - pancakes and bacon

Lunch - quesadillas/refried bean and cheese wraps and side (choices above)

Dinner - meatless chili OR cheese tortellini

Wednesday: Chill on Biggar

Breakfast - choice of oatmeal, cereal, or granola

Lunch - hummus, tabouli, pita chips and side (choices above)

Dinner - Soba noodles with peas, tuna, and peanuts

Thursday: Paddle all day, camp on North Tea

Breakfast - choice of oatmeal, cereal, or granola

Lunch -peanut butter and jelly english muffins and side (choices above)

Dinner - quinoa and madras lentils OR rice and beans

Friday: Paddle to outfitters

Breakfast - choice of oatmeal, cereal, or granola

Lunch - leftovers or couscous and veggies

Dinner - first restaurant we can find, hopefully one with poutine, that wonderful Canadian creation of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds

The Package and Poundage

Each dinner is packaged in a ziploc bag with written instructions so that any canoer can prepare the meal.  Breakfasts and lunches are serve yourself, also packaged in water tight containers.

Meal bags and containers are packed according to campsite, as the group is split into two sites and will have two cooking areas.   There are five group food bags, each weighing approximately thirty pounds.

Each person is also bringing one to three pounds of personal snacks and food items.  My snack bag contains Jerquee meatless jerky, home dried Charlie's apples, chocolate, and nuts.  The plan is that each of these snack bags will be combined into a larger stuff sack for nighttime tree hanging.

The Price

The food budget was set at $30 per person, or $570 total.  As all receipts haven't been entered, the actual spent total isn't calculated yet, but I approximate it to will be more along the lines of $650.

The toll to our personal health has yet to be determined.  There aren't a lot of vegetables on that menu, nor rich proteins.   It's a diet we all can survive on for a week, for sure, but I'm sure we will all miss fresh foods by the end.  Undoubtedly I will report back how the back country meal plans worked out.

Day    Meal    Ingredients    Amount Sun 7/11    cold cut sandwiches    bread    2 loaves brownberry meat    5 pounds cheese    4 pounds, sliced condiments    1 jar mustard

Mon 7/12    tuna salad    tuna    8 packs crackers    6 boxes melba dried salmon    4 packs relish, mayo    1 small jar

Tues 7/13    quesadillas    tortillas    4 packs of 10 cheese    2 2# cheddar beans    6 cups instant refried+ seasonings salsa    remainder of dads

Weds 7/14    hummus and pitas pitas    18 hummus mix    3 cups tabouli    3 cups

Thurs 7/15    pbj muffins    nut butter    2 16 oz containers english muffins    24 whole jelly    1 straw, 1 grape, 1 honey Fri 7/16    couscous mess    couscous    10 cups dried veg mix    2 cups

Sides (1 per day)    pringles    4 cans pretzels    utz tub freeze dried fruit    3 large tubs goldfish    1 big box animal crackers    1 tub oatmeal cookies    1 batch

Goodbye Hounds and Kitchen, Hello Canadian Wilderness!

We're off on our adventure to Canada.  The car is full of food, gear, and toys.  Guest posts are scheduled and ready to keep you entertained for the week. Tune in Sunday for our 19 person paddling meal plan.

We ate our 'last meal' tonight, a frittata of backyard chicken eggs with homegrown tomatoes, green beans, garlic, shallots, and herbs.  On the side were our very first new potatoes of the year.  (They really shouldn't be harvested yet but I was watering the other garden the other day and couldn't resist seeing how the tubers were progressing.)  I savored every fresh delicious bite, knowing that plenty of fast food and dehydrated meals are in my future.

I was reflecting that this trip will be the first time in years that I will be truly electronic free.  Because of owning the online store and writing this blog, every vacation I've taken since Lil's birth has included at least some phone and Internet communication, i.e. 'work'.  Between Sunday and Friday, no work will be done by me at least.  (Someone, ahem Alex, is bringing several communication devises...)

In the absence of the computer and smartphone, I expect to enjoy:

writing with a pen and paper

wildlife

clouds and stars, uncut by wires and airplanes

fully present family

silence

May you also experience peace this week.  I look forward to sharing pictures and stories upon my return.

Meal Plan June 28, 2010

We leave for our Canadian back country vacation in less than two weeks!! This week's quick meals clear out the pantry and allow time for packing and planning plus lots of socializing. Monday - Dinner with Alex's parents, bringing marinated kale salad (recipe coming soon) Tuesday - Black bean burritos with homegrown lettuce, fruit Wednesday - Baked macaroni and cheese, green salad Thursday - Dinner with friends Friday - Costco shopping trip to buy Canada provisions, bring home pizza for dinner Saturday - Smoked meat and tofu for neighborhood get together, Whetstone fireworks after dark Sunday - Birthday dinner for Dad, menu TBD

Algonquin Provincial Park Canoe Trip

In less than four weeks, Alex, Lil, and I will leave our homestead in the good care of neighbor Jan and drive north through Toronto to Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada.  We will rent canoes and stay the first night at Northern Wilderness Outfitters.  From there, we will canoe two days through North Tea Lake to Biggar Lake where we will camp for two days before taking a return trip. We are traveling with my parents and three sisters, Alex's parents, brother and soon-to-be sister in law, my Uncle Mike, good friend Krash and his girlfriend, my cousin Todd and two of my younger cousins.

This is a trip my father has taken seven times before, three with his now deceased father, starting in 1970.  Uncle Mike attended six trips; everyone but the young cousins, Krash's girlfriend and Lil have been at least once.

Because the canoing includes several portages, we must plan equipment and food carefully to avoid excess weight.  I started preparations last fall when I reserved four bags of dried gold rush apples for this pilgrimage.  I know that these special Charlie's apples will be a delight to our tastes after a few days of eating packable camp food.

The cooks in the family (and there are many) are each planning a night's dinner and co-planning lunches and breakfasts.  Alex has cured many meats to take along including bacon, pancetta, saucison sec, and dried fish (cod or salmon, to be determined).  My meal, one of the last and therefore least fresh, will be rice and madras lentils with chocolate pudding for dessert.

We hope to see moose, loons, and the northern lights. We hope to be minimally sunburnt and bug-bitten.  We hope to return refreshed from days with family and without electronic interventions.

Are you taking a summer vacation?  What are your hopes for time away from home?