Winter Cooking

Yesterday was very cold but mostly sunny with mid day high temp at 23 degrees. I set my oven out at 9a.m. when the temperature was only 9 degrees F. My oven reached 300 degrees even in the cold. I cooked a pot of beans for supper. I had presoaked them, then I cheated a little and brought them up to boiling before putting them in the oven. I took off and went shopping for a time and let them just cook. They were cooked by later afternoon, I then added seasonings and let them cook some more (in the house since it was too late in the day for any more sun). *See recipe below. (All ingredients from my food storage.) You can use any dried (or canned, if in a hurry) beans. I used a mixture of 1/2 c. each of Red Kidney, Black, Pink, and Pinto beans. We liked the mixture.

The colder temperature, along with the boiling liquid in the pot, created quite a bit of condensation on the oven glass. To cure that, I just ventilated it a bit by placing a Popsicle stick between the glass and the rubber gasket. This probably takes a little bit of the heat out of the oven, but not nearly as much as the fog on the window blocking the sun out.

Simply Delicious Beans
5 c. soaked, cooked beans, drained. (About 2 c. dried)
2-3 c. water
2 T. dried onion
1 1/2 t. beef bullion
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cumin
1/8 t. pepper
Pinch of ground ginger
Pinch of garlic powder

Combine all ingredients; bring to a boil. Simmer, covered 20-30 minutes. Serves 4-5
Variation 1: Add carrots or any other vegetable. If dehydrated, add additional water to rehydrate.
Variation 2: Add 1 t. honey and 1 c. salsa. Serve over rice.
*Recipe from the book "Emergency Food in a Nutshell"

Note: Soak beans (3 c. water to 1 c. beans) over night. Drain, add fresh water for cooking. OR: Bring water and beans to boil. Boil 2 min. then turn off. Soak for 2 hours. Cook in fresh water. Discarding soaking and cooking water helps to reduce the gas digesting beans causes. Eating them with rice makes a complete protein and helps with the gas also.