Cooking Meat in Your Wonder Oven

What you’ll need:

Either a Ziploc steamer bag –or– a breakfast cereal bag.

Instructions:

Start a pot of water to boil on the stove with it’s lid on. In a skillet, brown seasoned meat. Transfer browned meat to either a Ziploc steamer bag or a breakfast cereal bag and add to the boiling pot of water. Cover pot with it’s lid. If you are using a breakfast cereal bag, allow some of the bag to hang over the side of the pot and place the lid over top of the bag. Place pot into the Wonder Oven, cover with top pillow and container lid and “cook” a minimum of 30 minutes to 1 hour for small amounts of meat. For larger amounts of meat (a pot roast for example) cook atleast 2 hours.

Cooking Meat Using a Ziploc Steamer Bag

Season and brown the meat.

Transfer meat into Ziploc Steamer Bag

Place bag in boiling pot of water

Replace pot lid

Put pot into Wonder Oven, cover with top pillow and container lid.

One hour later, removing the bag from the pot, the meat is cooked and ready to serve.

Cooking Meat Using a Cereal Bag

Place browned seasoned meat in plastic cereal bag and add to boiling pot of water.

Replace pot lid with cereal bag overhanging between the lid and pot. Put pot into Wonder Oven, cover with top pillow and container lid.

One hour later, removing the bag from the pot, the meat is cooked and ready to serve.

The finished product. Tender delicious meat and plenty of broth to use in whatever meal I’m making.

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Notes:

With bigger pieces of meat (pot roast for example) it’s best to cut the meat into manageable pieces before browning and cooking it to shorten cooking time. It will cook as a whole, if you have 3-4 hours to leave it, it just depends on how long you have to let it cook.

Adding raw small red potatoes, onions and carrots to the bag before placing into the Wonder Oven is also a great idea. The vegetables cook together with the meat’s juices (…heavenly!) and once cooked everything is ready to serve at once.

You can use multiple bags in a pot at a time. If using more than one bag I would personally use the Ziploc bags rather than the cereal bags to skip having to hang part of the bag over the side of the pot.

The most important thing to make sure of (for any type of Wonder Oven cooking) is that you’re using the smallest pot necessary for the amount of food you are cooking. You don’t want a big pot with only a small amount of food being cooked in it or you’ll risk losing heat and it won’t cook as effectively.

Courtesy of http://myfoodstoragecookbook.com/2011/09/16/wonder-oven-101-cooking-meat/

Save Money Buying Fruits and Veggies

If you've never heard of Bountiful Baskets Foods Co-Op, then check this out. For a fraction of the cost of going to the grocery store you can get all this. Items vary each week and it depends on what you order, but this is a good sample. 

 

Conventional Basket
50% Fruit, 50% Vegetables and 100% healthy, delicious & fun

In the conventional basket we focus our buying as follows: High Quality, Low Cost and As Local as Possible… So, how hard do we try? Pretty hard! Most bananas are from Central America or the Caribbean and are grown by a couple gargantuan conglomerate growers. We get all of our bananas from small farmers in central Mexico. This saves the co-op between $4 and $7 a box, keeps money with small farmers, and helps keep the carbon footprint small.

LIMITED QUANTITY - 100% Certified Organic Basket – Together We are Changing the World One Dinner Table at a Time

Ataulfo Mangoes - Approximately 8 pounds from Mexico. My family's favorite dessert! Perfect when the skin starts to wrinkle.

Veggie Lovers Pack - Asian Theme - Add extra veggies to your basket! An Asian-themed variety to fill out your dinner table. This will have ingredients that lend themselves to Italian food recipes. We never know exactly what until closer to keep the items fresh, but often fresh basil, yellow onion, celery, garlic, ginger, bok choy, Napa cabbage, snow peas, green onion, water chestnut, etc.

Fruit Lovers Pack - Citrus Pack - Add extra fruit to your basket! A variety of citrus to delight your tastebuds. Hoping for Minneola, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit, Oranges, Clementines, and Pummelo.

Bountiful Baskets Granola - A great breakfast, mobile snack, or dessert topping. Love it on fruit crisp!
Ingredients: Oats, Honey, canola oil, roasted & salted cashews, dates, diced pineapple, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, sliced almonds, and almond & vanilla flavor.

Artisan Sourdough Bread – five round loaves. Freezes beautifully and great reheated in the oven! Defrost on the counter, bag closed. Once defrosted, mist lightly with water and place immediately in a 325 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.
Ingredients: Ingredients: Unbleached Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Rye Flour, Water, Starter, Salt. Contains: Wheat.

Now that I've made a Wonder Oven...

Overnight Oatmeal

Using a wonder oven is the easiest way to cook oatmeal, especially in cooking steel cut oats or oat groats. If you haven’t tried making oatmeal with your wonder oven yet you’re going to love it! Plus the time you’ll save: minimally processed whole oat groats (where only the husk has been removed from the grain) or steel cut oats (groats that have been cut into small pieces) can take 30 – 60 minutes to cook on the stove. The prep time using a wonder oven, however, is just 5 minutes beyond the time it takes to boil the water.

Start it before you go to bed and you’ll wake up to hot delicious oatmeal ready to eat!

serves 6-8

Ingredients

8 cups water/ apple juice (I usually use 6 cups of water + 2 cups of apple juice)

2 cups steel cut oats, regular oats or oat groats

1 cup freeze dried fruit

1/4 tsp. salt

cinnamon (if desired)

Instructions

Bring all ingredients to a boil. Boil with lid on (just so the lid is also hot) 

and place in wonder oven to cook overnight. 

Sprinkle some cinnamon on top and add some milk … yum!

Courtesy of http://myfoodstoragecookbook.com/2012/03/03/overnight-oatmeal/

Making Your Own Condiments

Recipe: Ketchup

Difficulty level: Tricky

What you’ll need:
3 pounds ripe tomatoes
¼ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup onion, minced
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
½ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Food storage container

How to make it:
1. Chop the tomatoes and put them in a saucepan with half the vinegar and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes, mashing the mixture with a spoon or fork.
2. Strain the liquids into a saucepan. Strain the solids into another saucepan by pressing solids through the strainer – leaving the seeds and skins. Add sugar to the solids.
3. Add all the remaining ingredients to the liquids, and simmer over low heat – stirring occasionally – for at least 15 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken.
4. Strain into the solid mixture, and simmer for 5 minutes more. If the mixture is still too chunky for your liking, give it a few pulses in a food processor or blender.
5. Taste your ketchup and add additional seasonings as needed. Some people like more vinegar, more sugar or more spices. The best thing about homemade ketchup is that you can customize this yourself! Store your mixture in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Recipe: Italian dressing or marinade

Difficulty level: Easy

What you’ll need:
2 cups olive oil
¾ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons fresh or dried herbs
Food storage container

How to make it:
1. Mince the garlic and add to a large mixing bowl.
2. Add oil, vinegar, cheese, peppercorns and the herbs of your choice (try oregano, basil, rosemary or thyme).
3. Whisk all the ingredients together and pour into the container of your choice. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Recipe: Mustard
Difficulty level: Easy

What you’ll need:
5 tablespoons whole mustard seeds
½ cup mustard powder
½ cup water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons horseradish
Food storage container

How to make it:
1. Grind the mustard seeds in a coffee or spice grinder for a few seconds. Do not fully grind your seeds.
2. Pour the seeds into a bowl and add the mustard powder, salt and horseradish and stir.
3. Add the vinegar and water and mix well. Pour mixture into the container of your choice and store in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours before serving. Keep your mustard in the fridge for up to 2 months.

Recipe: Mayonnaise
Difficulty level: Moderate

What you’ll need:
2 pasteurized organic eggs (since eggs will be raw, it’s best to go for pasteurized and organic or farm-fresh)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 ½ cups olive or canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
A pinch of mustard powder
Food storage container

How to make it:
1. Separate the yolks from the whites, and put the yolks in a food processor (save the whites for a tasty omelet). Add mustard powder and salt and blend.
2. While the processor is running, slowly add the oil. Try to add the oil as slowly as possible so the mixture will not separate.
3. Add the lemon juice and continue processing until you reach the proper consistency, about 2 minutes. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Recipe: Peanut Butter
Difficulty level: Easy

What you’ll need:
1 pound shelled and skinned peanuts, roasted
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon oil
Food storage container

How to make it:
1. Put the peanuts, honey and salt into a food processor and process for 2 minutes.
2. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and continue processing while slowly adding the oil of your choice (peanut oil or vegetable oil works best).
3. Process until smooth, about 2 minutes. Taste your peanut butter and add a little more salt or honey if desired. Scoop out the homemade goodness and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Wonderbox Style Pillow Pattern

Building a Wonderbox Style Insulated Cooking Box


Having enough fuel to keep warm and cook food in an emergency is an often overlooked area of preparedness. One way to preserve fuel is to use an insulated cooker like the Wonderbox. The Wonderbox was developed in the 1960′s by Anna Pearse, a South African philanthropist, for use in third world countries. It has been used for several years through her charity Compassion. In 1977, Women for Peace became the umbrella for the establishment of the Wonderbox project. So there’s your history lesson for today.


The insulated cooking box works kind of like a thermos. You put hot food in it and it continues to cook because of the insulating factor of the box. For today, we’re just building it.


The pattern below is an adaptation of the original Wonderbox pattern by Extension Agent Christine Jensen. Here’s the pattern (click on it to enlarge):

 

To make an insulated cooker, you’ll need about 3 yards of standard 45″ wide 100% cotton fabric and polystyrene beads like found in a beanbag. For the beads you can check with your craft store to see if they can order them bulk or just buy a beanbag and open it up and use the beads in it. One standard adult bean bag fills two insulated cooking boxes plus a little extra. You would want to be careful buying used as you don’t want smoking or pet odors coming out when you cook your food–ick! You can use any fabric as long as it is 100% cotton. An old sheet, denim, etc. would all work.

Iron the fabric to make it easier to work with, then lay out your pattern on it. Folded the right edge over and place the large bottom pattern piece on the fold, then flip it over and repeat it on the left side.

Leave a space large enough to cut one top piece out of the middle of the fabric and cut two more bottom pieces below that space.

Leave room again to take a top piece out of the center below the second set of bottom pieces. Below that space cut one top piece from each side of the fabric.

After cutting out the two top pieces, fold the fabric right down the middle and cut the two other top pieces out of the spaces left.

Now we’re ready to assemble the pieces. Get your large bottom pieces and lay two of them out right sides together. You’re going to sew starting at the top point, down the side, ending at the bottom point. It doesn’t matter which side you sew down because the pieces are mirror images of each other. Pin them together before you start sewing. Sew with a 1/2 or 5/8 seam allowance. Just pick one and stick with it for the duration of the project. It’s not like this is a fitted prom dress, it’s a pretty forgiving pattern. Repeat with the second pair of bottom pieces.

Now we’re going to attach the two pieces we just made to each other. Open them up and match the two pieces, right sides together. Match up the raw edges, pin together and sew, leaving an opening near the top to turn and fill it.

Now, as is standard with sewing anything with corners, I trimmed and clipped my corners before turning the whole thing right side out via the opening.

Now set the bottom aside and assemble the top. Lay out two top pieces, right sides together and sew from the top point, down one side to the bottom point. Repeat with the second pair of top pieces.

Then open the two top pieces up and pin them together, matching raw edges, and sew around, leaving an opening at the top to turn and fill through. This is just like the bottom pieces we sewed together, just a little different shape. Trim/clip the corners and turn it right side out. To find the shape the top and bottom are supposed to be, find where the corners all came together to make an X and flatten it out. That is the top or bottom. On the top pieces, it won’t matter which side is up. The bottom piece, you want the big X down. The smaller X will be the part that squishes inside the box to make a pocket for the pot. See the X?

Now we’re going to fill the bags with the polystyrene beads. Get in a place that is easy to clean up. The beads WILL go everywhere. You can use a spray bottle with water in it to cut down on static–it won’t hurt anything. This is easier with a friend. Make a funnel out of an old milk jug or something to help get the beads in. I used a file folder and taped it into a funnel shape. It worked pretty well. Fill the top about half full of beads. That’s plenty. Really.

Fill the bottom about half full also. I put mine in the box I was going to use for it and made sure the largest pot I’d be using fit in it. Then I stopped putting beads in it.

Once your pieces have the beads in them, sew the openings shut. Turn the edges in toward each other, pin them together and top stitched them together.

There should be plenty of slack to get these openings sewed shut with your machine. Now stick it in a box–a banana box or one of equivalent size works great–put the top on, and you’re ready to cook! (Yes, it’s supposed to be a little loose and sloppy looking–that’s so it can conform to your pot shape/size easier.)