Ingredient: apple cider vinegar

Better Biltong

While shopping, I discovered some nicely priced meat. I bought a few packages with the hopes of trying biltong in the dehydrator. This is a simple recipe that we prefer to the original one.

Do not reduce the salt but you can add some if you would like it saltier. Coriander and pepper are the traditional biltong spices, but add other spices to your preference. Some people add 1/2 tsp brown sugar per pound, but that is a taste preference.

If storing in the refrigerator, we like it best dried around 50% of original weight. Dry it longer (lose at least 65% of original weight) if wanting to use backpacking.

See notes at the bottom for more suggestions.

Salsa (for Canning)

This is our favorite salsa recipe. It uses more cilantro and is spicier than the other recipe.

Tomato Salsa (for canning)

This is a less spicy recipe that does not use much cilantro. Adjust the seasonings and peppers to create a spicier salsa if preferred. Just remember that the total of all the combined peppers should be between 4-5 cups, no matter what type used. Also, if desired, add a little hot sauce or extra ground chipotle to spice it up a little more.

Depending on the tomatoes used, this can be a very sweet salsa. Add a little additional vinegar if too sweet. Lastly, feel free to use lemon or lime juice instead of the apple cider vinegar for variety.

Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

When Allan started cutting gluten from his diet, a friend from work gave him this recipe. It is good fresh, but we think it tastes better toasted. It works very well for sandwiches also.

A few helpful hints on this bread:

  • To keep gluten free, but sure to check ingredient labels.
  • The bread will stick, so use a nonstick bread pan or grease the pan well. If it does stick, let it sit a few minutes before trying to remove from pan.
  • Do not let the dough rise over the pan, it will “boil over” and make a mess.
  • Also, be sure to bake the bread long enough. It may sound hollow, but still be sticky inside. A thermometer should read between 208-210 when done.
  • Let cool before cutting. It does not have to be completely cooled though.

Sea Foam Candy

We discovered this candy a few years ago while browsing a candy store. Mark quickly declared it was his favorite candy ever. When looking for “sea foam”, we realized this candy comes with many different names; honeycomb candy, sponge candy, or fairy food.

For fun, we decided we needed to learn how to make his favorite treat. At first, we could not find any recipes or information about it, except in an old cookbook. However, now we can find different recipes for it in cookbooks or looking on line.

This is not a super hard recipe to make, but sometimes it turns out wonderfully and other times it is a little finicky. We have not learned why, but it is a great reason to make more.

We prefer the candy with a touch of molasses (or dark corn syrup) but it is just as good either way. However, the candy lasts longer coated in chocolate, so we highly recommend that if you want to save for longer.

Turmeric Chicken Soup

As the weather cools down, hot soup is a very easy and filling meal. This recipe has been adapted from a recipe that Mom M. gave to Angie who passed it on to me.

The turmeric is very subtle and more could be added easily without overpowering the other flavors. If you like ginger and garlic, go sparingly at first. They are not super strong, but will quickly overpower the chicken.

Serve as is with some fresh bread.