# Some of my favorite recipes...



## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

not necessarily practical in a survival situation.

Stone Soup Recipe

STONE SOUP

3 clean stones
3 stalks celery, cleaned and finely chopped, include the leaves
2 lg. carrots, cleaned and chopped
2 med. onions, finely diced
2 lg. potatoes, cleaned and diced
4 lg. tomatoes, cleaned and chopped
1/2 tsp. each, dried basil, thyme, marjoram, and rosemary
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. parsley
1 1/2 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. barley
4 beef or chicken bouillon cubes (or 4 teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon for less sodium and richer flavor)

Read the story Stone Soup. Wash hands. Everyone can chop or measure something. Put in a large crock pot. Cover with water. Meatballs or cubed meat/poultry may be added during the last hour of cooking.

If using fresh, rather than dried, herbs, use 3 to 4 times as much and add during the last 10-15 minutes of cooking.

Cook 2 to 3 hours on medium heat. Remove bay leaf, and stones, before serving.

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Stone Soup Story

Many years ago three soldiers, hungry and weary of battle, came upon a small village. The villagers, suffering a meager harvest and the many years of war, quickly hid what little they had to eat and met the three at the village square, wringing their hands and bemoaning the lack of anything to eat.

The soldiers spoke quietly among themselves and the first soldier then turned to the village elders. "Your tired fields have left you nothing to share, so we will share what little we have: the secret of how to make soup from stones."

Naturally the villagers were intrigued and soon a fire was put to the town's greatest kettle as the soldiers dropped in three smooth stones. "Now this will be a fine soup", said the second soldier; "but a pinch of salt and some parsley would make it wonderful!" Up jumped a villager, crying "What luck! I've just remembered where some's been left!" And off she ran, returning with an apronful of parsley and a turnip. As the kettle boiled on, the memory of the village improved: soon barley, carrots, beef and cream had found their way into the great pot, and a cask of wine was rolled into the square as all sat down to feast.

They ate and danced and sang well into the night, refreshed by the feast and their new-found friends. In the morning the three soldiers awoke to find the entire village standing before them. At their feet lay a satchel of the village's best breads and cheese. "You have given us the greatest of gifts: the secret of how to make soup from stones", said an elder, "and we shall never forget." The third soldier turned to the crowd, and said: "There is no secret, but this is certain: it is only by sharing that we may make a feast". And off the soldiers wandered, down the road.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

I'll be posting more as I dig them out of my boxes of books or old hard drive full of text files.

I welcome comments, discussion and the recipes of others. Please don't be shy.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

*Vietnamese Eggrolls*

Vietnamese Egg Rolls (Saigon Rolls)
*As I learned them from my VN friends years ago, in another life.

1 package frozen lumpia wrappers (most Oriental shops and some of the Hispanic shops carry them) I bought a 50 wrapper package with 2 packs of 25 each.

Several (6-10) "nests" or bundles of bean thread/vermicelli. You will need to cut these bundles and separate the fibers. I use heavy kitchen shears, others use knife and cutting board. Use whichever works best for you. No matter what you use, cutting and separating the fibers will make a mess.

6-8 oz Dried Black mushrooms/fungus (you can buy them whole or already sliced, I prefer to get them sliced rather than reconstituting and then have to slice finely) If you know what a bracken fungus looks like, these are a bracken/shelf fungus that grows on trees

10 lb lean ground pork
3 lb carrots shred or julienne
1-2 lb fresh bean sprouts
4 bunches green onions, cleaned, cut into 2-3 inch lengths and shredded
3 egg whites for sealing (mix the yolks into the meat mixture)
1/2 to 1 teas ground white pepper
1 tbsp salt

Defrost the lumpia wrappers. After opening the packages wrap in damp paper towels to prevent drying. Mix all other ingredients (set aside the egg whites) in a large mixing bowl.

Place 3-4 tbsp meat mixture on wrapper, roll, tuck and seal with egg white.

You will have to experiment with the temperature of the oil. Unlike french fries, these need a lower temperature so they cook through rather than brown too fast and burn while the middle remains uncooked. Frying time will vary depending on size. They will be done when the middle is grey/pink. Sorry I can't be more specific.

When I make these I make the traditional VN fish sauce (nuc mam) in addition to having sweet and sour sauce, duck sauce and soy sauce.

Mix 2 parts fish sauce, 4 parts water, 1 part lemon juice or vinegar in a sauce pan and heat to slow boil, add sugar to taste (this is supposed to be salty and slightly bitter). Simmer until sugar is dissolved and cool. Garnish with finely shredded carrot and thinly sliced jalapeno peppers.

Buy Silver Swan Soy Sauce (or any REAL Oriental soy sauce, NOT La Choy or Kikkoman) while in the Oriental market and use the above directions to make a dipping sauce too.

When eaten traditionally, the hot egg rolls are wrapped in a lettuce leaf with fresh shredded carrot, fresh bean sprouts and cilantro leaves then dipped in the sauce and eaten.

If you do not want to make 50 egg rolls, divide the recipe or set aside a portion of the meat mixture for 1-2 days, in the refrigerator. If you don't add the bean sprouts the mixture can be frozen for another meal at a later date.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

*Now that Halloween is gone...*

Thanksgiving and Christmas approach. This is my favorite cranberry relish. I'm going to make a double or triple batch this year and see how well it cans and freezes.

Cranberry Relish

1 lb fresh cranberries
2 oranges, large, seedless
Sugar to taste.

Rinse and sort cranberries. Drain well. Cut oranges in quarters, remove skins from 4 of the quarters and discard the skins. Grind oranges and cranberries in a meat grinder. If you don't have a meat grinder you can try to do a coarse chop in a blender or food processor. Add sugar to taste and allow to mellow in the refrigerator for a day or two before serving.

If you prefer a jellied or thicker consistency you can put everything in a 2 quart saucepan, heat to low boil and thicken with cornstarch OR use fruit pectin and follow the directions for a jam/jelly.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

Good old stone soup! I am reminded by the reminiscings of an old 1930s hobo who told me of a young fellow who knew that the village the hobo jungle sat outside of was rural and picking slim, so instead of everyone fanning out and asking for individual meals, they were assigned to ask for little things: a cup of flour, an egg, a cup of milk, etc. from which they made pancakes for all for lunch. In the evening, it was the same only for soup: 2 carrots, a couple tomatoes, a cup of dry beans, etc to make a hearty veg soup. For his inventiveness, the young man was sorely missed as 'camp cook' when he moved on. I suspect he knew the story of stone soup very, very well.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

I suspect that all of my nieces and nephews have been told this, or a similar, story while helping their mothers make a version of this soup. According to Deb, her daughter's friends couldn't wait for the next sleepover and stone soup dinner. Each girl would arrive with something to add to the soup.

My youngest daughter and I were walking on a fire trail, in the Manistee National Forest (near our cabin in Baldwin, Michigan), while my husband and sons were doing man things in the forest. Leigh Ann found a pretty stone and showed it to me. I told her that it was just right for stone soup and that we should watch for other items to put in soup with it. We found a barley patch in a stump filled clearing and harvested several handfuls of barley which we dumped into one of the pockets on my sweater.

As we continued our walk we found wild chives, lamb's quarter, chickweed, wild leeks, purslane, wild carrot (Queen Anne's Lace), wood sorrel, wild parsips, and some late raspberries (those didn't last long enough to go back to the cabin with us). When we returned to the cabin we scrubbed the stone thoroughly, put it in a pot of water and started adding seasonings. While Leigh Ann added salt, pepper, a bay leaf, rosemary, minced garlic, and a couple of bouillon cubes, I sorted our harvest and cleaned all of the leaf and root vegetables. While the stone soup was simmering we "thrashed" the barley by rolling it with the rolling pin to break open the husks.

Leigh was fascinated by the method we used to remove the chaff from the barley. After removing as much chaff as possible by shaking the barley in a colander, we went outside and poured the barley from one bowl to another and let the wind blow away the remaining chaff. Once the chaff was gone we added the barley to the soup and sat down to discuss the remainder of our harvest.

Leigh Ann had tasted the soup after adding the barley and wasn't impressed with the flavor. I told her that the chives, leeks, carrots and parsnips would add flavor texture to the soup so we chopped them and she stirred them into the soup. Then she asked what else we could put in the soup and I told her that the fiddlehead ferns wouldn't require much time to cook so they would be added about 15 minutes before the soup was done but she could look in the refrigerator to see what else could be used to add flavor and substance to the soup. The chickweed, lamb's quarter, purslane were set aside for a salad.

Leigh Ann found some ground venison leftover from dinner the previous night and asked if she could add that to her soup. After frying it down and adding it she went looking for more ingredients and found potatoes in the crisper, a partial bag of mixed vegetables in the freezer and tomato juice in the pantry. After each ingredient was added she taste-tested. Leigh Ann was young enough that I had to explain, several times, that it takes time for flavors to develop in soup.

By the time the soup was ready to eat, our menfolk had returned from doing whatever they were doing and they were hungry. Leigh Ann proudly told them that she had made stone soup and would share with them. During dinner she told them the Stone Soup story as I had told it to her while she was making the soup. The boys (3 and 4 years older than she) teased her about not having made stone salad while she was at it. She told them that was their job.


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## Firelance (Nov 5, 2012)

This is my favorite. “The Cheesy Leek and Mustard Soup”
Ingredients
Serves: 4
675g (1 1/2 lb) leeks, washed and sliced
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 medium potato, diced small
1 large carrot, diced small
1 knob of butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1 heaped teaspoon mustard powder
2 teaspoons cornflour
1 vegetable stock cube
30g (1 oz) Gruyere cheese, grated
60g (2 oz) mature Cheddar, grated
1 small carton (225ml) double cream
1.5L (2 1/2 pints) water, or as needed
salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation method
Prep: 15 mins | Cook: 1 hour
1. In a large pot over medium heat, saute the leeks, onion, potato and carrot in the butter and olive oil for 10 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.
2. Mix the mustard powder and cornflour with 100ml water to make a thin paste. Set aside.
3. Season the vegetable mixture with salt and pepper and sugar. Stir in the mustard-water mixture and the remaining water. Bring mixture to the boil. Stir in the stock cube, reduce heat and simmer for about one hour, until reduced by half.
4. Using a hand blender or food processor, puree mixture until frothy but not completely smooth.
5. Return this to the pot and bring to the boil. Stir in the cream, Gruyere and Cheddar cheeses. Heat until cheeses melt, do not boil. Serve hot.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

Yummy! I'll have to try this after I go grocery shopping next week. Will need to get the leeks and cheeses.


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## AuroraHawk (Sep 12, 2012)

*A whale of a recipe... *

For those who wish to try something different:

Alaskan Whale Stew

1 (105 ton) blue whale - skinned, boned and cubed into bite size pieces (will take about 3 weeks)
104 lb. salt -sea salt for better flavor
52 gal. Tabasco sauce
2 tons onions - finely diced
40 tons fresh tomatoes - cored and quartered
4 tons celery, chopped (include leaves)
76 lb. black pepper corns - cracked or course ground
36 tons potatoes - pealed and diced to 1 inch cubes
24 tons carrots - pealed and chopped into bite size chunks
2 tons pearl barley

Dump cubed whale, salt, pepper, Tabasco Sauce, quartered tomatoes, diced onions, and 5 bouquet garni (see below) into an Olympic-size swimming pool. Cook at 350 degrees for 4 days, stirring hourly with kayak paddles. Remove bouquet garni. Add carrots, cook another day, stirring hourly. Add diced potatoes and pearl barley, cook additional day. Serves: Population of Alaska or about 700,000 people.

Bouquet Garni:

1 Bay laurel tree
5 rosemary plants
10 Oregano plants
10 Marjoram plants

Remove roots from all plants, and rinse thoroughly, remove branches from bay laurel tree and divide into 5 bunches. Bundle all plants into 5 bundles and tie with sturdy cord.


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