One Pan Wonders – The book is now available!

Actually I did wish DicentraOPW the best and as I said I do understand… please read Roger's quote of my post (it's right above yours).

I also don't view either Dicentra or Sarah as competition, and I never have, as our styles are so vastly different.

Dicentra doesn't use dehydrators, Sarah uses freezer bags and a combination of home-dried and pre-dried, store bought ingredients and most of my meals are homemade, from scratch and dehydrated.

Laurie, since you do enjoy visiting my sites on a regular basis, I would have thought you might have noticed that I promote all kinds of trail cooking – from FBC friendly meals to one pot meals. My cooking videos showcase both styles.

And while Di's book does not call for a dehydrator – she does show dehydrating on her site – as well as how to buy the items easily online. (Which I show as well)

It is so nice of you to be concerned Laurie. Gosh, I feel warm and fuzzy inside that you care so much.

Laurie visits my site often too. It is always a good idea to keep a keen eye on the competition, so I can hardly blame her.

The BOOK contains no recipes that require a dehydrator, but I *DO* do blogs and recipes on the site that use one. I'm not denying that it is a great resource, just not one everyone has or wants.

ETA – Thank you everyone for the words of congrats! :)

Hi Dicentra,

A question about you book – Do the recipes in them require an oven or buying dehydrated food?

It depends on what you mean by "buying dehydrated food".

For example, a lot of the recipes call for "dried vegetables" but this can come in the form of soup mix (from bulk bins) or from a packet of Knorr soup. NONE of the recipes require running a dehydrator and ALL of the recipes are made with ingredients I can walk into a grocery store and purchase.

That said – not everyone is as lucky as me to have great grocery stores. I live in the Seattle area and have Asian and Hispanic markets available as well as main stream and hippy markets (co-ops) to choose from, so I have also included a list of online resources for those people that don't have as many choices.

ETA – there ARE a couple of recipes that require the oven, but not as a "dehydrator".

See also – the websites Sarbar and I just posted. ;)

Dicentra, thanks for replying.

I am negative about availability of dried vegetables here. Those knorr soups packets dont list the amount of sodium in them so I rather avoid them.

I saw the Food wiki thread. Unfortunately importing vegetables from US isnt economical.

Wish you best with the book.

Somebody pass the popcorn. This thread is starting to get good ; )

Orville Redenbacher

Huzefa,

You can easily dry your own vegetables and there are several methods that work well with a tiny bit of effort. Sun drying or dehydrating (with a food dehydrator, oven or solar dehydrator) are the most effective ways and which one you use depends entirely on what you are drying.

I too am often concerned about sodium… I know here in Canada the sodium is usually listed.

Okay, the Knorr website SUCKS!!

BUT! Amazon doesn't!

Here's one example (with nutritional information) of a vegetable soup mix you could use in place of boullion and dried vegetables.

http://www.amazon.com/Knorr-Instant-Mixed-Vegetable-2-15-Ounce/dp/B000MXTJ70/ref=pd_bbs_10?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1220534690&sr=8-10#nutrition-facts

I am not concerned with my sodium intake (and haven't done the research). Maybe Sarbar can tell me if the amount of sodium in this is good or not – you wouldn't be using the whole package.

Dicentra… on the link you sent it states…

"This package of mixed vegetable soup powder contains added monosodium glutamate."

I know MSG occurs naturally in some products like Maggi and such too.

MSG occurs naturally in "Yeast" or "Yeast additive" or "nutritional yeast" when you see it listed – but that isn't a bad thing in most cases. For me, I try to avoid added pure MSG. But it only affects certain people though anyways. For most people it isn't a issue.

Maggi has added pure MSG to it. Of course one could nitpick…since MSG is derived from natural sources ;-) There are two types of it sold – US and Asian. They have different formulas as well.

As for sodium? Well, for myself I watch it – I have to. In most cases though a meal under 1000 mg is fine for hiking. What one needs to watch is Mountain House meals – 2 servings eaten as one – with 2500 to 3000 mgs of sodium.

In most cases those Knorr soup packets are 4 servings. Divided they are not too bad. I have seen that type Di shows – when imported into the US they have to slap a label on it ;-)

If one uses 1/4 of a bag it might add 300 – 600 mg of sodium to a meal, depending on what is used. That isn't bad overall.

And if you like salt, well just use more ;-)

Before we get too off track here, I just wanted to not that not all of the recipes in the book (and on the website) use pre-packaged ingredients. There is a HUGE variety ranging from "trashy" food (ramen and stove top) to semi-gourmet (chicken cacciatore, chicken tetrazzini)

I just wanted to make that clear, since I know a lot of people are concerned with sodium and the nutritional value of their food.

No need to defend your recipes Dicentra… I don't think anyone intended to make you feel that way. I'm sure that just by looking at the index for the book they will see the great variety. Anyway if someone is concerned they could easily substitute a different product for the Knorr if they were concerned about sodium and MSG.

The reason I mentioned Maggi was, as you are well aware, I have a recipe that uses a small amount of it. MSG can also be found in whey protein concentrates.

What I use for "dried vegetables" is actually the soup mix you can find in bulk bins – nothing in them but veggies (usually corn, onions, zucchini, peas and potatoes).

Laurie, you have a recipe that uses Maggie?? Which one? I don't have a copy of your book.

I investigated sun drying my own vegetables a while back.

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic3080.htm
"Vegetables (with the exception of vine-dried beans) and meats are not recommended for out-of-doors drying. Vegetables are low in sugar and acid, which increases the risks for food spoilage. "

Any thoughts on this? Are there vegetables which can be sun dried but donot spoil.

Huzefa,

Perhaps this should be started as a new discussion? If you'd like to start one off I will post my response there.

Warning: this post has nothing to do with advertising.

I just wanted to document my three trail cook books and where I bought them. We are fortunate to have among us three terrific women sharing fantastic recipes in their excellent books!

My first cookbook that I bought…

Freezer Bag Cooking

My second cookbook that I bought…
A Fork In The Trail

My third cookbook that I just bought…
One Pan Wonders

If you click the above links and buy, then please feed your head and belly.

Laurie, I will start a new thread.

Dicentra et al., sorry for hijacking this thread!

Thank you George.

There are some other great books out there too..

Backpack Gourmet by Linda Frederick Yaffe

and

The Lipsmackin' Backpackin' books by Christine and Tim Conners

Huzefa – no worries! I'm always happy to talk food! lol.

Simple Food for the Pack is another great book.

Dicentra, Your book sounds fabulous and is at the top of my list of things I want. However, I'm taking off on a hike next week and my budget is extra tight at the moment, so I wanted to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting so many awesome sounding recipes online at onepanwonders.com. The ease of your creations will come in especially handy for unexpected or unexpectedly lengthened trips!

No worries! The book will be there whenever you are ready for it. In the meantime, enjoy the site! :) And let me know what recipes you try.