When I was younger I used to use sourdough starters and friends used to give me friendship cake starters and the like. I had one starter that lasted over a year.

My first batch will be from Chef Emeril Lagasse’s recipe for a Potato Water Sourdough Starter. If it works for me then I will start playing around with my own ideas. I have a few concerns because our house is an 130 year old, drafty, Victorian gem.

Once I get through doing this at home then I will try using sourdough to make bread on a backpacking or paddling trip.

building the oven

On Sunday our family celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, albeit a day early, in Algonquin Provincial Park. Believe it or not, we cooked two turkey breasts in an oven that was made out of a cardboard box lined with foil. Instructions on this are in my wilderness cookbook, A Fork in the Trail, in a small chapter related to campground and base camping.

While Bryan, my darling husband, built the oven I prepared homemade cranberry sauce using fresh cranberries, valencia orange juice, black pepper and sugar. I also made stuffing which consisted of Calabrese style Italian bread, diced/cooked Oktoberfest sausage, onions, apples, crimini mushrooms, salt, pepper and sage. Oh and butter too. I baked this in something called an Outback Oven which is a camp oven for backpackers.

the finished product

I put bits of butter and rubbed sage under the skin of the turkey breasts and placed them in an oven bag and then in a pan. This got placed on the rack we suspended inside the oven. The cardboard box oven ran at 350ºF.

How?

Well you preheat 10 charcoal briquettes in a campfire for 15 minutes and then place them in a pie tin at the bottom of the box. The pie tin has to be sitting up on a few rocks so the air circulates. It is pretty accurate but to maintain the temperature you have to replace the charcoal every hour.

It worked out really well. We also roasted sweet potatoes, baby carrots and baby yellow potatoes over the campfire. I forgot to turn the potatoes so, as you can see from the photo, some of the skins were a little dark.

I also received some big news on the weekend from my publisher. The proposal for my second book, Another Fork in the Trail, has been officially accepted. The trail cookbook will be on the shelves in Spring 2010.

daikon radish sprouts — day four

It’s day 4 for the daikon radish sprouts and I’ve noticed that these grow a tiny bit slower than some of the other varieties I’ve grown. With that said, they should be ready for consumption tomorrow. I can’t wait.

Daikon radish sprouts have a mild radish flavor. Next time I might try China Rose radish sprouts which have a bit more bite. The China Rose variety are also quite pretty with a pink hue.

As you can see, the sprouts have little green leaves and the hulls have fallen away. The volume in the mason jar has also increased. These are going to be delicious on a roast chicken sandwich made with some sort of Artisan or Farmer’s bread.

daikon radish sprouts — day three

Well it is the morning of day three for my daikon radish sprouts. I can’t wait until late Monday or Tuesday when they are big enough to use in a nice wrap or on a sandwich.

If you are growing sprouts you have to remember to rinse/water them twice a day. Once they reach the desired size you can stop watering and put them in the fridge.

I thought I’d share a photo of the progress just so you can see how simply and easy this process is.

It is a great thing to do with your young children too. After all, we all remember the seed in the little cup with the damp paper towel and how exciting it was to see it grow.

I’ve been blogging at www.wildernesscooking.com for quite some time now and starting a more mainstream cooking blog was bound to happen sooner or later.  I love to cook and  share my cooking experiences with others which is only fitting seeing as I am a published cookbook author and am working on a second book.

So what’s going on in the Craveable kitchen today?

first day of sprouting

Well I am growing sprouts in a mason jar on my counter. It’s pretty easy to do. All you need is a clean glass jar, a small piece of cheesecloth, an elastic, water and some sprouting seeds.

I started the daikon radish seeds on Thursday around 3:00 pm. I added 1 1/2 tablespoons of sprouting seeds from www.sprouting.com to 1 cup of water in my mason jar. I gave them a swirl and let the seeds rest in the water until about 8:30 pm. Then I put the cheesecloth and elastic on the bottle and drained the water. I sat the jar upside down in a bowl for about 30 minutes to let them drain well.

Friday morning I rinsed and drained them and I am about to do another rinse before I go to bed.

By Monday or Tuesday I should have a great crop of spicy sprouts for wraps, sandwiches, salads or a garnish for soup.

I’ll post another photo later in the day on Saturday or early Sunday morning so you can see the progress for yourself.