Road Food

My teenage daughters and I are going on a trip in a few weeks to the LA Religious Education Congress.  I've gone for at least ten years and this conference is one of the highlights of my year.  During the conference, I often find myself inspired to take a leap into something that has been nagging at me.  It was at LA Congress several years ago that I decided to write a book.  It was at LA Congress two years ago that I sketched out our food growing plans.

This will be the first year for my teenage daughters and they are excited for the road trip.  We are starting to get food ready now — today it is jerky.  Our hamburger has almost run out, so we ground some chuck roast.  It was the first time we've ground meat and was easier than I expected.  After running the meat and fat through two times it was smooth and even.

After mixing in the spices and curing salt, my husband put them in strips in the dehydrator.  They spent all day drying.  The last step is dabbing off the oil before putting them away.

The hardest part of this lifestyle is remembering things in the evening.  Yesterday evening we had to pull out the jerky out and not forget it all night.  I also had some cream cheese draining in the pantry and some butter to put away.  I've started writing notes on our white board to remind myself, but that only works if I look at the board.