Self Reliance Works

Wild Game Recipes: A Better Way to Cook Crab

Fresh cooked crab is a delicacy that most people appreciate. The most well known method is to boiling, either alive or cleaned in heavily salted fresh water, or sea water. We’ve learned to steam crab instead of boiling. It’s a bit more economical, and, in our opinion, gives us better tasting crab. We kill and [...]

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Wild Game Recipes: Dolly Varden Char with Sauteed Onions and Garlic

When I hauled in our first Dolly Varden char of the season, my wife Michelle hit on a great way to prepare it for dinner: In a lidded pan, sauté onions and garlic in butter or olive oil. Lay chunks of fresh fish onto the finished sauté (Michelle pre-portioned the fish into three chunks). Reduce [...]

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Wild Game Recipes: Smoked Panfish (Bluegill, Sunfish, Brim)

Most of my wild game recipes have something to do with the grill. I’m big on flames and wood smoke when it comes to cooking. If you haven’t tried smoking some of the fish you’re catching, then you have new culinary territory to explore. How about smoked panfish? Combine a rod, reel, line, hook and [...]

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Salad Dressing from Scratch – Cindy’s Dressing

Our favorite scratch salad dressing has only one flaw we can find: it lacks a name that sufficiently complements its flavor. We got it from a friend, who had clipped it from a magazine. The publication simply called it “salad dressing.” For lack of any other identifier, we started calling it “Cindy’s dressing.” I turned [...]

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Confessions of a Granola Cruncher – An Even Easier Granola Recipe

Time for another dispatch from the Zeiger Homestead Breakfast Cereal Laboratories. I’ve got a new granola recipe that has currently replaced the others we’ve made in the past because it’s so easy. We got this from a newsletter from the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Center, the region’s Native Health Service. It serves the health needs [...]

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The Thermos: A Plan-Ahead Soup Recipe

Thermos food preparation isn’t limited to plain grain or a single variety of dehydrated food at a time. It can be used to prepare an entire meal. Try this recipe for thermos soup. It’s delicious, easy to prepare, and, if started in the morning, is ready to eat for dinner. The only fuel required is [...]

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Turning Starch to Protein and Other Wonders – Sourdough at Home

February 20 marked an important anniversary in our home, the birthday of a family member whose life nourishes and improves ours. On that day, our family strain of sourdough turned 18 years old.   A batch of “18 hour” sourdough bread under cellophane after first rising. (Photo: Michelle Zeiger) I took the purist approach in [...]

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Confessions of a Granola Cruncher – “Muesli” Recipe

Lately, I’ve been making a new granola that we call “muesli,” as it’s closer in appearance and consistency to that cereal than to “regular” granola. Mark’s “Muesli” (variations on a theme by John Robbins, “Sunny Nutty Granola” from Diet for a New World) 8 Cups Rolled Oats 1 Cup Wheat and/or Oat Bran 1 Cup [...]

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Confessions of a Granola Cruncher – Mark’s Granola Recipe

This is my low fat granola recipe, which I’ve used for years. I no longer remember the original source, but I’ve made enough changes to it that I can probably call it my own now. As you can see, it takes a lot of ingredients. Some, like the steel cut oats, are ones I added, [...]

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Make Your Own Coffee Liqueur

If you enjoy coffee liqueur, like the commercially available Kahlua, Tia Marie, or similar, here’s a way to make your own cheaply at home: Homemade Coffee Liqueur (Kahlua, Tia Marie, etc.) 8 cups sugar 4 oz (weight) instant coffee (15oz dry measure) 4 cups water 1 vanilla bean or 1/8th cup vanilla extract 1 quart [...]

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