Cooking instructions:
Preparation (read the whole recipe before starting)
In a 8 quart boiler cover chicken breasts with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove and allow to cool. (The stock you have created can be saved to make chicken noodle soup or chicken and dumplings at a later date by running it through a sieve to remove the scrap. It can be frozen for later use.)
Once the chicken has cooled enough to touch you need to remove and discard the bone and skin. Now the "fun" begins. the chicken must be shredded, or stripped into small pieces. Length does not matter, width does. In order to dry chicken correctly it must be thin. Otherwise it will not reconstitute.
Next Heat enough olive oil to generously cover the bottom of a large skillet (we prefer cast iron). Slice squash about 1/4 inch thick. Dice the tomatoes. Dice the onion. Place the vegetables in the heated oil and added generous amounts of spices. SautŽ vegetables until they are still slightly crisp. Add shredded chicken. Mix.
Meanwhile(if eating at home) Prepare your instant rice per package instructions.
At Home Place Chicken and Squash mixture on bed of rice and serve.
For Canoe Country Dry the Chicken and Squash Mixture in your dehydrator at 155 degrees F. The squash will shrink and lose it's recognizable appearance but do not fear, even though when reconstituted it does not look all that much like squash, it still tastes wonderful. Divide the dried mixture in three parts. Pack the dried ingredients in a crush proof container. We use the cheap "TakeAlongs" containers from Rubbermaid, with out lids and sealed in bags with our FoodSaver. The reason for this is that shredded chicken has a tendency to turn to powder if you do not store it in crush proof containers. Also package the amount of rice you need in separate packages to be prepared the day of the meal.
In Camp On the day you choose to eat this meal place the days portion in a sauce pan and cover with water about three hours before meal time. Place sauce pan on fire grate (unlit) or another out of the way place. About one half hour before meal time, slowly warm the mixture and make reserved rice. When all is ready serve Chicken and Squash mixture over Rice.
Comments:
Amy and I really like to dehydrate our own food. I guess it comes from our backpacking background. When we started backpacking we could not afford freeze dried meals and fresh food is way too heavy. Now that we can afford freeze dried we have decided that we like our own cooking much better.
Here is a recipe that we really like and want to share. We make it in a batch large enough for three two person meals for a 12 day trip. You can adjust it to your needed amount. Unless you are feeding a large number at home do not prepare all of this. Enjoy!
We would also like to add that Amy can not stand squash! But she begs me to make this recipe for home and camping!
