Pioneer Food

We haven't done many of the crafts that correlate with our history reading about the US moving westward. But there were 2 recipes that we decided to do.

Bacon Stew - taken from Life on the Oregon Trail by Sally Senzell Isaacs

• 1 cup of rice
• 2 cups of water
• 1 small onion, cut up
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• dash of pepper
• 4 slices of bacon
• 1 16-ounce can of red beans

1. Put 2 cups of water in a pan. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Bring the water to a boil.
2. Add the rice to the boiling water. Lower the heat, and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for about 20 minutes until all the water is gone
3. In another pan, heat the oil.
4. Cook the onions in the oil until the pieces are almost clear.
5. Pour the beans into a strainer and rinse them with water.
6. Mix the beans into the onions. Add the rest of the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Heat for 10 minutes.
7. Fry the bacon in a skillet until it is crisp.
8. Remove the bacon and break it into pieces. Mix the pieces with the beans.
9. Spoon the bean mixture over rice, mix together, and serve.

I didn't really follow the directions. I cooked the bacon in a iron skillet (to be more authentic) and put some frozen onion/celery/bell pepper mix in with it. Then I dumped in a can of Blue Runner red beans. I served it with sausage. This is not really anything new for us since red beans & rice is a typical dish in Louisiana. Daddy doesn't really like red beans and rice, but he said it was the best beans and rice he ever had. It was probably all the bacon grease or he was just really hungry!  He did plate his really pretty though. 


Johnnycakes - taken from Westward Ho by Laurie Carlson

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups yellow cornmeal
• Butter
• Maple syrup

1. Mix the eggs, water, milk, oil and salt together in a bowl.
2. Stir in the cornmeal.
3. Stir it until all the lumps are smooth.
4. Heat the griddle.
5. Put a bit of oil on the griddle to keep the cakes from sticking.
6. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the hot griddle.
7. Fry the cake until it's done on 1 side, then turn it over and cook the other.
8. Eat johnnycakes warm with butter and syrup. This recipe makes about 12 cakes.

We, of course, served it with bacon. They basically tasted like fried cornbread. I made a double batch, but we didn't really like them for breakfast. I froze the rest to have the next time we have beans & rice. Cole even had some theme food since we've been talking about wagon trains on the Oregon Trail.