Meat. We all love it. It’s full of proteins, amino acids, and vitamins and minerals that not only help us sustain life, but also gives us energy to burn. Meat and protein are a vital part of any survival situation. Yet many of us have not stored enough meat to sustain ourselves and our families in an emergency.
With “meat” on our minds, we decided to focus specifically on the different types of meat that we can store in our Food Storage pantry’s, as well as include a delicious recipe using Honeyville Freeze Dried Meat. Today we’ll take a closer look at one of those meats, our Honeyville Freeze Dried Chicken.
According to Fooddemocracy.com, the average American consumes 60.4 lbs of chicken per year. Think of it, 60.4 lbs!This tells us two things. One, we eat a lot more chicken than we realize, and two, we probably don’t have a sufficient amount of chicken stored in our Food Storage Pantry’s.
Chicken is a staple meat that can be used in nearly any recipe that calls for meat. Considered a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids the average body needs, chicken is also full of calcium, magnesium, and vitamins A & B. Chicken is also lower in fat than beef or pork, which makes it a healthier alternative in most meals. In plain terms, chicken is a healthy and vital meat that nearly all of us eat on a daily basis.
But even more important that the health benefits, chicken is delicious! Think of it, nearly everyone in your family loves and eats chicken. While most children won’t eat beef or pork, they’ll almost always eat chicken. This is an important thing to remember when stocking up on freeze dried chicken. Take the time to consider the recipes you use every day, and make sure you have enough chicken to not only support yourself, but your family as well.
Okay, enough talk about chicken, let’s get to that recipe! For this meal, we used our Fagor 3 in 1 Electric Cooker to create a delicious Chicken Penne Pasta meal the whole family will love. I also added Millet in the recipe, for additional fiber & protein. And with a cook time of 6 minutes in the pressure cooker, you can’t beat that! Enjoy!
Chicken Penne Pasta
Ingredients:
2 cups Honeyville Freeze Dried Chicken
2 28oz cans Roasted Tomato Dices
1 1/2 cups Water
1/2 cup Honeyville Millet
1 can Black Olives (Drained)
1 bottle Roasted Red Bell Peppers (Drained)
1 Tbsp Chef Tess Romantic Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Rosemary
1 tsp Oregano
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 lb Penne Pasta
1 1/2 cups Honeyville Freeze Dried Mozzarella Cheese
Yields: 8-10 servings
Directions:
In your Fagor Electric Cooker, combine all ingredients, except the Mozzarella Cheese (you’ll add that after the meal is done cooking).
There is really no order to how you add your ingredients, but I typically like to add the Olive Oil first, so that it keeps any ingredients from burning on the bottom.
Don’t worry about re-hydrating your chicken. It will re-hydrate while it cooks!
Place the lid on the cooker, and press the “High” button under pressure cooker on the keypad until 6 minutes appears. Once it does, hit start.
The cooker will not begin to count down until the unit is completely up to pressure, so don’t worry if nothing is happening at first.
While the meal is cooking, re-hydrate your cheese by soaking it in a bowl, then draining the excess water.
Once it is done cooking, release the pressure by turning the steam valve on top of the lid to “Steam” from “Pressure.”
When the steam is completely out, remove the lid and add the re-hydrated mozzarella cheese.
Place the lid back on and let sit for 1-2 minutes while the cheese melts.
Remove lid, scoop out, and serve.
The chicken re-hydrates perfectly in this meal, and because it is cooked in a pressure cooker, the flavor is simple amazing. The aroma will fill up your whole house with the sweet smell of Italian goodness! Believe me, your family will ask for this recipe again and again.
Now that we’ve discussed the importance of Freeze Dried Chicken, check back next Friday as we focus on another Freeze Dried meat!
