We were blessed to be able to demonstrate a WonderOven, and two types of rocket stove technology: the Kelly Kettle and a homemade rocket stove made out of cinder blocks. A Kelly Kettle is awesome for boiling a gallon of water in 3-5 minutes. If you need a sustained flame for longer than that, you'll need something along the lines of the cinder block rocket stove.
So I have to tell you a story about the rocket stove made out of cinder blocks. Evidently, the Almighty knew there was SOMEONE attending that fair who really, really, really needed to see a rocket stove in action. It was miraculous that we had one. I first learned about building cinder block rocket stoves from this guy out in Arizona. If you click on that link, he's way smarter than I am and shows you how to run the blocks together. My video below just shows it after it's built.
ANYWAY...the key middle cinder block the guy in Arizona uses, is a pretty common thing in California...so I figured Home Depot is Home Depot nation wide, right? It will be easy to come by in Texas. Yeah...not so much. By the time I'd been to like my fourth hardware place "the morning of.." and couldn't find one, I decided, 'oh well. Guess we won't be demo-ing a cinderblock rocket stove.'
Enter Gemie and Jerry M., the organizers of the event. Jerry woke up at 5 A.M. (!) with the thought that "he needed to get 4 cinder blocks, and knock a hole in the side of one of them so that Kathy can demo a rocket stove." I'm not kidding. This by the way, would be an hour before I even started looking for one, and no, I didn't call them and say "hey, not going to be able to demo."
Is that cool or WHAT? (It's cool AND or WHAT!?!)
So here's the video of our display: https://youtu.be/BeGcIbcAJMA
I should have waited until my daughter the videographer showed up, sorry. Should have opened the lid so you could see the wonderful food we made. But I can give you the recipe! (below). I really prefer freeze dried or dehydrated food with a WonderOven because it's just boil water, dump everything in, cover it up, and be done.
The WonderOven hyperlink in the first paragraph will take you to Joyce Pierce's website. If you buy a WonderOven from her and let her know "Kathryn" sent you, she'll give you a $5 discount. I don't make anything on the deal, but she couldn't figure out how to create a hyperlink for it directly. If you join our yahoogroup: RealFoodStorage, we have directions on how to make your own Wonderoven.
And now, the recipe. Vegan DD says she would figure out some extra spices to load into it. Maybe up the Italian seasoning or the dehydrated bell peppers or something.
Vegetable, Barley and Bean Casserole
1 c. Thrive instant red beans
2 tsp. chicken or vegetable bouillon powder
1 c. Thrive freeze dried corn
1/4 c. dehydrated onion
1/4 c. dehydrated mixed bell peppers
1/2 c. dehydrated celery, or 1 c. Thrive freeze dried celery
1/2 c. pearled barley (I used quick barley cuz that's all I had)
1/2 c. Thrive freeze dried zucchini
1/4 c. Thrive tomato powder
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
All of this will fit in a wide mouth mason jar. In a large saucepan, combine contents of the jar with 6-7 cups of water and let simmer on low heat. If using pearl barley, simmer for 35-45 minutes until barley is tender. If using quick barley, simmer for 10 minutes. If using a WonderOven, bring the water to boil. After it comes to a rolling boil, place in WonderOven, cover up and leave set for about 10-15 minutes. Most WO recipes will tell you you need to keep it boiling for 10 minutes before you off-load into the WO. I've found that not to be the case when you use freeze dried or dehydrated food.
