Tales from the Field

Susan's Recipes: A Big Thank You to Our Founder

November 26, 2019

Some Adventure Women will remember way back when, in the days when Founder Susan Eckert still had time to pen camping recipes she had perfected before she started cooking up ideas about founding her own women’s’ adventure travel company. She was proud of her cooking skills and wanted to share her favorites with other women and so, in 1981, the year before she founded AdventureWomen, Susan published her own cookbook, “A La Carte: Outdoor Nouvelle Cuisine”.

 

This Thanksgiving, we’re thankful, as always, for Susan’s many talents.

Here are three of her delicious, healthy, and pretty low calorie recipes – just in time for the holidays:

APPLE BARLEY BREAKFAST

Serves 4

This is a hearty and tasty breakfast that will keep you satisfied ’till lunch.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups water

1 cup rolled barley

½ cup raisins

1 cup dried apples

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Dash cloves

PREPARATION

Combine all ingredients

Bring to a boil and simmer 5-10 minutes

Add milk and honey and serve hot!

 

FRESH VEGETABLE BARLEY SOUP

Serves 4

This soup is a meal in itself. It is even more hearty, though, because of the addition of rolled barley (barley flakes- not pearl barley), white potatoes and sweet potatoes. Rolled barley is used because it cooks much quicker than pearl barley (which makes it good at high altitudes also). Rolled barley is not always easy to find, however, and you may have to frequent quite a few health food stores before finding it….usually in bulk.

INGREDIENTS

Broth:

8 cups water

4 vegetable bouillon cubes

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon celery seed

Garlic powder to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

½- ¾ cups rolled barley

Vegetables:

1 small potato

1 small sweet potato

1 small onion

½ cup each of broccoli, carrots, green beans, parsley and mushrooms

1 cup cabbage

¼ cup green pepper

PREPARATION

Chop in ¼ inch cubes all the vegetable ingredients. Put all the vegetables in the pot.

Add all broth ingredients except the barley. Do not be alarmed if the vegetables fill the entire 8 cups of water in the pot. When they cook up, they decrease in size, and remember, it’s a hearty soup—more vegetables than broth.

Cook till veggies are about half done.

Add rolled barley and cook till barley thickens the soup—about 15-20 minutes.

You will want your vegetables to stay crunchy, so be careful that you do not overcook them.

 

BAKED APPLES

These are a natural, delicious dessert which also smell delightful!

INGREDIENTS

Rome Beauty apples

Raisins

Cinnamon

Dried Orange Peel

PREPARATION

Core the apples and stuff them with raisins, cinnamon, and a sprinkling of dried orange peel.

Bake apples at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes or till done. Serve immediately!