My Blog gets Media Coverage!

Some time ago I penned out a short humorous piece on my hunter-gather experiences when I was living in Canberra. Many months later after i'd moved from Canberra to do my fieldwork in Central Australia I saw that my university student newspaper was seeking submissions for their monthly magazine. So it sent it to them:


Diary of an urban hunter-gatherer cyclist | Woroni

Within days of it being published on the magazine website I got a call from a journalist from the Canberra Times wanting to write a similar piece and wanting to interview me as an 'expert'. This was all quite surreal, particularly since Canberra felt like a world away. While I was being interviewed I pointed out that much of the information they were after could be found on this blog. 
Anyway this is the article that appeared in the weekend edition of the Canberra Times:


Gatherers Hunt Free Tucker Ripe For the Picking

Note some of my apparent quotes I never said at all (like the thing about Kangaroo grass), but I guess there is always going to be some journalistic licence. 

Low Fat Instant Hot Chocolate Mix (with Variations)

In many overseas countries i've noticed there are a huge range of instant hot chocolate mixes available in a multitude of flavours. By instant I mean all you need to add is water and you have a cream hot-chocolatey beverage. In Australia though all our hot chocolate mixes require to be mixed with hot milk (except for Jarrah brand hot chocolate which I personally detest as it has artificial sweetener in it that tastes horrible to me).

This isn't so great if you are camping or doing fieldwork outdoors like I do everyday. So i've come up with these recipes to make my own. Homemade is even better that bought anyway as it is easy to adjust the ingredients to your taste or to make them lower fat or lower calorie as necessary.

For all these recipes simply stir together the ingredients and store in an airtight container for future use. To make hot chocolate then just add 3 tbs of hot chocolate mix per cup with boil water and stir.

Basic Skinny Hot Chocolate Mix

1 part hot chocolate powder

5 parts skim milk powder

Hot Coco Mix

1 part coco powder

1 part sugar

10 parts skim milk power

This recipe can be adjusted to have less sugar or to have an artificial sweetener instead if that is what you'd prefer.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Mix

1 cup Hot Coco Mix or Basic Skinny Hot Chocolate Mix Powder (see recipes above)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon all spice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground chilli powder

Amount of spices can be adjusted to suit your taste.

Homemade Mexican Refried Beans

I have previously bought refried beans in a can from the supermarket for my Mexican dishes. Last night though I wanted to have soft tacos and didn't have any so thought i'd try making my own. It is a bit of fluke because i didn't look at any recipes, but this turned out absolutely delicious!

Makes approximately 1 cup of bean paste.

Ingredients

1 can red kidney beans drained

1/2 can chopped tomatoes

sugar

salt

tabasco sauce

sprinkle of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

1. In a saucepan put kidney beans and tomatoes and heat until tomato juice starts to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.

2. Using a potato masher mash mixture while it cooks. The texture to aim for is a mostly smooth paste with a few lumps. Mix as you do this. The whole mixture should thicken due to the beans becoming paste as well as water from the tomatoes boiling off.

3. Season with tabasco, spices and salt and pepper. Note if you accidentally add too much tabasco then add more sugar to counteract it. Mix though

4. Once the mixture nice and thick and fully combined remove from the heat and serve warm.

Great as a side/filling in a variety of Mexican dishes.