What's Cooking at Roundtable (May 2010)

Our chapter was asked to help with a cooking demonstration at the May Roundtable.  Since this was a last minute request Michael and I (Pat) decided to do it alone.  Everyone else was demoing dutch-oven cooking (and pie-makers, a close relative), so we wanted to do something different — backpacking food seemed like the way to go.
We took along three stoves, two gas cartridge stoves and our WoodGas LE Stove.

We made up one of our favorites, Chicken, Raisins, and Cashews. We cooked up a bigger batch before the demo so that people could try it, then we made a single batch to show how easy it is to make.  Here's what you need to do to make two servings (plan on sharing with a buddy since the all chicken needs to be eaten at one meal).

• Assemble ingredients:
  
  
  
  • 1 7.5 oz foil pack of chicken
  • 2 cups instant rice
  • 1/2 cup cashews 
  • 1/2 cup raisins or diced, dried apricots 
  • 1 tsp dried onion flakes
• gather ziplock-style bags: 4 qt, 4 snack size
• find an old stocking cap (this will be a combination hot pad, cozy, and placemat)
• put 1 cup of rice into each of 2 qt sized baggies.
• put 1/4 cup of cashews into each of 2 snack sized baggies
• put 1/4 cup of dried fruit into each of 2 snack sized baggies
• put 1 bag of rice, 1 bag of cashews, and 1 bag or dried fruit into each of the remaining 2 qt sized bags.  (put the foil pack of chicken into one of the bags)

To prepare the meal:

• Boil 2 cups of water (more if you want a hot drink to go with it).
• Place the bag containing the rice in the stocking cap and open the top of the bag.
• Carefully pour 1 cup of boiling water into the bag of rice, seal the bag up (squeeze out most of the air), and gently knead it while holding the bag in the cap.
• Let sit for about 10 minutes, then add half the chicken, the cashews, and the dried fruit.
• Roll the brim of the cap to form a bowl, and set the bag inside it.  Eat right from the bag.

Other than the several baggies and an empty foil wrapper (which all fit into one of the qt sized baggies for packing out), the only cleanup you should have left is your spoon.
What kind of backpacking foods do you like to assemble and take with you?