by : outdoorwellnessandprep Blog, Food

So Delicious!!

Here’s a follow up post on our awesome roast pork shoulder. We put these babies on the grill and it took about 7-8 hours. It all depends on the sizes of the pieces. We enjoyed a small piece that was ready in about 2-3 hours into the grilling. It was a really small piece, but wow did it pack an explosion of great flavor and tenderness. We basted them every 30 minutes. Our daughter was the “Baster in Charge” for the day, and did an excellent job at keeping the meat moist. The recipe we used to baste the pork was 1 cup of oj, 1/2 cup of oil and 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar. You can absolutely substitute the oj for another juice like apple juice or cranberry.

After these were done, we let them cool (and tried hard not to pick at them!). We then vacuum sealed the portions and dated them. They are right now hunkered down in our freezer. It’s such a great feeling knowing that we have good food in our freezer. We sealed 8 portions, so we have 8 meals at the ready; just add veggies and a salad and you’ve got yourself a feast!

Hope this will encourage you to think about what you can do to have homemade ready meals in your pantry and freezer. It’s better to be prepared and not really need it than to need it and be caught with your pants down!

by : outdoorwellnessandprep Blog, Food

Don’t Worry About What You Can’t Control. Roast Pork Instead!

Hey, hey, hey! Hope the new year is treating you well so far. I think we are all holding our breaths wondering what will 2021 bring. One thing is for certain, we cannot worry about it and be paralyzed by our fears. Worrying about things that may or may not happen is not a great way to spend your time. Am I right? Of course I am! 

You need to start focusing on the things you can control. Your health, connecting with family and friends, starting a garden, learning how to can/dehydrate food, get a food saver so you can keep freezer foods longer, without freezer burn, and maybe starting a new hobby. 

One thing we’ve been doing for a little while now is buying a nice sized pork shoulder, cutting it up into dinner sized portions for our family, and then slow roasting it. We vacuum seal those delicious pieces and feel so good that we have done something to help our family have what it needs. 

Before roasting it, we mix up a rub and marinate the pork overnight. Then while the pork is roasting, we baste it with an orange juice, apple cider vinegar and olive oil mixture. Saying it’s delicious is an understatement! We usually end up eating one portion standing with our hands when they are done. It’s that GOOD!

The rub mix we use is very simple, and you may have all of the spices in your pantry already. How great is that?! The rub is made of paprika, black pepper, salt, ground garlic, ground onion, cayenne, and brown sugar. Simple, right? Mix it up well so there are no clumps, and massage your pork! Put a lot of love into that massage! Place the coated pieces in glass bowls overnight in the fridge. If you don’t have enough room in the fridge for all of these pieces of deliciousness (we never have enough room), you can use a cooler with adequate ice to keep these overnight. Then the next day, you can either use your grill or oven to slow roast these. We have so much that we usually use both. We put the flame on the lowest setting on the grill and about 200 degrees F in the oven. Then the waiting begins. We baste these about every 30 minutes, so do this when you know you’re going to be hanging around the house. 

I must warn you though. The smell will drive you ponkers! You will want to dig in every time you baste the pork, but don’t! Wait until it’s fully cooked. It’s usually 30 minutes per pound total, or until the internal temp of the meat reaches 160 degrees F. It usually takes 8-9 hours to cook these bad boys. Yes, it’s an all day affair, but you won’t be sorry! 

Here’s a pic of what they look like before you cook them. We rubbed the pork with the mix this morning, and they are now in the cooler. We’ll post another pic once these are done. Boy, I can’t wait!

by : outdoorwellnessandprep Blog, Health

Vitamin C

Encapsulated Vitamin C

In the present day, during all of this COVID-19 crisis, people are trying to keep healthy. It’s usually when we get sick, or the threat of sickness, that we ramp up our defenses with supplements and try eating healthier foods. Keeping healthy is something that should be on our daily to do list regardless. I am sure you all have heard of the good foods to eat like your greens, protein, fruit and low to no sugar. 

We try to get our good vitamins and minerals through our food, but let’s face it. The food we are eating today is not as packed with nutrients that the food harvested 100 years ago had. One thing that we drink to help with this is Vitamin C. It’s actually encapsulated Vitamin C.

We were introduced to encapsulated Vitamin C a few years ago, and we’ve been taking it on and off over the years. The way it was explained to me is that you combine powered Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) with a lecithin, either soy or sunflower (we use sunflower), and this allows the body to absorb more of the Vitamin C then regular Vitamin C. A jewelry cleaner – NOT one that you have already used for cleaning your jewelry – is required to encapsulate the Vitamin C with the lecithin so your body can absorb it better. 

There are many articles about encapsulated Vitamin C. You can even buy it already done for you. We like to make it ourselves and will provide you with the recipe we use. Please note, we are not health professionals and just wanted to share with you guys what we do as part of our routine to stay healthy. We believe this has kept our family from getting many colds and viruses that have had many down for the count. We take about half a shot glass daily. Not saying that this is a save-all, but it may help. 

If you do try it, let us know how it goes. 

All of the items can be purchased through Amazon.

Recipe: 

Ingredients/Supplies:

  • Vitamin C powder (Ascorbic Acid)
  • non-GMO Soy or Sunflower Lecithin (can be granular or liquid)
  • Water
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Measuring cups / spoons
  • Blender
  • Jewelry Cleaner (You will have to invest in a new one, and it should only be used for this purpose.)
  • Jars to pour finished Vitamin C
  1. Add 1 level tablespoon ascorbic acid to 1/2 cup distilled water. 
  2. Blend for 1 minute in a blender.
  3. Add 3 level tablespoons of non-GMO soy lecithin or sunflower lecithin to 1 cup distilled water. 
  4. Blend for 1 minute in a blender.
  5. Pour both solutions into ultrasonic cleaner and turn it on for 6-7 minutes. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon. 
  6. Once done, pour into cleaned jars and cover.
  7. Refrigerate. 
by : outdoorwellnessandprep Blog

Welcome to the Outdoor Wellness & Preparedness Tribe!

Howdy folks! Thanks for stopping by our Outdoor Wellness and Preparedness blog! We are excited that you are here! We started this blog with people like you in mind; people that like to experience the outdoors, that like to know how to take care of themselves, and know how to do things if any distressing situations arise. Basically, people that love to keep learning!

Even if it’s all hunky dory, we still like to have the satisfaction of knowing that we can be self-reliant and look for alternatives other than main stream to solve our problems. Even if you don’t know much, this blog is for you!  

In this blog, we hope to provide valuable information on the outdoors, outdoor activities, home/car repair, food/gardening, preparedness articles and tips, handy equipment, and places to check out, and anything that tickles our funny bones. 

If you are like us, you love being outdoors and enjoying nature’s bounty. Sometimes we like to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and see what can be done. We also are very conscious of what we eat and love sharing our love of growing and harvesting some of what we consume. 

We also love learning! We encourage you to share any of your knowledge and what excites you about being in the outdoors, gardening, or being a prepared, self-sufficient person. If you are just getting into it, that’s great too! We’ll all learn something, and we don’t have to do it alone! 

So welcome, and let the fun begin!