It's end times and all I could bring to the party was Pork and Beans Dip and Caraway Crackers. But wait, it's actually good!

I had a blast taking part in this Prepper Cookoff Challenge organized by @canadianrenegade. This is my first contest/challenge I've participated in on Steemit and it was so much fun.

So, let's set the tone and I'll quickly go over the established rules.

Each participant was randomly assigned two main ingredients with the ability to use one other item that could be stored, not frozen. We presumably scavenged these main items and have other components at our end times lodges that we are able to use in very small quantities. Items like oil, spices and dried herbs used sparingly are all allowable.

The items I had to work with were beans with tomato sauce and rolled oats. I opted to also use a can of condensed milk as my third item, thinking I might be able to use that with the oats to make a cracker and turn the beans into a dip, so that was my goal.

I have done very little baking and don't know the results of using different kinds of flour, oats or whatever people use to bake so this was very experimental to me. I used a mortar and pestle to ground up the oats to a relatively fine powdery consistency with bits of the oats still visible. I was thinking about how sweet this was going to be because both the beans and condensed milk are very sweet so I wanted to add some savory flavors to the cracker mixture. I used a very small amount each of whole peppercorn, fennel seeds and carraway seeds and ground those up, added it to the oat flour and then about three tablespoons of the condensed milk. This was all mixed together, with a small amount of water to pick up the loose bits. I did realize that once I started making this that I probably needed a small amount of baking soda, so I scraped the bottom of the pantry shelf and accumulated enough white powdery stuff that was there and hoped that some of it was baking soda 😉 Approximately 1/4 teaspoon was used, very little. I didn't even know if it was necessary, but I added it anyway.

_{^{PEPPERCORNS, FENNEL SEEDS & CARAWAY SEEDS BEFORE GRINDING.}}

I thought I would be able to roll the cracker mixture out and easily tranfer it to a cookie sheet. I placed some waxed paper over it and it looked nice and flat, but it all stuck to the paper and I had to just place pieces of it down by hand. The mixture was very sticky because of the condensed milk and hard to work with and it didn't look very good before I put it into the oven which was set to 375°. After about 4 minutes I was surprised how much they had expanded and how brown the bottoms were getting so I flipped them over to make sure they cooked and browned evenly. I was starting to feel better about it because they smelled good and the unusual shapes were taking on a more 'crackery' looking appearance. I did not put any salt in the mixture until right at the end, I sprinkled some coarse sea salt over them.

_{^{THEY REALLY TURNED INTO CRACKERS!}}
Once I took the first batch of crackers out, which was 1/2 cup of oats and the amount of spices in the picture above, I knew it had worked. They were crispy, definitely had sweetness from the condensed milk, but had a wonderful savoriness because of the seeds and peppercorn. I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were and prepper emergency or not, I would make these again!

Now the beans are another story. I've never heard of canned beans with tomato sauce, perhaps it's regional because all I could find in my scavenging was pork and beans, which I suppose is the same or close enough to it. I was not particularly thrilled with getting these beans because I've never liked them. They are coyingly sweet and I knew that that would be a dominant taste to whatever I did with them.

So first off, I wanted to remove as much of the sweetness as possible and strained the beans, separating as much of the sweet sauce as I could. I then puréed them in a food processor, adding a small amount of onion powder, garlic powder and cumin. The additional spices did help remove some of the sweetness. They were better, but still more sweet that I care for.

And seeing as end times doesn't encourage waste, I decided to use the sauce I removed from the beans in a further attempt at getting rid of the sweetness. I put a little oil in a pan and added a pinch of red pepper flakes to that to create a simple chili oil. I then added the sweet sauce and simmered. I would say it was improved for sure. I then poured the, now, chili sauce over the bean purée, plated the crackers and was ready to party!

_{^{THE FINISHED DISH.}}

_{^{CARAWAY & FENNEL CRACKERS}}

_{^{THIN AND CRUNCHY!}}

_{^{SWEETISH BEAN DIP WITH CHILI SAUCE.}}

_^MMMMMmmmm!

No kidding. The crackers were fantastic and I would make them again and play around with the recipe and process, but the bean dip...nah. I'm sure some people would like it and it's very edible, but too sweet for me. If someone brought this to an end times banquet, however, I would be super happy.

Thanks again to @canadianrenegade for dreaming up this fun challenge. I learned a lot and can now add crackers to my bag of tricks!

Thanks for stopping by!

See you next time, @tacostate

ALL ORIGINAL CONTENT.