Domestication in progress

Resourcefulness is one of the traits I’ve always admired about Momma Dunn, a mix of creativity and a positive attitude.  She can make a bad day into a lovely one, and she can whip together a hearty meal out of seemingly random, lacking ingredients.  It’s easy to fill up a grocery basket with fresh ingredients, take it home, and toss it together like a master chef.  But putting together a meal from a limited pantry is the sign of a true kitchen master!

The HI-SEAS kitchen is well-equipped with a mini-fridge / freezer combo, a toaster oven, induction burners, microwave, dishwasher, bread maker, coffee maker and an electric kettle.

Cooking on “Mars” requires some gambling and imagination.  Before I served my first meal, and actually it was the first meal of the mission, I recited a quote by John Wayne, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway!” The dehydrated ingredients seemed so foreign to me.  The first step in cooking here is always add water and wait for the ingredient to rehydrate, which can take several hours.  Though the ingredients are mostly pre-cooked, cooking here takes a similar length of time due to the preparation and experimentation.

The shelf-stable ingredients include freeze-dried meats, veggies, fruits, and powdered dairy.

Initially it was quite intimidating to cook with shelf-stable ingredients, so I was keeping it simple.  Last week, however, I made what the crew dubbed a “taco extravaganza” that included chicken and steak taco options with a traditional spicy salsa and a sweet pineapple slaw.  For some inspiration, I had mission support download and email me the menu for Taco Joint in Chicago.  Here’s a photo of the spread; there were leftovers, still working on the ideal portioning for this group, but at least I am confident with the cooking methods now!

Chicken, steak, yellow rice with black beans, tomato salsa, pineapple slaw, and fried tortillas