TNGun Fan Finder Ad

 

TNGun Fan Finder Ad
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TNGun started as a firearm school where David Nash taught Tennessee handgun carry permit and armed security courses, but as David evolved and matured this site morphed into the Shepherd School and began to teach more than just guns.  The video below is the YouTube fan finder ad for the tngun channel.

The TNGun website showcases all of the Shepherd School YouTube videos in a way that is much easier to search than they are on YouTube.   Besides the videos we have articles and hundreds of free downloads.

The goal of this site is to help people become better prepared and to pass the message that stuff is not enough – you have to have skills and knowledge to complement gear.

I don’t claim to have the best way to do things, and many of my projects are rigged together and make experts in that specific area scream, but they are all real and unedited – and if something does not work I don’t hide it.

I appreciate all the people who visit this TNGun website, my students, and the friends that have helped me grow and do the things I do.  This website is more than just words on a screen, it is my life.

4 Uses of Dry Ice

 

Kitchen DIY: Dry Ice Uses
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Most often I use Dry ice to seal up plastic buckets with bulk food, but there are a lot more dry ice uses a guy can do.

You can also use dry ice to force carbonate beverages, but if you do this it can cause the bottle to explode so be careful.

I have also used it to make fog (which is not a prepper use I guess)

Something else I find to be a fun on of the dry ice uses is if you put cubes of dry ice into a container of rubbing alcohol the CO2 will super chill the alcohol making an extremely cold liquid that replicates some of what liquid nitrogen can do.

How to Frugally Stretch Ground Beef

 

Kitchen DIY: Gound Beef Stretcher
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I try very hard to be frugal, as a matter of fact one reason I put in the work into these videos and articles is so the ad revenue can partially pay for the materials in the projects – otherwise I could not afford to make all the stuff I do. (so please pardon the ads – I prefer them to asking for subscriptions)

One way I can be frugal is to use meat as a flavoring and not a main ingredient – to do so I like to add “taste neutral” things to stretch the meat by cooking them with the meat and letting them absorb the fat and flavor.

My friend and partner in Dual Homestead, James Burnette told me that when he watched this video he was screaming “NO DAVE!” because he is Paleo and thinks adding grains to meat is blasphemous.  However, he did tell me he also uses food as a ground beef stretcher so he is not all bad…

Lots of Options to Stretch Ground Beef

I like to add oats, rice, or sometimes breadcrumbs to my meat when making things like meatloaf or hamburgers – I also do it when making spaghetti (but I don’t use breadcrumbs when I am making something with broken up ground beef – its too mushy).

Depending on how I am feeling – normally that depends on how long till payday – I use 1/3 to 1/2 rice or oatmeal in the meat.

However, when using oatmeal as a ground beef stretcher it can change the texture and make it more dense.  (The way I deal with that is to let the meat sit with a little salt and make a loaf – I then call it Gyro meat – and people think I made it dense on purpose)…

That reminds me that gyro meat is on my list of articles and I really should get around to posting how I do that.

By the way, if you are interested how the paleo punk stretches his ground meat I will share that he uses cabbage.

Recipe: Waffle Cone S’Mores

Recipe: Waffle Cone S'Mores
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This Waffle Cone S’Mores recipe was put in one of my books so I am not going to add the recipe (I have done this before and both my publisher and reviewers got made at me for selling books with content that could be found for free on this site).

however,

i still want to share because it is a really fun recipe for camping (or just in your home oven).

I really like doing this recipe with kids.  Letting your child make their own waffle cone lets them be creative as well as allow them to make choices with little consequence.

These S’Mores are a pretty fun family activity.  Additionally they are a very tasty and kid friendly recipe.

Making this video was a win-win scenario.  I enjoyed making this video, and my son really enjoyed eating the desserts.  Unfortunately, Genny is still on her diet, so I don’t get to make these very much, she says I only cook desserts when I want to tempt her.

I am not the kind of guy to tempt a hungry mamma with melted chocolate.  I take risks, but I am not suicidal.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy this video and take some time to cook with your kids.

Kitchen DIY: Beans as Butter

Kitchen DIY: Beans as Butter
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There are lots of reasons to use beans as butter substitutes in recipes.

The first one is that it is cheap!

A pound of beans is less than a quarter but a pound of butter is over three dollars. Beans are also full of protein, fat free, and with more fiber they make you feel more full with less calories.

They don’t add a bean taste to food, and make a moist cake.

Now, if you aren’t ready to go full bean, mix it half and half with your butter in recipes and make the switch gradually.

I think trying a little is better than not trying at all.

Here are some tips for using beans as a replacement for butter and oil

  1. If your recipe calls for oil, use a bean puree. (cooked beans with enough water to whirl in your blender.) If you simply dump a can of beans (juice and all) in a blender and puree you have it.
  2. If your recipe calls for butter, you are going to use cooked, drained beans.
  3. For substituting beans for both butter and/or oil you are going to use a 1 to 1 ratio.
  4. Match beans to color: white cake use white beans, Chocolate with black beans, It doesn’t affect the taste, but if you use black beans with white cake you will see little spots.
  5. Add the beans however your recipe says to use the butter and/or oil. For example, if your recipe says to cream the butter with the sugar-you’re going to cream the beans with the sugar.
  6. If you are using beans in something like brownies or cookies that are supposed to be chewy, the beans will not make it chewy-it will be cake like. This means if you want the chewiness use half oil/butter and half beans.