D. Walker - The Snacking Dead

Juice of 2 limes (about ¼ cup)

½ teaspoon granulated sugar

Pinch coarse kosher salt

1 jalapeño, seeded if desired and thinly sliced

QUESADILLAS

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

Coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

½ pound spicy pork sausage, casings removed

½ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro, divided

12 six-inch corn or flour tortillas

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about ½ pound)

½ cup sour cream, for serving

1 Prepare the jalapeños: In a bowl combine lime juice, sugar, and salt. Stir in the jalapeños. Let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour.

2 Make the quesadillas: In a large skillet over medium-high heat add 1 tablespoon oil. Add the onion and bell pepper and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until the onions and peppers are tender, 7 to 12 minutes, then transfer to a plate.

3 Add 1 tablespoon of the oil to the pan and place back over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, paprika, and cayenne, and cook, stirring frequently, until the pork is cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the cilantro.

4 Preheat the broiler. Place the tortillas in a single layer on two baking sheets and brush with remaining oil. Broil until toasted, about 2 minutes.

5 Divide the sausage among 3 tortillas and sprinkle each with 2 tablespoons cheese. Sprinkle ¼ cup cheese over another 3 of the tortillas. Top 3 more tortillas each with 2 tablespoons cheese and a third of the pepper-onion mixture. Leave the last 3 tortillas plain. Broil tortillas in batches until the cheese melts, 2 to 3 minutes.

6 Transfer a sausage-topped tortilla to a plate and sprinkle with the remaining cilantro. Top with a cheese tortilla, then a vegetable tortilla, then a plain tortilla. Cut into 4 wedges. Repeat and serve with the pickled jalapeños and sour cream.

The more time passes after the outbreak, the more ingredient substitutions will be necessary. The past is gone—learn to love what you can find now.

T he biters had helped Trey kick his coffee habit,but they kind of dropped the ball on the booze thing.

“Let’s just have a look,” Trey called from the pizza van, pulling over at a roadside bar.

“ ‘Billy’s Topless’?” Pam read with a snort. “No thanks, I’ll wait out here.” She got out of the ice cream truck and practiced with the pizza peel.

The room was murky and stank of stale ick. A neat row of shot glasses, cloudy from evaporated shots, was lined up on the bar. Trey held Pam’s cleaver out ahead of him as he and the kids looked around.

“Aw shit,” Trey sighed.

“Ewwww!” said Ronnie, backing quickly across the room.

Slumped against the kegs behind the bar was a corpse darker than a spoiled banana, its headless neck a withered stump.

“Double-ewwww,” said Ronnie again, nearly tripping over something.

At the foot of a little stage sat the bartender’s head, skin drawn taut and leathery across its angry face. It was snapping its teeth and rolling its eyes. A bottle of Jack Daniels rested a few inches from its nose.

Trey winced. He knew how it felt.

He grabbed the whisky and doused the twitching head. Taking a pull from the bottle, he tossed a match on the head and watched it burn. The flaming alcohol smelled kind of good.

“Sure could use a bite to go with my drink,” he called so Pam would hear.

Pam stabbed at the air with the peel and didn’t respond.

makes 2 cups

2 cups raw mixed nuts (such as cashews, pecans, and almonds)

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

¼ teaspoon paprika

1 Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a baking sheet with a nonstick mat or parchment paper. Place the nuts in a single layer on the baking sheet and roast, stirring halfway through, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. On a separate baking sheet, spread out the sesame seeds and toast until lightly golden and fragrant, about 8 minutes.

2 In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, cayenne, and paprika. Heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar and salt dissolve.

3 Remove the toasted nuts from the oven and transfer to a large mixing bowl. Pour the honey mixture over the nuts and quickly stir to coat. Add the sesame seeds, stir to incorporate, and return the mixture to the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the nuts are golden and fragrant but not dark brown. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside to cool completely. Break up the mixture to serve.

Keep some salty proteins around for when you need to drown your sorrows to help absorb the alcohol. The last thing you need in an apocalypse is a hangover.

C ome on out. It’s not like we’re gonna eat you!”laughed the hairy man with the big shotgun. He frowned. “But we’ll be taking the food.”

A half-dozen thugs had surrounded the ice cream truck. They had hunting rifles, crowbars, and tire irons. Ronnie and Earl had gone off for firewood before they arrived, and Pam was worried they would return at the wrong moment.

“We can’t just give up,” said Trey, hunkered on the truck floor. “This is all the food we’ve got.”

Pam bristled. “What the hell are we gonna do about my kids? If anything happens to them, it’s on me.”

Through the window, Pam spotted movement on the horizon. She grabbed the hot plate, a pan, and some oil. “Get me the microphone for the loudspeaker and switch it on.”

The bandit sang, “Little pig, little pig, let me in.” He approached the back doors of the truck with a crowbar.

“Cover your ears,” Pam told Trey.

BANG.

The booming pop made the bandit drop his crowbar. Then another bang, and a whole volley of reports like a machine gun.

The bandits threw themselves to the ground.

After a few seconds the leader smiled.

“That ain’t no M-16, my friends. That sounds like popcorn.”

The men laughed grimly and stood up again.

But the amplified popcorn had drawn a horde of gluttonous walkers. They lurched over en masse, and attacked the bandits until there wasn’t a single one left uneaten.

When the walkers had wandered off again, Ronnie crawled out of the bushes where she’d been hiding and Trey resumed work on the engine. They’d have to hurry. Those walkers would be hungry again in an hour.

Pam looked around. Where’s Earl?