Healthy Camping Pt1

So many think that when you take food along or cook outside your kitchen that forcibly the quality of your food has to go down, as in unhealthy and bad for you. But there is really no reason for that, whatsoever. As proven by or most recent camping trip and many hikes before that (I made Vietnamese summer rolls on time, put the peanut sauce right into them), you can definitely ‘rough it’ without sacrificing on the food side of things.

This time we only had a few days so it was sadly much shorter than we would have liked. But hey, that was in June (yes, sometimes that’s how long it takes me to get a post completed) and now it’s only August, and even if you are cold easily, camping season extends till at least the end of September.
We set off on a blistering hot weekend where temps here in the Lehigh Valley topped out just short of the triple digit mark, drove through several fronts of thunderstorm and heavy downpour ( there was an inch of water in my kayak by the time we got there! ) up to the Catskills which proved to be cooler and therefore much more agreeable with everybody. Oh and the best part? It did not rain one drop once we got there!

We went with friends and the cooking duties were split evenly: we were responsible for one dinner and one breakfast.

But first, here are some general guidelines for meal planning, away from you regular kitchen:
Use seasonal produce for fresh and healthy meals. Most produce can be kept at room temperature for a period of time ( unless it’s berries, which we did put on ice in the cooler) Things like cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, apples, grapefruit, oranges, watermelon , cantaloupe , red bell pepper, onions or green beans, even kale if wrapped in a moistened paper towel before put in a plastic bag will happily keep a while. And if you end up having more space than expected, you can always store them on top of the rest in your cooler. ( don’t refrigerate your tomatoes or bananas)

Breakfast:

Mix up the dry ingredients for pancakes and store in a zip top bag, all you need to add is the liquid stuff (a liquid like milk, oil and eggs, if you are making them with eggs)

Omelettes are always a good choice, easy and versatile that can be made with pretty much anything added.
Desert: doesn’t have to be roasted marshmallow or smores either, branch out. Try fruit salad with watermelon or mixed berries with yogurt the first couple of nights. Yogurt keeps fairly well, it’s fermented. Folks used to turn milk into cheese and yogurt in order for it to keep before there was no refrigeration. Keep it cool, but you can also bring it along for a picnic on a hike, no need to panic about it. When you get down to the end of your supplies and the more delicate things are gone, make these chocolate bananas over the fire. Or make a fruit compote topped with granola for crunch!

Dinner choices beyond the hot dog and chips: Pieces of meat are healthier than mystery meat in a casing. That said this time we did have chicken sausage the one night. Carl at the farmers market is a sausage genius and I know for a fact that his chicken sausage is made from chicken breast he sells right there alongside the sausage made from it. Steak, pork chops and chicken breast can all be easily grilled but need to be kept cold on ice in your cooler until you are ready for them. In my experience, meat, like ground beef, sausage or steak. (Oh yes, I said we did it in style, didn’t I?) keeps well right on the ice or bottom of the cooler, submerged in the water. To make doubly sure and make it keep longer, freeze it solid at home, then place in a zip top bag to keep it from getting ‘watered’ or in one of those Rubbermaid ‘take alongs’ (storage containers), they seal the water out and keep the meat inside cool and dry. You can cook chicken breast pieces in an aluminium foil pack with vegetables and seasonings included. Potatoes do well cooked that way, too, although they do take a while, sweet potato seems quicker.

Oh and remember, aluminium foil is your friend, as is a good set of grill thongs and a mitt 😉

imageWild Blue berries along the hiking route

Serves 4

Breakfast:

We decided to go with an omelette with spinach and feta for sustenance and flavor. I cooked these over a camp stove, not the open fire. And it ended up being easier to make one at a time since the pan i have, makes it hard to put more than 3 eggs on at a clip and still have it cook through. Wasn’t a problem at all since other really only takes minutes to cook.

Basic Spinach Omelette:

  • 12 eggs (3 per person)
  • Spinach ( about 2 hand full per person)
  • 4 oz Feta Cheese, cut into 1/2″ cubes

Variations on a theme:

  • Use Swiss Chard or Kale, instead of Spinach
  • Add some deli ham, or prosciutto for additional flavor
  • Use cheddar, Fontina or Swiss instead of Feta

imagewith Fontina and Prosciutto

This one’s with Swiss Chard from the garden & Ham

Desert:

© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

Grilled bananas with chocolate

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 And for an easy camping desert, bananas with chocolate:

  • Cut in to the top of the banana, making sure not to cut through.
  • Use 1 row of fine quality semi dark or milk chocolate (Lindt is excellent) and push the single pieces into the top of the banana
  • Wrap in a rectangle of aluminium foil: Place banana in the center, flip the foil up on both sides and fold down twice, then fold in ends
  • Place on a hot grill until bananas are tender and yield gently to the touch, about 10 to 15 minutes (depends on the heat of the embers)
  • Carefully open packets, and eat with a spoon. Careful very hot!!

Waking up to sunlight…

image…and some lovely scenery from the kayak cockpit!

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Looking up through the rocks at where we will end up, after the uphill hike. And of course I had brought some Trail mix Granola Bars!

imageSunset Rock, overlooking North South Lake. You can’t see it from here, (I know this from the map) out of sight, off to the left there, are the Kaaterskill Falls, the lake water drains over the rocks into a fantastic multi level waterfall

© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

Peach Orange Corn Muffins

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I love the taste and texture of corn bread, and corn muffins are very close, but there’s always like 5 sticks of butter in those cornbread recipes, and while I decidedly like butter, I think there is a limit before the result is more of a garden variety of ‘fried food’ as opposed to a bread or muffin (don’t even mention what it might do to the inside of you) So that needed to be fixed, but I did not want to sacrifice the awesome moist crumb that so often is characteristic of buttery muffins, so what’s a hungry girl to do? First of, I asked myself, is it really the butter that makes them moist? I mean, have you mashed a banana lately? Or cut up some peaches? There is quite some liquid in there, so off to the kitchen we go and since I had frozen peaches on hand…

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I know, I known… Let’s back it up a minute here, I know what you’re thinking, ‘does she know it’s summer?’ Ehhm, yes, it’s quite hot, so… but here’s how it happened: I couldn’t resist to buy one of those whole pecks of ripe peaches at the farmers market the other week, it smelled soooooooo good! I know you would have bought it too. And since they were only a day away from spoiling, I had to chop and freeze most of them right away. (For the record, I did have some fresh peaches on the side). So there I am with my frozen, sliced and chopped peaches, and heck yes, I was going to use them.  But drop the butter, use dairy instead, yes maybe the fromage blanc I made, to keep it soft and moist without the butter.

After some near fails (the ones that collapsed totally the moment they came out of the oven) I nailed it and here is your healthy, yet moist and airy corn muffin with peaches. Yes it is both low fat AND low in sugar. I think you just need to go over to the kitchen and try a batch yourself!

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Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup fromage blanc, made from whole milk*
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped frozen peaches, bite size chunks
  •  1/2 cup milk
  •  1 extra large egg (or two smaller ones)
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp turbinado or granulated coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil, liquid
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp orange zest, (if using dried reduce to 1/2, or you could use natural orange essence or flavor)

* I have also successfully made this using half greek yogurt, half sour cream, about  3/4 cup each, plus or minus

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  2. Remove the peaches from the freezer.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and baking soda and 1/4 cup sugar and set aside.
  4. In a separate large bowl, mix the egg(s), fromage blanc (or yogurt and sour cream), milk, coconut oil, orange zest until well blended.
  5. Add the wet mixture to the bowl with the flour, stir just until combined, then stir in the peach pieces and divide among 12 prepared muffin cups. (Line them for easy cleanup)
  6. Bake 24 to 30 minutes or until the tops are beginning to brown and the center is set.
  7. Let cool in the muffin cups for 15 minutes before digging in (it seems to help the muffins not stick to the paper liners like mad), then you may devour them and claim the muffin tin only made 11 9 muffins or finish cooling on a rack and share. Enjoy!

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© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

Raw ‘Pasta’ Alla Checca

imageServe up some summer!

‘Alla checca’ is one version of a classic Italian summer fresh uncooked tomato sauce. Dreamed up in Italy, when the summer sun ripens tomatoes by the minute and you just don’t want the extra heat nor want to spend much time indoors cooking sauce. When tomatoes are at their ripest and most flavorful, you want to give this recipe a try. Use either your own fresh picked tomatoes or something pretty from the farmers market, no watery, flavorless kind from the store will do here.

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Summer Bounty!

To take this a step further, I omitted the pasta and went with another summertime favorite that abounds in gardens this time a year, summer squash. Using Julienne cut zucchini and yellow squash instead of noodles, this is THE best dish of the summer. Low in calories, refreshing and oh so yummy! And the colors were so vivid and bright, I just kept looking at it, until my whole kitchen smelled like the garlic I used and hadn’t cleaned up yet;) Not as bad as the one time my whole house smelled like onions for a week, because of my over zealous helper, but more on that some other time…

Use it as a vegan main meal or serve some meat or mozzarella cheese on top or alongside. A crusty slice of bread would go well here too.

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Ingredients

  • 2 medium summer squash (I used one zucchini and one yellow, for visual appeal and because that’s what I had)
  • 2 to 2 1/2 cups of tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  •  2 tbsp capers
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup black olives, preferably niçoise
  • 1/4 cup basil leaves
  • fresh ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

Special tools: Julienne peeler

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Directions

  1. Julienne the squash like such, set aside in a medium bowlimage
  2. Chop the tomatoes, add the garlic, capers and olives, cut into pieces if big, grind black pepper over top and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss to mix the sauce ingredients. Let stand for about 5 to 10 minutes to let the tomatoes release some of their juices, then salt to taste (I find that with the olives and capers, I need hardly any salt)
  3. Roll the basil leaves and slice into thin long ribbons, add about half to the dish, toss. reserve the rest for topping.
  4. Divide the cut zucchini and squash on two deep paste plates (as a main meal, four if served as a side) Top generously with the ‘alla checca’ sauce and some more basil, serve and let everyone grind some more pepper on top, if they like.

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© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

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I wanted to make eat something sweet, desert, something baked, with that slight crunch when you bite it, so chocolate or ice cream was out… muffins, maybe. But i really needed to make breakfast. So in order to consolidate those two goals, it had to be at least somewhat on the healthy side, like cake was out. After some pondering and some back and forth I decided on blueberries and oatmeal. Oatmeal had to be in there due to its breakfast-y-ness and well, it’s also kinda good for you, or so I am told 😉

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My first attempt was a fat-free (besides what was in the egg) version. Well let’s just say they, we don’t talk about those around here anymore… Happy to say that by attempt two I was cured of that idea and came up with these, a low sugar blueberry muffin.

I know many of you folks are looking for low fat versions, and fret not, I am going to figure it out a good one that works soon, I am not giving up that easy. Just be wary of anything at the store that’s labeled fat free or low fat. That claim to fame is usually pretty short lived when you look at the facts. Pretty much all store bought items that are low in fat automatically are high in something else (sugar to name the least offensive option).

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
  • 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar or maple syrup or agave nectar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 to 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

*use less liquid if you are using all purpose flour

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Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350º F
  2. Prepare a standard muffin tin with cupcake liners, set aside.
  3. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, set aside.
  4. In a medium bowl, beat butter until soft, add sugar and stir until incorporated, then add the eggs, add the milk and vanilla extract.
  5. Add the wet ingredients you just mixed up to the dry ingredients and stir just until mixed, then add the blueberries and gently fold into the dough.
  6. Divide among the prepared muffin cups and bake until golden and a toothpick tester comes out clean, 20-24 minutes.
  7. Let cool in the muffin pan on a rack for 20 minutes before removing the muffins.

Makes 12

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© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

Grilled Rosemary Focaccia

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Craving bread is what I remember when I first moved to the United States, the kind of bread I had taken for granted back home. I seems that when you’ve only lived in a very limited part of the world, you automatically assume, everyone in the western world does things the same way, including breakfast. I had been to Asia and knew that in some eastern cultures anything goes for breakfast (Remind me to write about this awesome rice soup I had in Thailand sometime), but I guess I somehow figured that the western cultures, namely central Europe and the US, where very similar and it came as a surprise to find that in my new home, no, there was no bread to be found. 🙁

In Switzerland, a normal breakfast is bread. Slices of crusty bread, with butter, meat, cheese or homemade jams, or delicate buns or croissants. Depending on the day of week, the region, your mood or the time of year there are countless variations on the theme of bread (oh yeah, there are some awesome pastries too). And when I first moved here, I could not handle eggs for breakfast, just couldn’t stomach it in the morning and I was looking for bread. By now, luckily there are bakeries that offer ‘artisan’ breads and it’s possible to get similar items in many grocery stores across the country, but for the first few years (and I did not live in a large metropolis), it was me trying to recreate breads to glimpse a taste of home. Can you tell, I was homesick sometime? 🙂 Well that’s a long time ago and I have successfully recreated and made many breads, using available ingredients to make up for what I was told was not available quite the same way. But I digress, all I really wanted to say here was this, I love bread! Fresh baked, crusty bread; and the smell of it, it just makes me happy.

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So summer can be a bit of a trying time, when it stays hot for months here and heating up the house by using the oven to make bread just seems silly. So what is a bread loving girl supposed to do? Take it outside, that’s right! Now, I have played with the thought of building a stone oven out back, but due to space constraints (I want to keep my little raised bed garden, after all) lack of knowledge and mainly proper mason skills, I have had to abandon that thought, along with the flock of backyard chickens… for now.

Next best thing? Use the grill! I have had this pizza stone sitting around. I had used it sometimes to bake bread on, but after some internet research felt I could give this a whirl. After all, if the darn thing breaks, I thought, I just end up with more space in my cabinets. But after three or four tries, it’s still whole. Preheating gently seems to do the trick 🙂

This makes one round, flat loaf of about 10″ diameter. Keeps me happy for three to four days, that’s saying you could make it as a bread to go with a dinner for four.

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Ingredients

  • 1/4 up sourdough starter from the fridge
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1 cup bread flour
  • 1 cup spelt flour
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, cut finely
  • coarse sea salt for sprinkling on top

imageDirections

  1. In  a large bowl, stir the sourdough with 1/2 cup warm water
  2. Add the flours, salt, rosemary and remainder of the water (If you are using all purpose flour, 1/2 cup total might be enough) mix together and knead until a smooth dough forms. Form into a ball and let rest in warm spot until doubled in size.*
  3. Shape into a flat round, about 1″ thick, place on a corn flour dusted pizza peel and let rest in a warm spot for another 20 minutes to half and hour before proceeding. (You want the dough to raise again after shaping)
  4. Place the pizza stone on the grill and preheat on low, indirect heat for 10 minutes.
  5. Right before baking, dimple the surface of the focaccia with your finger, brush or spray the surface with some olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt and more rosemary if desired.image
  6. Slide bread off of the pizza peel onto the hot stone and cover the lid. Turn the burners under the stone on, but at low flame for 10 minutes.
  7. Then turn up the heat to medium, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the bread is done and sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of it.
  8. Remove the bread and set on a rack to cool completely before serving, (leaving the stone in place as you turn off the grill) and enjoy!

* The time for this depends on the warmth as well as the level of activity level of your sourdough. In the summer this takes about an hour, and I sometimes will place the covered bowl outside.
image© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade

Edith’s Quinoa Pilaf

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Once upon a time, it was during a rather difficult time in my life, my dear friend Edith introduced me to quinoa. At a time when I really needed good friends, she was more supportive than I could ever have wished for a friend to be. We all have times where we have to lean on others to be our strength, depend on others or where we just need to have someone’s support and company. I spent some long evenings over at her place and on one of those occasions, I helped her whip up a simple Pilaf that can be used as a vegetarian main or as a side.

imageHere a meal made possible by friends 🙂 Quinoa Pilaf and grilled buck tenderloin from my friends Rebecca & Marc

I am not claiming that this is exactly the way she made it, since who knows how well my memory serves me, and I have made various versions over the years, but to this day, anytime I make this dish, I say a little prayer of thanks to her and it warms my heart to know that I am blessed enough to have good friends that are there for me, when I need it most 🙂

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Ingredients

  • 1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
  • 2 cups shiitake mushrooms
  • 1/2 lb (1/2 pack) frozen mixed vegetables (peas, corn, baby lima and green beans)
  • 1 pack Tempeh, cut into cubes
  • 3-4 tbsp Shoyu or Tamari (Soy Sauce)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • coconut oil for cooking

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Directions

  1. Carefully rinse the quinoa in several changes of cold water to remove the saponins. (If you have a really fine meshed sieve, you can use that).
  2. Place in a medium sauce pan and cover with water by 3/4″ (You are adding about 2 cups water), bring to a boil on medium, then cover and simmer until done and most of the water is absorbed.
  3. In the meantime, place tempeh in a dish and drizzle with Shoyu or Tamari Soy Sauce, set aside to marinade.
  4. Cut the stems off of the mushrooms, then slice the mushroom caps, set aside.
  5. Heat some coconut oil in a big skillet, and add the tempeh pieces, (don’t pour the soy sauce in, pick the pieces out) reserve the soy sauce.
  6. Cook until browned on one side, then flip each piece and cook on the other side.
  7. Add the mushrooms, soy sauce, 1/2 cup water to the skillet and cook until the mushrooms are tender.
  8. Add the frozen vegetables and cook until heated through. Combine the cooked quinoa with the mushroom and vegetables, and serve.

image Here’s to good friends and those unexpected people that are there for you an of course the good food that connects us all!

© 2012 SimpleHealthyHomemade