Salami Veggie Saute

I never get tired of this meal. It's so nice to have a fresh veggie saute with a healthy amount of salami at the end of the day. I go to bed feeling really good and it's very simple and quick to prepare.

2 TB coconut oil
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
4-6 mushrooms, chopped
1 small spear broccoli, chopped
large handful baby spinach leaves
1/4 log salami, chopped
sea salt

Heat the coconut oil in a pot. Add all the chopped veggies (excluding the spinach), as well as the salami and saute until the veggies are soft. Stir frequently so it doesn't burn. If you're cooking over a high, unadjustable heat like a Whisperlite, or a really hot fire, add a couple tablespoons of water half way through to make sure it doesn't burn. In the last few minutes of sautéing, take the pot off the heat, add the spinach leaves, and return to the heat for another minute or so. Remove from heat and stir in the spinach leaves, which will have steamed by this point. Season liberally with sea salt.

The Meat & Muffin Combo

My favorite breakfast on the trail lately has been what I'll call the "Meat-and-Muffin Combo." Essentially, it is just that: meat and some muffin. I've been having hot dogs for breakfast instead of dinner the last couple weeks, and they're really good roasted over the fire in the morning. I'll eat 2 Applegate Farms Grass-Fed Hot Dogs, and half of a Wild Blueberry Flax4Life muffin. I know those aren't really paleo, but I've been short on time lately and haven't been able to experiment with making my own paleo muffins. They're pretty high carb, which is why I only eat half at a time. With two hot dogs, I still feel balanced after breakfast and I have plenty of energy through lunch time. 

Enjoying a glorious morning with a Morning Glory muffin, my go-to breakfast. 

In Northeastern Utah, we are quickly leaving the deep-freeze months where I didn't worry about any of my food spoiling (the days never reached above freezing for weeks at a time) and entering what my co-guides have called "food poisoning season." So I'm starting to rethink the hot dogs part of the combo and looking into other forms of meat. Possibilities could be: 

• grass-fed beef jerky
• summer sausage
• smoked salmon (expensive to eat for 8 mornings every other week)
• pepperoni sticks
• pemmican
• salami (already eat this for lunch and dinner a lot...)
• sardines (also eat this for lunch every day...)

As for the muffins, if you're in a time pinch, I would recommend the Flax4Life muffins. The Wild Blueberry ones are the lowest carb at 20g per half muffin. They're not perfect (the third ingredient is evaporated cane juice, and they use oats, safflower oil, soy lecithin, and "natural" blueberry flavoring, but they require no prep and are at least gluten-free). This week I had enough time to make my own, so I made these Coconut Flour Pumpkin Muffins. They turned out really good and have considerably less carbs per muffin (9g per one muffin, versus 20 g per half muffin). I'm going to take them on trail and see how they hold up*. 

Here are some others I tried, with calorie & carb info:

• Morning Glory Muffins - My go-to muffin. It's an involved recipe, but they're a pretty good meal on their own and worth the work. (For 12 muffins per batch: 225 calories, 12.5 carbs)
• Carrot Raisin Everything Muffins - Very dense and SUPER tasty! (For 18 muffins per batch: 198 calories, 17.5 carbs)
• Paleo "Cornbread" Muffins - Also dense, and they do taste slightly reminiscent of cornbread. They turn out pretty small though. (For 6 muffins per batch: 148 calories, 9.3 carbs)
• Lemon Chia Seed Muffins - HOLY COW! These are SO good. They're a similar density to the "cornbread" muffins, and taste like sunshine. Seriously. Try them. 

Here's a list of others I would like to try!

• Bacon Muffins
• Sweet Potato Muffins
• Banana Chia Muffins
• Apple Cider Muffins
• Sugar Detox Carrot Cupcakes
• Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
• Caramelized Banana Muffins
• Coconut Flour Flax Muffins
• Coconut Cocoa Banana Muffins

*Update: I took the Coconut Pumpkin muffins out on one of my 8-day shifts, and kept them in a locking plastic tupperware (not super space-economical, but I was worried about them getting squished in a Ziploc...and I really don't care very much about how much room my food bag takes up because it's worth being able to eat paleo on trail and not have gut-bending G-n-O (granola and oats) for breakfast every morning). The verdict: They started to condensate inside the tupperware on the second day (they're pretty moist muffins) and I was worried about them molding by the 8th morning, but they didn't. As a temperature gauge, we were in the 60's during the day and high 30's at night. I'll probably have to figure something else out once we get up to the 90's but at these temps, the muffins were fine.

Onion Apple Tuna Bake

This is a delicious, simple, 4-ingredient lunch, although it takes a little time to cook so it might be best for rest days or short, leisurely days. And again, it requires fresh ingredients which makes the pack a little heavier. But the sweet and savory taste of this dish makes it worth it for me to tote around heavy food (it only makes you stronger anyways, right?). I think this dish is best slow-cooked in a bed of coals but can easily be done on a stove as well. I'll make this on trail when we have time for in-camp lunches, nestling my pot in our ever-present giant coal-and-ash pit and waiting about 20 minutes until the apples and onions have softened and all the flavors meld. You can use salmon instead of tuna for an equally tasty meal.

Coconut oil
Half an onion, chopped
Half an apple, chopped
One packet or can of tuna (or salmon)
Sea salt

Put lots of coconut oil in a pot (a couple tablespoons - this is where you're getting most of the calories in this meal since none of the other ingredients are particularly calorie-dense) and heat it until it melts.
Add the onion and apple and sauté, stirring for about 5 minutes.
Add the tuna (or salmon), and mix well.
Cover and nestle in a coal pit. Leave for about 15-20 minutes, stirring every once in a while if you can (not necessary). If you're using a stove, turn the heat down (as much as you can) and continue stirring until it is cooked to your liking.
Season with sea salt.

Hot Dogs

Grass-fed hot dogs roasted on a fire in the morning are one of my preferred breakfasts. I'll have two dogs, some flax and almond crackers, and maybe some sliced cucumber (if it's not sub-freezing in the field) and that will hold me for quite a while. If you don't have a fire, you can put a little water in a pot and boil them. I get Applegate Farms hot dogs which are already cooked, so you don't need to worry about cooking them all the way through, which is nice. Also they have never gotten too frozen that I can't stick a sturdy whittled roasting stick through them, so that's a plus when camping in sub-freezing temperatures. 

Meatballs

I just thought of bringing meatballs on trail the other day and I don't know why I didn't think of it before! It's genius: they're small, compact, energy dense and able to withstand a little bit of a beating in a food bag. Also, they're so versatile you can essentially create any taste you wish: Italian, Greek, Thai, you name it, there's probably a meat ball for it. And if all that's not enough, they're usually pretty easy to make; just throw everything into a bowl, mix it up, and make it into balls. A lot of traditional meatball recipes call for breadcrumbs which can either be replaced with ground flaxmeal (like Bob's Red Mill), coconut flour or almond flour, or just omitted altogether (although depending on the recipe, they might not stick together very well). Some of these recipes call for sauces too, in which case it might be more convenient to just make the meatball and not deal with the sauce.

These are the only meatball recipes I've tried so far, and they're both incredible:

Yummy Greek Meatballs - These are some of the most delicious meatballs I've ever had!
Merguez Meatballs - Merguez is a spiced lamb or lamb/beef sausage from North African cuisine, the inspiration for these meatballs.

These are meatballs I've never made before but am really excited to make and test on trail!:

Easy Peasy Paleo Meatballs - This recipes looks very simple and delicious! A basic meatball recipe.
Bourbon & Cider Glazed Turkey Meatballs
Curry Meatballs
Lion's Head Meatballs - Another curry variation.
Breakfast Bacon & Maple Meatballs
Spiced Pork Meatballs
Spunky Coconut's Baked Chicken Meatballs - Nothing coconut about them...just the name.
Bacon Meatballs
Crockpot Sweet Asian Meatballs
Sundried Tomato Meatballs
Czech Meatballs - Pork meatballs with caraway
Italian Meatballs

Nut & Seed Crackers

Last night I tested out three and a half different types of nut and seed crackers and was pleasantly surprised by all of them. My two favorites are the Crunchy Primal Crackers from Mark's Daily Apple and the Rosemary & Sea Salt Flaxseed Crackers from I Breathe...I'm Hungry... 

Today I took some with me when my dad and I did a spectacular snowshoe hike to Kendall Peak Lakes at Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. I ate them with some chorizo, goat milk cheese, parmesan cheese and baby carrots. It was a really satisfying lunch and a great re-energizer after a long hike to the lakes. We only found one of the lakes and it was covered with snow, but the views were incredible! Surrounded on all sides by snow-frosted mountains and hillsides coated with half a foot of fresh powder.

The key to all of these recipes is to roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, getting it AS THIN AS YOU CAN. It really does make a difference. If you roll them too thick they turn out soft and cakey instead of crisp and crunchy. The Crunchy Primal Crackers and the Sunflower Sesame Crackers still taste good even when a little thick, but the Flax Seed Rosemary Crackers definitely benefit from the thinness. 

One: Crunchy Primal Crackers - I think these are even better than real crackers. They have a really nice olive oil and sea salt taste and the dill adds great additional flavor. You can also do a lot of variations on these crackers. Add a half cup of parmesan cheese if you do dairy. Other additions could be onion or garlic powder, sesame seeds, basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme...

Two: Rosemary & Sea Salt Flaxseed Crackers - The dough for these gets really sticky and kind of messy to deal with. Try and get them SUPER thin...like wafer thin. Also, she suggests on her website that if you want them extra crispy, turn off your oven when you're done, let it cool down a little bit, and return the crackers on the cookie sheets for another hour to let them dry out more. I recommend doing this. Also, next time I make them I think I might add a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, inspired by the Crunchy Primal Crackers. 

Three: Sunflower Sesame Crackers - I could kind of take these or leave these. I added a little salt to the dough in the food processor as well as sprinkling some on top because I thought they would be too bland without. That worked for me, but I still didn't like them as much as the first two. 

Three and a half: Cinnamon Sunflower Sesame Crackers - Add a tablespoon of cinnamon to the Sunflower Sesame dough and blend in the food processor. I think I like the original version better, but it is a nice variation.

If you don't have the time to make crackers, White Lion Baking Co. makes paleo crackers from almond flour. They have four flavors: Cheddar & Sea Salt, Chili-Herb, Onion & Dill, and Rosemary & Thyme. With the exception of the Cheddar & Sea Salt, all the crackers are made with grass-fed ghee (the Cheddar & Sea Salt are made with grass-fed butter) so they should still be ok for anyone not eating dairy.

TR's Jambalaya

I got this recipe from a fellow field staff of mine who is gluten-intolerant. We like working together because we can trade recipes and I always appreciate the nights he cooks because I don't usually have to make something different than the rest of the staff. This is a simple meal but it relies heavily on fresh vegetables. This isn't a problem for us during work because we get food drops, but if you're looking to keep weight down, you can probably do a similarly delicious meal using dehydrated vegetables that you rehydrate. The spice packet is gluten free, but it does have soy in it. 

1 packet Simply Organic Jambalaya Spice Mix

1/2 cup of water

1-2 TB of your choice of fat
1 cup of chopped veggies (onion, broccoli, red or green pepper, etc.)
1/4 cup of chorizo, chopped
1/4 cup of pepperoni stick, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced

Dissolve the spice packet in the 1/2 cup of water and set aside.
Saute the chopped veggies and meats in whatever fat you choose to use (I usually use coconut oil) until tender.
Add the garlic and saute for another minute or two.
Pour in the liquid spice mix and cook for a few more minutes, allowing the meat and vegetables to absorb the flavors, and to evaporate a little bit of the water so it makes a thicker sauce.