Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Pineapple Chicken Casserole

I love pineapple. It adds a perfect type of sweet to a savory meal to make the flavor more complex and more satisfying. Eating well in the backcountry is all about packing in the flavor where you can so you don't go crazy eating the same flavors over and over again. The coriander also adds a nice complementary flavor. 
It's always a little difficult to not eat the entire pan while I'm putting it on the dehydrator trays!
For 4 people (or 2 meals for 2 people)
3 TB coconut oil
1 large white sweet potato, diced
1 large onion, diced
5 large carrots, peeled and grated
2 cups green beans, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. lean ground chicken (or turkey) breast
1 14-oz can crushed pineapple in juice (no sweetener added)
1/4 cup coconut aminos
1 TB ground coriander

Preheat oven to 350.
If your coconut oil is not already liquid, put it in a large (13x9) casserole dish and put it in the oven while the oven is heating to melt it. This will make it easier to coat the veggies with it.
Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables, remembering that smaller pieces means easier to dehydrate and easier to rehydrate.
Once the oil is melted, take the pan out of the oven, add the sweet potato, onion, carrots, green beans and garlic, and stir to coat with the oil.
Return pan to oven and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, or until all of the veggies are mostly soft and cooked through.
When veggies are mostly cooked, add ground chicken, crushed pineapple with about 1/2 of it's juice, coconut aminos, and coriander. Stir to break up the chicken into smaller pieces.
Return to oven and cook another 15 minutes, or until all of the chicken is cooked through and you can no longer see any pink meat.

Let cool about 20 minutes, then spread on dehydrator trays covered in parchment paper and dehydrate 8-12 hours at 150 F, checking several times during this process to break up clumps and turn over. More dehydrating directions found here.

To rehydrate:

Throw it all in a pot, add water until just covered, and let it soak for as long as you have. When ready to cook, bring to a boil (you might have to add more water after soaking) and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Turn off heat, cover pot with lid and let sit for another 5-10 minutes. Open and enjoy!

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

A Lukewarm Springs Camping Trip & Paleonola Review

What's better than hot springs in the middle of winter? Lukewarm springs!


Back in October, Max and I visited Wall Creek Warm Springs (right there in their name they admit they're not hot) outside of Oakridge, Oregon. Although we had been warned by a guidebook that they were definitely not "hot" springs, we decided to check it out because I am definitely not afraid of less-than-hot water. Our plan was to hike nearby Blair Lake and then stop by the springs on the way back. The day we chose was a rainy, cold, wet day and got pretty soaked. We worried on the way to the springs that it wouldn't actually do a sufficient job of warming us up, but we were pleasantly surprised that they were actually quite close to being hot, and we stayed in for a long time, soaking in the sulfur, steam, and old growth trees alongside a rushing creek. There was no one else there, and there was definitely some magic to that little piece of old growth forest.

Warming our hands after packing up in the morning.
So naturally, when we started planning a camping trip with our friends Sam and Dillon, we suggested the warm springs as a destination. Maybe they weren't as hot as Deer Creek or Cougar hot springs, but they were pretty darn warm. What I didn't take into account was the massive amounts of rain we have been getting the past couple months which filtered through the ground and diluted the pool. We arrived excited to have a little soak in the pool before we cooked dinner. Max was the first in, and yelled to the rest of us on the bank, "It's cold!" I didn't believe him. I thought he was overreacting. I tip-toed down the bank and waded in as well. Yikes. Definitely cold. Sam and Dillon joined us, and we were all shivering pretty quickly. But I am way too stubborn in these situations. I love being in water, and I was holding out hope that maybe, juuuust maybe, it would spontaneously warm up. And if it didn't, I would just have to enjoy the temperature it was. Max and Dillon were out in a couple minutes but Sam and I stubbornly stuck it out, trying to find the "hot spots," and digging our feet into the rocks where the heat was bubbling up.

Needless to say we were more than ready for a hot dinner when we got back to our campsite. We built a fire and roasted grass-fed hot dogs for dinner. We used our cast iron (we don't travel light when car camping) to reheat some stir fry cabbage and carrots we had cooked beforehand. I really don't think anything can beat hot dogs roasted to crispy perfection on a fire.

In the morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast of Paleonola with raw goat milk! I've experimented with making my own paleo 'nola's (grain-free granola), but I think Paleonola takes the cake over all the versions I've made so far. My favorite part about it was that there is so much variety in the ingredients! It's not just coconut flakes and almonds slivers like a lot of 'nolas. The Original flavor has almonds, pecans, pepitas, honey, walnuts, coconut oil, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, cranberries, and coconut. I also love what a variety of flavors they have in their line-up: Original, Chocolate Fix, Maple Pecan, Apple Pie, PiƱa Colada, and Pumpkin Pie. I taste-tested the Original and Maple Pecan flavors and, although they tasted pretty similar in flavor to me, they were both so delicious that neither bag lasted more than a day.

It was super filling, especially with goat milk or coconut milk on it. One thing we noticed is that it is easy to feel like you're not eating a lot because it's so dense for its volume. There are supposed to be 10 servings in a bag, but we split one bag 4 ways and it didn't seem like a whole lot of food, even though it was almost 500 calories each (without the goat milk). On the other hand, this does make it perfect backpacking food, because it's so dense. Max and I also ate some pre-cooked hamburgers because I never feel like I've actually had breakfast until I eat some meat. This breakfast kept me super full for the rest of the day and I only had a few snacks until dinner.
Sam and Dillon loved it, too!

If you are looking for a grain-free, paleo breakfast or snack option, Paleonola is the way to go!



Thursday, January 7, 2016

Mirror Lake Overnight & Heather's Choice Review

Last weekend, Max and I took an overnight backpack to Mirror Lake, near Mt. Hood Oregon. It was gorgeous:


We started at the Sno-Park across from Mt. Hood Ski Bowl and had to hike a mile or two back along the side of the road, since the Mirror Lake Trailhead is closed in the winter. Our first day was gorgeous and sunny, although a little windy. We arrived mid-afternoon at the lake, which was covered in snow, but we had an amazing view of Hood in the background. It was still very breezy, with more forecasted wind for the night, so we found a great campsite in the shallow, wide tree well of a fir tree on the shore. We pitched our tent, and then scavenged some firewood from what looked like it had once been a firepit, now just a 4-foot hole in the snow. We used the wood to set up a little cooking area, and some steps leading out of the tree well. The snow was very powdery, and did not lend itself well to permanent formations, but we were still able to make a nice camp for ourselves. The trail, a very popular one, was crowded through the afternoon, but as the sky morphed from light blue to pink to purple to dark blue, the numbers thinned until it was just us, alone next to this beautiful lake.


We cooked up a quick dinner of True Primal canned soup (reviewed here) with heaps of butter, and sat back to watch the silhouette of Hood in front of its changing backdrop. An essential piece of winter camping gear I bring with me is a pot coozie. It's made out of a foam sleeping pad that I fitted to my little pot, and it keeps food from freezing solid before you take your third bite. We didn't linger very long since the wind felt like it was whipping right through our clothes, and we were in bed by 6!

Overnight some thick clouds blew in on the very persistent wind, shrouding Hood and making it very cold! We woke up to a gray day, with thin wisps of snow snaking across the frozen lake. I pulled out the small can of coconut milk I had snuggled with in my sleeping bag to keep thawed for breakfast, bundled up, and went out in the cold. For breakfast, we had Maple Pancake Paleonola (review here!) with half of the small can of coconut milk each, along with some small bite-sized pepperoni salamis.

Then we headed up the trail towards Tom, Dick, and Harry, a rocky peak above the lake. The first part of the trail was packed and easy to follow, but as we got into the more treeless slopes, the trail had been blown away. Neither of us own snowshoes and we decided not to rent them to save money, and also get the amazing fitness benefits of post-holing in waist-deep snow, so we dug in and started across the little bowl directly above the lake. It was quite deep and we really had no hope of getting to the peak without snowshoes, so we just chose a high point and got a great view of the hills around us.

When we got back to camp, it was the highlight of the day! I had gotten a packet of Smoked Sockeye Salmon Chowder from Heather's Choice Meals for Adventuring a couple weeks ago, and I was dying to try it!  The reason I was dying to try it is because Heather makes some of the most inventive backpacking food I have ever seen (other meals include Chipotle Cherry Chili made with quail, and Dark Chocolate Chili...how can you get bored in the backcountry with meals like that???). AND as if that wasn't enough, she is dedicated to using sustainable ingredients, like the 100% grass-fed elk in her Elk Shepherd's Pie. They're also conveniently packaged in zip-pouches that you can pour boiling water into to rehydrate, meaning you don't even need to get your pot dirty! Cuz let's be honest, who actually cleans their pot in the backcountry, and, as good as that Smoked Salmon Chowder was, who wants their tea to taste like it? So, we busted out the package, and followed the directions. Pour in boiling water, reseal, wait 20 minutes. Max kept it inside his down jacket to make sure it wouldn't cool off, and in the mean time, we each enjoyed a Lime Black Pepper Packaroon. If there's anything I'm a sucker for, it's interesting and new flavor combinations, and this combo was a hit with both of us. They were frozen solid, so they were a little bit of work to eat, but this was probably better, because I couldn't wolf it down in two hungry bites without breaking my teeth.

Lime Black Pepper Packaroons!
Then we boiled some grass-fed hot dogs, and slathered them with some frozen mustard-sicle (still delicious!), and waited... But not for long. We shared a 1-serving packet and it was so dense, it filled us both up alongside the hot dogs. And the flavor was out of this world. There is definitely nothing compromised for the quality of these meals, and you can taste it. There was a great balance of all the ingredients and flavors, and was hearty and warming on a really cold day. The only thing was it was still a little crunchy because we didn't wait the full 20 minutes. I couldn't tell if it was also affected by the cold weather cooling it off too quickly for a proper rehydrating, but we probably could have fixed this by cooking it a little in the pot first, like we often do with our own dehydrated food. But overall, I couldn't have asked for a better meal! I highly recommend you check them out!

Smoked Sockeye Salmon Chowder!

Saturday

Breakfast
  • Veggie Stir-fry with Ground Pork (at home)
Lunch
  • 1/2 a banana
  • 2 grass-fed hotdogs w/ mustard
  • 1 or 2 oz. raw cheddar cheese
  • 4 rings dried pineapple
Snack
  • 1 bag of plantain chips
  • 1/2 a Bison Bacon Cranberry Epic Bar
Dinner
  • 1 can True Primal Beef & Vegetable Soup
  • 2 TB butter

Sunday

Breakfast
Lunch
Snack
  • dried apples
  • 1/2 a Bison Bacon Cranberry Epic Bar
  • macadamia nuts
Dinner
  • Trail mix & more Paleonola (in the car)

Friday, December 18, 2015

Silver Falls Hike & True Primal Soup Review


Well, here in Western Oregon, unrelenting rain, high winds, and a mysterious lingering illness in Max's respiratory system have kept us from getting out for longer than a day hike, but we found the best day hike we possibly could! This Wednesday we went to Silver Falls State Park, outside of Salem, Oregon to hike the Trail of Ten Falls, a 7-ish mile hike through a canyon where you see...you guessed it!...ten waterfalls.
Looking out from the eye of the earth
This is one of the most unique areas I have visited for a couple different reasons. First of all, the trail winds behind three of the falls, giving you the opportunity to stand behind a thundering curtain of water. We went in the midst of a two-week rainy spell (I'm from the Northwest originally, and even I thought it was a LOOOOT of rain) and these waterfalls were at their finest. The North Falls were my favorite. The giant rock cave that you walk through behind the falls is eye-shaped, so when you stand behind the waterfall looking down-valley, you have the erie feeling that you are looking out from the eye of the earth. Second, this place is so unique because of how big all of the waterfalls are, and how concentrated they are in one area. Many of the falls are over 100 feet, and you can see them all in under 8 miles.

And of course, it was raining all day, but we're really glad we went. We were also really glad that we brought some True Primal Soup with us to test out for lunch! It was a little extra work to light up the stove just for a day hike, but with how cold and wet we were, we really appreciated it. Some of you may have already read my Paleo-Friendly(ish) Canned Soup Round-up, where I lamented the fact that there wasn't actually a true paleo canned soup. But my prayers were answered! True Primal has created the first canned soup that follows all the Paleo "rules," all the way down to no preservatives, fillers, or flavors, which I think is the hardest thing to find.

The most remarkable thing about this paleo/primal canned soup is that it doesn't have the "canned" soup taste to it, which I find even Amy's Soups have. Probably because they don't use any of the things I just mentioned. It tasted like something I cooked in my own kitchen. Also super convenient is the pull-tab lid, just in case you forget your can opener, which is highly probable. Max and I were a little skeptical looking at the nutrient profile, since each can has only 270 calories, and 20 grams of protein (way better already than most canned soups, but not that much for a hungry hiker). We remedied this by adding hefty amounts of butter, but with that as the only addition, one can each filled us up for lunch and kept us going until the end of the hike.
True Primal Beef & Vegetable Soup
They only have one flavor right now, Beef and Vegetable, but I hope they will come out with more flavors soon! And I think the best part is, they are reasonably priced! You do have to buy a 12-pack through Amazon since individual cans are not available yet, but it works out to about $3.60 a can which is very comparable to Amy's canned soups. I will definitely be buying these for future trips!

Monday, December 7, 2015

Want More Paleo Backpacking Meals? Support Heather's Choice Kickstarter!



I recently found out about Heather's Choice Meals for Adventuring, and I am so excited these are available! Heather is an evolutionary sports nutritionist and she has crafted these meals to be optimal for an active outdoor lifestyle. In addition, she only uses sustainably sourced 100% grass-fed meat, and wild-caught fish, and all meals are gluten-, dairy-, and soy-free. I will be testing them and reviewing them soon on the blog, but in the meantime, check out her website, and if you're as impressed as I am, consider pledging to her Kickstarter!

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Canyoneering the Swell: 4-day Menu

I just found this unpublished post! I wrote it all up and then was waiting for pictures from Max. Awesome trip, awesome food.



A couple weeks ago Max and I did a four day trip to the San Rafael Swell in Southern Utah to do a little canyoneering before we move back to Washington and leave the land of canyons behind. We hiked Wild Horse Canyon, Crack Canyon, and Lower Baptist Draw in the Temple Mountain area. All three were gorgeous hikes and Lower Baptist even offered us a little rappelling. We finished off the trip with a short day of bouldering at Big Bend outside Moab. This is some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen; the Reef itself is spectacular to look at, especially in the evening spring light. This was a car-camping trip, so this menu is more suited to cooler-toting folk. And I'm still not eating dairy or nuts, so hurrah if you aren't either. This one's for you.

Tuesday - Wild Horse Canyon

Wild Horse Canyon

Breakfast
  • Eggs & bacon (at home)
Morning Snack
  • 1 grass-fed pepperoni stick
  • 1 large carrot
  • 5 olives
  • 1/2 bag plantain chips
Lunch
Afternoon Snack
  • 1/2 bag plantain chips
  • couple kale chips
  • olives
  • 1 stick celery
  • couple sips of wine
Dinner
Cooking up some bacon, mushroom, spinach, and onion for dinner

Wednesday - Crack Canyon

Crack Canyon

Breakfast
Breakfast bacon, and in the background, our homemade
rocket stove
  •  Eggs & bacon
  • olives
  • 1/4 of a cucumber
Morning Snack
  • tin of oysters
  • couple kale chips
  • couple spoonfuls coconut butter
Lunch
  • 1/8 log salami w/ mustard
  • 1/2 a sweet potato (baked at home)
  • some leftover spinach stems removed from dinner the night before
Afternoon Snack
  • 1/2 an apple
  • 2 oz. grass-fed summer sausage
  • olives
  • 1/2 a carrot
  • couple sips of wine
Dinner
  • 1 15-oz. can coconut milk, 1 15-oz. can salmon, 1 bag organic frozen veggies, 1 green bell pepper, chopped, and plenty of coconut oil all cooked together until melded (it was going to be curry, but I forgot the curry paste...)

Thursday - Lower Baptist Draw

Lower Baptist Draw

Breakfast
  • Eggs & bacon
  • 1/4 cucumber
Morning Snacks
  • 1 bag plantain chips
  • 5 slices salami
  • 1/2 an apple
Lunch
  • 1/4 log of salami
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 can coconut water
  • some kale chips
  • olives
  • couple sips wine
Dinner

Friday - Bouldering in Big Bend

Breakfast
  • 1/4 lb. pork sausage
  • 2 eggs scrambled in coconut oil
  • 1 large carrot
Morning Snacks
  • 10 slices salami
  • couple spoonfuls coconut butter
Lunch
  • 1 tin oysters
  • 1/2 a cucumber
Afternoon Snack
  • olives
  • 1/2 a sweet potato (cooked at home)
  • 1/2 an apple
Dinner
  • Bison burgers at a friend's house in Moab!

Monday, November 30, 2015

Kayak Circumnav of Orcas Island: 3.5-day Menu

Point Doughty, and behind me to the left, Sucia Island

The San Juan Islands are my favorite place in the world. That is not an exaggeration. In college I somehow got the idea that I wanted to be a camp counselor...I'm not really sure how or why, because I had only been to camp a couple of times as a kid and I was homesick for most of it! At the time, I could never have known that it would change my world forever. I applied to several different camps and, not knowing anything about any of them, I chose YMCA Camp Orkila on Orcas Island (click here to donate for scholarship funds for kids! I can personally testify that they give kids such an amazing summer!). I didn't know why then, but I was just drawn to it. Now I know why I was...

The San Juans have world class sunsets

During trainings, our directors talked about creating "camp magic" for the campers, which might seem like it's just for the kids, but as an adult, I can honestly say that Orkila is one of the most magical places I have ever been to myself. And I got to spend four whole summers there. Now I get homesick for Orcas.

Which is why I wanted to return for a kayak adventure! So Max and I loaded up our truck and took off for North Beach to launch a 3 and a half-day circumnavigation of Orcas Island, including stops at two of my favorite places - Jones Island and Point Doughty. After the trip notes is the menu for the trip, and (I think) this is a good one! Max and I both commented in the middle of the trip how we felt so well-fed! The only thing I didn't like that much were my breakfasts....that one's a toughy since I haven't been eating eggs, dairy, or nightshades, so my normal paleo breakfasts (the fabulous Meat & Muffin Combo) were out.

The Trip


Lunch break on a small strip of beach











Day 1: North Beach to Doe Island
Campsite on Doe Island
We started at North Beach, the northernmost point of Orcas that looks out on Sucia Island, arguably my favorite San Juan I've been on. I'd led kayak trips for Orkila around the more sheltered western side of the island, but had never been on the more open east side and was excited to see it. We had dark skies, but calm weather as we paddled down the coast. Towards the end of the afternoon, the wind picked up and we decided to cut the day short, stopping at tiny Doe Island instead of Obstruction Pass like we had planned. This turned out to be a great decision, because we had all of Doe Island to ourselves! There are only 3 or 4 campsites on the whole island, and you can walk all around it in about 10 minutes. As the sun came out to warm our tired bodies, we were glad we hadn't made it to Obstruction, which is nestled in a grove of trees.

Day 2: Doe Island to Jones Island

The next day, the water was looking chooooppyyyy.....but nothing too dangerous, so we paddled around the corner to Obstruction Pass and continued across East Sound. We had to use a lot of mental concentration to watch the waves as they peppered our boats. None of them were very big, but it does only take one wave... Since we'd cut yesterday short, we had a longer day ahead of us to Jones Island off the southwest tip of Orcas. Once we got past East Sound, we were on the more sheltered side of Orcas, and could relax a little. Also, the sun started coming out again which always boosts the spirits. We stopped at another of my favorite places (you may have noticed that they're all my favorites), Blind Island, for lunch. Then we paddled through the Yellow Islands, and got our hopes up several times, thinking we spotted Jones, only to realize Jones must be the next island. Oops, not that one, the next one. And so on. But once we finally made it to our destination, it was an amazing evening. A beautiful sunset, AND an orca sighting! With a baby orca!!! And then to top it all off, we woke up in the middle of the night to go pee, and Venus was out so bright, and bigger than I had ever seen it. There was some serious angular size to it, not just a pinprick. Max didn't share my enthusiasm.

Me: "Oh my gosh, Max! Do you see that!!?? Is that Venus?? It is SO BIG! Holy cow! It's like a quarter the size of the moon! I've NEVER seen it like that!!!"
Max (in monotone voice): "Yea. It's really bright." (Goes back in tent)

Day 3: Jones Island to Point Doughty


In the morning, we packed up for the last full day of our trip, and crossed back to the Orcas coastline to contour up to Point Doughty. We caught a serious current and made the 6 mile paddle in just a couple hours, then had the rest of the day to lounge around on the beach, read, nap, and water gaze. Of course this was the one night we decided to leave our rain fly off our tent, and predictably, had to wake up around 2 in the morning to put it on as the uninvited rain drops came splashing through our mesh ceiling.

Day 4: Point Doughty to North Beach


The rain continued through the morning as we finished our circumnavigation to North Beach, giving us a final treat as we paddled in silence. As we watched the tiny beads of rain drop into the ocean, they would sit on the surface for a moment, the fresh water droplets battling with the salt water giantess, then finally succumbing to the sea's pull, disappearing in a circle of tiny ripples. This is the kind of magic that the San Juans always seem to unlock as I wander through the maze of islands, sometimes on land, sometimes on water, and once you find this magic, you must always return.

The Food


Food we took on the trip - the block of cheese was Max's...I thought I would end up eating some but I was so full from all the other stuff I never needed it! Dehydrated dinners not in picture. 

Breakfasts:

  • 1/2 a carton of So Delicious "culinary coconut milk" (turned out to be more like coconut cream - would not get this one again! I had to squeeze the box just to get it out! I got a little nauseous from the texture I think...but it sure filled me up! Next time I'm going to use Aroy-D...I've already taste-tested it, and it is SO amazing! It is the only coconut milk I know of that doesn't use thickeners like guar gum or carageenan, and it wasn't separated when I opened the carton, had a consistency more like real milk, and tasted better than other ones I've tried! It also comes in a convenient carton that can be cut open with a knife, and squashed flat when finished.)
  • 1 Epic Bar
  • 1/3 bag of Go Raw! Zesty Pizza Flax Snax

Lunches:

  • 1 tin oysters
  • couple handfuls Terra chips (we bought 3 bags and then repackaged them in a big Ziploc)
  • 1 Bubbies naturally fermented pickle (repackaged some pickles w/ juice in a snap-lock plastic tupperware container - the pickle juice is a great pick-me up, too!)
  • 1 raw carrot
  • 3 or 4 Bacchanalian Banana Bars
  • sea salted macadamia nuts (took 2 packages of Mauna Loa macadamias)

Snacks:

Dinners:

The "Sausage Scramble" mystery meal
  • 1st night: Something from our freezer labeled "Sausage Scramble" (?!) that neither of us remember making, and it did not appear to have eggs in it, like the name would imply. It essentially seemed like a bunch of pork sausage cooked with some onions. Very tasty, though! We had a pint-sized Ziploc full of it, and it filled us both up for dinner! There was a bit of a scare when I thought I had accidentally cooked in a silica packet that we sometimes use to reduce moisture. I couldn't remember if I had put one in the pouch, and there was no sign of it after cooking, so we didn't know if it was dissolved in there or not. We ate it anyways. Hungry kayakers. You understand. 
  • 2nd & 3rd nights: Greek Moussaka YUM!!! Truly gourmet! Again, about a pint-sized Ziploc, almost full to feed the both of us. 

Dessert:

  • Theo Dark Chocolate & Ginger bar

Totals (for one person):

(Max and I eat slightly differently, but share some things, so this is as simple as I could make the list. This is the list of food that I ate on the trip.)
  • 3 cartons So Delicious Culinary Coconut Milk (these were shared between 2 people)
  • 3 Epic bars
  • 1 package Zesty Pizza Flax Snax
  • 3 tins of oysters
  • 3 bags of Terra Chips
  • 3 pickles
  • 3 raw carrots
  • 12 banana bars
  • 2 packages macadamia nuts
  • 2 cups trail mix
  • 1/2 pint Ziploc of beef jerky
  • 1 coconut water
  • 1 pint Ziploc of "Sausage Scramble"??? (shared between 2 people)
  • 2 pint Ziplocs of Greek Moussaka (shared between 2 people)
  • 1 Theo Dark Chocolate & Ginger bar (shared between 2 people)