Oil & Spice Kit Systems

I think that spices are essential on trips. I discovered about a year ago that one reason I sometimes don't feel satisfied with food on trips is not for lack of quantity, but for lack of flavor. I found this out because I really craved mustard all the time while on a Pacific Coast bike tour. Mustard in itself is not a very substantial food source, but it adds a ton of flavor. I used to not bother with spices because it seemed like more of a hassle and took up extra weight and space but I definitely have come to appreciate the value of it. And of course when eating paleo, fats are essential as well. Here are some recommendations for creating an oil & spice kit. I'm not saying you should use everything listed here (I definitely don't). If you did assemble everything from this list, your spice kit might take up half your food bag, so pick and choose the flavors that you crave most on the trail.

Spices:

I like to use the GSI Outdoors salt & pepper shaker to store spices because you can put two spices in one little bottle. The also have a spice rack that looks pretty convenient, and cheaper than buying 3 separate salt and pepper shakers. Or a spice missile. Anything called a "missile" has to be worth it.

If I had to choose the top spices to have in a spice kit, these would be it:

• Sea salt
• Pepper (actually I don't really like pepper but I know most people do)
• Chili powder - make anything taste like chili in a second
• Curry powder - ditto for curry
• Garlic powder or garlic salt
• Cinnamon
• Ground cumin
• Basil
• Oregano
• Red chili flakes
• Cayenne pepper

Additional spices that are nice to have if you really like going fancy on the trail:

• Dill
• Paprika - smoked or sweet
• Ground Coriander
• Thyme
• Sage
• Rosemary
• Herbs de provence
• Cardamom
• Ground cloves
• Ground ginger

Pre-packaged spice blends:

These work well if you want to flavor a dish quickly and easily. Simply Organic makes a bunch of different spice packets, although most of them have stuff like maltodextrin, tapioca starch, and/or silicon dioxide. They are tasty and easy but you could also come up with a similar flavor if you have a good spice kit.

Oils:

The most convenient thing I've found for oils are Nalgene's travel bottles because they are leak proof. The size you get will depend on how much you want to carry based on the length of your trip and how many people you're feeding.  

Coconut Oil

I carry an 8-oz round, widemouth bottle for coconut oil. The wide mouth allows me to chip it out with my knife because coconut oil is solid below 76 degrees F. The 8-oz size easily lasts me for my 8-day shifts with some leftover, even if I'm cooking for other people. They also make 1-, 2-, 4-, 16-, and 32-oz sizes of the wide-mouth, although since the smaller volume bottles are smaller in general, I don't know if the mouths are big enough to get a knife into. Nalgene doesn't actually sell these on their website, but REI carries them or you can order them on The Container Store website. BPA-free. 

Olive Oil

I use Nalgene bottles for olive oil as well. Olive oil stays liquid at lower temperatures than coconut oil so the wide-mouth bottles aren't as essential, but if you're camping at sub-freezing temperatures it's handy to be able to scoop out the solidified olive gel. It does warm up really fast though, so sometimes I'll stick the bottle in my jacket close to my body while I'm doing other stuff and it liquifies pretty quickly. I currently have a 2-oz bottle I use for the olive oil and it's not nearly enough to last me a week, so I might have to get a bigger one soon.

Butter or Ghee

If you're traveling in butter-melting temperatures, you can either melt the butter or ghee and pour it into a wide-mouthed Nalgene travel bottle like the coconut oil, or use one of those snaplock tupperware containers (the plastic not the glass...unless you want to carry the extra weight). You can get small ones that fit a good amount of butter and won't leak if the butter melts. GSI makes a version that holds half a liter and is 3.8"x1.7"x4.9". Snapware makes one that is a little smaller (.3 L). Both of these are BPA-free. There's also a million other brands, so just go look at the store to find one that works for you. If you're traveling in solid-butter temperatures, just throw a stick in a Ziploc. 

Additional Flavors:

Soy Sauce:

Great for making teriyaki-flavored meals, or added to curries for a little extra flavor. Store in a small leak-proof flip-top bottle, or narrow-mouthed leak-proof bottle.

Hot Sauce:

Tapatío, Cholula's, Valentina's! Store the same as soy sauce. Also included in this category as Tabasco sauce (or "Tabby" as the kids affectionately call it as they argue over it). My favorite is the green Tabby, red is too strong for me. 

Curry Paste:

You can get individual curry paste packets at Asian food markets, or just bring the whole little bottle with you. 

Mustard:

Oh man, I don't go anywhere without mustard! I bring the whole bottle too! I go through about one 9-oz. bottle a week of Annie's Organic Dijon Mustard. If you don't want as much as that, you can always rebottle it in a smaller Nalgene. 

Vinegars:

I don't use vinegar much (or ever) on the trail, and hadn't actually thought about it until writing this post. If you're a vinegar fiend though, it might be worth it. I might try it...I do love balsamic. 

Toasted Sesame Oil:

A good addition for Asian-flavored dishes. 

Raw Local Honey:

Good for sweetening tea. In colder temperatures it solidifies, so warm in your jacket. 

High-Carb Paleo for Cold Weather Trips

In my last post, I talked about needing more carbs in cold weather than a typical paleo diet provides, and I've come up with some ideas for how to do it in a paleo-friendly way.

Plantain Chips 

Salty, crunchy, and carby. Yum.

Terra Chips 

Same as above, and they make me feel like I'm getting veggies, which can be a struggle on trail.

Cheese

Cheese seems like the perfect winter food to me...a great mix of fat, protein, and carbs. Find raw and grass-fed if you can.

• See my post on Garlic Bombs for a delicious winter appetizer to whip up while you're waiting for your meal to cook.

Dried Fruit

Mmmm...I love dried mango, but I rarely eat it because it's pretty darn high in carbs. But I'm going to bring some next week!

• Try to find kinds without added sugar
• Add it to trail mix
• Eat it on its own
• Make it into energy bars

Energy Bars

• Larabars use dates as a base and are therefore higher carb than other bars. My favorite is the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. 
• KIND bars are gluten-free, but not strict paleo, since they use rice crisps and peanuts. I normally get the lowest-carb Dark Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt, but the Dark Chocolate Cherry and Cashew one is just as delicious and higher in carbs.
• Or make your own, with a blend of nuts, dried fruit, coconut flakes, chia seeds, and whatever else sounds good!

Living Intentions Superfood Cereals

I've talked about these before in my 'Nola post. They are sprouted gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free cereals made with buckwheat, which isn't actually a grain, and is not related to wheat. It's a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel. Maybe not the MOST paleo thing, but it makes a tasty gluten-free, granola-like cereal while providing a slightly higher dose of carbs. 

Garlic Bombs

I was introduced to this delicious appetizer by a co-staff and they really hit the spot when all you need is a snack to keep you going until your dinner is ready. The raw garlic might turn some of you off, but the cheese really mellows out the bite and it's not quite as intense as you might think. Plus raw garlic is really good for you (it strengthens the immune system and supports the heart) and these little morsels are a tasty way to get it down. 

Cheese
Hot sauce (such as Tapatío)
Raw garlic cloves

Cut the cheese into approximately 1/2" cubes.
With the point of your knife, dig out a dip in the center of the cube (big enough to hold a couple drops of hot sauce).
Fill the dip with a couple drops of hot sauce.
Set a garlic clove (or half a clove if they're big) on top of each cube.
Toast to strengthened immunity, a happy heart, a hike well done and toss one back!

Carbs in the Cold

So the cold weather has settled in on the field area for my job. Last week brought us a 13-degree (F) morning, 22-degree days, and a constant low-hanging fog that lasted about 7 days, obscuring everything further than 100 yards away. That's the longest I've gone without seeing the sun in Utah.

I felt like the apocalypse was coming, because every day we'd wake up in a cloud, with no sign that it would ever subside. However, on day 9 of the shift, the sun finally made a spectacular appearance and blasted away the fog, leaving us with sweeping views of the Uinta mountains to the north, the rock cliffs to the east and west of us still blanketed in snow, and a beautiful blue sky. The temperature only slightly increased with the arrival of the sun, and then became even more biting with the entrance of the wind that threatened to bring our first big winter storm.

Along with the weather, I've noticed a change in my appetite in the field: I've been craving CARBS. Lots of them. Almost immediately upon arriving in the field, I want what my co-staff are eating: Pop-Tarts (I never even liked these before), mac & cheese, king-size Snickers bars, granola and oats (known in our groups as "G-n-O"), and dense cups of beans and rice ("B-n-R") loaded with sharp cheddar cheese.

As soon as I return home, these cravings are gone. Right now I want to make a big pan of roasted brussels sprouts, devour a huge grass-fed burger with no bun, and snack on leftover stir-fry. I started to think that there had to be some primal answer to why I'm craving carbs when I'm living in the cold, and that I shouldn't ignore them, stubbornly clinging to a low-carb diet in the field. So I sent a question to Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple, and he answered in his "Dear Mark" column. He explains it way better than I could, but essentially he says that yes, we do need to eat more carbs while living in the cold. Hurray! Here's the link to his response!

Now I just need to make sure I can keep them "healthy" carbs and resist the urge to go find gluten-free Pop-Tarts. Stay tuned for a post on carb-dense options that would still fit a paleo diet.

Magic Winter Bars

I just discovered my staple food for this winter when I'm shivering in the field at (hopefully not) -20 degrees and just trying to stay alive while also providing therapy for a group of teenage kids who definitely don't want to be out in the Utah desert in winter. They like it when they're done, I swear. But seriously, the weather does pose a huge problem because 1) you need a lot of fat when you're in the cold 24/8 (our work weeks are 8 days long), and 2) food freezes solid at these temperatures so you can't just bring anything out there and expect to still be able to eat it.

Sooo....these bars are perfect!! They've got almond flour (basically more almond for less space), coconut oil, shredded coconut, coconut milk, more shredded coconut, coconut flakes, and chopped pecans or walnuts. How's that for fat? In addition, they have a little bit of honey and chocolate chips in them 'cuz sweetness and chocolate are always welcome in the winter.

My roommate just made these for a cookie party, and they seemed a little bit melty at room temperature. And what happens when you have a job where you sometimes have to think about survival things is that you subconsciously start tuning into things that will help you, well, survive. Like when I see a piece of wood while I'm hiking and I get the urge to pick it up for firewood. Or I spot a good-sized rock and think, "Ooh...too bad our shelter spot's not here...that's the perfect anchor!" So when I saw the bars she had made melting at room temperature, and saw how much fat was going into them, I thought, "That would be the PERFECT winter paleo food!" They need to be cold, and they're fattier than Santa Claus!!

So without further ado, the recipe: Magic Coconut Bars at Simply Living Healthy.

P.S. I'll let you know how I survive the winter.

'Nola - Grain-free Granola!

Granola and oats (or, as we call it at my program, "G-n-O") are a backpacking breakfast staple. Unfortunately, oats are not paleo. Fortunately, granola is easily paleo-fied! Here are a couple different recipes to get you started, but there are endless flavor combinations. I recommend soaking the nuts in salted water overnight, changing the water out once or twice if it's not already part of the recipe. This helps cut out the phytates that are in nuts that can keep you from absorbing nutrients.

Basic Granola from The Primalist
Apple Pie Granola from Multiply Delicious
Vanilla Nut Granola from Five and Spice
Vanilla Almond Granola from Against All Grain
Spiced Pumpkin Granola from Against All Grain (I tried this one this week and it was soo good!)
Chocolate Nut Granola from Paleo Diet Lifestyle

Now, to hydrate, your options will depend on your tripping situation. Car camping? Bring grass-fed raw milk, raw goats milk, or some good grass-fed, whole-milk yogurt and keep it in a cooler. Doing a couple days overnight? Maybe bring a couple small 5.5-oz cans of coconut milk and either split one with your tripping partner, or if you're hiking 30 miles that day, eat it all to yourself.

Extended expedition? The small cans might still work for you, ooor....powdered coconut milk! Apparently it's a thing. It's got two weird things - sodium caseinate and non-GMO maltodextrin - as emulsifiers, but their statement on their website says, "It is scientifically impossible to have pure 100% organic coconut milk powder. As we strive to offer products free of emulsifiers we feel that the benefits of the Coconut Milk Powder outweigh the tiny amounts of emulsifiers in this product. We are working diligently in R&D to remedy this situation."So stay tuned, I guess. And, as you probably already know, you could just use the original Pow-Cow (powdered milk) if you're a dairy-eater.

If you don't have time to make your own granola, a good alternative is Living Intentions' Superfood Cereals. They come in a lot of tasty flavors, like Cacao Crunch (so good), Chia Ginger, Hemp & Greens, and Acai Blueberry. They're made with organic buckwheat sprouts, which are gluten-free, and technically not a grain, but they are still pretty high in carbs. The cereal is sweetened with coconut palm sugar, and have other intriguing add-ins like astragulus extract and reishi mycelium in the Cacao Crunch, spirulina, chlorella, and dandelion leaves in the Hemp and Greens, and bilberries, elderberries, amla berry extract, and camu camu berries in the Acai Blueberry cereal.

I say "intriguing" because I'm not convinced that getting a small dose of these superfoods in a bowl of cereal in the morning is enough to get lasting benefits from them, but they sure won't hurt. The cereal overall is high in carbs (30 grams per 1/2 cup) but if you're doing a lot of work and eating low carb in other meals it's probably just fine.

Salad Theory

This post is not about trail food. It is about my most-craved, first-thing-I-want-off-the-trail food: salad.

Salad and chocolate tie for my two favorite foods, but, while I can easily have chocolate on trail (well...unless it's summer), salad is probably the most impractical trail food you can find - it takes up a lot of space for not that many calories. BUT...it is a great way to celebrate renewed access to fresh produce when you return to the front country, and to replenish some of the vitamins and nutrients that may have been lacking in your back country menu. And with the right ingredients you can make it substantial enough to be a whole meal in itself.

So, now that you know that salad is one of my two favorite foods, you should also know that I am a salad artist. And, as such, I have a whole theory about making salads. And this theory works; my salads are really good. Ask my boyfriend Max. He said he started dating me for my salad making abilities. Well, maybe he didn't say it like that, but he did say that when we first started dating, he was "really impressed" with how well I could make salads. And then I knew we were supposed to be together because he was really good at making salad dressings, and introduced me to my all-time favorite dressing that comes from his family.

Here it is: my cornerstone work on the theory of salad. I'm not sure if you'll ever meet anyone who has put as much thought into how to make a good salad as I have, so this is lucky for you that you have found this page.

Lettuce:

If it is organic and mostly clean I don't wash it because dry lettuce is essential. If it is dirty or non-organic, rinse it really well and then either let it drip dry for a long time, dry it in a salad spinner, or pat it dry with tea towels. Again, it is important that the lettuce be pretty dry (although it doesn't have to be all the way dry) or else all the excess water will dilute the dressing and interfere with the adherence of the dressing to the leaves.

Herbs:

I think herbs are essential to salads. And not in the way most people use them, which is to add a tablespoon or two of chopped leaves. I try to put in at least a quarter cup to a half cup total of different kinds. It sounds like it will be overwhelming, but it's not. The normal amount is underwhelming, so go crazy and enjoy. My favorites are parsley, cilantro, green onions, and basil. If I have all of them, I'll throw them all in.

Dressing Binder:

This isn't a necessary addition, but there are things that I think of as "dressing binders" that help absorb dressing and then stick to the lettuce leaves so you get more dressing in each bite! These things include: grated carrot, grated cheeses, flax seed, and avocado. Not every salad I make has these things, but the better ones do.

Dressing:

Use any kind of dressing you like. My favorites are the vinaigrettes, and I've shared my favorite vinaigrette recipe below. The most important thing about the dressing though is that you must add it to the salad and toss it VERY, VERY well before serving it! Salads are infinitely better if they have been thoroughly tossed with the dressing, rather than serving the vegetable part and the dressing part separately and each person pouring a little spoonful over their salad.

Tossing:

Toss it A LOT. When you think you are done, keep tossing. Make sure everything is coated and then toss again. Believe me, it's important. If you don't believe me, you can do a test: Make two salads, toss one for 15 seconds, and toss the other one for a whole minute and see which one is better.

Basic Ingredients:

Ingredients will vary a lot depending on what's available to you due to the season or what's at the store that day. My basic salad has most or all of these ingredients:

• Lettuce
• Baby spinach
• Grated carrots (if I'm in a rush, I'll just chop them)
• Chopped red bell pepper
• Chopped avocado
• Fresh herbs 
• Grated cheese

Substantial-izers: 

I add these ingredients when I want to make a stick-to-the-ribs salad, which is probably what you'll want when you get off-trail:

• Flax seed - a couple tablespoons
• Sunflower seeds - a handful or two
• Olives
• Shredded or chopped chicken, pork, beef, or sausage
• Smoked trout or salmon
• Chopped nuts: walnuts, almond, macadamias, pistachios
• Raisins or dried cranberries
• Sour cream