You may have noticed (or not) that I was gone last week. Took the family out camping in Southern Utah. Camping was more for handling sleeping and eating while the day time was spent hiking around. Not much lounging around or fancy cooking this trip.
Food was planned for simplicity and speed with respect towards quality. But also to keep contents in the ice chest to a minimum. This means canned goods and shelf stable products are important. Seasonings too were minimal. Salt, Pepper, dry adobo, and some mixed dried herbs. I suppose this is in the Sandra-Lee style of augmenting some processed foods, but it can work well for this sort of trip. Mock me if you wish.
So breakfast and lunches were planned cold and simple for eating on the go if needed. Yogurt, bagels and cream cheese, granola, single serve boxed juices. Bagels travel well and can take quite a beating and not show it. While I'm not a particular fan of the boxed juices, they don't need refrigeration and you don't have leftovers to put in the ice chest. Also no cleanup to speak of except recycling where possible.
Lunch was variations on sandwiches with turkey, ham, cheddar, smoked gouda, condiments, veggies and fruit. Bread was pita because it packs well, takes lots of abuse and is still functional and good. UHT milk in 1 liter cartons made an appearance here. It was a size that would be consumed in one meal, didn't need refrigeration.
Dinner was a hot meal. Options included:
brats and kosher hot dogs with pan fried potatoes and green beans. Sausages cooked on a cast iron grill on a propane stove. Vegies were from cans. I used the small cubed potatoes in cans. No prep needed, no long cooking times. Into a pan with some olive oil, dry adobo seasoning and fresh black pepper. Cook til crusted and golden. Used canned green beans and seasoned with a little fresh garlic. Had a cold brat (leftover) sandwich one day that was surprisingly good. This meal was repeated as it's popular with the kids. Had canned beets the second time.
Rissotto, grilled chicken and carrots. Rissotto in the pressure cooker makes this fast and simple. Used a quart of aseptic packaged chicken stock, some onion and garlic, finished with real parm and butter. Chicken on the grill seasoned with adobo, herbs and pepper. Carrots in butter. About 20 minutes start to finish.
Gnocchi in tomato sauce. 1 pound shelf stable gnocchi from Target, Used a 14 oz can crushed tomatoes, olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, s&p and the mixed herbs to make a sauce. Real parm on top. Fast as gnocchi doesn't need lots of water to cook in or time. Only thing in the ice chest here was the parm.
Frybread and stew. This took a little time, but not bad. Stew was fresh onions, carrots, celery garlic sauted and seasoned with what I had. Opened two cans stew and one can chili and mixed it in. Not a top shelf meal but refrigeration is minimal. Used some UHT milk to make the frybread.
Red Flannel Hash. Onions, garlic, Large can of corned beef hash, 14 oz can of shoe string beets. Season with pepper, it has enough salt already.
Some hiking pictures follow.
Hiking to Lower Calf Creek Falls:
HMmm, don't know why those pictures aren't properly rotated. Let me tweak a bit. Ah, the batch resize changed the orientation.
And now the browser doesn't like the changed photos. Keep checking, I'll get them fixed one of these times....
Food was planned for simplicity and speed with respect towards quality. But also to keep contents in the ice chest to a minimum. This means canned goods and shelf stable products are important. Seasonings too were minimal. Salt, Pepper, dry adobo, and some mixed dried herbs. I suppose this is in the Sandra-Lee style of augmenting some processed foods, but it can work well for this sort of trip. Mock me if you wish.
So breakfast and lunches were planned cold and simple for eating on the go if needed. Yogurt, bagels and cream cheese, granola, single serve boxed juices. Bagels travel well and can take quite a beating and not show it. While I'm not a particular fan of the boxed juices, they don't need refrigeration and you don't have leftovers to put in the ice chest. Also no cleanup to speak of except recycling where possible.
Lunch was variations on sandwiches with turkey, ham, cheddar, smoked gouda, condiments, veggies and fruit. Bread was pita because it packs well, takes lots of abuse and is still functional and good. UHT milk in 1 liter cartons made an appearance here. It was a size that would be consumed in one meal, didn't need refrigeration.
Dinner was a hot meal. Options included:
brats and kosher hot dogs with pan fried potatoes and green beans. Sausages cooked on a cast iron grill on a propane stove. Vegies were from cans. I used the small cubed potatoes in cans. No prep needed, no long cooking times. Into a pan with some olive oil, dry adobo seasoning and fresh black pepper. Cook til crusted and golden. Used canned green beans and seasoned with a little fresh garlic. Had a cold brat (leftover) sandwich one day that was surprisingly good. This meal was repeated as it's popular with the kids. Had canned beets the second time.
Rissotto, grilled chicken and carrots. Rissotto in the pressure cooker makes this fast and simple. Used a quart of aseptic packaged chicken stock, some onion and garlic, finished with real parm and butter. Chicken on the grill seasoned with adobo, herbs and pepper. Carrots in butter. About 20 minutes start to finish.
Gnocchi in tomato sauce. 1 pound shelf stable gnocchi from Target, Used a 14 oz can crushed tomatoes, olive oil, chopped onion, garlic, s&p and the mixed herbs to make a sauce. Real parm on top. Fast as gnocchi doesn't need lots of water to cook in or time. Only thing in the ice chest here was the parm.
Frybread and stew. This took a little time, but not bad. Stew was fresh onions, carrots, celery garlic sauted and seasoned with what I had. Opened two cans stew and one can chili and mixed it in. Not a top shelf meal but refrigeration is minimal. Used some UHT milk to make the frybread.
Red Flannel Hash. Onions, garlic, Large can of corned beef hash, 14 oz can of shoe string beets. Season with pepper, it has enough salt already.
Some hiking pictures follow.
Hiking to Lower Calf Creek Falls:
HMmm, don't know why those pictures aren't properly rotated. Let me tweak a bit. Ah, the batch resize changed the orientation.
And now the browser doesn't like the changed photos. Keep checking, I'll get them fixed one of these times....
