Camping with the Vegans

My husband and I used to camp all the time, especially after we had kids.  We loved camping.  It allowed us to see lots of interesting places on the typical young family budget.  As the kids got older, we didn't go as often.  Now that we live in the Pacific Northwest with so much to see and do, we wanted to get back into it.  This was our first camping trip in a while and my first one since becoming vegan almost four years ago.

I did some searching online for camping menus for vegans and such and didn't find a whole lot.  But I'm a list-maker and made up a menu and a packing list and went with it.  Food went GREAT for our short four-day trip!

Since we were car camping and not backpacking, it made it a little easier as weight and space were not issues.  Here are my menus:

Breakfasts:  Oatmeal, fruit, and coffee.  I brought some instant packets (I like Better Oats) that just took water.  We had bananas and apples.  I used the Starbucks Via packets and individual shelf-stable soy milk to make my soy lattes in the mornings.  Hubby added just water and those little liquid flavored creamer pods.

Lunches:  Sandwiches or wraps.  I had two tortillas in the fridge that begged to be used and also brought a loaf of bread to add with Field Roast Wild Mushroom Deli Slices, lettuce, and cucumber slices for two days, left over veggie patty and grilled onions on another day.  We also brought hummus and veggies that we never even touched because we had so much food.  And, if you have sandwiches, you need chips.  Kale chips, that is!  These were yummy!  Even the poodles wanted some!

Dinners:  #1.  Veggies and Field Roast Sausage kabobs.  Before we left, I cut up one really enormous zucchini and two bell peppers, tossed them in a Ziploc bag with a package of mushrooms I'd washed, and poured in about a cup of balsalmic vinaigrette salad dressing.  At the campsite, I skewered the veggies and the "sausage" chunks, although I had way more stuff than I had skewers, so after we did the nice and neat skewers, I tossed the rest in the grill basket and just occasionally stirred it around.  When I looked at the very full gallon bag of cut veggies plus the four links of "sausage," I thought we would have leftovers for days!  But it must be true what they say about camping and appetites.  We polished off every single bite!

#2.  Burgers and baked yams.  I brought two pre-made veggie burgers (Masala Patties from Trader Joe's) and my non-vegan hubby picked up two gourmet patties from the grocery.  We had them on flat sandwich rounds rather than risk buns being squished in transport.  We had brought vegan aioli (also used for our lunches), mustard, and ketchup and added some lettuce and cucumbers.  I also had some red onion that was sliced and bagged up and I sauteed that in a pan.  I cooked my burgers in my onion pan and the husband cooked his meat over the fire.  We wrapped two smallish yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes in layers of foil and baked them in the coals.  We put them on first, as we knew it would take at least 30-45 minutes for them to be done.  I brought along some vegan "butter" and mixed some demerara sugar and cinnamon in a tiny plastic container in case the sweet potatoes were bland.  They weren't.  Mine was super sweet and didn't need any added sugar.  

#3.  Pasta and sauce.  Nothing fancy here.  Just stuff from the store.  The plan was to toss in some leftover veggies from the kabobs, but we scarfed it all down.  I put some stinky Parmesan cheese in a little plastic container for the husband as well.  I also brought wheat rolls to wrap in foil and warm over the fire.  I bought sturdier rolls that wouldn't get squished.  

Snacks:  Raw nuts and seeds, dried fruit (I just brought some of what we had in the pantry - cherries, apricots, and ginger), fresh apples and individual packets of nut butters, some jerky and cheese wedges for the husband, loads of Larabars, and, of course, fixings for s'mores!  I found some vegan graham crackers, my favorite Theo dark chocolate bars, and Dandies marshmallows.  They toasted up so nicely and we did warm our crackers and chocolate over the fire.  Don't you just hate it when the chocolate doesn't melt in your s'more?  No worries here!  Ours were drippy and gooey and we were a grand mess!  I also brought apple cider mix for the husband, who loves it, and tea for me and we had that at night when it was a little chilly.

The Husband and The Girls

We had a wonderful time rediscovering our love for camping.  We realized it was our first camping trip without children since having children.  Definitely in a different stage of life now that our youngest is 17.  It was also our Girls first camping trip.  They did great!  Just like camping with little kids, camping with poodles AND camping when you're vegan just takes a little planning and forethought.

Sunset at Ruby Beach along the Pacific Coast of Washington.  

Our next challenge - an overnight backpacking trip!  I can't wait!

Banana Walnut Pancakes

I love bananas but once they start to get brown spots on them, I won't eat them anymore. I had two getting a little too far gone for my tastes and needed to find something to do with them. So when I came across a recipe for banana pancakes, that sounded like a winner to me. This recipe was based on one I saw on Chocolate Covered Katie's blog.

Banana Walnut Pancakes

1 1/3 cups flour (I used a combination of whole wheat pastry and unbleached white flours)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg or cinnamon blend (I used Pampered Chef's Cinnamon Plus)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp vanilla
2 bananas, mashed
1 to 1 1/4 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients and mashed banana in a small bowl. Combine with flour mixture. Cook pancakes on a hot, greased griddle.

Serves 4.

The Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever!!!

Oh my goodness!  Oh my goodness!!!  When I saw this pumpkin muffin recipe on the PPK, I thought, "I'll try them.  I hope they are not dry like many muffins."  I should have known better!  This recipe was posted by Isa Chandra, one of the authors of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, one AWESOME cupcake cookbook!  

I've had some pumpkin in the fridge for two days now, dipping into it for Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal.  But I knew that one cup of it was definitely going to be earmarked for these muffins.  Just to see.  I whipped them up in the middle of working when there was a spare second to kill.  They whipped up very quickly and I popped them in the oven in a stoneware muffin pan.  My initial thoughts were how unusual for a muffin recipe to fill my big ol' muffin cups.  Generally a recipe that is supposed to make a dozen only yields about 9 (or even fewer) muffins for me.  But this filled every one nicely.  

The only changes I made to the recipe was to use almond milk instead of soy, simply because that's what I had, and sorghum molasses instead of regular molasses.  Again, it was what was on hand.  I smelled them baking and couldn't wait to get these spicy little morsels out of the oven and into my mouth!  Twenty-three minutes later, perfection!  I pulled them out, burned my fingers loosening these beauties from their little warm snuggly muffin beds, and set them on a wire rack to cool.  Slightly.  Like, for about 32 seconds.  I couldn't wait any longer!  

They were DELICIOUS!!!  So moist and sweet and yummy and spicy!  I had planned to eat just one, but I am going back in there for another!  Please take my advice and bake these muffins.  Today.  Right now!  

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I love oatmeal for breakfast. It is so warm and comforting. We are getting a bit of coolish weather (well, for Louisiana that is) and I had this lonely can of pumpkin puree in my pantry. Pumpkin pie oatmeal was just begging to be made.

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

1/2-1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1-2 tsp maple syrup if you need it a little sweeter

Bring the almond milk to a simmer over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes.

If you need a little sweetener, maple syrup is perfect for this. Try to find grade B. It is so much better than grade A and, for heaven's sake, do not use pancake syrup. Bleh! Who knows what terrible things would happen!

I enjoyed my pumpkin pie oatmeal with a nice pot of Taylors of Harrogate Tea Room Blend tea. It was almost the same color as my oatmeal. It a bracing brew, perfect for a cold morning when I need a little "kick."