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#OptOutside

10/26/2015

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Black Friday means nothing in this house, since most years we're not only nowhere near a mall, but also nowhere near electricity or running water. 

For the past several years, we've spent Thanksgiving at the camp I run (ran? Yes, I'm retiring, but no, I haven't announced it yet, so if you're a camp person...well, I guess now you know). We don't go just to play -- we go to burn. I don't know what it's like in other areas, but in CA we are super aware of the threat of wildfire. All. The. Time.

We spend the summer and early fall creating huge burn piles of dead wood and excess fuel that has accumulated on the forest floor, and then when it snows, we head back up to burn it.  Burning is not a one-day undertaking, though; aside from the fact that we have to snowshoe just to get into camp, the lack of water and electricity makes the entire experience a bit more difficult than in most other places conducting similar fuel reduction programs.

So if we're going to go to the trouble of getting permission to park (there's no road into this place, either -- and getting permission to park about 1/3 mile away isn't as easy as it sounds), packing up all four kids and the dog, along with all our sleeping gear, securing rental snowshoes (coincidentally from REI, since we only own two sets), we may as well throw in some gourmet food for our efforts.  In the next few weeks, I'll share last year's Black Friday feast, in time for your own outdoor Thanksgiving.

This year, REI is jumping on OUR bandwagon and they've started the Opt Outside campaign.  REI WILL BE CLOSED BLACK FRIDAY, halleluia.  If you visit their website, you can join them and create your own Opt Outside photo, too.

And hey, if you want to Opt Outside and help us burn, just let me know...
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Turkey Corn Chowder with Herb Dumplings

11/24/2014

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Day 24 of 30 Soups in 30 Days...home stretch!

This title is a bit misleading -- when most people think of chowder, they think of creamy, fat-laden and sometimes goopy stuff, not suitable for everyday eating but maybe, just maybe, an occasional indulgence.

But not this one. With less than 300 calories per serving, and zero cream, this is an everyday staple, perfect for the last day of a camping trip when you have various small bits of this and that leftover. While the recipe calls for specific vegetables, feel free to substitute whatever you have on hand. I hate carrots and green beans, so they're absent from this soup -- but if you've got 'em, use 'em.

This soup can also be easily altered for vegetarian diners by replacing the turkey with tofu and the turkey stock with vegetable stock. Almond milk or soy milk may be used instead of the regular milk, and the butter may be tossed in favor of vegetable oil. The parmesan may also be omitted -- just add a bit more flour to compensate, or your dumplings will be especially sticky.

If you don't hike or camp with fresh herbs, substitute 1 T dried herbs for the 1/4 cup fresh ones in the dumplings.
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Roasted Red Pepper Soup

11/20/2014

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Day 21 of 30 Soups in 30 Days...

This is another favorite around here, especially considering the ridiculous crop of red peppers that grew in the garden this summer (and frankly won't stop growing. Did we get tomatoes this year? Hardly. Are the red peppers so abundant that I have to wonder if the neighbor's satellite dish is creating some sort of concentrated radioactivity, aimed right at the pepper bed? Definitely.)

As with all my other camping soups, this one requires only one pot over one burner, though you may want to roast your peppers over that burner first. Otherwise, they may be roasted at home in the oven (500 degree broiler, spray with olive oil, turn them every couple of minutes until charred), or over a flame (using tongs, roast them until bubbly and charred, turning regularly). When you're finished, it's best to peel and seed them right away, as soon as you can safely touch them -- waiting too long makes peeling more difficult. HOWEVER, if you're going to make this entire soup at your campsite, skip the peeling and just pull out the seeds.

It's best to make this at home, so you can use an immersion blender to create the smooth texture we love. If you'd rather do this at your campsite, the texture will be chunky, but the taste is still quite wonderful. Take along a few extra roasted peppers, as they're excellent dipped in the soup and eaten on their own.

This is a vegan dish to boot -- but feel free to substitute chicken or turkey stock for the vegetable stock, if keeping the recipe vegan is not important to you.

(And pardon the lousy photo...it's finally raining here so we have no natural lighting inside, too much water outside!)

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Curried Golden Lentil Soup

11/17/2014

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Day 17 of 30 Soups in 30 Days...

Whew. Barely made it in time with this one...

Of all the soups I've posted so far this month, this one is definitely kid #3's favorite. In fact, to be honest, no one else in the family even got to eat this soup today -- he scarfed it all. ALL. THE WHOLE THING.

This is a terrific take on your standard (but by no means boring) Indian dal recipe, in soup form. I overcook the lentils on purpose, giving the soup a very luscious, smooth texture. If you prefer your lentil soup a bit chunkier, just hold on another week 'til I post my French Lentil Soup, which is hearty, chewy, and full of texture.

And the greens in the photo? Those are baby cilantro sprigs from our greenhouse, NOT fennel! Aren't they adorable?! We've never been able to grow cilantro well here, but this year it's absolutely going bonkers in the greenhouse and the taste is amazing (ok, disclosure time: although I love to say, "We have a greenhouse," [hear it in a highbrow British accent] in reality it's a tiny little metal and plastic thing that one person can barely stand in...but it does the job, and this fall I'm loving all the herbs coming out of it. And the best part? So far I haven't killed anything, so that's a step in the right direction).

If making this for a camping trip, the entire recipe may be done on-site; however, I find it easier to cook the lentils and vegetables at home to save on stove fuel. Seal cooked and pureed vegetables, freeze, and finish the rest of the soup at your campsite.

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Cooking a la Ficelle

10/29/2014

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"Ficelle" is french for "string," and it's possibly the very best method for cooking some ridiculously impressive gourmet food in the most rustic way possible.

My kids love this method for four reasons: 1, it's a heck of a lot of fun to fling meat around and not get into trouble (you'll understand what I'm talking about in a minute); 2, it looks really cool; 3, there is basically no clean up involved; and 4, it's seriously some of the very best camping food we've ever had -- and that's saying a lot, considering how we eat when we're in the backcountry.

I'll include actual recipes in future posts, but here is a quick primer on how to do this:

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