Thursday, January 29, 2009

Breakfast - Car Camping - Granola and Fresh Fruit

gluten-free granola and fresh fruit Here is another easy one! Bring the milk product or milk substitute of your choice. When camping, we usually bring Soymilk or Almond Milk. It can be purchased in quart size containers which do not need to be refrigerated until opened. This saves room in the coolers, and since the containers are rectangular they store more easily inside the cooler and out.

It's not fair to call this a recipe, but I couldn't resist sharing it with you.

Slice some fresh fruit and put it on granola in milk.

Trader Joe's granola is an inexpensive and tasty gluten-free option.

Variation? Heat the milk!

Dinner - Car Camping - Salmon & Potato

This one is too easy, it almost isn’t fair! Open a container of salmon, bake a couple of potatoes, and sauté some canned mushrooms and canned green beans.

This is a good dish to save for the end of your trip, after you have consumed a lot of your fresh goods. Vary the vegetables, maybe even add some bacon bits for flavor.
gluten-free salmon & potato

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Snack - Car Camping, Backpacking - Chocolate Crispy Treats

gluten-free chocolate crispy treats
Recipe is from cooks.com We use mostly chocolate krispies, but we mix in some plain ones, maybe one or two cups, just for the look and to make the chocolate a little more mild. We think it tastes better ;-)

1/4 cup butter
10 ounces marshmallows
6 cups GF crispy cereal (Rice Krispies contain barley malt)

1. Melt butter in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly into buttered 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan. Cut into squares when cool.
Yield: 24 squares, 2 x 2 inches.Note: Use fresh marshmallows for best results.

The boxes of cereal in the photo are the ones that we used for the treats in the first photo. The last I checked, Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies are not gluten-free. Cocoa Pebbles might be gluten-free, but you should check the ingredients before deciding to use them.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Lunch - Car Camping - Salmon Pasta

gluten-free salmon pasta
OK, so we cheated a little, but who wants to spend a lot of time cooking dinner every evening?! We bought a box of Chicken Alfredo Pasta (gluten-free and chicken not included). We opted for salmon instead of chicken, since we had a couple of packs of salmon so we added a pack to the mix along with some canned mushrooms. Follow the directions on the pack and make your substitution at the appropriate spots. You could do the same thing with macaroni & cheese.
Toast some bread if you have space on your stove. There is a photo of our toaster under "Pasta with Red Sauce" a couple of days ago. The beer in the photo is Redbridge - it's also GF!

Breakfast - Car Camping - Egg Tacos with Avocado

gluten-free egg tacos with avocado
This is a great breakfast, especially before a long hike or active day.

We scramble eggs with ham, tomato and onions. Have someone slice the avocado while using the second burner to heat up the taco wraps (and be careful to not burn yourself or your tortilla wraps.) I have heard that some corn tortilla wraps may contain wheat flour, so check the ingredient label. It may be obvious from the photo to add some sour cream before topping the tortilla with the eggs and avocado. You might also throw some cheese on top, I know I do. Delicious!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Dinner - Car Camping - Grilled Pork Loin and potatoes

gluten-free grilled pork loin and potatoes

OK, we admit it, we like to grill and we like potatoes! We buy a pork loin just before the trip and freeze it. The second or third day it is thawed and ready to cook, so we get the fire going and start a couple of potatoes, then double layer aluminum foil and wrap the pork, smothering it in BBQ sauce (a call in 2008 found that Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce is gluten-free). Add some mushrooms for flavor and texture. When the fire is ready and the coals are hot, grill the pork, flipping it a couple of times (this is a messy job, but well worth it).
Try baking a potato in aluminum foil in the fire and melting some cheese on it at the end. Saute some veggies and re-heat the leftover rice from yesterday. Don't miss pouring some of the extra sauce on the pork. This is one of our favorites!

Lunch - Car Camping - Pasta with red sauce

gluten-free pasta with red sauce
GF pasta with ham, onion, mushrooms and red sauce (a call to Classico in June of 2008 confirmed that all of their red and white pasta sauces are gluten-free); GF bread and butter.

To keep in form, we want our recipes to not be work intensive or complicated. This pasta recipe requires only the basics that you would expect for an easy lunch. Chop up whatever vegetables you like, add meat as well if you like, cook the pasta as you begin to saute the veggies in oil, when the pasta is almost ready add the sauce to the veggies. Don't forget to toast your bread! Even our friends that were camping with us (and who are not gluten free) enjoyed this meal.

Breakfast - Car Camping - Eggs Potatoes and Bacon

gluten-free eggs potatoes and bacon
This one sounds simple right? It IS simple! The potatoes are from a can - saute them in oil with onions and ham, maybe some salt and pepper or whatever suits your taste. It will take a little while until they are browned. Fix the eggs to your taste, we prefer over medium. And fry up some bacon! You're ready for a filling breakfast!

We like to add whatever we have on hand - Red sauce, sour cream, grated cheese, etc.

Do you have a variation of this simple breakfast? We'd love to see it and maybe post it here.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Snack - Backpacking/Car Camping - Granola Bars

gluten-free granola barsBlueberry-Banana Peanut Butter Bars
from A Fork in the Trail, by Laurie Ann March (Wilderness Press, 2008)

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups high-energy cereal made of strong flakes, crushed
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup dried banana chips
1/3 cup white chocolate chips

"Break the banana chips into small pieces and set aside. Heat the honey and brown sugar in a large pot and simmer for 1 minute. (Boiling too long will make the bars brittle.) Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the peanut butter. Add the remaining ingredients and combine well.
Coat the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square pan with vegetable oil. Scoop the mixture into the pan and pack down evenly. Freeze for 30 minutes. Transfer the pan contents to a cutting board. Allow to return to room temperature and then cut into 10 bars. Wrap bars in waxed paper and store in zip-top bags. The bars will keep in the freezer for three months. "

I make these and they are yummy! I use Trader Joe's Gluten Free Granola.
I modify the recipe a bit, using more nuts and more peanut butter, and dark choco chips instead of white choco, plus I used less choco chips than the recipe calls for because they were a little bit too prone to melt.

Dinner - Car Camping - Honey BBQ Chicken

gluten-free honey barbecue chickenHoney BBQ ChickenIngredients:2 ½ lb. chicken breasts1 tsp powdered ginger½ cup GF soy sauce¼ cup honey2 cloves garlic (crushed)1 tsp salt1 tsp pepper½ cup GF ketchup¼ cup vegetable oilPreparation:Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and add the chicken. Then place the chicken and sauce in a ziplock freezer bag and freeze it. If it’s completely frozen when you leave on your trip, it should stay cold in your cooler for at least 24 hours. Grill and enjoy!We cooked the potatoes in the fire and grilled zucchini in aluminum gluten-free honey bbq chickenfoil beside the chicken. A little salt on the zucchini and some cheese, butter or sour cream for the potatoes and we were set with a great dinner. An alternative? As in the second photo we made some instant rice and ears of corn.

Recipe from: Faith Community Church Women's Fellowship, p 48, Susan Cook

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Lunch - Car Camping - Tomato & Roasted Pepper Soup

gluten-free tomato & roasted pepper soupHere is a really easy lunch to prepare at the campsite, although it may take a little preparation at home. gluten-free roasted pepper soup
Trader Joe’s brand Tomato & Roasted Pepper Soup; we added some already cooked rice to the soup and ate it with GF bread and butter.
The Tomato & Roasted Pepper Soup? We usually buy it at Trader Joe's.
The rice? We prepare it in a rice cooker at home.
The bread? When we are in a hurry, we buy a bread mix and prepare it the day before our camping trip.
Other options? Buy a loaf of GF bread before leaving on your trip. Make instant rice at the campsite.

Variation? Add mushrooms and onions to the soup. Another option - saute the mushrooms and onions in a pan before adding them to the soup to bring out some flavor.

Breakfast - Car camping - Buckwheat groats with eggs

gluten-free buckwheat groats with eggsWhat will you need? 1 cup buckwheat groats, broth (substitute water for broth if you refer), butter, salt, pepper, onions, eggs and bacon. How much of each? To your taste! For two people - 1 cup of groats, (and whatever it takes to prepare the groats to your taste), 1/2 of a small onion, 2 to 4 eggs, and 4 to 8 slices of bacon.
Follow the directions for the groats, but here is an example from Pocono Buckwheat groats 1 cup of groats, 2 cups of broth, 2 tbsp butter or margarine
1. In a medium saucepan, heat liquid, butter and seasonings to boiling.
2. Quickly stir in buckwheat. Reduce heat to low and cover pan tightly
3. Simmer 15 minutes until groats are tender and liquid is absorbed.

For the eggs - we like them over medium, but you might prefer them scrambled, or to even prepare them hard boiled to save some dishes at the campsite. A tasty (although less healthy) option is to fry up the bacon first, then saute the onions and cook the eggs in the bacon grease.
A variation? Make the egg omelette style with tomato and whatever else you like and pour the buckwheat over the top, throw on some cheese and fold.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

About us

Why does "glutenfreecamping.com" exist?
My wife and I have always been huge camping fans; as a matter of fact, two of our most treasured wedding gifts were a brand new tent and a camping stove. One of the things we love about camping is sitting around the campfire and enjoying a good meal. So, when I began living gluten-free in February 2008, we immediately started wondering how this would affect our travels, particularly our camping/backpacking trips. After all, many of the typical camping meals are very much wheat-based: hot dogs on the grill, hamburgers, sandwiches, pancakes, toast, pasta…!
About four months after I started living gluten-free, we decided to give it a try: We went on a 6-day (car) camping trip to Northern California, during which we cooked all of our own gluten-free meals. We found that it takes slightly more planning and ingenuity, but it is definitely possible, and we really enjoyed our food! This site is our attempt at sharing our own experience and inviting you to share yours. Although it will start as a blog (with us sharing some of our ideas for meals and recipes), our goal is to convert the blog into a forum, which will allow you to post your own comments, ideas, and recipes. Please check the site frequently and don’t be shy – we’d love to hear your experiences and try out your recipes! Our hope is that nobody would opt to stay home for fear that their diet may be too restrictive when camping - alone or with friends!

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Three cups of coffee and a table