how we ate real food at camp, despite road blocks

A couple weeks ago, our family drove an hour north of us to spend 12 days teaching at a fine arts camp. We didn't hit any road blocks on the way there, but when we walked into our cabin there may as well have been a sign like this one:

As we've done in the past, I was planning on cooking most of our food using the little kitchenette that most cabins have (we’ve always had one before and this was our fourth year there); it’s a unit the size of an oven that has two burners, a sink, and a mini-fridge. There is food provided in the faculty cafeteria, but we can only take so much standard GFS fare: powdered eggs, iceberg lettuce with soybean oil-HFCS dressing, canned green beans and peas, white bread with margarine, pre-made lasagna, etc. We do our best to eat the food that most closely resembles real food when we do eat there, but it’s hard, and we just don’t feel well afterwards. In fact, a week after returning home, we still feel like our bodies are recovering from the few meals we ate there and the few meals we ate out when family came to visit. (I don’t know how the dance students dance all day while eating food that is supposedly even worse. No wonder so many of them get sick, injured, and exhausted!) I don’t want to be a food snob, and I was grateful some nights when I was too exhausted to cook that there was food to eat, but I just couldn't do three meals a day for 12 days there.

So I packed ingredients for several simple meals, along with the bare minimum in cooking equipment: our iron skillet, two saucepans, a couple utensils, a small strainer, a cheese grater, and our blender (I couldn’t go two weeks in the summertime without a smoothie!). We packed our small cooler full to the brim with raw milk, butter, pastured eggs, fresh produce, kombucha, cheese, yogurt, and cooked chicken and white beans. And of course our cod liver oil!

But we had an unpleasant surprise when we walked into our cabin. No mini-kitchen! No stove! No sink! And a fridge so tiny it could barely hold half of what we brought! ARGH!

Here is where the sink was supposed to be hooked up. :(

It was not a happy moment. I was not prepared to eat crappy food for two weeks. Nor did I want all the food we brought to go bad. So after I recovered from the initial shock, I went to Meijer looking for a hot plate, thinking if I could just have a way to heat one pot, we'd be fine.

Apparently they don’t sell hot plates.

So I bought a camp stove instead.

We have never really felt like we were "camping" at Blue Lake. Though the cabins are junky (ours was full of broken furniture when we got there...), they have indoor plumbing and well, usually a mini kitchen. :( You don't get wet when it rains, so it can't possibly be real camping. But cooking outside sure made it feel like camping!

As for the lack of fridge space, some stuff stayed in the cooler and I rotated the cold packs (which was difficult considering how small the "freezer" compartment in the fridge was). A few days in we had eaten enough food that most of it fit, and we kept a couple things in the fridge at the dance building.

Here's the fridge with our dishes on top of it because there was no where else to put them.

We washed our dishes in this tiny bathroom sink:

And we made an impromptu pantry by bringing some shelves in from the bedroom. (Notice the toddler-friendly lower shelves and all the glass jars on the top shelf!)

So we made it work. But boy was I happy to return to my own kitchen, small as it is, after 12 days of that!

Since the stove only has one burner (it was the least expensive model), one pot meals were a must. Here are a few of the meals we ate (some cooked on that little camp stove, atop a crooked picnic table, and some that required no cooking):

Breakfast

1. Fried Eggs and Toast (with the toast cooked in the pan next to the eggs, and lotsa butter)
2. Oatmeal (with an egg in it!)
3. Toast with Peanut Butter and homemade strawberry jam (toasted in the skillet, of course)

Lunch/Dinner

1. Chicken Salad (made with the cooked chicken I brought)
2. Shredded chicken sandwiches (on sourdough bread with sharp cheddar, mustard, and homemade mayo)
3. Chicken Pesto Pasta
4. Saucy White Beans with Zucchini (recipe coming!)
5. Pizza toasts (sourdough bread, spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, and melted cheese, served open face)
6. Mujadareh (rice and lentils with spiced caramelized onions)

Snacks

1. Crackers and Cheese
2. Fruit Smoothies
3. Homemade Granola
4. Raw Milk and Chocolate Zucchini Cake (I made it the day before we left and we savored the leftovers for a few days)

I hope you are encouraged that you can a) Cook real food even with very limited equipment and space, and b) Choose to eat real food even when fake food is readily available and free. The free food is not really worth the cost your body pays. (Except when it involves relationships with people; I always want to be able to eat what is put in front of me - and even enjoy it! - to show love to those around me, real food or not.)

We are glad to be home, caught up with laundry, and jumping back into the school year. You can expect less blogging from me than I was able to do in the summer due to a toddler who makes computer usage difficult, and my husband taking the laptop to class most days. But I'll try to keep giving you all sorts of good stuff!

Have you ever cooked real food in the midst of less than ideal circumstances? Tell us about it!

Home From Camp!

We just arrived back today from almost two weeks away working at a fine arts camp an hour north of us. It was an exhausting but fun adventure! I apologize for the lack of posting; I had intended to write about how we were eating real food despite several roadblocks, but the spotty internet and busy schedules prevented it. So now we are home, doing laundry and unpacking. You can look forward to some upcoming posts about what we ate as I get back into the swing of normal life!

Real Life Confession: I can't do it all.

I have a cold. I have a high-need toddler. I have a small kitchen. I do not have a dishwasher that works. I have a limited budget. I'm overwhelmed.

I light of these circumstances and a foreseeably very busy fall, Steven and I have made a decision: This school year, we will be eating one "convenient" meal per week, and eating out once a week.

That may not be a shock to you. You may be thinking "well gees, we eat out a lot more than that!" or "only one convenient meal!?" But please understand: I'm an idealist. I don't want to let any processed convenience foods into our home. Our budget is tight and unpredictable, which means high-end "healthy" processed food is off limits. Right now we almost never eat out unless absolutely desperate, or if parents are visiting.

But something's gotta give. I dream of the day that I have a child old enough to really help in the kitchen, or an older child who can entertain a younger child while I cook. But almost-two is a hard age to have your mom cooking real food meals all the time.

Steven suggested we have one "convenience meal" a week. And I said, how about one "convenient meal." The difference? Convenience meal makes me think of lean cuisine and ready-made lasagna. Convenient meal means something that is easy to prepare but not necessarily out of a box or full of junk.

So here's my list of healthy-ish convenient meals. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments! I know I may need to sacrifice my ideals once in awhile in this season of our lives. I just don't want to sacrifice them too much. ;)

Convenient Meals for a Busy Season

1. Spaghetti with meat sauce (brown some meat, throw in ready made sauce, cook pasta, done.)

2. Trader Joe's nitrate-free hot dogs with whole grain (store bought) buns.

3. Hamburgers with store bought buns (Does anyone know if frozen french fries have crap in them?)

4. Frozen pizza (ideally something without hydrogenated oils, MSG etc.)

5. Grilled cheese with store-bought (MSG-free) tomato soup

6. Quesadillas on corn tortillas with canned black beans

7. Nachos: tortilla chips, canned beans, taco meat if there's time, salsa, cheese, etc.

8. Sandwiches with (gasp!) nitrate-free lunchmeat

I would also love some slow-cooker recipes that involve only a few ingredients but minimal processed foods. Does that exist? Share in the comments!

As for going out once a week, we made a list of our favorite mid-range restaurants and we'll rotate between them. We will probably go for lunch since it can be a lot cheaper. We'll also save coupons for our favorite pizza place. :) And we'll pray that even though our food budget will expand slightly, God will provide for us, and make our home a peaceful place.

What tips do you have for eating well during a busy season, or for keeping a toddler entertained while you cook?

Cucumbers Out Our Ears!

Our CSA is currently dominated by cucumbers. This week we got 7 cucumbers and 10 pickles. I wanted to make pickles, but we are heading to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and I will not be doing any crazy kitchen projects. (I'll be sure to post a picture of the "kitchen" we have at camp!)

So what's a girl (or guy) to do with so many cukes? Well, all kinds of fun stuff! I made the most adorable Cheddar-Herb Cucumber bites for a party at our house Monday night, and didn't take a single picture. But the recipe is below and I assure you they are quite tasty!

But first, a VERY simple recipe involving cucumbers and blueberries! This is what happens when I decide to make a salad 2 minutes before we sit down to eat dinner. It involves no lettuce (takes too long to wash) and only 5 ingredients. And it was the perfect compliment to our quinoa-sweet potato veggie burgers (recipe coming soon).

If your CSA or garden is also swimming in cucumbers, I hope these recipes help you use them up!

Cucumber-Blueberry Salad

1 cucumber, cut into chunks

a handful of blueberries

a splash of white wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

chopped fresh basil and mint

Toss together and enjoy!

Cheddar-Herb Cucumber Bites

Mix together the following ingredients, eye-balling the amounts to get the consistency you want:

softened cream cheese

sour cream or plain yogurt

shredded cheddar cheese

chopped fresh dill, basil, and chives (or whatever herbs you want)

salt and pepper to taste

Spread onto slices of cucumbers or pickles. Serve as a snack, appetizer, or side-dish. (It's also great on crackers or on other veggies.)

One more tip for using your cucumbers: add a few slices to your water glass for a refreshing break from plain water. :)

What's your favorite way to use cucumbers?

This is part of Real Food Wednesday and the Gnowfglins Seasonal Recipe Round-up

Word of the day: Kohlrabi

"I'm going to need some help finding the kohlrabi," said the woman standing next to me at our CSA pick-up last week.

I had never heard of kohlrabi either, until joining our CSA last year. But these alien-like bulbs have been a welcome addition to our dinner table. As a part of the cabbage family, they taste a bit like broccoli, but have a texture reminiscent of an apple. They are satisfyingly crisp when eaten raw, which, in my humble opinion, is the best way to eat them.

Here is what wikipedia says about the origin of the name "kohlrabi":

The name comes from the German Kohl ("cabbage") plus Rübe ~ Rabi (Swiss German variant) ("turnip"), because the swollen stem resembles the latter. The same roots are also found in the German word Kohlrübe, which refers to the rutabaga.

The vegetable consists of two main parts: the bulb and the leaves. Both are edible, though the bulb is more commonly eaten than the greens. Here's what I recommend doing with the bulb:

1. Cut off all adjoining stems and peel with a sharp knife. (I cut myself the other day trying to peel one with a peeler. I don't recommend trying that.) Be sure to remove all the tough skin.

2. Cut in half and then slice thinly.

3. Make a homemade dip by combining some plain whole milk yogurt, sour cream (I recommend Daisy brand because it has no additives or hormones, and is affordable; of course grass-fed organic is ideal but not always realistic), and homemade ranch dressing mix.

4. Dip your sliced kohlrabi into your homemade dip! Yum!

You can also chop it and put it in salads, or you can cook it. But I prefer it raw.

Now how about those leaves? I can't stand wasting food, especially nutritious food. So I try to use the greens as well as the bulb. I threw some into my homemade chicken noodle soup the other day. You can use them anywhere you'd use other greens. If you don't know what to do with greens, check out this post I did for Kitchen Stewardship: 5 Easy and Delicious Ways to use up CSA greens.

If you're a part of a CSA this year and you had no idea how to use up your kohlrabi, I hope this helps! If not, go to your local farmers market and pick some up; you won't be disappointed! :)

This is part of Monday Mania.

Easy Change #7: Start Meal Planning

Welcome back to my Easy Changes You Can Make Today series! It's been awhile, but I'm back with another small change you can make toward healthier eating! (Did you miss the other Easy Changes? Check them out here.)

I think planning meals is the most important step you can take toward a real food lifestyle. Here's why:

4 Reasons to Start Meal Planning Today

Reason #1: real food takes time

Many real food techniques require thinking at least a day ahead: soaking or sprouting grains and legumes, dehydrating nuts, making stock, thawing meat from your freezer (that you bought in bulk to save money), baking bread, fermenting foods, making homemade condiments, etc. They are not very difficult on their own; what makes them difficult is fitting them into a busy, disorganized lifestyle. If you have a meal plan, you can think about making homemade buns for your hamburgers two days in advance, instead of running to the store to buy some an hour before dinner.

Reason #2: meal planning saves time and money

When you meal plan effectively, you make far fewer trips to the grocery store. This results in less gas used, less food bought, and less time spent in the car and at the store. A meal plan also prevents last minute trips to McDonald's, saving you even more money. And if you get good at making simple real food meals, you can often have dinner on the table in the same amount of time it would take for you go drive to McDonald's and place your order. (Coming soon: tips for simple and quick real food meals!)

Reason #3: meal planning saves brain power

Before I started meal planning, I said the following sentence far too often: "I have no idea what we should have for dinner." Due to our limited budget, we couldn't just go out and grab something, so I had to come up with something to eat with whatever we had on hand. It was exhausting (especially when I was pregnant!). That very rarely happens now. It's so much easier to think about meals once a week and then just follow the plan.

Reason #4: meal planning prevents crabby families

Hungry families are crabby families. Having a meal plan helps you to get dinner on the table before a blood sugar meltdown occurs. (Having healthy snacks available to eat while you're cooking helps, too.)

Are you convinced? If so, here is what you need to do:

1. Designate a place where you will write down your meal plan each week. I like to use a pad of paper with the days of the week already on it. Before I had one of those, I just wrote my meal plans on random pieces of paper that inevitably got lost. But my meal planning pad lives on the refrigerator (if yours doesn't come with magnets, just tape a magnet to the back: I repurposed one from a pad of paper that I had used up). You can also put your meal plan on your computer or phone - wherever you will be most likely to reference it often.

2. Choose a day of the week to do your meal planning. If you shop on the same day each week, choose the day before you shop to plan your meals. And then stick with it. But even if you don't stick with it, don't be hard on yourself; you can always jump right back in!

Choosing a Method

There are a million methods for meal planning. Just google "meal planning" and you'll find hundreds of resources. You can just choose meals off the top of your head, or you can write down a list of your family's favorites and choose from there. You can page through your cookbooks and recipe cards and recipes you've saved on your computer. You can plan just dinners, or breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Do whatever works for you! And if it's not working, change it! My methods have changed over time. I tried monthly planning but found that I'm not good enough at sticking with a plan to follow through for four weeks in a row. And here's a trick it took me awhile to learn: use pencil.

Don't think that meal planning is going to prevent spontaneity. If someone invites us to dinner or family comes to visit, we just go with the flow and adjust the plan accordingly.

Soon I'll be sharing what's been working for us lately. It's a meal planning method that helps balance our time, budget, and nutrition. And it's simple.

So, will you take the plunge and start meal planning? If not, what's stopping you? If you're a seasoned meal planner, what tips do you have for those who are just starting out?

This is part of Fight Back Friday, Friday Potluck, and I'm Lovin' It Friday.

Fried Eggs with Vinegar and Garlic

I'm obsessed with these eggs. I got the idea from Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express. With as often as we eat eggs for breakfast (probably 4-5 times a week) we were in need of some fresh ideas. Sometimes I just melt a piece of sharp cheddar cheese over each egg. But when I'm looking for something with a little more zing, this is my go-to recipe. It's not really much harder than a simple fried egg, and the extra two minutes you spend are so worth it.

Fried Eggs with Vinegar and Garlic

Ingredients:

pastured eggs from a farmer you trust (2 per person)

coconut oil or grass-fed butter for frying eggs (1-2 T.)

salt and pepper to taste

more butter for cooking garlic (2 T. or so)

1 clove of garlic per person (minced)

a splash of red wine vinegar per person (about 1 T.)

Method:

Heat a well-seasoned iron skillet over medium heat. Wait until it's good and hot, then lower the heat to medium low. Melt the coconut oil or butter, then add your eggs. Cook a couple minutes on the first side until the top begins to set, flip gently, and cook a couple more minutes on the other side, adding salt and pepper at some point. Remove to a plate, and add 2 T. butter to the skillet. Add the minced garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add a splash of red wine vinegar and cook a minute or less, until some liquid has evaporated. Pour the sauce over the eggs. Enjoy with soaked, sprouted, or sourdough toast, with plenty of butter!

This is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, and Pennywise Platter Thursday.