Todd and I love camping. About two years ago we bought a pop-up and try to go camping a few times a year. One day we hope to take it out of state and start exploring the national parks, but for now we have been exploring everything AZ has to offer. This is our first camping trip since I changed my diet. Looking back on past trips, I used to be sick to my stomach most of the time. I think mainly because it is easy to grap processed comfort foods for camping. With a little additional prep at home we were amazed how easy it is to cut out the processed food (which usually contain lots of hidden sources of soy). I love the
ahwatukee farmers market. I want to explore other markets but so far this has been my go to one. When I started reading food labels I was amazed how many additional things get added to food. I try to find food items with the least amount of ingredients. I have been making almost everything from scratch but sometimes the convenience of a packaged item is nice especially when traveling or camping. With lots of searching you can find those rare items with only the whole main ingredients. I couldn't believe how much soy sneaks into food. I thought I was doing a good job of avoiding it until I started researching it and really looking at labels. It is hidden within so many ingredients. For example, soy protein occurs as an impurity in manufactured
guar gum, and can make up as much as 10%. Unfortunately their is not a good way to tell if it is manufactured or not so I tend to just stay away. For the iffy ingredients that contain soy depending how it is derived, I will try those foods individually and see if I react. By doing this, I have found a
gluten free pasta I can have and it actually tastes very good. I never have been someone who made a lot from scratch or completely homemade but I am glad I have switched. I actually enjoy cooking now and all the additional time in the kitchen is worth it because I feel so much better. I used to come home and then decide what to make for dinner. I have found that planning ahead has been the key.
It was the same with this camping trip. The night before I cut up lots of fresh fruit. This is a good snack or can be added to any meal. Cut up fresh fruit also usually lasts a few days in the cooler just fine. I also cut up sweet red peppers and cucumbers to easily make a salad. I vacuumed packed steak and chicken then froze them. I pre-made hamburger patties which I froze and then vacuumed packed. We take a little charcoal grill with us camping so it easy to grill up some meat for dinner. I even found organic beef and turkey hot dogs at sprouts that were very good. For breakfast we had
organic oatmeal I got from the farmers market. One morning I made an egg casserole in the dutch oven. At the last minute before we left I threw two white sweet potatoes in our bags. Glad I did. They were so delicious. Todd is still talking about how good they were. We wrapped them in foil and placed them on the fire pit grill and cooked them for about 45 minutes over the fire. The last side I made was brown rice which I cooked on the same fire pit grill. It wasn't as tender as making it at home and having total control over the heat but it was still good. We had this paired with the chicken. I made
chicken salad with
homemade mayo to have for lunch with
Lula's corn tortillas from the farmers market. I love that the tortillas are made of two ingredients corn and water. The best snack we had was homemade trial mix. I went to sprouts and bought balk nuts and added dried cranberries. If we were headed out for the day exploring or hiking I would through the mix in the truck to snack on. Of course I brought along my go to dried fruit from
peeled snacks. I have lived on these every since October. They are all natural with nothing added. They are reasonable priced and shipped right to my house. Love, Love, Love them. Ironically, at the end of the trip we commented this was probably the easiest trip for meals once we got camping. We decided it was due to all the prep work that was done beforehand at home.
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Scott and I playing Bocci Ball. We finally had a great spot to play
and we had a lot of fun. What a great camping game. |
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Todd and I at V Bar V ranch. We love exploring the area
around our campground. |
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