From Zero to Camping in One Box

We decided that this year is not the year we are going to move from tent camping to a trailer so I wanted to really get on top of things and get our gear organized once and for all. The goal: have a loaded tote bin full of everything we need so all we have to do is grab and go. I have been working on a box for a few years now with this in mind and every time we go out, I find something that we didn't really need, or something that was missing...like pen and paper.

Did I say that it's always going to be a work in progress? I made the box three years ago when we bought our tent and took off with a toddler for the mountains. It had oven mitts and a dishwashing basin thing in it, a huge lantern, and a new mess kit. The car was packed to over flowing and I had to borrow a roof carrier from a friend to get the sleeping bags in. After each trip, I have taken out the things we never used or found ways to use one item in many ways and cut the amount in the box down. Today I went OCD on the box by creating boxes in the big box. I'm hoping it cuts down on the digging around trying to find things, which causes everything to get jumbled up and a huge mess after the first day. Need a fork? Orange box. Washing up? Head to the sink with the blue box and it's all there. And with all the basic necessities sealed in one bin, we can just grab it off the garage shelf and go. Food, clothes, and book type items still have to get collected from the house and packed separately, but to me, finding and sorting all the basics is the hugest pain ever. It's all that stuff you'd have packed in the trailer but a tenter has to find every trip and cram into the car.

Here is a list of everything I have in the box, the supplies I used, and how it is grouped. I'm sure after camping this weekend, I will find a few things missing or that can be removed. Items with a * are ones I'm pretty sure we won't use but I'm still waiting to see. Disclaimer: I want my camping weekends to be relaxed, not filled with household chores like dishes and cooking that I might as well be doing in the comfort of my own home. Some of you probably love creating unique camping meals and all that, but I'm not at that point yet. I just want to survive two nights in the woods with a child without going nuts. So I do all the food prep I can at home (dice onions and tomatoes), buy food that is ready to go (like shredded cheese or salad kits) and drinks and foods that come in individual containers (juice boxes, oatmeal in a cup, single size yoghurts). It's not the most environmental friendly thing to do, but for me it means less time on clean up and more time on fun. And less to haul along in 'the box'. I also plan my meals to use a minimal amount of pots and pans. Hotdogs on a stick or tacos are super easy. One pot spaghetti or chili. I've even just stuck dirty pots in a plastic bag and brought them home for the dishwasher. Yep, I'm that person who went a whole weekend and didn't have a single thing to wash. I even made a cardboard oven and burned it the next morning as fire starter.

Supplies for Organizing

1 Large bin with lid (I bought mine in a 3 pack at Costco)

4 School supply boxes from Walmart - large

2 Ziplock food storage containers - large (or get 4 and skip school supply boxes)

Loose in the Box

Griddle that fits our 2 burner stove and spatula

Hot dog sticks

2 fuel canisters for stove and 1 for Jet Boil

Jet Boil with coffee press accessory*

Disposable wasp trap

Nylon cord

Bungee cords

Hammer

Lighter

Small LED lantern and a tea light emergency lantern*

Napkins

Color/Activity books

Table cloth (fabric so it folds smaller and can be washed when we get home)

Picnic food tent

Paper plates (not pictured)

Small cutting board (not pictured)

and then the 6 containers described below

The Jet Boil hasn't even been used in the last two years; I normally bum hot water off of another family member if we go with a group or boil a pot on the portable stove. Going to give this a try and see how it goes, all we usually need hot water for is drinks and dishes, both of which can be substituted with other alternatives. Leaving the pot at home will save space in the car.

Did you notice there are no cups or mugs? I'm lazy and buy everything drinkable out of a container. It's horrible, I know, but for the few weekends of the year I'm ok with it. Last trip we really only refilled our sports bottles at the fountain or from a gallon jug and had a few juice boxes, milk boxes, and canned/bottled beverages in the cooler. The jet boil is a french press and mug in one for my husband. I can go without coffee for a weekend, and if not, will get a few bottled ones or one of those squeeze bottles of flavor to add to a milk box. And if it doesn't work, we'll put back in the french press and paper cups or add a second tote and put in the mess kit and call it the 'nice to have' tote. Not a big deal.

Ziplock Container 1 - Supplies: Two led flash lights, half roll duct tape, utility scissors, fire starter blocks, fire starter kindling, 4 clothes pins*, tea lights*, Swiss Army knife*, water proof match case, box of matches, can covers to keep bees out*, and batteries. As you might notice, we have issues getting a fire started.

Ziplock Container 2 - Staying Comfortable: wet wipes for bathroom emergencies, bug spray (once the large bottle empties, I'll stick with the small travel size), sunscreen spray and cream (kids don't like spray in their faces), itch cream, emergency blankets (one per person), and a rain poncho*. You might be thinking some stuff is missing, like a first aid kit. We car camp and I have a good sized kit in the console of the car already and also carry small ones in my backpack and purse. There is still some room in this container I might as well throw in a handful of bandages and a tube of betadine for good measure. I keep Tylenol and Benadryl in our grab and go toiletries bag which gets packed with our clothes for any kind of trip.

School Box 1* - Keeping Clean: 3 oz travel bottle filled with dish soap, hand sanitizer, scrubber pad, dish towel, and micro fiber hand towel. Wait, what do you wash all the stuff in??? You have a big plastic bin remember, and small stuff like cutlery (if you don't go disposable) can be done in the school box. If you go disposable and cook everything on a stick (I've done it before), you don't even need this box, just put the hand sanitizer in the ziplock container. Dish soap can wash hands, it's why I don't carry a bottle of that around anymore.

School Box 2 - Food Prep: 3oz travel bottle of oil (test at home to make sure it doesn't leak!), spice stack*, pot holder, two bag clips, paring knives, wine and bottle opener*, toothpicks, trash bag, four sandwich bags for leftovers, tea bags*.

Most bottles open with a twist top these days so probably won't need the bottle opener and I do a lot of food prep at home or buy packaged items so rarely need to season food while cooking. This has basic salt, pepper, Italian spices, and chili pepper flakes. Sometimes I make a spice blend for a recipe I've planned so I don't have to measure it out at the campsite and put that in a ziplock to take along. I don't know why I have tea. I guess so I can sound fancy if we have a guest and I can offer it.

School Box 3 - Eating: All the forks, spoons, and knives. I have a mix of reusable and disposable just because I had both floating around and needed to contain them. Disposable is nice to reduce dish washing, but if you did reusable, you could fit napkins in the box as well. I love this box because you can open it up and set it on the table and you're done. Next time we are at a ribs place or KFC, I'm grabbing a few of those wet wipes too. I have a big container of baby wipes in the car as well so we can always grab those.

School Box 4 - Fun: Deck of cards, 8 pack of crayons, fold up cribbage board, two beer cozies (in case you have to disguise your drink), bottle mustaches, glow sticks. The color books shown obviously don't fit in the school box, sorry. I added a little notebook after I took the picture because last time we headed out we needed to leave a note for someone and didn't have anything to write with or on in the car. This box has not been tested and I'm not sure we are actually going to use anything from it. I bought a box for our son to fill with whatever he wants and we ended up putting stickers, crayons, a notepad, pencils, glue pen, and a ruler in his. It might get used more than the one I made and I know I'll take it along for eating out or visits where waiting is involved. Add a matchbox car and it could be a winner.

So there you have it. I pulled out a second tote bin for things that are fun to have but not necessary. Solar lamps, mess kit, monster trucks, you get the idea. It's the same bin so they should stack nicely in the trunk or back seats and in the tent they can be night stands. Look who's glamping now.

Hela Yeah!

For the Dutch treasure hunters out there, I ran across this Hela curry sauce today at my local QFC grocery store. Grilled cheese lovers rejoice! Dump it on your fries, smother your sausages, drink it from the bottle, it's all good.

I know you can buy it at many other specialty shops in the Seattle area, but I am excited because this is a) where I normally shop and b) priced the same as in other stores I've seen it at.

Looking for it elsewhere? Try World Market, Bavarian Meats, or one of the many other German food markets in our greater Seattle Area. Or buy it on Amazon and have it shipped to your door!

New England Cod Cakes

I found this recipe in a PCC Market flyer we got in the mail a month or two ago. I love the flavors in these cakes and that they can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator (or freezer) until you are ready to cook them. Served with a kale salad and some steamed carrots, it was a light and summery meal we all enjoyed.

Ingredients
2 T oil, divided
3 ribs celery, diced
2 T minced shallot
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp celery seeds
¾ lb mashed potatoes, cooled
2 T chopped fresh parsley
2 T stone ground mustard
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
1½ lb cod fillet, cooked and flaked
Panko bread crumbs for coating
1 T unsalted butter

Directions
Heat 1 tsp oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Cook celery, shallot and garlic until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in celery seeds and cook 1 minute more. Let mixture cool.

In a large bowl, combine celery mixture, potatoes, parsley, mustard, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper. Fold in flaked cod, being careful not to over mix. Form into 8 ½ inch thick patties and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Roll chilled cod cakes in bread crumbs, lightly pressing so that they stick into cakes. Heat remaining oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the cakes until golden brown on each side, 3 to 5 minutes per side.

Here's a link to the original recipe.

Cake

"It tastes like Holland"

My husband asked me to make cake the other day. Our conversation looked kinda like this:

Him: cake would be nice

Me: what kind of cake?

Him: you know, cake

Me: yah, but like chocolate cake or layer cake or something?

Him: I don't know what else it's called, we just call it cake.

Then I realized he was talking about Dutch cake and sure enough in one of my cookbooks, that's simply what it's called: cake. 

Ingredients

200g butter, room temperature

200g sugar

Insides of one vanilla bean (or 1tsp extract)

Lemon zest

Dash of salt

4 eggs, room temperature

200g flour or cake flour, sifted

Directions

Preheat oven to 320F. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside.

Beat butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until it is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing 2 minutes between each egg. Slowly add the flour and mix until the batter is smooth. Fill the loaf pan with the batter and bake for about 1 ¼ hours until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove to a cooking rack.

Kindle Paperwhite

Reading is one of my favorite things to do. It's a great way to wind down at the end of the day; a quiet moment just for me. Last Christmas, I got a Kindle Paperwhite. After working 4 years in the electronic ink industry, I've seen a lot of e readers come and go and this is by far one of the best. It has this fantastic back-lit display so you can read virtually anywhere. I take it camping. Seirously.

I get most of my books from the local public library and Amazon couldn't have made it easier. I just go to the library website, pick out the books I want, and they are automatically delivered right to my Kindle. It can't get much more simple than that.

Reading on the Kindle is user friendly and the display is clear as day. These displays are non reflective so you won't get any glare, even in direct sunlight. In fact, the brighter the sunlight, the better the display looks. All you tablet people, I'm telling you (as I did those 4 years), if you're an avid reader you MUST invest in a dedicated e reader to save yourself some eyestrain...and battery life. I charge my Kindle maybe once every two weeks. That's when I read maybe an hour or two each night using a low backlight.

And how about all the money and shelf space you can save. I bet I've downloaded and read at least 100 books in the past year. Before that, I doubt I even read 10 paperbacks in a year. And all those books are stored in a cloud at my disposal. No more stuffing books into my carry on, no more debating at the bookstore what I'm going to leave behind.

Oh, and did I tell you about some of the other cool features? You can download a Kindle app for your phone, tablet, whatever and if you read on that (or a Kindle Fire which I've seen and it's soooo much lighter and thinner than an iPad) then it remembers what page you are on so you can pick up another device and carry on like you never put the book down. And if you're an Amazon Prime Member, you can borrow a book a month from Amazon; these are usually popular titles, and I think now they are even offering Prime members sneak previews to books before they are put in their bookstores. Plus the usual benefits of membership: 2 day free shipping on a lot of items, and Prime tv. We love that on our Kindle Fire to travel as well as on our tv.

Don't forget to accessorize your Kindle either!

Paleo Apple Pear Crunch

I love dessert. That's all.

Ok, it's not. Baked goods are my weakness and a warm crunch (crumble as some of you may call it) is always a hit on a chilly evening. This one was good, so good that my 4 year old cleaned his bowl and licked it clean before I could sit down with my own. I'll even admit to having the leftovers for breakfast.


Filling

• 2 pears, peeled and sliced
• 1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 ground cloves
• 1tsp tapioca
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Generous squeeze honey (optional)
• Lemon juice
• Pinch of sea salt

Combine all that yummy stuff in a bowl and stir it up. The tapioca is to absorb some of the liquids that come from the pears and keep the crunch from becoming too soggy at the bottom. It also helps make it all ooey gooey. If your fruit is exceptionally sweet, you can skip the honey but be sure to add a squeeze of lemon juice to balance the sweetness. Put all this goodness into an oven safe dish. Preheat your oven to 350F.

Crunch Topping
For the topping, it was kinda hit and miss. I'll keep updating this recipe as I find ways to improve it. Here's where I ran into problems...I couldn't find my usual recipe and had to make it up on the spot. I needed a way to get it to combine and keep it chunky without creating more dishes to wash and steps to use up my time.

• 1C almond meal
• 1/4C shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1/4C sliced almonds
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 3T coconut oil
• 1T honey

Put the almond meal, coconut, almonds, and cinnamon in a bowl and stir it to mix a little.  I grabbed coconut oil that was room temperature and some honey. I put this into the dry mixture and used a pastry cutter to get it clumpy. I tried just using coconut oil at first but when it didn't clump enough, I decided to use honey instead of adding more oil...personal choice, plus my measuring spoon wouldn't reach any further into the jar. Like I said, a work in progress. Dump this mixture over the top of your filling, making sure you cover the fruit the best you can.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or so. 

I'm thinking my next versions I'll add some cardamom and try playing with adding some dried cranberries if I can sneak that past the little guy. 

Paleo Sushi

I've always wanted to try making sushi and for the last few days, I've been experimenting...and eating a lot of failed attempts. If I make this again (and I'm sure I will), then I'll invest in a sushi mat, but there is no reason you can't make this at home with what you have on hand.

California Roll
To make about 3 rolls (18 pieces), you will need:

• 1 package of yaki nori sheets
• 1/2 head of cauliflower
• Carrot, cut into matchsticks
• Cucumber, cut into matchsticks
• Avocado, cut into thin slices
• Crab meat
• Mat for rolling (or use a clean tea towel or like me, your hands and call it good)

1. Cut the cauliflower into florets and put in your food processor. Chop fine but not so far it becomes paste. You want some texture in there. If you like the acidic taste that's in sushi rice, you can add a splash of vinegar to the mixture. Totally optional.
2. Lay a sheet of nori out on a clean surface (or your mat/towel/plastic wrap) and spread the cauliflower to cover the sheet. This becomes the 'rice' in the sushi roll. 
3. Lay out your carrots, cucumber, avocado, and crab meat across the middle.
4. Then roll it tightly. The 'rice' will be inside, because if it's on the outside like a traditional roll, it crumbles off. Trust me, I tried it. 
5. Using a very sharp knife, slice the roll into equal size pieces. You can probably get 6 out of it.