Ready to go...Backpacking that is...

...we are all packed and ready to go...that's my pack to the left and Scout's to the right...mine weighs about 20 lbs and Scout's a little bit more...we've split a 4 person tent between us...he has the tent proper...and I have the rainfly and all of the poles and stakes...

...if I get a minute later today...I'll come back and post about the super light stretchy and strong ties that I make to tie things onto the backpack...

...I did take a picture of these super easy to make chains of 3 strands of acrylic yarn...the VERY BEST backpacking tie-down straps ever...they are slightly stretchy...they grip well...and they don't come untied...but are easily untied when you want them to be...they're PERFECT for the job...Oh...and they're super light too...if you're a backpacker you definitely need some of these...


Have a great day!

More Vegan Backpacking Food...Make your own...

...so apparently, this week is all about preparation for a backpacking trip...

...I threw together this trail mix...it's just organic oats, pecans, vegan chocolate chips, and organic raisins...designed to be eaten out of hand...

...this is the same Russian Tea mixture you've seen before...

...and this is my 'souped-up' (HA!) version of Ramen noodles...which were the staple of all of our college aged camping trips...

...the noodles themselves are vegan...but the flavouring packet often is not...I've added some dehydrated peas from the garden...some TVP strips...and a packet of brown broth...totally experimental...so I'll let you know how it turns out...

...so here's my food for the weekend...packaged and ready to go...and surprisingly heavy...each packet should feed two...so Scout and I will share...

...clockwise from the top:

1) prepackaged Miso soup packets
2) a coffee drink that I didn't photograph...it's Sanka mixed with powdered soymilk, sugar and cinnamon...the taste test was pretty good - it reminded me of International Foods Vienna Coffee that I used to drink when I was at university...
3) vegan trail mix
4) the One Pan Dandy mixture
5) the Vegan Hot Cocoa Mix
6) the Souped Up Ramen Noodles
7) Organic peanuts
8) Nanny's Russian Tea

...I don't think we'll starve and I'll post an update when we get back...looking forward to some gorgeous fall hiking in the 'mountains'...which is actually a gorge...there are no mountains in ND...you have to go down before you can go up...HA!

Confirmation Stenciled Notebooks...

...we've been stenciling notebooks for our Confirmands again...

...a quick and fun project...and as individual as the Confirmand...some have a heavy hand and other a light one...some will later draw around their stencil with a black pen...and some will colour theirs like a rainbow...or so I've seen in years past...but they all start out like this...

Check out last year's notebooks here...

Tomato Summer Pudding

Funny that I should post a Tomato Summer Pudding when it is already well and truly fall here..but believe it or not...I'm still trying to work my way through all those tomatoes...the ones that are ripe in the photo are either in our tummies...or dried and ziplocked...but we're still waiting on some to ripen...and as they do...use them up...so we tried this Tomato Summer Pudding from Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers

The recipe is already vegan...so it's not adapted...and I found the recipe here...

...I like to get everything ready first...mise en place cooking works best for me...

...aren't my tomatoes still lovely...this was just the BEST year ever for tomatoes around here...

Basically you just broil the bread...

...mash up some garlic...

...and rub your bread with garlic...and DON'T do like I did and cut your bread up first...I'm sure it will be much easier for you to rub your bread with garlic in WHOLE slices...HA!

...(also rub your bowl with garlic)

...cut up some cucumbers...(also from the garden)...

...and some onion...the recipe calls for shallots or red onions...but I didn't have either...but I did have some nice yellow onions also from the garden...so I used those...

...then I started chopping tomatoes...

...and reserving the juice for the vinaigrette...

...mix in some evoo...

...and some red wine vinegar...

...and some black pepper...and some fresh basil...

...and give it a good whisk...

...Yikes!...I was planning on using this bowl for the salad...but I've filled it all the way up with tomatoes...so there's no room for the bread...

...that's OK...I'll just reuse the pyrex pitcher...layer in the bread...

...the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions...

...ending with tomatoes on top...

...then pour over the vinaigrette...

...set a plate and something heavy on top for an hour...

...it's done when a knife inserted in the side pulls away the bread pudding and you see juice...

...and of course I had to transfer it to another bowl before serving...we can't quite serve this pretty of a salad in a pyrex measuring bowl...

Vegan Hot Cocoa Mix...

...I've posted before about making my Mom's Hot Cocoa from scratch...a vegan version of course...It's yummy and perfect to have on a snowy winter day...

...but I needed a packable version as well...so I searched the net and found Alton Brown's version for a Hot Chocolate mix...


...I got out my powdered soy milk...some powdered sugar and my favorite cocoa...

...first I copied the recipe into my binder...and dontchyajusluv how I use my stovetop as counter space...that's 'cuz my counter is still full of tomatoes...

...just mixed everything up in a big bowl...

...trying to get most of the lumps out...

...then of course we have to give it a try...

...pour in some hot water...I didn't let it quite get to the boiling point...then I would have had to wait until it cooled to drink it...

...gave it a good stir...look how foamy it is...

...it makes a perfect breakfast drink now...and I'm sure it will also be a good warming drink around a campfire on a cool fall evening...

Hot Cocoa

Recipe adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred)
1 1/4 cups powdered soymilk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons cornstarch
dash cayenne pepper, or more to taste
Hot water

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate evenly. Heat 4 to 6 cups of water.

Fill your mug half full with the mixture and pour in hot water. Stir to combine. Seal the rest in an airtight container, keeps indefinitely in the pantry.

...Someone Had a Birthday!

...Scout's Papa...and my love-y to be exact...

...I don't talk a lot about the Man here...and that's at his request...and not because I don't want to...

...anywhooo...the Man had a birthday...

...and we celebrated it the regular ole way...

...with dinner out at a nice restaurant...

...with cake...

...and candles...sorry this is blurry...but I was video-taping with a camcorder in the other hand whilst singing happy birthday...and trying to snap a photo in manual mode with my left hand...not good...

...some cards...the Man and I laughed after about the tenth phone call of the day...that he needent think that he'd get any work done on his birthday...HA!

...and a few presents...that's some sort of a travel/carrier thing-y...just for pastors to protect and transport all of their paraphernalia (I mean alb-cassock-chausable-stole...you know)...

Preserving...

...as fall is now upon us...it's time to have all of our produce safely stored away for winter use...

...so that's what I'm trying to do...my freezer is full...so are my pantry shelves...so in an effort to save some space and still preserve our bountiful tomato harvest...

...we are dehydrating about 30 lbs of the last ripening tomatoes in the bunch...

...this is probably the easiest of the preserving methods...as you simply cut them up and place them on the trays...

...they pop off hard and thin as tiny little red bricks...

...I love them...I just don't quite know what to do with them...so I'm counting on y'all to send me all sorts of ideas for using up dried tomatoes this winter...

...Thanks a bunch!...and have a lovely first day of fall y'all...

Make Your Own Vegan Backpacking Food...

...We've got a three day hiking/camping/backpacking event coming up...and I need to take some light (in lbs.) vegan food in my backpack...and sadly there's not a lot commercially available - REI has a few vegan options...

...so of course I set out to make my own...and it's a good way to use up some of that garden produce sitting around on my counters and floors...

...first I blanched some tomatoes...

...so that I could easily peel them...I guess this step is not totally necessary if you don't mind the peels...I sort of do...

...seeds too...if you like them...leave them in...

...chop and simmer until done...

...cut the corn off the cob and cook it too...

...then spread it on the dehydrator tray...

...pour the chopped tomatoes onto a tray with a liner...some of the corn fell through...oh well...they'll be mixed together in the end anyway...

...I set the dehydrator at 145⁰ F (63⁰ C) to make quick work of it...the tomatoes shrink considerably...

...after a little while (a couple of hours) I scoop the tomatoes off the liner and put them directly on the tray to get a little bit more aeration...

...then just continue dehydrating until everything is really really dry...and light...pop it into a baggie with some TVP...and you're ready to go...just add some boiling water on the trail...I'll let you know how it turns out...

...this will be like the One Pan Dandy once it's rehydrated...and there should be enough for two meals...I know it doesn't look like much...but there was a full dehydrator tray of corn and tomatoes - so rehydrated it should be about that much again...

...a close up - doesn't it look scrumptious...Scout and I have been nibbling on the dehydrated corn kernels...they're surprisingly tasty by themselves...maybe I'll make a bag of just corn too...

Have you ever been backpacking?...