Camping with Greens

I spent a few days camping at Savoy Mountain State Forest this week, and on the way out there, I picked up my CSA share.  I found myself with the following haul: two quarts of strawberries, two tomatoes (which could use a couple more days of ripening, imho), a bag of spinach, a bunch of rainbow chard, and a head of green leaf lettuce.  The strawberries were too good for anything but eating straight, as many as I could in three days.  I saved the spinach and tomatoes in the cooler, and they survived quite well the return home.  But I had to use some of the greens, no?  How does one cook greens on a campfire?  I could have cheated and used my camp stove, but instead I had great success steaming them in foil.


Soaking the greens in fresh water in the wash basin, just as I would do at home, removed all the grit and such.  I saved the water for the first rinse of the dirty dishes.

Break up the chard and the lettuce separately by hand.

Mix together the following to make a salad dressing for the lettuce:
2 packets of soy sauce
pea-sized amount of wasabi
dash of lemongrass
pinch of galangal
dollop of maple syrup
good helping of sesame seeds










Did I mention that I always take a little box of spices with me when I travel (and have the prospect of cooking)?




For the rainbow chard: Lay out greens on a large piece of aluminum foil.  

Sprinkle olive oil, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper on the greens, and toss together.

Fold foil lengthwise and secure closed.

Join ends of foil together to form a handle.  Heat over fire and allow greens to steam until wilted.








Those are Field Roast Vegan Frankfurters on Whole Foods organic whole wheat buns.  My new favorite hot dogs!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peanut Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookies

Image
I haven't posted anything in quite a long time, apart from finally pressing "Publish" on a 3-year-old draft just now. (I didn't even check for typos - sorry, folks - I'm clearly not a blogger.) But I threw together this recipe today, and it worked out quite well, so I thought I would share. I did not think to take photos while making them, so there's just the one of the end product. Here goes it. 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 2. Cover with hot or boiling water and let sit: 2/3 cup raisins 3. Mix wet ingredients thoroughly (using electric mixer if possible): 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used "natural" chunky) 1/2 very ripe banana 1 Tablespoon molasses 1/3 - 1/2 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup but could reduce that) 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla 1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T water, let sit for a couple minutes) 4. Mix separately then add to wet mixture: 1 cup flour 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 5. Fold in until well distributed: 1-2/3 cup rolled oats 1/3 ...
Read more

Joy of Cooking Waffles, Veganized

Image
Growing up, The Joy of Cooking was my family's go-to cookbook. My mother gave me a brand-new copy when I moved into my first apartment. I haven't used it much in recent years, as it's not terribly vegan-friendly, but I still refer to it occasionally for "standard" recipes that I can modify. I love waffles, and I never was quite satisfied with the vegan ones I was making. Worse, it is a family tradition to eat waffles on Christmas morning, and mine are always shunned in favor of the egg-and-butter variety my brother makes. When I splurged on a new waffle maker  this year, I decided to figure out the secret to the perfect waffle. So I turned to the Joy of Cooking. The Joy of Cooking recipe calls for egg whites, whipped into stiff peaks, folded into the batter. Aha, I said, I can do that with aquafaba ! And thus the veganizing began. I used flax eggs in place of the egg yolks and also used vegan buttermilk (soy milk + vinegar) to give it more height. I played ...
Read more

Chuna Salad - A Vegan Twist on an Old Favorite

Image
I first had "chuna" salad last summer at O2 Vegan Cafe in Cambridge and found that it filled an old craving. It's an easy, quick, and filling vegan alternative that works in sandwiches, on salads, or just on its own. I developed this recipe on my own from trial and error, but you can easily include your favorite additions. Ingredients: 1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans) 3 tbsp vegan mayo 1 tbsp miso paste 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder 1-1/2 tbsp capers Instructions: Mix first five ingredients in large bowl, mashing the chick peas with a fork until it forms a coarse mixture, leaving small bean chunks. (It requires a little effort to do it by hand, but I've found the results much more satisfying than the paste produced by a food processor.) Then lightly mix in the capers. I made this for lunch with my friend Anna, who said that her school-age children wouldn't be thrilled by the capers. The nice thing about this dish is that...
Read more