Friday, May 29, 2009

A Camping We Will Go...

A few times a year we pack the Golf up to the ceiling with gear and head to the the MN Bluegrass and Old Time Music Association Festival.  I won't lie.  I'm in it for the s'mores, outdoor morning yoga and forced laziness more than the music.  But do I LOVE square dancing.  

Since it's a regular occurance, I've created an electronic list of things to pack.  Anyone else do this?  I can rest easy when I know that everything I need is on the list and as long as I pack this, I won't have forgotten anything.  Of course, every year the list gets a little longer...

We also have a file for the housesitter.  I also recommend creating this if you ever need to have someone take care of your house.  We include info about the animals' care, the plant watering, emergency contacts, etc.  And the best part is that it's ready to go at a moment's notice!

I love having a few special treats for the camping trip.  We generally eat pretty healthily while camping, but we also need some fun treats.  How did I not know that Liz Lovely makes gluten free vegan cookies?  I'm a big fan of the regular vegan cookies, but now my sweetie can eat them, too!  [Uh. Oh.  That means less for me...]

I got these at Fast and Furless, a super awesome vegan shop on Franklin Ave. in Minneapolis.
A recent perk at work was samples of this new product: Little single serving pouches of organic peanut butter and almond butter.  Normally I'd say, "What a waste of packaging!"  But for camping, these make perfect sense.  I plan on squeezing some straight into my mouth.  
Also from Fast and Furless are my favorite snack.  Mike and the kids have never even seen these because I always eat the entire box while driving home from Fast and Furless!  

I restrained myself to only 1/4 the box for the purposes of this trip, though.

Another camping staple is tofu jerky.  I loosely base my recipe on Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard's from How it All Vegan.  But really, I don't use any recipe.  I just dump tons of smoked paprika, cumin, black pepper, garlic, tamari, liquid smoke, maple syrup, and a smidge of balmasic vinegar on the tofu, marinate overnight, and then bake slowly until most of the moisture is gone.  Here it is, ready to be baked:
Pretty much the only time the kids will eat black pepper is on this tofu.  We all devour it.

I'll be back after this weekend.  Don't try to rob my house while I'm gone or my housesitter and vicious dog will slay you.

6 comments:

Regina said...

I love Jon's store. Was Thumper there to greet you? :)

Catherine Weber said...

I haven't been to "Fast and Furless" yet, but have been meaning to!

Have fun camping! (I must confess . . . I have a digital camping "to pack" list, too!)

Here's a quote to make us feel better about our lists:

"Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly."
~ Julie Andrews

Jenna said...

I am SO going to try that tofu jerky!

Anonymous said...

tofu jerky looks really interesting! my brain can't even wrap around what they would taste like, I've never tried it before

Erin said...

Nice lists! I have a generic packing list that I check every time I go away for more than one night. We have a tailgating supply list too since we tailgate for baseball games pretty often, and if we forget one thing like matches or a trash bag it would be pretty bad.

I love the idea of homemade tofu jerkey!

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