Crunchy Energy Bars

These bars are super easy to make and in my opinion put other bars like Lara Bars to shame.  Think salty, sweet, and crunchy compared to thick and pasty.  I almost always make a batch of these before an outdoor trip because they provide plenty of quick energy and are tough enough you can just throw them in a bag with some other food and they wont get crushed.  Sometimes I like to add a little kick to the bars by adding a dusting of cayenne.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (optional)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I like the large flake variety)
1/4 cup honey ( I like 1/4 cup but you could use 1/2 cup if you like it sweeter)
2T Butter or coconut oil/manna (The coconut oil tends to make them a bit greasy)
1tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit (raises, dates, etc.)
Dusting of cayenne (optional)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Rough chop the nuts using a knife or food processor.  Do not over chop.  Think about cutting a cashew into 1/3-1/4 no smaller.  Add the chopped nuts, seeds, and coconut to a large bowl.  In a bowl or measuring cup mix together the honey, vanilla, and butter/coconut product.  Heat honey mixture in microwave if needed to get to a more liquid state.  Add to nuts and mix.  Add salt and mix again. 

Spread nut and honey mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10 minutes, re-spreading the mixture once to cook evenly.  After 10 minutes mix in the 1/2 cup dried fruit and bake for another 10 minutes stirring once.

Remove the mixture from oven and pour into a large bowl.  Do not let it cool on the parchment paper as you will not be able to remove it without sticking.  Let mixture cool until you can easily handle it with your hands, yet not cool enough that it is rock hard.  This should take about 10-15 minutes. 

When cool, form into bars with your hands by compressing the mixture between your two hands.  You need to use pressure to initially hold the bars together until they cool.  I like to form bars that resemble a Clif Bar.  About 1/2" thick X 3" long and slightly oval shaped.  You however, can make any shape you want just realize they will become hard when cool so ball shapes aren't easy to eat.

Let shaped bars cool in room temp for about an hour then toss into fridge.

Have a wonderful winter season!




If you like what you see on this blog check out our book on Amazon.com

Summer Travels

Hi there and welcome to TwoStepsSCD!
Summer has been very busy for me and the writing bug has just not been around.  Sorry ):

I thought I would talk a bit about my travels this summer and let you know how they went and how they were while following the SCD.  

The first major travels that I did were to the Canadian Rockies were friends and I climbed Mount Sir Donald and Takakkaw falls. The trip was completed in about 4 days and included lots of exercise and beautiful mountain scenery.  For the shorter travels I have been starting to precook meals that I can just keep cool instead of bringing ingredients that I have to spend lots of time cooking and heating.  For this trip I made two medium sized pizza's (recipe below) some homemade granola and a few packets of the bagged tuna and salmon along with my standard biscuits. 

For Sir Donald, we arrived late in the evening after a long drive then hiked into the base of the mountain.  A brutal hike that gained over 3000 vertical feet, much of it viewed through the light of a headlamp.  For this two day outing I brought a Tupperware filled with a few slices of pizza, some bars and tuna packets for the next day, along with some biscuits and cheese.  Weight was at a premium so luxury items including some food were scrutinized.

Meadow on the descent

We awoke at first light and headed up towards the start of the ridge.  The exposure was immense and caused your head to spin a bit.  The route would entail about 3000 feet of exposed scrambling and mid 5th class climbing.  We would also end up soloing the entire route due to time restrictions.

About halfway up Sir Donald

Summit!

Around mid-day we arrived at the summit where we preceded to have a bite to eat and take a long nap.  Then came the long process of making it down...  After 20 something rappels we arrived safe and sound at the base and from there made the steep, knee jarring descent to our car.

Our next adventure would involve one of the largest waterfalls in Canada, rock climbing, and tunnels...
Takakkaw falls is the second highest waterfall in western Canada at 1266 feet and just happens to have a rock climbing route that ascends right next to it.  Near the top, the route also sports a 200' tunnel crawl in pure darkness.  Wow what a route!

About half way up the route

The rock quality turned out to be pretty poor but the position of the route was like nothing else I had experience.  Remember, this is no trickle of a waterfall it is a thundering, roaring falls that sprays you down from time to time.

The route ascends the left side of the falls

After this long day I dined on a huge salad with veggie greens from home.  Kale, chard, lettuce, carrots, peppers, green beans, and a big avocado.  Tossed with some olive oil and salt, sooo good!
I have to say fresh greens are so refreshing, easy, and light to bring on trips and taste so much better than packaged food, especially freeze dried.

So, now for the pizza recipe that sustained me for a few high energy days.
Pizza Dough (enough for about 2 medium pizza's):
-2 cups almond flour
-2 eggs
-2 teaspoons olive oil
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon Italian spices

Toppings (like always, add what you want and follow your taste-buds)
-Onion
-Bell pepper
-Pesto or tomato sauce
-Leafy greens
-Olives
-Mushrooms
-Cheddar cheese
-Tomato 

Mix everything together.  Separate dough between two baking sheets that are covered with parchment paper.  Lay a large sheet of plastic wrap on top of the dough and roll out with a roller.  Roll the dough to the thickness you desire (I like a shy 1/4 inch thickness).  Place into a 350 degree oven and cook until it is lightly brown (10-15min).  Pull the pizza dough out of the oven and lay down a layer of pesto or homemade tomato sauce (make sure its thick).  Next, quick stir-fry the onions and peppers so they are lightly cooked then spread onto pizza.  On top of that add a thick layer of greens (spinach, Swiss chard, kale, etc.)  Next, add some mushrooms, olives and cheese.  Lastly, add some thinly sliced tomato's on top of your piled high pizza.  Place into the oven for 25-30 minutes.

For your trip add cut up slices to a large Tupperware and place in a cold cooler.  It should be fine for at least a few days.
Enjoy!


*For more information, stories, and recipes check out our book HERE on Amazon.com

Freeze-dried SCD meal options for backpacking

I wanted to post a great resource for freeze dried meals that I found on the web.  Melanie Blackmer of Louisiana came up with these great recipes and food plans to help her son go on a multi-day backpacking trip.  Another great story of people finding ways to continue doing the things they love to do!   
Melanie also maintains a great blog at:  http://myhoneypie66.blogspot.com/


Tools needed for Dehydration
Dehydrator – preferably one with a temperature select. I use one from Nesco.
Seal a Meal
Steamable seal a meal bags (pleated bottoms)
Food grade desiccant packs from Packit Gourmet www.packitgourmet.com
Freezer paper one side waxy
Muffin top pan
Tips to get you started
When preparing to dehydrate meat, make sure to get lean cuts of meat. If the meat you purchase for jerky, for instance, has fat, cut it all off. When you cook the meat towel blot as much of the grease off as you can.
When making muffins, you will want to dehydrate any fruit that goes in to them. Also, you do not want to send on a long trip anything that is too moist. I also find it better to cook muffins in a muffin top pan, which yields more of a little cake. This cake travels much better and allows a good seal when you seal in a seal a meal bag. I have never had a regular shaped muffin last even sealed. Remember to add a desiccant package.
The best meals to dehydrate are ones with some sort of sauce. Dehydrating just meat will end up in jerky, which could be tasty but doesn’t reconstitute well with water.
Dehydrating meals
To prepare your dehydrator before you begin to dehydrate meals, you need to cover each rack you use with freezer paper unless you have solid tray covers. Cut the paper to fit the tray and line with shiny side up. Always measure the amount of food you are dehydrating so you will know how much water to add when you are ready to eat. When dehydrating any meal you want to cook out as much water as you can making any sauce pretty thick. Then spread the food on the lined tray as thin as you can get it. If you are dehydrating Lasagna or Cannelloni make sure to chop it up as much as you can making the pieces as small as possible. You will dry food on
the Meat Setting for about 4 hours. Stay on top of it though as the time might be different depending on dehydrator or altitude. You will want to blot the food every couple of hours. When the top seems very dry flip it and dry longer to get the bottom dry. I usually dry till the food is the consistency of a potato chip. As you flip it you will want to dry the freezer paper underneath. I usually can fit two meals on one tray and can dry several trays with different meals on them at the same time. However, I don’t recommend drying say lasagna or chili with a tray of fruit. The fruit will come out tasting like chili. Once your food is dry, let it cool completely before placing it in the seal a meal bag. It is best to use the pleated bag for meals. You will want to label the food and note a reminder to remove the desiccant pack that you will add before you seal the bag. I have also found it is good to check a few minutes after you have sealed the bag to make sure the seal stays.
Dehydrating Soup Base
Once you have cooked your tomato sauce down (instructions on recipe page), again prepare your tray with freezer paper and make sure the shiny side is up. Spread a layer of sauce and fill the tray making sure not to get too close to sides. I dehydrate this on the vegetable setting. I believe it took 2-3 hours. Again, make sure to check often and you may find you need to blot the top. Once the sauce seems pretty set, try to peel it away from the paper. It should peel off easily if done carefully. It will resemble fruit leather. You will again need to dry off the paper and flip the dehydrated sauce and dry for a few minutes longer to make sure all moisture is out. Again you will want to let the sauce cool completely before putting it in the bag to seal. I tear up the sauce “leather” as small as I can before putting it in the bag just to make reconstitution easier. The recipe for the rest of the soup ingredients is on the recipe page.
Dehydrating Fruits and Veggies
To dehydrate fruits and veggies you can use fresh or frozen. I did both. Not sure if I found a difference. You will again want to line your trays for carrots, peas, green beans pretty much anything that isn’t a slice as sometimes they get small and fall through the tray. When packing meals to last in seal a meal
bags, I have found that you must dehydrate any fruit or veggie added to a muffin or bread item. This will keep the muffin from spoiling too soon. Veggies need to be clean and dry before dehydrating. I do not cook my blueberries or cherries before dehydrating I find they do better if I don’t. How ever it does take them quite a while to dry. I prefer dehydrating fresh blueberries and strawberries. When dehydrating apples or bananas you want to soak them in pineapple juice for a few minutes before setting them on the tray. But do blot them when you take them out of the juice to put in the dehydrator. You will dehydrate them on the fruit setting for 6-12 hours. Checking frequently so the fruit isn’t too dry. You will find that the blueberries will be more like a raisin. Vegetables will dehydrate on the vegetable setting for again about 6 – 12 hours.
Reconstituting Meals
Once you have reached your destination and you are ready to enjoy the dehydrated fruits of your labor, you must first boil some water. I suggest boiling at least a cup of water. It is also good to bring a clip of some kind to close the bag after you add the water to help it steam. Open your meal and remove the desiccant package. Open the pleats and carefully add ½ cup of water and stir. At this point, you should be able to determine if you need to add more water to make your meal the consistency you desire. Clip the top and let set a few minutes and your meal is ready to enjoy!!

Entree Recipes (all recipes courtesy of Melanie Blackmer)

Italian Sauce
1 ½ Qts Campbell’s tomato Juice in Bottle
2tsp Legal Garlic Powder
2TBS Legal Onion Flakes
1Tsp Legal Chili Powder
½ tsp Pepper
1Tbs Basil
You could probably half the Basil with oregano.
Add everything to medium sauce pan and cook on medium until it reaches the thickness you desire. Stir often it has a tendency to bubble up. It really doesn’t take long.

Chili
6 cups Campbell's 100% Tomato Soup
1 Tbs onion Flake
1 Tbs garlic powder
4 Fresh Basil leaves chopped
1tsp Tabasco
1 tsp cumin
1Tbs Chili powder
1 lb lean ground meat
Salt/ pepper to taste
In a sauce pan salt a pepper meat lightly and brown. Make sure to break in to small pieces and drain off any grease. You may even want to use a paper towel to squeeze any grease out. Add remaining ingredients and simmer till sauce is your desired consistency. You want a rich thick sauce but not too thick. Maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Vegetable Soup
One recipe Italian sauce cooked thicker than regular sauce
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried peas
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried green beans
1/4 to 1/2 cup dried butternut squash
1-2 cans valley fresh chicken including broth
In dehydrating the ingredients for the soup, again I lined the trays with parchment paper. Then I covered the paper with the tomato paste I had made earlier. (see soup recipe) I dried this also on the meat setting. After a while check and see if the sauce will lift off the paper. Similar to a fruit roll up. When the sauce is set enough to remove pull it away from paper. Wipe
the paper and flip the sauce and dry it on other side. This side maybe only 30 minutes. I tore this in smaller pieces and added to the vegetables and vacuum seal with a desiccant package. Jacob recommends that it might to better to powder it first. The vegetables I used were frozen peas, frozen green beans and frozen butternut squash. Again lined trays with parchment paper and this time dried on the vegetable setting. I found they took a little while to dry well. I dried mine till they were pretty hard because I wanted to make sure they would last 17 days.

Cannelloni
Make the sauce the same as you did for the lasagna. However I let it get thicker for this recipe.
You will need
about 1 egg per crape
butter
8 oz Farmers Cheese (soft like Ricotta)
1lb lean ground turkey cooked and drained
1/4 c Grated Parmesan (you can use as much as you like)
Basil ½ tsp
garlic powder ¼ tsp
salt pepper to taste
Colby Jack cheese grated
First mix into the cheese mixture the cooked turkey meat, the parmesan and the seasonings. Set aside. In a frying pan on low heat melt about a table spoon of butter. When melted pour 1/4 cup egg in a circle on the pan. You don't want these to cook too fast. And you want them to set not turn brown. I use a thin pastry spatula to flip these they are usually too delicate for a thicker spatula. When set flip and fill the center with the cheese mixture. You don't want them too full. Maybe start with 1/4 cup and see if that is enough. Fold sides of egg over the cheese and transfer into a baking dish. Repeat till you use all the cheese mixture. I think I usually get about 5 or 6 depending on how generous I get with the cheese! Pour sauce on top and sprinkle either Colby Jack or parmesan. Put in an oven on 350 just until cheese melts!

Lasagna
1 lb ground beef lean
1 recipe of Italian sauce
¼ cup DCCC
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
1tsp basil
Shredded Munster
Shredded Colby Jack
Season the beef as you like and cook completely making sure to break the meat into the smallest consistency you can. Add sauce to meat. In an 8x8 inch pan barely cover bottom with a little of the sauce mixture, then layer with seasoned DCCC and cheeses. Continue to layer till meat mixture is used up. Usually makes two layers. You can add zucchini to each layer for noodles. We didn’t for the hike because they are too wet and we thought it would make it harder to dehydrate.

Beef Stew
2-3 lbs lean beef tips (trim off any fat)
4 Roma tomatoes chopped
1 onion chopped
1-2 tbs minced garlic
1 bag baby carrots
1 bag fresh broccoli
1/2 cup of Campbell's Tomato juice
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Chili powder to taste
In Dutch oven season and brown meat. Once browned add chopped onions, tomatoes, minced garlic and carrots. Also add in Tomato juice. Cover and put in the oven at 350 for 2-3 hours. Till meat is tender. Add broccoli stir and put back in the oven till broccoli is tender.

Red Beans and Cauliflower Rice
1 ½ cup red beans (boil for one hour then rinse)
1 onion diced
season with salt and pepper to taste
2 cups sliced SCD legal smoked sausage (or seasoned meat)
1 head Cauliflower
Once you have boiled your beans for one hour and rinsed them thoroughly also rinsing the pot, place beans back into pot and cover with water about 1 ½ to 2 inches above beans. Add all ingredients and cover cooking slowly on a med to low heat till beans are tender. Uncover and stir often. As water cooks down you will want to add water in until you achieve a rich thick sauce. Next, rinse cauliflower well and run heads through a Salad Shooter with the cheese grater attachment. Put in a frying pan with about 1 Tbs butter. Salt and pepper to taste and sauté on a low heat. Once
cauliflower is just tender your rice is ready. Place a serving of rice and cover with red beans.

Coconutty Granola
¾ lb Pecan Pieces
1½ Macadamia Nut pieces
1- 1 ½ Almond slivers
5 oz bag Kroger Unsweetened Coconut flakes
Honey
Set oven at 350*. Pour coconut flakes into baking pan. I use my stone casserole. Place in the oven to toast. Toast coconut for about 12 min stirring often to prevent burning. You want the coconut a beautiful golden color when finished. Take coconut out of oven and drizzle with honey. Drizzle lightly at first and stir. You are trying to just sweeten the coconut. You may want to add a little at a time stirring in between. I just drizzle over the top and then stir. Taste and see if it needs more. This is where the sweet is coming from in this granola. Next, roast as you did in first recipe. When nuts have finished roasting and are completely cool add sweetened coconut.

Candied Fruit and Nut Granola
Dehydrated Banana Slices (about 2 bananas sliced thin)
Dehydrated Apple Slices (about 1 apple sliced thin)
½ lb Pecan Pieces
1-1 ½ cup Hazelnut pieces
½ cup Macadamia Pieces
2 ½ oz toasted coconut
Dried Cherries (cut up)
Honey
Course salt in grinder
Set oven on 350*. Mix nuts into a baking pan and roast again as in first recipe. While roasting tear banana slices and apple slices into smaller pieces. When nuts are roasted and still warm lightly drizzle with honey and mix. Then add coconut and fruit and lightly grind coarse salt over the mixture and stir. Be very careful you just want the slightest bit of salty. Too much will ruin it. This one is my favorite!!!!!



Happy backpacking everyone!

Tucker