Fiddlehead Dessert

So, in Alaska, everything comes in season a bit later. Last week was the prime time for picking Fiddleheads. Fiddleheads are first 'sprout' of a plant, that will unravel into a beautiful fern. They are tender and the flavor reminds me of young Asparagus. The most common (the ones I know anyway) are Ostrich, Royal and Cinnamon. The latter look very similar to me. We bushwhacked to a peak for the views a few days ago, and picked fiddleheads along the way for 'dessert'. They were just right. A couple more days and we would have missed the young ones!

Royal Fern? A little too mature for picking..

Freshly Picked

Cooking on the GSI set

 

Basic BackCountry FiddleHeads:
Bowlful of Fiddleheads
1 Tbs Butter (This was tasty, but I prefer olive oil)
1-2 Tsp Dried Garlic slices (or fresh if you are home)
Salt and Pepper to taste

You can rinse your Fiddleheads (if at home). Ours were pretty clean, so I didn't waste the water. Heat up the butter in the pan, add Fiddleheads, once the pan is hot. About halfway through cooking add garlic, stir, add salt and pepper to taste! That's it! They have such an amazing flavor. One spice combo that may be tasty with this is mustard seeds and thyme or maybe a touch of allspice and ginger. Just an idea if you are making them at home.

Lil Baby Fern

These were so tasty and it was a real treat to eat some fresh veggies!

What wild foods have you tried? Ever pick anything camping that made you sick?

SteriPen, Big Agnes & GSI Gear Review

Ready for Action!

Everyone has their favorite tool, mug or trail mix recipe for the backcountry. I like to stick with what works, but I'm always interested in testing out a new product. And when every other page in backpacker is a GSI ad, it's easy to be tempted! Although magazine gear guides are a big help, I like to find and read personal reviews before I rely on something new. If it doesn't work at the moment of truth, it can be challenging to find a suitable solution in your pack.

Something we were really excited about on our last trip trying was the Steri Pen. It's a water sterilization tool that uses UV light. Very cool idea. Here is more on the power of UV.  Instead of bringing a water filter (which we did bring anyway as a back up), you can pack this lightweight (not even 5 oz!), small, nifty pen in it's own carry case. We brought the Journey LCD pen. The LCD screen has a countdown timer and a little smiley face pops up when the water is ready. I found it worked best with clear nalgenes, as far as watching the light. But you have to hold it the entire time (so it doesn't fall in). The Steri Pen fits great in a narrow neck bottle though (like a metal green bottle etc.). It still doesn't take as long as a filter bladder bag or as painstaking as a Katadyn pump. And without the aftertaste. The website claims "At 8,000 doses, lamp life for the Journey will allow you to purify water for a long time to come.  If you purified four liters of water each and every day, your Journey would last almost six years!" 

The pen lights up the same green as this bottle..

 Personally, I found it took about 90 seconds to sterilize the water in one standard Nalgene. AND, we got a lousy FOUR bottles out of it before the Steri Pen popped out a frowny face on the LCD and claimed that the brand new batteries were dead. Which we tested in a flashlight and this was not the case. After some cursing and playing around, I think that we got a dud, a lemon etc. We are returning the Steri-Pen and hopefully the next one works great! The only other thing I don't like about it is: batteries. While they do last a long time, and if the pen holds up as long as claimed, there is not need to take out the batteries. However, (and luckily) I did find a battery on the ground. I some ways, I hate batteries. I hate batteries that are not disposed of properly even more! I think it is easier to LNT with a traditional filter. But the pen is fun and I'll probably continue to use it!

At $100, if it lasts a lifetime, that's a deal.

50% Recycled Material (rei.com image)

Big Agnes Pad

Something I was REALLY excited about was a new pad! I've had the same 2 Thermarests forever. One is the classic lightweight foam, and one is an okay inflatable. A couple years ago I used my in-laws Thermarest inflated pad on a last minute backpacking trip in NC and thought I was in total heaven. It had this layer of cush above the inflatable space.  But had second thoughts every morning when I was half asleep trying to wrestle the air out and sitting on my pack to get thick cushy mat strapped back on. With all it's fatness, I still longed to have one. The one thing I will sacrifice weight/space for is a cushy mat. Sleep well, hike well. :) Just my personal indulgence. 

Enter Big Agnes! These mats have been heavily advertised and I loved the idea of the Mummy style. This review is for the Insulated Air Core Mummy Style. Indulgence, but still cutting down on space and weight by cutting off the corners. This mat is ultra light, packs easily (into a bag!), comes with a patch kit (the one thing I worried about was gravel/holes) and oh yeah, it's deluuuuxe comfy. Takes 5-10 minutes or so to inflate, about the same to pack up. If you are trying to max miles and cut down on packing time, this may not be your mat... but really, it is so worth it. For those of you that like to sleep against the ground, good for you! :) I can only take so many days of that before I'm a total JOY to be around in the morning. I'm in LOVE. My photos from inside the tent are blurred. Here is one from the website. I have the 20 x 72 (2.5 inches thick inflated), and it was 21 oz. a Deal at $75!

Hot Ravens Brew! Mm mmm

GSI Pinnacle Backpacker & Java Press

So the hubs had to have his coffee. And I'll admit drinking hot coffee early in the morning was total heaven! Also helps move certain things along (ahem). The GSI Java Press ($30) became the highlight of the morning and the item packed at easy access. It works, it's durable, it keeps the coffee HOT for a long time and well, it's a coffee press. This is definitely a luxury item and only really feasible if you have a lot of extra space (or you want to strap it on the outside of your pack). Obviously not an ultralight item. 

Pass the Pig

Next up is the GSI Pinnacle Backpacker Set. ($80) Heavy advertisement for this item too. We didn't actually purchase this item. A friend brought it and we played with it. First thing, I'm not into the Teflon coating. Period. Bleh. I ended up using our 'ol MSR more because of this. I'd rather carry/use extra oil to prevent sticking than the Teflon, but I can totally see the appeal. I like how the set all fits together. The cups actually fit inside of each other (so well that my friend thought she lost one!). High quality material, lightweight and every piece is super multi purpose. I'm looking into purchasing a different set though. More photos of this set to come with the next post (a recipe post).

Last but certainly not least is the lifeline! ACR Res Q Fix.  Thankfully, we didn't have to use this.. so no real review, but an amazing piece of equipment. ($649)

Make Your Own Energy Bars!

Coulda made 'em thicker? Hmmmm

Well, you can't have too much food in the middle of the wilderness right? I mean, as long as it's not near your camp. If a bear gets all the goodies I made this week, I'll be seriously bummed. I figured I needed some kind of pick me up/I'm tired/bored snack, possible stand in for breakfast (and I'm already sick of granola because I munched on it all week). I'm used to weighing everything for camping trips. Not having to carry any of this on my back will be awesome! So, maybe I've been getting a little too excited about that. So, maybe I've packed too many avocados, apples and oranges. Nah, I'll just gobble them up on day 1!

Never really got into nutri-grain, heavily grained or sweetened granola bars. But I do remember eating those nature's valley's granola bars as a kid (the peanut butter one!) annnnd I ate peanut butter Clif bars everyday in college. Wow, I was addicted. It was the only flavor I liked. The only flavor without that weird soy aftertaste. And without the crisp this and that. They were in my car, my backpack, sticky wrappers stuck in my books..

While I was traveling I got more into energy chunks (found in your local HFS bulk bins), Kind nut bars and Larabars ( of course, peanut butter cookie was on my list of favorites). They packed nicely into my suitcase/ pocket and I could eat them quickly. Oh yeah, and they were healthy and energizing. If I had two minutes to scarf down some calories, they were my lifesaver!

Small portion of my LARGE mess..

Fast forward to living in Alaska. Yes, we have access to those energy bars, luna, clif bars etc. However we don't buy them because A) even being on the more 'natural' side, they are still a processed food containing more ingredients than neccessary (some of which I can't pronounce or have to look up)... B) we've slowly stepped away from soy the last couple of years (even though we still enjoy tofu and homemade tempeh occasionally) C) they are pricey D) making our own is fun, healthy and it's satisfying every time we wean off a corporate teat. I probably have many more reasons. I'll stop there!

Just look at the back of the label of your favorite bar. Clif for example is pretty darn high in sugar. Yes, I have brown rice syrup in my cabinet, but how much would I myself put into a recipe? And, it's still sugar. And not the only one. Clif also contains barley malt extract AND Cane juice.. 3 types of sugar? At least the sugar in a Larabar for example is naturally occurring/unprocessed (dates, dried fruit). "Natural Flavors" (I'm sorry, WHAT? I hate seeing that on a label.. if it's 'natural' it doesn't need to be 'flavored.' Citric Acid, Absorbic acid, Synthetic fiber (inulin), all things I want to avoid. And I'd love to get into my new war on soy protein isolate.. that will be a whole other post. Protein is a hard subject with athletes. It's been a huge issue for me. I like Rebecca Wood 's(amazing womyn by the way!) take "All protein powders—whether they’re from rice, soy, hemp, egg or whey—are highly processed, shelf-stable ingredients.  Read “shelf-stable” as dead or lifeless. Furthermore, whey protein and whey protein isolate contain toxic MSG!"  It's a difficult thing to give up. There is a lot of information out there. A lot of research to be done. My jury is still out. Your take?

Ok, look at this:
Snickers Candy Bar has 266-280 calories (it depends according to google sources) and 28-30g of sugar.
Coca Cola 150 calories, 39 grams of sugar
Krispy Kreme Doughnut (I couldn't think of anything else!) 10g of sugar!!
Clif Bar (depending on variety) 260 calories, 20+ g of sugar
Is a Clif bar the healthier choice? Yes. I'd say so. Not to rag on Clif bars in particular, just for comparison's sake.

If you eat any of these energy bar products, I'm totally not ragging on you. This is just my personal reasoning for making my own at home!

Today I made a few different 'bars.' The first one is my hubs favorite. I used to make these: the darker ones, they were raisin/cocao and coffee.

Fun tidbit: Raw cacao is at the top of the ORAC list! Read here. Awesome post with all the amazing info on Cocao. Especially awesome for the ladies!!

Can't wait to eat all of these!

Huzbeast PB Energizer
1 C soaked/pitted dates
2 Tbs Cocao (
1/2 C Sprouted Oat Groats (or whole rolled oats)
1 tsp Maca powder (super energizing!)
4 Tbs Peanut Butter (fresh ground or natural.. remember that sugar thing?)
1 Tbs Chia gel (chia already soaked)
1 1/2 Tbs Flax meal paste (ground flax stirred with water)
1/2 tsp wheat germ
1 Tbs Cocao nibs or chocolate chips etc. (optional)

Ok, process it aaaallll together. Taste and adjust as needed. You may need a tad more peanut butter or flax or dates. You should be able to pinch a ball together and it doesn't crumble. Moist, but not sticky or dry.

Pour contents onto wax paper, (or pan) form a ball, then press firmly into a large square and stick in the freezer for 5 minutes or so. This cools the PB back down (it warms up in the processor, even if you don't notice) and helps firm things up. Now cut with a pizza cutter, wrap individually if you like.
EDIT: After a few people made these, they noticed how sticky they are. Mine were oily, but not sticky, so try one of these tips: squeeze your dates of water,  increase oats, try adding more flax meal (or dry meal instead of paste, and thanks to Cyndi on Dailymile.com for this tip: roll the end product in oats, then individually wrap. The oil softens the oats and then the bars are easier to handle! Thanks for al lof your feedback!

They are like peanut butter brownies. Energizing, healthy, protein rich brownies. Oh yeah, and you made 'em yourself! Too cool for school, right?

Just dates, cherries and pecans...

Next up.. 

Supa food for Supa Stars!

Superfood Snickerdoodles
Ok, there is nothing snickerdoodly about this, I was at a loss for fun labels.
I took my favorite basic 'larabar' recipe:

5  Dates (NOT soaked if you are trying to make 'larabars')
1/4 C Dried Cherries
1/4 C Pecans (all soaked unless otherwise noted)
and added:
1/4 C Dried Blueberries
1/2 C Pumpkin seeds
1/2 C Almonds
1 Tbs Chia Gel
1 tsp Flax meal paste (ground flax stirred with water)
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp Bee Pollen
1 tsp Maca powder

I just can't keep things simple. Sometimes, I do. The rest of the time I throw in all the good stuff I can find! Anyway, these are delicious.  Pulse in food processor (or spend two hours chopping by hand). The idea is to have a sticky dough, then dehydrate for 1-2 hours and as the water dehydrates, the flax cements the ingredients together and it's like a cookie. If you do not want to dehydrate, omit the flax and chia gel (dry would be okay) and do not soak the dates. You may need another date. Again, this is approximate, as I add in here and there as needed.

I'd love to hear your own recipes and ideas for energy bars and your take on healthy/natural protein sources. What do you use?