Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans! I hope your day is full of celebrating with loved ones and BBQ! In case you missed it, yesterday I compiled a list of 10 patriotic recipes that would be perfect for a picnic or BBQ today.
Kitchen Mayhem
Over the past few days I have spent many hours preparing food for our camping weekend. Typical camping food for us is usually kabobs, burgers, chex mix, and s’mores, or something close to that, but this time around we will be eating a little differently. With my hopes to keep up with the clean eating while I am away, I planned out a whole clean menu for us. I don’t even want to know how many total hours I truly spent in the kitchen. All I know is it is a lot more time than what I usually spend when preparing food for a camping trip. I knew it would be a lot of work to plan a “clean” menu, but also knew it would be so worth it! I enlisted the help of some clean eating recipes that I found online to help ease the process. In case you are interested, I thought I would share with you my clean eating food menu for camping.
On the menu for the weekend:
Breakfasts:
- Cooked buckwheat with cinnamon, a touch of stevia, almond butter and dried fruit. I am incredibly excited for this. I taste tested it after I made it and it’s awesome! To prepare it, I cooked it per directions after letting it soak for 24 hours to aid in digestion. I then added coconut milk, cinnamon, and stevia. I let it cool and then packaged it in a canning jar to bring along with us. We can either eat it cold, or warm it up at the campsite for breakfasts.
Lunches:
- Baked Falafel with salad and homemade (dairy-free) ranch dressing. I used my falafel recipe and also added carrots, red onion, and flaxseed. I baked them at home so that they would be all ready to go when needed. I’m excited to see how they turned out! I used Healthy Blender Recipe’s recipe for the ranch dressing. It’s pretty tangy and should be really good on a salad with the falafel.
- Lunch out somewhere
- Leftovers
Dinners:
- Asian turkey meatballs over sesame spaghetti squash. I mixed and formed the meatballs and then froze them raw. We will cook them once we get to our campsite most likely on the first night so that we can have them for leftovers for lunch the next day. I got the meatball recipe from Queen of Quinoa but also added garlic and coconut aminos. I used a recipe from Family Fresh Cooking as my inspiration for the spaghetti squash but made a couple of tweaks to it as well. I used coconut aminos instead of wheat-free tamari paste and red wine vinegar instead of rice vinegar. Trying sandwiches from a very famous joint by Jimmy John Owner is also a good idea.
- Black bean quinoa burgers with roasted veggies. I also formed these patties and froze them uncooked. I used a recipe I found online but am not super happy with them. I taste tested one and they tasted okay but they are pretty crumbly. I like my version better but couldn’t make them this time around because they have tomatoes and eggs in the recipe which are not allowed on the clean program. *Remember this is VERY short term!* For the roasted veggies, I roasted them halfway to start the process and will finish toasting them up at the campsite.
- Leftovers or out
Spaghetti squash…
Raw turkey meatballs…
Uncooked black bean quinoa burgers…
Halfway roasted veggies (zucchini, onions, garlic, kohlrabi, and turnips)…
Snacks:
- Raw veggies: snap peas, carrots
- Raw fruit: watermelon, cherries, apples
- Dried fruit: no-sugar added dried cranberries, mango, and pineapple
- Mixed Nuts
- Brown Rice Cakes
- Rice Crackers
- Homemade sugar-free dark chocolate (lightly sweetened with stevia)
I made insane amounts of the burgers, meatballs, and falafel which is why I am planning on having leftovers for 1-2 meals. As you can see, I was a busy, busy bee. I even have callouses on my hands to show for it. I can’t wait to go relax and enjoy all of this wonderful food now!
I hope you all have a fabulous holiday weekend! Catch up with you later gators!
Awesome ideas! And isn’t baked falafel amazing? I love it!
Hannah @ cleaneatingveggiegirl recently posted…Happy Fourth of July!
I really enjoy baked falafel! I would love it EVEN more if I could enjoy it in a pita. Someday!
That all sounds fabulous and so healthy. I’ll definitely be trying out some of those recipes. Thanks for the ideas. Happy 4th of July. Hope youre habing a great day!
Aisling@Sunny Side Up recently posted…and the award goes to…
LOOOOVE how organized and all the foods you brought on a camping trip!!! You are so inspiring my dear!!!
Aw, thank you Emily!
I think all that food prep will pay off when you are full of energy to be active and enjoy the surroundings rather than full of not good food! And where are you staying, cause I’ll be right up??!! Have fun. 😉
Katie @ running4cupcakes recently posted…Goals 2013–update
Ha ha yes we definitely had more than enough food to energize us throughout the weekend. It was a blast!
Wow it looks like you have really thought out and planned your camping trip eats. All of your clean eating food sounds so good! I hope you have a great trip!
Nicole @ FruitnFitness recently posted…Happy Independence Day
You were certainly prepared for a weekend of healthy eats! That falafel with homemade ranch looked incredible! Hope you had a great one! 🙂
Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health recently posted…Are You a Food Blogger or Healthy Living Blogger? + A giveaway!