Vadouvan Curry, Fancy Hot Chocolate and Sespe Hot Springs

When you see the wide green meadow with 3 little bushes, you're almost there. You turn left after the next ridge on an offshoot trail that leads ~1 mile to the spring.

God, I almost don't want to write about Sespe Hot Springs. I almost just want to tell you to hike the 9 easy miles to Willett Hot Springs, where everyone else goes, and leave it at that.

More experiments in Tofu Scramble, Hash Browns & Cashew Nacho Sauce

Scramble and veggie mixture in bag

This is my second time experimenting with my tofu scramble recipe, found here. This time, I did not
use any sausage/tempeh and I decided to make hash browns instead of potato cubes. It's a matter of taste, but I preferred this version.

I also experimented with non-dairy cashew cream sauce. No recipe for that yet, but definitely soon, because it's a wonderfully creamy, high-fat condiment that vegans and carnivores can both enjoy. The rehydration process worked perfectly and although in photos the sauce appears to have some texture to it, you can't detect anything but smooth, creamy cashew goodness. Lots of stuff to look forward to in future posts :)

Thai Green Curry with Rice and Sweet Potato in the Golden Trout Wilderness

"What am I looking at?" you might ask. You are looking at basmati rice, coconut cream, spinach, sweet potato, carrot, mushrooms, zucchini, and curry.

Flavor: 9/10

Ease at home: 5/10

Ease at camp: 10/10
Heat level: 9/10

Times made: 1

I debated writing a separate post for this dish since my Thai noodle soup is so similar- but I really feel like this is a different dish despite being only slightly different in concept. This is also a dish I really want to build on and improve because it has so much potential. I apologize now for the poor image quality- sun had set by the time we made dinner, and I was a few margaritas deep, with little patience for camera focus.

Fake Chicken Mole with Brown Rice

About twice a year I go to the trouble to make a huge batch of really good, homemade sauces. Those sauces always include jerk and mole. About a year ago I had some leftover mole in the freezer to use up and it seemed as good an idea as any to simmer it with some fake chicken and dehydrate for a future meal. Throughout the year, I looked at it a few times and considered bringing it along on trips, but always hesitated because I hadn't experimented much with dehydrated fake chicken yet. I was worried it would rehydrate weird, tough or rubbery, and I'd find myself hungry and disappointed at camp after a long day's hike.

So I couldn't keep staring at it in the food bin. I knew I had to open it up and at least find out how it fared over the passage of time.

First glance- nothing awry

Tofu Scramble, Potato, Sausage and Veggie Skillet

Soooo gooooooood

Flavor: 9/10 (I think hash browns would be even better than potato cubes)

Ease at home: 4/10

Ease at camp: 4/10 (depends on your stove/cook system)
Heat level: 2/10

Times made: 1

In my opinion, the best thing I made all week on the Evolution Loops was easily the tofu scramble. Easily! It can even be improved further. I'm really excited to make this again.

Tart Berry Smoothies, or Liquid Joy

How good would a tart, juicy, berry-rich smoothie sound when you're 6 days in?

Flavor: 9/10 (seed bits)

Ease at home: 8/10 (powdering all the berries is a little tedious)

Ease at camp: 10/10
Heat level: 0/10

Times made: 1

I'll admit, this is not my idea. I was inspired by the Packit Gourmet's extraordinarily disappointing Jump-Start Smoothies and the sincere belief that I could do better.

Breakfast Burrito with Polenta Eggs, Hash Browns, and Spicy Sausage

the stringies are cheese. I promise!

Flavor: 8/10 (a little monotextural, and the beyond meat needed to be chopped finely)

Ease at home: 2/10 (lots of components, can be made much easier by purchasing dehydrated components)

Ease at camp: 5/10
Heat level: 6/10 (to taste)

Times made: 1

Breakfast burritos are shameless food hax, doubly so when you're 2 days from civilization, so I'm not going to gloat about the success of the burrito here- that's kind of a given. What i am going to do, is talk about how happy I am that 3 experimental methods used in the composition of this burrito worked out, and consider the possibilities for future dishes.

Carrot Cake Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Delicious, high powered calorie goodness. 

Flavor: 9/10

Ease at home: 6/10

Ease at camp: 3/10 (depends on your stove/cook system)
Heat level: 0/10

Times made: 1

On morning 4 of Evolution Loop, we were looking forward (and upward) to a 750 foot ascent, Evolution Meadow ahead. Our little campsite was deep in the valley and unlikely to receive sun for a few hours, so we had plenty of time to kill while the laundry and tent eventually dried. So I decided to spend that time preparing the most time consuming breakfast I had planned, and coincidentally the most caloric, to fuel the challenge.

Wild Onions: So Tasty

Incredible, vivid golden trout from Evolution Lake

I know this is a dumb blog title, but I really thought about it for a while and I couldn't think of a better one. Wild onions are SO tasty. And in certain areas, they're everywhere. Countless plants at every stream and in every meadow- easy to identify, easy to clean. And really, there's very little in this world more delicious than fresh trout cooked with wild onions. So how lucky are we that these two ingredients can be found at utmost freshness in one of the most popular outdoor destinations in the world?

Ratatouille & Wild Onion Pizza Buns

Spicy sauteed wild onions and herbed mozzarella, kept warm and happy in a soft whole wheat pizza bun

Flavor: 9/10

Ease at home: 7/10

Ease at camp: 3/10 (depends on your stove/cook system)
Heat level: 5/10

Times made: 1

This post concerns a new and improved pizza recipe, or at least a different way of preparing it, which is arguably both tastier and more convenient than my original recipe.

Kimchi Tofu Noodle Soup

Boulder Lake, Trinity Alps Wilderness

Flavor: 8/10

Ease at home: 7/10

Ease at camp: 10/10
Heat level: 8/10

Times made: 1

Two years ago, my husband and I ate our very first bowl of soondubu jjigae, a spicy Korean vegetable soup with soft tofu. It was 3AM, and we were decked in Halloween costumes after a long night of partying. My recollection of that evening is hazy for the most part, but the soup memory is crystal clear. I remember the nourishing richness, the custardy texture, the steaming, tangy, spicy flavors, served with a dizzying variety of accouterments. I've replicated it at home a number of times, and while nothing has matched that first bowl, it's always a richly savory experience.

Ratatouille with Pasta

Well, I dunnit, god damn it, I waited too long to post the recipe so I mostly forgot the amounts of each ingredient. It would figure that this was my best batch too! Oh well. Ratatouille is pretty improvisational anyway- depending on the sweetness of the tomatoes, the flavor in the vegetables, it can turn out like bland veggie poo or heavenly ambrosia, all else equal.

Vegetarian Chili with Cornbread

Not your run of the mill, sad chili here.

Flavor: 8/10

Ease at home: 6/10

Ease at camp: 5/10
Heat level: 5/10 

Times made: 2

Pizza

Now that I've made Pizza #1, the sky is the limit. We are having pizza on every trip, starting now.

Flavor: 9/10 (I think plain sauce will be tastier than meat sauce)

Ease at home: 6/10

Ease at camp: 3/10
Heat level: 0/10 (to taste)

Times made: 1

Resentfully dragging my legs like a bored child in a department store, angry with the altitude as though it oppressed me intentionally, I pulled the "birthday" entitlement card and coerced Dennis into a zero (well, almost zero) day. "This is my birthday trip, therefore we skip Sixty Lakes Basin."

Thai green curry, noodle veggie soup

Three weeks later, I'm still salivating. I know the coconut milk looks "broken", but there is no trace of grittiness. This appearance is the result of the coconut milk powder additives, and thankfully renders no unpleasant quality.

Flavor: 10/10

Ease at home: 8/10

Ease at camp: 10/10
Heat level: 8/10

Times made: 2

Wow, this one is insanely good. Graciously inspired by Dirty Gourmet, and adjusted to taste. If you wanted something really easy, something you could throw together at the last minute, you could follow the Dirty Gourmet recipe and use curry powder- I'm sure it would be delicious. However, if you have the time to dehydrate a few ingredients overnight, fresh curry paste makes an enormous difference and enables the use of fish sauce (which would have to be carried as a very stinky liquid, or omitted, otherwise).