Hello! I have been off the grid, so to speak, for a little while on a family camping trip. We went up to Lake Tahoe for a few days to enjoy cooler temps and fresh air. It is always so much work to prepare for a camping trip (and so much laundry when we get home), but it is always worth it.

I love sleeping in a tent under the stars and waking up to the hushed voices and breakfast smells of a campground. Fellow campers are always so friendly- it is as if we have some unspoken bond because we are all "the kind of people who go camping". We can refer to things like "camp soap" or "deet" or a "rain fly" amongst ourselves knowing that there is no need for explanation.

Thursday night, we had quite an adventure! Sometime around 3am, we were awoken by the sound of a cooler being tossed around and bear locker doors being rattled. We listened for a little while before my husband looked out the tent window. He turned on his flashlight and scanned the area in the direction of the ruckus until, just one campsite over, he saw a GIANT black bear! The bear's eyes were glowing in the flashlight beam and he did not appear to enjoy the bright light in his face. We quickly shut the light off and looked at each other with wide eyes that silently said, "holy crap!" We sat for a moment before my son, not knowing that there was a humungous bear outside, woke up and said, "I have to go potty." Really? Now? Really?!

We waited until the bear lumbered off into the trees and it quieted down outside to take our bathroom trip. But, a little while later, the bear was back! He found something in another site and was making a bunch of noise again. One by one, the people around us began waking up and emerging from their tents to see what was going on. They whispered and pointed flashlights saying, "see him, over there?"

I know I'm crazy, but I LOVED seeing this big ol' bear! I so wish I had a picture of him! I also love the solidarity that this sort of encounter draws out. People who have never spoken before are suddenly sharing stories and flashlights and time.

Fortunately our food was stored safely away from the bear in our bear locker! Our camping menu was similar to last year. I also brought along some homemade soft pretzels and a container of Hickory-Smoked Cheddar-Style We Can't Say It's Cheese Spread, my quick and easy granola bars, instant oatmeal with Justin's Nut Butter packets, and a couple more things from my picnic food recipe round up.


My favorite meal on this trip was pasta with veggies and "meatballs" (I used Nate's Meatless Meatballs but Trader Joe's carries them under their label too). This is a meal that is easy to prepare and travels well. I plan to prep a bunch of veggies and freeze them in freezer bags for a quick at-home version of this that I can pull out on busy nights.

Pasta and Veggies To Go
Serves about 4

1 small eggplant, chopped
1 medium zucchini or other summer squash, chopped
6-8 mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4-6 cups of raw spinach
1/2 a large onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jar of marinara or other red sauce
1 package of whole wheat penne pasta
Sea salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning, to taste
1 package vegetarian "meatballs"
Olive oil

On Saturday I stopped by the farmers' market to pick up one or two things. Because it was late in the morning, I got lucky by getting a deal on some really nice peaches- 5 pounds for $5! The peaches are great but there are so many of them so I have had to come up with ideas on how to use up 5 pounds of peaches that all ripened at once. So, naturally, I made peach muffins!

These muffins are vegan and contain chia and hemp seeds which make them rich in protein, iron, and omega 3s. They are low in sugar so, if you prefer a sweeter muffin, you may want to add another 1/4 cup or so of brown sugar.

Peach Muffins with Chia and Hemp Seeds

1 tbsp chia seeds

1/4 cup warm water

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup hemp seeds (or finely chopped walnuts)

3/4 cup non-dairy milk

1 large peach, finely chopped (I leave the peel on for extra fiber)

I realize that it has been a little while since I posted a recipe. It isn't that I'm holding out on you guys! It is simply that I'm in somewhat of an uninspired patch with food at the moment. I'm spending my mental cycles on clearing out my chattery brain by means of nature hikes and yoga instead of daydreaming about cookie dough and sun-dried tomatoes (separately, of course). I've been eating simply, getting take-out, and still working on using up what I have in the pantry when I can.

That being said, though, some thoughts of take-along foods have been swirling around in my head because I have been day-tripping and picnic-ing as often as possible lately. We brought a picnic lunch along for our Big Tree hike and, just today, I packed yet another for a day trip to Donner Lake in Truckee, CA.

Usually a picnic for us includes a rather uninspired combo of PB&J sandwiches, sliced apples, cookies, and snack bars. I am totally crushing on the idea of picnic foods in jars, though, and that has me thinking about some more exciting portable foods. Here are some of my favorite ideas (not all of these are vegan, however they can be vegan-ized):

*Book recommendation: Speaking of the great outdoors and packing food along for a hike, I just finished reading A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I loved this book. LOVED it! Bill Bryson is absolutely laugh-out-loud hilarious and this book is now one of my all-time favorites!

I have been mixing things up in my workout routine lately. Instead of dragging myself to the gym to begrudgingly hammer out miles on the treadmill, I have been running outside and going to a yoga class at a studio. Last weekend I attended an outdoor full moon yoga class and, despite its being in a strip mall, the feeling was one of connection and in-the-momentness. I especially loved the moment when the full moon popped out from behind the studio building and the instructor said, "the moon has decided to join us!" I am all about connecting body and mind; breath and movement; yoga and nature. These yoga classes feed my needs for stretching and strength training but also nurture my spirit. My mind always feels just a little quieter after a class and that is exactly what I need right now.

I just finished reading Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer and I really enjoyed it. The book is a memoir and I could really relate to many of the author's struggles and experiences. In a class that she was taking, the instructor likened meditation to the tracking of wild animals in the forest. He said that, "If you're still enough [in meditation], the wild mind, the mind that isn't preoccupied with oughts and shoulds and the minutiae of life, will approach you and make itself known." How perfect is that metaphor?

A couple of weekends ago we went for a hike in a placed called Placer Big Trees Grove. It was a hassle to get there (long and windy drive) and there were big hungry mosquitos attacking us a the end of our hike. It was completely worth all of that, though. Sometimes I just need to be outside in the woods. I'll risk the mosquitos and the bears and the mountain lions to gain a little sanity. Without this kind of recess, life just might eat me itself.

Photos of Placer Big Trees Grove

Lots of BIG trees (as you might have guessed from the name of the place!):

These Western Azaleas were everywhere and they smelled amazing! I'm pretty sure that if fairies were real, they'd live here: