A Vegan Camping Menu

As promised in yesterday’s camping post, here is my vegan camping menu from the weekend!

Friday’s dinner:

• Vegan chili over sweet potatoes
• Salad with avocado and tomatoes

Saturday’s breakfast:

• Vegetable scramble with soyrizo
• Whole wheat toast

Lunch:

• Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
• Chips and salsa
• Homegrown tangerines
• Carrot sticks and hummus

Saturday’s dinner:

• French onion soup
• Whole wheat bread
• Roasted mushrooms, zucchini and asparagus
• Salad with avocado

To start, I begin preparing all of the food to be packed the morning before we leave. I make a menu, a checklist, and print out the recipes I’m making to make sure I have all the necessary ingredients. I set out all of the dry foods, and leave cold foods in the refrigerator until we’re just about ready to leave.

This time I prepared all of the required amounts of spices and put them in ziplock baggies- I know it’s not very eco-friendly… but it sure makes it easy! This way I don’t have to pack my glass spice jars and rarely have to use measuring cups, etc (less dishes!). I’ll try to find a more environmentally-friendly alternative for next time. :)

I also cut, chopped and diced all of the vegetables for this trip! Less work = more enjoyment while camping. It took me probably an hour or two to prepare all of the food for the trip.

Alright, first night of camping!

VEGAN CHILI

Here’s the recipe (from “The Curvy Carrot” Blog):

• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped fine ( about 1 cup)
• 1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 8 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 3 cups canned beans, drained and rinsed (I used 2 cans of red kidney beans and 1 can of black beans)
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 4 sweet potatoes or regular potatoes (if you want to serve it over potatoes)

This is by far my favorite vegan chili recipe yet! Delicious. I love how the tomatoes make it nice and thick instead of runny.

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until about shimmering.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes (wrapped in tin foil) over coals for about 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Add the onion and cook until translucent and slightly softened, about 3 minutes.

Add the red pepper and cook until it and the onion are soft and slightly browned around the edges, about 3 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. (We cheated and used minced garlic from a jar.)

Sprinkle the ground cumin into the center of pot and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Add the chili powder and cayenne pepper and stir to coat the vegetables.  Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add 2 cups water and stir well to combine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, oregano, and brown sugar, and bring back to a simmer.  Simmer until slightly thickened, about 25 minutes.

Add the beans and corn and stir gently to incorporate.

Remove the pot from the heat and stir in salt, cilantro, and lime juice immediately before serving.

Open up the sweet potatoes and pour chili over!

Enjoy! I love hot, hearty meals like this that warm you up while camping!

Next up, Saturday morning breakfast.

VEGETABLE SCRAMBLE

Here’s my recipe:

• 2 small potatoes, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 package soyrizo
• A few handfuls of spinach
• Avocado (for topping)
• Soy sour cream (for topping)
• Hot sauce (topping)

In a cast iron pan, saute the potatoes in olive oil until softened. Add the bell peppers next, and saute until softened.

Add the mushrooms and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.

Mix in the soyrizo and cook until heated through. Then toss in a few handfuls of spinach.

Top with avocado and any other toppings of your choice and serve with whole wheat toast.

Yummy and filling!

Lastly, Saturday night’s dinner. We had to leave late Saturday night to make it back to photograph Skyline Church‘s grand opening services the next morning, or usually we would stay for breakfast on Sunday. :)

VEGAN FRENCH ONION SOUP

Here’s the recipe (from “Never Home Maker” Blog):

• Bag of yellow onions (2 pounds), sliced thinly
• A couple cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 8 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• Wholegrain sourdough bread (or your favorite), cubed

*This recipe makes a HUGE batch of soup! It barely all fit in our dutch oven. Next time, I would make a half batch camping if it’s just the two of us!

Before you start the soup, prepare the roasted veggies (a side dish). We put 1 zucchini and 1 cup mushrooms in tin foil, sprinkled with olive oil and salt and pepper and placed on the coals, along with some asparagus.

For the soup, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until softened.

Add in the maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Stir well – being careful not to burn the onions- for 20 minutes, until golden.

Add in the garlic, coriander, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 30 minutes.

During those last 10 minutes of waiting, heat the olive oil into a shallow pan on medium-low and wait for the it to get to a hot, but not too hot.

Add the flour to the 1/4 cup oil and stir continuously for 10 minutes, until flour is deep brown and smells nutty.

Add roux to the soup and let cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with cubed bread and enjoy!

This soup was deliciously sweet and very light. I packed a few plastic containers to bring home leftovers, and I’ve been reheating this soup for lunch!

I hope you enjoyed my yummy camping recipes! Please share with us your favorites too! We camp at least a couple times a month… so we definitely need to build up our vegan camping cookbook! :)