Trail "Pancakes" with Maple Syrup; Wheat-free, Healthy Trail Comfort Food!

Note: This is my first attempt at this yummy trail breakfast.  I have since come up with a much better recipe for real train pancakes (at least IMHO).  This post is still a great way to enjoy dried bread, whether for croutons or a base for other meals (bread pudding, anyone?).


 Good nutrition is so vital to our well being, and nothing starts the day better than a nutritious breakfast. Car campers tend to take breakfast very seriously;  drive through any established campground around breakfast time and your sense of smell will be positive assaulted by the scent of sizzling sausage and bacon and freshly brewed coffee.  Pancakes with syrup and scrambled eggs round out the feast.

On the trail, however, breakfast tends to be Boring with a capital B.  Oatmeal. Oatmeal with blueberries.  Oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins. Cream of wheat.  Blah, blah, blah. And I am sure that backpackers need waaayyy more nutritious calories than the car camping bunch.



Paleo Bread; Wheat free, made with Nut Flour

Hikers with a little more pack space and money may opt for something like freeze-dried Mountain House meals.  I find them delicious (YMMV!) but they are expensive and loaded with sodium and additives. Now that I am older and more frugal, I dry my own concoctions.

One food I am experimenting with is pancakes and syrup.  A very easy way to have pancakes on the trail is to simply dehydrate some cut up homemade pancakes, rehydrate in a zip lock with some boiling water, and add a pouch of syrup.  Yummy and almost like homemade.  But I liken it to junk food. Empty calories with no nutrition.

Since I am swearing off traditional flour-based foods, I had to find another option.  I found this bread recipe from Elana's Pantry and realized it would form the basis for some great healthier trail meals.  I followed the recipe and made the most delicious nut-flour bread ever.



Paleo Bread Crackers

The bread is a little denser than whole grain bread, and the recipe makes a small loaf.  A little small for anything but finger sandwiches, I thought this would be the perfect size for crackers.  Then I started thinking dried bread things with some kind of topping.  That led to the idea of a pancake-y trail food.  So I sliced up the bread extra thin and dried it on my fabulous Excalibur Dehydrator.  A few hours later I had nice, crunchy, yummy flour-free crackers.

The rest is easy!  Just toss some crackers in a quart-sized freezer zip lock bag and add a Tablespoon or two of real maple sugar.  When in camp, add a very scant amount of boiling water to the bag and cozy.  Within a few minutes you can enjoy something that is very similar to SAD dried pancakes, but without the guilt!

Happy Hiking!

The Ten Backpacking Essentials

I really don't like to watch much TV. I really think it dumbs people down. Need proof?  Swamp People.  'Nuff said.

OTOH, I do use the tube to keep up on current events.  I don't like to read newspapers, because they take too much time; if I have some free time I would rather be playing in the kitchen, chatting up my Internet friends, or working on my blog.  So I listen to Headline News with Robin Meade in the mornings on my days off while I do housework or play on my computer.  She is just so perky.  And pretty. And I love how she walks on a treadmill while working at her desk.  I wish my job was that cool.

Anyways, I was listening to Robin discuss yet ANOTHER story of a day hiker getting rescued because they got lost in the woods without the proper equipment.  Really people, hiking in the woods is no joke! 

Foraging Resources Continued: Determining Plant Families and Genus with Tom Elpel's "Botany in a Day"

Outdoorsy types are a breed apart from your "average" person. I have had some lengthy discussions with non-outdoor folks about why my idea of "fun" involves giving up the creature comforts of home in exchange for a camp outdoors. A camp that is hopefully not being invaded by the creatures of the forest. Like the bumper sticker says "if I have to explain it to you, you wouldn't understand anyway."

Joey and Jag sampling Spruce needles in Roaring Plains, WV

Foraging Resources

Foraging for Spring Greens

A frequent question I get when discussing wild edibles is "where can I learn this?"  Unfortunately, the short answer is to do your homework, but this takes some time to accomplish.  You can't learn plant identification overnight.  However, you can learn it at night. When the rest of the family is watching TV, good foragers are looking through plant identification books. For fun. Boring, huh? 


 The good news is that a wealth of information is literally at your fingertips.  In addition to some really amazing books, there are cell phone apps, and websites that make plant identification easy and fun.  The internet makes meeting fellow foragers much easier, albeit still a little difficult in some areas of the U.S.

Seneca Creek / Spruce Knob Backcountry - WV Winter Backpacking

This is a trip that I did with the meetup group DC Backpackers. I love hiking and backpacking with the group, as the people are easy going and fun.

I have visited the Spruce Knob area on an earlier backpacking trip in the late spring, but this was my second hardcore winter backpacking trip, and definitely the coldest.  The temps at the trailhead when we started hiking Friday was 6*.  The temp Friday night hit -3*.  Saturday was a beautiful day, with temps of 30's for a high, and 15* for a low. 

Our hike in was a fairly easy 3.5 miles, with half the miles going straight up to the ridge, and the other half going down the valley to the creek and the campsite.

This video was actually all shot with my cell phone, a Galaxy S3, because the cold killed my camera battery very quickly.  I am really surprised it turned out as well as it did.

Demeter's Rules of Foraging

Viburnum (nannyberry)

Life is full of rules.  Some rules may not make a lot of sense; like the old law about swearing while driving in Maryland. Traveling towards Ocean City on Route 50 in the summer months would prove this one ridiculous. Nonetheless, most citizens respect laws and the enforcement of said laws in order to live in harmony with their neighbors and protect their possessions and way of life.

Foraging has rules, too.  Rules in foraging are twofold: to respect and preserve natural resources, and to follow laws so that non-foragers don't develop the opinion that foragers are a bunch of law-breaking hooligans.  I'm not a 10 Commandment-kind-of rule-breaker, but I have always had a little authority problem.  And a speeding problem.  Anyway,  I do ascribe to these rules, and hope you do, too!

Paltry Persimmons

Fall has to be the best of seasons.  The leaves turn amazing colors before falling from the trees to crunch delightfully underfoot. The unrelenting heat of summer gives way to the promise of cooler weather. Farmers' fields are barren, with corn and even pumpkins harvested. Deer are on the move, greedily munching on leftover corn kernels, preparing for the approaching rut.  The days wind down, reminding us that the little sleep of winter is creeping in upon earth's children.

While Old Man Winter has some tricks in store for us this winter, Mother Nature still has a few treats for Mid-Atlantic foragers.  Recently I found a tree with Persimmons still clinging to the branches.  Initially, the trees look a little like the sweet gum maples. But the common persimmon tree, or Diospyros virginiana, is easily identified by the orange, smooth fruit.

The fruit is about 1.5-2" in diameter.  While super sweet and date-like in consistency when ripe, the little orange orbs of goodness are remarkably astringent when not at their peak of ripeness. Eat an unripe persimmon just once and you will never do it again!  I learned the hard way :-)

Harvesting persimmon fruit is easy: simply pick up the fallen fruit from under the tree.  Similar to Pawpaw, the best fruit falls to the ground when fully ripe. The skin may retain a little astringency.  I taste a small bit of skin. If I get anything like a chalky taste, but the rest of the fruit tastes good, I peel the skin off.  For a trail nibble, pop the whole fruit in your mouth and spit out the seeds.

In addition to a trail snack, persimmons can be preserved.  The ripest fruit can be mashed through a potato ricer.  The pulp can be added to ice cream, cakes, and my newest favorite way of enjoying the fruit - wine!

 The last two years the persimmon harvest has been bountiful.  Last year I harvested fruit for over a month, collecting a half gallon in about 5 minutes. This year, unfortunately, the harvest has been quite lousy.  By the time the fruit was ripe enough to eat, the trees were almost bare.  Bummer.  Thus, the  title of the post.

I was hoping for another batch or two of  persimmon wine this fall, but I will have to wait another year. I think the birds, squirrels, and other denizens of the woods know something about what is coming this winter.  Seems like a lot of berries and fruits have been stripped from the trees as soon as they appear.

Have you seen this tree in the wild on a trail or in your neck of the woods? 

Don't forget the rules of foraging, especially 100% identification!