Traveling with high maintenance eating

I recently got back from a 2 week vacation to Maui. The adjustment has been a little rough. We drove to the airport in 85 degree weather and landed at SeaTac in 45 degree clouds. Ugh.

To console myself, I spend an inordinant amount of time scrolling through the pictures on my phone, remembering the sights, sounds, and smells of Maui. Aaaaah. What better way to hang onto a piece of the vacation? Well, maybe to share some tips in case you, too, want to go there. It’s going to be a long post so go get your cup of coffee now. Ready? OK, here we got.

The biggest challenge to traveling on GAPS is, of course, food.* This was a major stressor for me in the month leading up to our trip.  How on earth can you go on vacation and eat clean for 2 weeks? Well, it takes a lot of planning. And since I’m not that good at planning, I had my daughter help me. 

Tip #1 – Menu Plan for the entire trip, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and travel snacks.

I kept a master notebook with pages for what to pack from the bathroom, the kitchen, and the bedroom, as well as extra odd things. In that same notebook, I wrote out a menu plan for the whole trip. Each day had 4 lines – breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Next to the day, I would also write what plans were for the day. The activities dictated what I would fix. If we needed to get out the door quickly (to get to the 7 am farmer’s market, for example), I’d do fried eggs. If there was more time, I planned smoothies or pancakes (recipe at the end of the post).

Now the important thing about the notebook was that it was flexible. It was not holy writ. Things could be shuffled from one day to another, depending on the weather, our energy level, and what we felt like.

As I menu planned, I kept running lists going on three separate notebook pages. They were shopping lists for Costco, Whole Foods, and the health Food store. Then I kept another page for the “Must buy or make before we go” items.

Tip #2 – Make Shopping lists for as soon as you leave the airport

Just outside the airport on Maui is a Costco. Must have items from Costco:

            Coconut oil

            Salad greens (organic)

            Sea Salt

            Bananas (they had local apple bananas there!)

            Wine (if you’re into it. Most other places don’t have a brisk turnover of stock and it’s not reliably good. Plus Costco’s prices are good.)

            Frozen fish

            2 pack of frozen organic chickens

            Frozen organic chicken breasts

            Cheese ( we got Dubliner and Gouda. Yes, we ate it all. Don’t judge.)

            Chicken Sausages (http://www.aidells.com/products)

            Onion

            Garlic

            Lemons

            Limes

            Avocadoes

           

(dragon fruit)

Whole Foods:

            Almond butter

            Organic Valley Pastured Butter

            Fresh veggies

            Organic canned Salsa

            Eggs

            Olive Oil

            Organic Apple Cider vinegar

            Tomatoes

Health Food Store:

            Coconut milk (the only place that carried coconut milk without guar gum. Be forewarned, it’s $3.86 a can)

            Additional fresh fruits and veggies

            Kombucha. At about $5 a bottle, this was a huge splurge

Farmer’s Market:

            Farm eggs (they cost $6/dozen. Get over it. That’s still a cheap protein source. )

            Raw Honey

            Coconut water kefir

            Local fruits and veggies

Things we packed:

            Wild, troll caught tuna from Costco. The Costco in Hawaii doesn’t carry it. Worth taking as it makes a great quick lunch or a snack.

            Frozen grass-fed beef in our checked-through luggage, double bagged in Ziploc bags

            Spices in zip bags, labeled. I included spice blends for specific recipes.

            Gelatin. WARNING – Place into a different container, like a jar with a lid. The change in air pressure made our tube of gelatin sneeze all over everything inside the suitcase, which made for several sticky messes)

            Epic bars. Greatest travel meal replacements ever. 

            2 lb bag of soaked, dried walnuts

            Dried apple slices

            Beef jerky (made from flank steak and beef heart – fabulous to sneak in organ meats.)

            Tea bags

            Fermented cod liver oil, nestled next to the frozen meat
            Coconut flakes (for This recipe. It’s tremendous)

            Coconut flour

            Raw Cocoa powder

            Water filter pitcher

            Coffee French press

Our condo was fairly well stocked, but unfortunately, all of the pans were non-stick. Boo! We even went to the thrift store to see if we could score a cast-iron skillet, but were out of luck there. All they had was non-stick cookware that was no longer non-stick and would shed large chunks of Teflon into your scrambled eggs. Double boo.

Other than that, we ate like kings! We feasted on lots of salads, quick meals like hamburger patties, tuna salad (over salad), chicken salad, and lots of grilled meat.

Even on the go, we ate well. I put together Paleo Packs in sandwich size plastic bags. The mix should be protein, fats, and carbs, so I put in jerky, nuts, coconut flakes, and dried fruit.

A couple of times I wanted DESSERT! So I made it. Cocoa powder, coconut oil, shredded unsweetened coconut, and a bit of honey. Awesome.

One of the favorite breakfasts for my family was a recipe that I cobbled together, adapting an online recipe with what I had on hand. We served it with sausage and it made for happy days with full tummies and even blood sugar levels.

Almond Butter Pancakes

(makes 12-16 4” pancakes, using about an 1/8 cup batter per pancake)

3 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp honey
2 Tbsp coconut flour

1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 overly ripe banana, medium sized, mushed
1 Tbsp gelatin

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes. The batter will thicken a bit as it sits. While the batter is resting, heat a large skillet (not non-stick!) over medium heat. Use coconut oil to grease the pan and scoop the batter into the heated pan. Let the pancakes cook till bubbles have formed throughout and then turn, cooking briefly on the other side.

Serve the pancakes with plenty of good butter. You can top with unsweetened applesauce, if you need a bit of sweetener on it.

*Technically, we weren’t on GAPS for the vacation. We couldn’t pack bone broth. But we did eat as clean as possible. And the rest we shrugged and said, “It’s vacation!”

These Are Not The Pancakes You're Looking For

In our house we have a giant, green Tupperware bowl. It goes by various names. It's been called The Popcorn Bowl. Also The Puke Bowl. (Think about that the next time you're tempted to feel sorry for me because I no longer eat popcorn). Currently, it's the compost bowl.

When I was a youngster, my dad thought that composting was the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything. (Thanks to Douglas Adams, we now know the answer to be 42, but my dad was without that knowledge.) We could never just throw away waste, be it kitchen or yard waste. It needed to go back into the soil! In our back yard he built himself a two-stall compost producer. And being of the "do it right, or don't do it all" school of thought, he built it out of concrete. He made forms and poured concrete so that he had two concrete bins, open on the top,  resembling stalls for small Shetland ponies, so that he could fork the rotting humus from one bin to the other.

In his quest for the optimum composter, he'd forgotten one itsy bitsy, teensy weensie factor. Oxygen is kind of important for composting to happen. And 6 cubic feet of compressed leaves, grass, and dead tomato plants does not breathe well. My dad ended up getting rid of that compost bunker (I'm not sure but I think he might have had to use dynamite) and replacing it with something less sturdy and more breathable.

That whole attitude left an indelible stamp on me. The 11th commandment subliminally implanted in my brain is Thou Shalt Compost! And for many years I did. I dutifully heaped, forked, turned, sifted, and lovingly applied my beautiful dark, worm-ridden soil to the garden. But when we landscaped the yard to turn it into a wedding venue, sadly there was no room for a compost heap. So I've resigned myself to tossing my kitchen scraps into the yard waste bin provided by the city and letting them do the composting.

With our new diet, though, we produce a LOT of kitchen scraps. We fill the compost bowl at least once a day with quality, organic leavings. It pains me to consign them to the green bin. Surely there must be some way to reuse!

I was thinking this the other day, as I looked at the juice leavings. We juice carrots, kale, celery, spinach, and apples (and whatever else we think to toss in) and produce about 4 cups of dry waste from that daily. I had the leaving on the counter as I was preparing to make GAPS pancakes, whose ingredients are squash, eggs, and nuts. And then I had an AHA! moment. I used the juice waste in place of the squash to make the pancakes, adding a little coconut milk for moisture.

(These are King Arthur Flour Pancakes. They are prettier than mine. Plus I was too lazy to take pictures of mine.)

Were these the light, fluffy pancakes like those I used to make with white flour and sugar? No, no they were not. But they were a lot like the squash pancakes and since my family is used to those, they didn't complain. Did they squeal in joy, asking how soon we could have them again? No, they did not. But these days, any meal which they will eat without gagging or complaining is a victory.

And I got to have the pleased glow all day of having rescued some perfectly good kitchen waste from the bin.

Aprés Juice Pancakes

Dry leavings from juicing - about 4 cups worth
2 cups soaked and dehydrated walnuts
6 farm eggs
about 1/4 cup coconut milk
Coconut oil or tallow

1- Into a food processor or blender, add all the ingredients (the dry leavings last - unless you want to burn out the motor on your blender. Don't ask how I know. Just trust me on this one.)

2- Process until you have a smooth, creamy batter. Add more coconut milk if it seems to thick.

3- Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add coconut oil or tallow to coat it. You want a lot of grease in there!

4- Drop the batter by tablespoonfuls onto the hot pan, spreading with the back of a spoon to an even thickness.

5- When the underside is done, flip carefully with a spatula and cook the other side. If the consistency is off, the pancakes may break up. No worries. Go with it and call them scrambled pancakes and hope to do better next time.

Kitchen Tip

I know I've been a bad blogger. As someone who's name proudly proclaims a love of cookies, I feel like I should have a new cookie post up every day. As you can see, that hasn't happened. I have done some baking, though. If you came here for a cookie fix, you'll need to click your mouse once more to see my post on making molded cookies over on Simple Bites. Easy, elegant, and gift-worthy - you won't want to miss it!

In the meantime, I've got just a brief kitchen tip for you - How to cope with onions.



Chopping onions can be a painful experience for me. If the onions are strong, my eyes burn and tears stream down my face. Although it might look funny, it's anything but fun. My kids have learned that it's not smart to laugh at a crying woman wielding a sharp knife, no matter how hilarious she looks.

A kitchen catalog promised the solution to my woes. It advertised a set of goggles that seal against the eye socket, protecting the eyes from onion fumes. The price tag made me hesitate about ordering a pair, and while hesitating, I had a brain wave.

Was I not the mother of two swimmers? Wasn't my house littered with swim goggles? And don't swim goggles, by definition, seal against the eye socket? Yes, yes, and yes!

So now, when it's time to chop onions, I no longer have to endure the painful, streaming eyes. True, I look like a doofus, but at least I'm not crying! (And, yes, there are pictures documenting just what a doofus I look like, but my husband has been threatened sufficiently that they will NEVER show up on Facebook!)

Build A Better Fly Trap

Life is full of wins and fails.

Getting a new car. Win!

Forgetting you drove your new car to the mall and looking for the old car for 45 minutes in the parking lot. Fail.

Setting your alarm clock for 5:30 so you can get an early start to the day and not have the usual morning frazzled rush. Win!

Sleeping in till 9:00, grumbling about your stupid, broken alarm clock, running around more rushed and frazzled than usual, then wondering why there's a beeping sound coming from your bedroom at dinnertime. Fail.

Complimenting yourself at the party because your usually snug dress is actually a tad loose. Win!

Finding out at home that the sneaky side zipper you always forget was unzipped the whole evening. Fail.

Scoring big boxes of fresh produce at the farmer's market. Win!

Not dealing quickly with said boxes of produce and your kitchen becomes fruit fly central. Epic fail.

I hate fruit flies. They're so sneaky. When you're looking for them with a fly swatter, they lurk under a curling cabbage leaf, but when you're trying to eat dinner, they rise like a phantom before your eyes. You attempt to squash them by clapping your hands together, forgetting you're holding a dinner fork. Painful fail.

Last year a Kitchen Queen Gabe (who also does beautiful jewelry) introduced me to the never fail fruit fly trap and my kitchen and my temperament have been so much better since. I love it because it's 1) cheap, 2) doesn't use a specialized gadget that I have to store when not in use, and 3) it works!

First, you take a drinking glass. Plastic will work, but I prefer glass. It's much more satisfying to be able to see how many flies have perished in the trap.

Next, pour in a glug of apple cider vinegar. Fruit flies go nuts for the smell of sour, fermenting food. You can pour in a bit of water to dilute it to a 1:1 ratio.

Add a squirt of dishwasher soap.

Now for the tricky bit. Take a rectangular piece of scrap paper. Don't rip up clean paper, grab something from the recycling bin. About a 1/2 sheet of paper will do. Now pull the bottom two corners together. Cross the over, one on top of the other, so that you form a cone with a small opening in the bottom. Size it with your drinking glass. You want the opening to sit above the level of the apple cider mixture and you want the cone to fit snuggly against the rim of the glass. When the cone is properly sized, tape the edges in place.



Place the paper cone in the glass and set the glass on the counter in a spot where you seem to find the most fruit flies. The next day, pick up the glass and, Voila!, the bottom will be littered with the carcasses of fruit flies who will no longer be pestering you. Win!