Author: Emily

October 12th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Overnight Steel Cut Oatmeal

Life is about how you view your experiences, not just what those experiences are. You can change your entire life simply by changing your perspective.

I went to Arizona this weekend to visit my friends from the ant biology lab at ASU. We used to work together in the ant lab at FSU, and they all stuck together and stuck with ants (I know-nerds), while I ran away to CA alone. One of them, Dr. Adrian Smith, received his PhD on Friday, and I got to be there to see it! I took Aimee with me as a road trip buddy, since her sister-in-law lives in Phoenix as well.

Most of the weekend was spent hanging out and catching up, but my friend Clint and I made a point to go on a hike on Sunday morning before I drove home . We hiked up Camelback Mountain and it was a nice (steep) little “mountain” close to town. This is not the kind of hike I think to appreciate very often. I have them around. In fact, there’s a trail like this minutes from where I work that I’ve never even been to. Many of you have them too, whether its a mountain, creek, or a stretch of beach in your neighborhoods- even a nature trail in a city park. These hikes aren’t necessarily the most scenic, difficult, or interesting. Their allure is that you can hike on a weekday. After work. Before work. With anyone- a close friend, an old friend, someone you barely know, someone you barely like- even alone. They are the ultimate excuse eliminators- I hiked even though I was tired, hung over, and had to drive all day starting at lunchtime- and they are always more satisfying than a few miles on the treadmill. I use hiking to forget that I’m exercising and trick myself into doing it. This time, I also got to have a nice conversation with a friend I haven’t seen in a long time. We spent a lot of time talking about the state of our lives, and where we want them to go next. I actually had this conversation with quite a few people. Then I went to to Wes’ class yesterday and he talked about art being just a transformation of regular old everyday boring old life. I realized that I can turn my life into anything I want simply by looking at it and talking about it in a different way. So I’m going to try to do that more often. Hopefully you’ll benefit. You all need to hear the funny stories of the things that happen to me! My life is hilarious! The good news is that I bet your is too!

So, to bring this around to the oatmeal…Most people view oatmeal as boring and overdone breakfast food, especially if you’re camping. Yes, you can change your perspective on this, but we’ll help you by teaching you about Steel Cut Oatmeal. We ate this during the detox (thanks to these guys) and I couldn’t believe how different and awesome the flavor was. Its nutty, its chewy, and its something even I can eat- the girl who hasn’t touched oatmeal since I started working at camp 5 years ago! Oatmeal was the reason I wanted to start DG! I hated it! So, change your perspective and try this stuff.

September 14th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Biscuits & Gravy

We’re on our way to Portland- or so we thought. We had a connecting flight in Las Vegas, but apparently its too windy in Vegas to land, so we have to turn around and go back home. This is my second vacation within a month, so I guess I deserved a little bump in my ridiculously lavish lifestyle. I’m trying to have a good attitude about it (especially since my flying partner doesn’t), and am really enjoying the frustration in the air. My favorite part was when the guy next to me woke up to us landing back in Ontario with no idea what was going on. At least I got free Bloody Marys! That makes it still feel like vacation.

Life has evened out a little bit lately. I’ve spent the last few months lacking any sense of routine whatsoever. Everything changed, and everything got busier, to the point where I didn’t even know simple answers like what city I’d be in from one day to the next, or what job I’d be doing. Now I have a small routine, and vacations are included. And I feel great. Sunday is the day that we make a big deal of celebrating. “Sunday Funday.” Every week, we try to do something different, and somewhat exciting. Last week’s excitement was errands. It was amazing to wake up whenever, cook breakfast, and then do all of the things that have been on my stack of to-do lists for months. We cooked biscuits and gravy. Vegan biscuits and gravy, inspired by this recipe by Chez Bettey. I’m from the south, in case y’all fergot, so I know what biscuits and gravy is ‘sposed ta taste like. And these ‘ens were gooood. A dutch oven will have to be on your packing list if you plan to make the whole meal from scratch, but you can make your biscuits ahead of time if you don’t want to carry one.

We’re on our way back to Vegas now…we hope. Wes wants me to mention that his spirits are higher (now that free spirits are on the way). After Vegas, we’ll see if we can make it all the way to Portland, a land I’ve never been to but was told I’d never want to return from.

August 27th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Foil-Roasted Mushrooms with Hazelnuts & Chives

A few weeks ago, we received a copy of Campfire Cookery: Adventuresome Recipes and Other Curiosities for the Great Outdoors to review. We were excited by the idea, but had low expectations for the actual book. Most camping recipe books seem to be lacking. For instance, they usually don’t include pictures, and definitely do not usually cater towards the fancier campers like us, with recipes, text, or design. Well, this book is a nice surprise in the fanciest of directions. These ladies made every aspect of the book whimsical and beautiful, making you want to put on your cutest skirt and scarf and go frolic in a field forever.

Campfire Cookery focuses strictly on cooking over a campfire, often with the use of a dutch oven, which tends to be best for only the most glamorous types of camping. Besides recipes, the book also includes a depth of information about outdoor fun presented in a fanciful and playful way. Reading about building your own compass or telling the future from tea leaves is like reading a lovely novel- it has a Wind in the Willows feel. We also loved how the photos were printed with a matte finish in the book. Photos can make or break a recipe, and these photos show off the beauty of the food nicely.

We were able to modify a few recipes to make them more backpacking friendly, but that required a change of ingredients as well, since the recipes often focus on a lot of perishable ingredients including meat and dairy.

Overall, we definitely recommend Campfire Cookery as a fun and interesting addition to an outdoorsman’s library (and definitely for an outdoorswoman’s). Here’s a recipe from the book to whet your appetite. We used these Foil Mushrooms with Hazelnuts and Chives in their Mushroom Mustard Mashed Potaters recipe as well, and both were excellent! The hazelnuts are the surprise ingredient here, adding crunchiness and toastiness and turning this typical non-campy recipe into a gourmet campy one. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about them. I think I’ll make them for dinner tonight.

August 13th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Tomato Relish

Life isn’t always perfect. Dirty Girls don’t always have more fun. We just know how to heal. There’s been a lot of struggling going on in the world recently, from our personal lives to more major events like the stock market continuing to crash and crash some more. We have to keep reminding ourselves that its not about how you feel and act when everything is going great. Its about how you handle life when shit hits the fan. So far, the things that have kept me going have been the same things that make me happy when things are going great: camping and cooking. That’s how I know they are the most important things in my life.

Both Figueroa Mountain events happened to come just after breakups. The first was my own. Our camping trip had been planned for a while before that for Aimee’s birthday, and I was hesitant to want to go when the actual weekend came, but I knew I needed an escape. It ended up being one of the best trips of my life. I was so determined to get my mind off things and have a great time, that I filled each day with great activities and lots of laughter. Being in the natural world, bonding with people that loved me, and of course afternoon beers all contributed greatly to the speed of my recovery. I knew my life was still going to be great.

The second trip involved the recent breakup of a friend. She came knowing she’d be among a bunch of people that she didn’t know well at all. That didn’t stop her from getting just what she needed to start her own healing process. Its easy to do exactly what you want and need when you’re camping, so she read books in her hammock when she felt like it, and went hiking with us when she felt like doing that (mainly because it included round 2 of banana slug licking- the true cure to a broken heart, even though she was immune to the venom).

The broken-hearted weren’t the only ones in need of healing either. Aimee’s back had been majorly tweaked for a good week before that trip. Adam got hit on his motorcycle the day before. Wes was dealing with pure exhaustion from racing the clock to remodel his kitchen for a TV show (Professional Grade on HGTV- watch for him in December!). Mary Anne ended up getting stung in the eye while we were there, but we credit the location more for healing that injury than providing it. It was like a hospital trip, really. And by the end of this trip, I decided that Figueroa Mountain has especially special healing powers.

Campfire Tomato Relish Recipe

We ate some especially amazing food this weekend, but the one recipe that contributed the most to our collective happiness and healing feeling was this Tomato Relish. Yes, we stole the recipe idea from the July issue of Martha Stewart’s Living, but ours is very different. It was described by Mai-yan first, and the rest of the party guests later as “Oh My God.” That’s all I really have to say about it. Most of us used it as a ketchup alternative for our Vegan Sausages but it was delicious also on bread and mixed grilled vegetables when we made it again at our home BBQ last week. It was made in a cast iron skillet which made all the difference, but don’t let the relish rest in the skillet after you’re done cooking. The acidity of the tomatoes will negatively affect the seasoning of the skillet.

Campfire Tomato Relish

If you are struggling with anything in life right now or in the future, don’t underestimate the power of the “real” world to take care of you and refresh your perspective. Get outside and do something you love to do. You’ll feel the good start rushing back into your soul immediately.

July 9th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Pistachio and Raisin Breakfast Couscous

It’s birthday month again. This year, there’s much more competition-I mean celebration-than usual. New roommates, new friends, old friends willing to travel for joint birthday parties, all within the last and next few weeks. Mai-yan and I normally celebrate ours together (and no one else’s), but this year she’s turning 30, and that’s way too big deal a number for Emily to compete with. I’ll be sharing mine with my friend Adam instead, and we gave Mai-yan her own whole trip backpacking in the Golden Trout Wilderness last weekend.

We were told the weather would be in the 70’s during the day and 30’s at night, so we packed accordingly, and weren’t afraid to bring a bunch of hardy fresh vegetables and 5 (yes 5) blocks of cheese with us. By the time we reached the trailhead the first day, however, we knew we’d been duped. It was at least 90 already. We embraced the surprise warmth, and I put on my cute sleeveless dress for the hike.


By lunchtime, the issues that would plague us for the entire four day weekend had begun. First (and worst)- mosquitoes! I moved from Florida specifically to get away from the monsters, and these were even worse than the east coasters. Worse even than the Everglades, since they were still capable of swarming us at 11,000 feet up. We each went through our own mini panic attacks all weekend, and couldn’t hike without a branch used like a horsetail. With my big heavy backpack, I felt more like a rhino than a horse, though. I couldn’t bring myself to put on my warm fleece in that weather for most of the time, so I endured an impressive number of bites. Nick, Kismat and I looked like we had a serious (and probably contagious) skin disease by the end of the trip.


The second issue was the food. We love to stress how possible it is to bring fresh ingredients with you backpacking, but this was the hottest weather for the longest duration we’ve dealt with in the last two years, and yes- fresh food does go bad quickly in hot weather. The first 24 hours were fine, and we filled our bellies with as many cucumbers and bell peppers as we could. By the second morning, though, there was a distinct “limy” taste to them, and we were forced to carry them with us the rest of the trip. Along with the corn for my shepherd’s-pie-turned-mashed-taters-and-gravy. Even the kale didn’t make it past the third day. But you know what we ate a lot of? Cheese! Slimy, yet satisfying. Luckily it was all of the hard variety (originally), and I can’t guarantee to you that it was the safest decision. But we were happy about it.

Making friendship bracelets

This time, we’re going to stick to posting a truly all-weather friendly backpacking recipe that impressed both Nick and I, who have been known for our bad attitudes towards couscous. It’s slightly sweet like an oatmeal, but much less sweet than the typical backpacking breakfast options, as well as quick, filling, and non-perishable. Hope you had a great start to our big birthday month and also that you’ll be celebrating with us throughout the rest of it- outside!

June 6th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Eggplant Caponata

This week, I went to work with Mai-yan’s fiance Nick, who is the site supervisor of a Habitat for Humanity build in Lawndale, CA. Habitat for Humanity is an organization that was started by Jimmy Carter in order to provide housing to less fortunate families. The homes are built almost entirely by volunteers and the families themselves. I expected the work to be hard, and after getting up at 5 a.m., fighting LA traffic for 3 hours, and burning my tongue on coffee, I was sure it would be a long day. But when I got there, I was met with nothing but motivated positivity.


Child holding a freshly picked red onion

Nick has funny stories that come out of having to teach construction to a new group of people every day (“dig a hole 18 inches deep” was interpreted as “dig a hole 18 feet deep” for instance). I imagined that job would be generally frustrating for him, but the day I spent there proved differently. All the volunteers were full of energy and excitement to learn something new, worked hard, and had a great day. Instead of coming to work to deal with the same old people and negative attitudes, he gets to hang out with the most enthusiastic people you can find. The ones who actually want to work. I made new friends, learned new skills, and was super energized by the whole process. It made me want to do it again. And again. And come up with more events that I can go to as well- even if they aren’t local to my particular city. If you have any suggestions, let us know.

Yesterday, I decided to host my own little local event in my own backyard—a community garden work party. My gardening partner moved out last month, and so I’m turning the yard into a community garden. We have plenty of vegetables to share, and can have a bunch more if I get a little extra help occasionally. We’ll hopefully get some more seeds planted, weeds unplanted, and then we’ll get to eat some stuff that is already ready (which is a lot!).

Boys shoveling compost

Next time I go to a local event (which will be soon), the other two Dirty Girls are comin’ with me. And we’re bringing snacks, which will probably include this eggplant caponata, since I’ll have eggplant and tomatoes from my garden soon. If you’ve never tried eggplant caponata, you’re in for a treat. It’s sweet, sour and salty, and makes the most perfect picnic food. Spread it on bread or crackers on its own or layer it with veggies on a sandwich.

May 27th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Vegan Sausages

We just went on one of the funniest camping trips of my life, and boy did I need it! Life has been unnecessarily stressful lately, and I realized last week that it is much more important to be silly and energetic than probably anything else in the world. Life is truly all about your perspective, and though you sometimes need a jolt, you can usually see that it is pretty wonderful just the way it is- especially when you have caring sweet funny friends surrounding you!

Our camping trip took place at Figueroa Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest. Aimee and Kismat have recently discovered this area and since they can’t seem to get enough of it, that’s naturally where Aimee chose to go for her birthday weekend. To make sure Aimee got a proper birthday celebration, 11 of us made the trek out to Los Olivos, with three dogs in tow to boot.

After getting settled in, we got to the important stuff – food. While grilling some vegetables in foil packets and sitting around the fire, we were all startled by loud screams. It was Aimee. She was running around jumping, screaming “there’s something in my pants!!.” I expected to see her pants come off and a small bug come out, but it was a lizard! She got it out and then sat in the corner crying for about 15 minutes, and though we wanted to help her feel better, we just all stood around laughing. That was just the start of the fun.

Saturday was a day packed with activities. We wrote down our agenda in a little notebook, which helped us avoid the typical wasted hours of “what should we do today.” I lead a yoga session and then Aimee lead boot camp. We had to drive to town next to get Adventure Passes for everyone in the campground, because FYI, they changed the rules so you don’t just have to pay a $5 ticket if you don’t have one- you have to pay $125! Then we came back, played some cards, drank some beer, and went on an afternoon hike. We hiked along the beautiful, wildflower-flecked mountain road looking down into the valley below. We ran through a field like The Sound of Music, played in a tree like monkeys, and raced to see how high we could run up a very steep hill (answer: about 10 feet). Then we forced our friend Kim to be the photographer for a dandelion blowing photo shoot that lasted close to a full hour (we got a lot of wishes out of it though!).

Our turnaround point was a little creek littered with banana slugs. I’ve been talking and hearing about these creatures for years but I’d never seen one before. They have a mild neurotoxin on their skin that causes your tongue to go numb if you lick them. I never imagined myself licking one, but I couldn’t help myself this weekend. I did it first, and that was enough to convince Mai-yan and Kim to do it too (though I do not suggest you do so, since I have no clue whether its actually a safe thing to do or not). First Mai-yan tried to pick one up, but freaked out crazily when she touched it. She had no problem licking it, but just didn’t want to hold it. I was laughing on the ground for about 5 minutes watching the process. Then Kim decided to try it, but was only ok with it after washing off my saliva. He licked the slug about as grossly as you could ever imagine for about 30 seconds.

Our evening was just as eventful including a game of Catch Phrase (who’s ever heard of the expression “chrome dome”?!?), Kim losing his wedding ring in the fire and most importantly, Aimee’s delicious vegan sausages made from scratch (recipe adapted from Julie Hasson and our good friend Wesley Nielson). As a meat eater, I can attest that these were better than meat based sausages (who want’s to eat chicken eye lids anyways?!). The texture and flavor were spot on, and they were very filling. Aimee made 18 sausages and we polished them all off but two. If you’re going camping, we highly recommend these. They are the epitome of camping food, ready in minutes (after prepping them at home) and you get to grill on the campfire.

Good times and good food, that’s how camping trips are supposed to be. That’s how life is supposed to be. I challenge you to go through your day and experience joy that exists around you. It’s everywhere, and if you can’t find it, make it! Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

May 5th 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Soyrizo Stuffed Mushrooms

I know I’ve been talking a lot about my new home life this year, but I still have more to say. This time, I want to talk about living in a (basically) vegan household.

When we decided to move in with John, he said he hadn’t had meat in the house for 12 years. Tony and I decided that it would be ok to only have meat when we went out to eat, but eliminating cheese was a deal breaker, and John compromised. Since we’ve lived here, though, I’ve barely eaten any meat or cheese (even while out), and I’m rarely dissatisfied, which continues to shock me. I’m still technically a meat eater, though I understand how important it is to eat much less of it. I’m interested in it mainly for environmental reasons (what’s best for the overall harmony of the earth is also best for us individuals), but haven’t officially put any labels on myself for several reasons:

  1. I never decided to officially take the stance to become a strict vegetarian or vegan for my own reasons. I started by just trying it out to respect my roommates, and it ended up being easier than expected. I don’t want to call myself an official vegetarian or vegan until I have made that big decision myself.
  2. I think it is more beneficial to be willing to eat the food that would only be wasted if you were strict about your diet, especially because I think it tastes great (for instance, the leftover pepperoni pizza that a house guest left in the fridge).
  3. If I consume sustainable, organic meats and cheeses, the trend of producing better products might just continue. If I completely avoid those things, the industry will still only be catering towards people who don’t care at all about the quality of their food.
  4. There are a lot of people in my life that are turned off immediately when you use the buzz words, so even if I never eat meat again, I feel like I could probably get more people to listen to me if I just don’t say the word.

Anyway, the funny thing about my vegan(ish) household is that these boys are very meat and potatoes kinda boys. We have fake meat and fake dairy everything! I’m still a snob about a lot of it, because I know the taste of real meat and dairy. But I have learned that certain things are almost identical. One of those things is Soyrizo, which is a substitute for Chorizo, a Mexican sausage. Ben eats a Soyrizo scramble almost EVERY single day for breakfast. I ate it with him for about a week, and then got totally sick of it. But then one day, he stuffed it into mushrooms. and stuck them on the grill just like that. They are awesome with just these two ingredients, but we also occasionally add leeks to the top, and they would probably be good with cheese or sour cream (real or fake). Soyrizo Stuffed Mushrooms. The easiest, quickest, realest tasting fake meat recipe you could make.

If you’re looking to cut some meat out of your diet, the transition can be easy. Try starting out by learning to make a bunch of vegetarian dishes first before actually committing to vegetarianism. Then you’ll have plenty of dishes in your arsenal and it won’t be hard to think of what to make. This recipe will help you out, because you’ll think you’re eating real sausage, and you won’t even have to deal with all the gross stuff they normally put in sausage- win win!

April 22nd 2011 Posted By Emily Comments ( )

Natural Dyed Easter Eggs

We got chickens this year, but unfortunately they are not quite old enough to lay us Easter eggs yet. They have definitely gotten big though, and Tony is getting the chicken coop ready for them to start their lives outside of the reptile tank within the next week. Tony has been substitute teaching for a middle school in town called The Farm lately, and they have a small store that sells locally grown food. He first came home with a package of duck eggs, which I thought were quite large, but then he showed up with goose eggs yesterday! They are huge! I haven’t mustered up the courage to eat one yet- I’m not even sure I could crack one open because the shell feels very thick and heavy.

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