Part 3: Camping Dinners in Yosemite

...And the last installment of SCD Camping in Yosemite blogs... It has been a busy summer, and we are gearing up for the next school year around here (already?!), so let's wrap up this SCD Camping theme! 

My Mom made some great SCD dinners for us all!  We enjoyed sitting around their table each night, talking about our day over the delicious meals.

Unfortunately, with dinner coming at the end of long days, I didn't get pictures of every dinner but they were great! ​

​The night we got there, we had Sloppy Joe's with an SCD meat sauce. I had mine over SCD Focaccia Bread . Both recipes will be coming out soon in Mom's upcoming cookbook, "Flavor First." More on that later! The Sloppy Joe's were served with veggies and watermelon. 

The next night we had Taco Salad - bagged lettuce with SCD seasoned ground beef, chopped tomato, green onions, grated cheese, and SCD yogurt for me. ​

​Then it was Chicken Salad with bagged lettuce, Trader Joe's legal canned chicken mixed with legal mayonnaise, chopped green grapes, green onion, celery and grated cheddar cheese.

Next up was spaghetti - homemade SCD meatballs with legal Costco White Linen marinara sauce, along with veggies on the side. This favorite meatball recipe is found in the Now & Later booklet that's full of recipes you can make ahead.

And last but certainly not least was a yummy Polynesian Pile-On. This is a meal I remember having on camping trips or for group meals growing up and it's easy to make SCD-style. Mine consisted of Trader Joe's legal canned chicken, Dole Crushed Pineapple, grated cheddar cheese, chopped celery, sliced green onion, and sliced almonds.  You can top it with SCD yogurt mixed with some home-mixed curry powder and salt. Non-SCDers can serve it over rice and top it with chicken gravy and chow mein noodles.

For desserts each night Mom supplied me with SCD Peanut Butter Cookie Bars she had baked at home and put in snack-sized baggies. A fun treat! ​If you'd like, you could also make the nutty and chewy Gingersnap Cookies from our NoMoreCrohns website as a great camp treat. Here's the recipe:
Chewy Gingersnaps
(printable recipe)

• 1 cup smooth almond butter
• 1 egg
• 1 cup diced dates
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2-1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (no sugar added)
• 1/4 teaspoon each: cloves and nutmeg
• 1 cup raw cashew pieces

In a large mixing bowl, combine almond butter, egg, dates, honey, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, and nutmeg. Beat with an electric mixer until dough becomes quite thick, about 2 minutes. Stir in cashews.

Drop teaspoonsful onto parchment lined double cookie sheets. (Doubling helps prevent cookies from burning.) Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until tops are beginning to brown and cookies no longer look wet. Turn trays halfway through baking time and watch closely the last few minutes, as items containing honey burn more easily.

We also discovered a nice substitute for popcorn: Salted in the shell peanuts. It was fun to crack those around the campfire and not feel at all deprived!

It was a great (and yummy) trip, and I hope these ideas spur you on to delicious SCD adventures!

~ Erin