This afternoon, in between making my own bacon bits (yes, really!) and dehydrating more frozen vegetables, I was able to bag up 32 trail breakfasts. This means NoKey and I have 16 days of breakfast all ready to pack up and mail!
Breakfast Rice and Breakfast Couscous Ready to Go!
So, while it may not look like much, these 32 meals were a big undertaking. I did the rice dehydrating myself so we could use a brown rice instead of a minute rice. When you dehydrate things yourself you not only control the quality of the ingredients, but you get a little more flexibility on what goes into the rice. For this batch of breakfast rice, I actually cooked it in sweetened vanilla-flavored almond milk! It gives the rice a nice subtle sweetness and the sugar energy hikers need at breakfast time. I've posted recipes for the breakfast rice and couscous below!
Breakfast Rice Pudding (adapted from Backpacking Chef Glenn) - One Serving
-3/4 cup rice of your choice, cooked in vanilla almond milk and dehydrated
-1/2 tsp sugar
-1/4 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 cup dried fruit of your choice (I mixed it up and did some tropical mix, apples and cranberries, blueberries and coconut, and currant with coconut)
-1 tablespoon slivered almonds
+At home prep - combine the first 3 ingredients into a labeled freezer bag
+Put the dried fruit and almonds into a snack-sized zipper bag; put this smaller bag into the bag with the other ingredients and seal, making sure to remove as much air as possible
+Trail prep - Remove the bag with the fruit and nuts and set aside. Pour the rice mix into your cook pot and let it reconstitute for 5 minutes. Turn the heat element on your stove up and bring to a near-boil. Just before boil, shut off the heat and cover. Let it sit approximately 10 minutes. Devour!
Breakfast Couscous - One Serving
-1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
-2.5 TBSP milk powder (use whatever kind you like - I mixed whole, skim, and coconut powders for this recipe)
-1 TBSP brown sugar
-1/4 tsp HEAPING cinnamon
-2 TBSP slivered almonds
-2 TBSP dried fruit
+At home prep - Combine all ingredients above into a labeled plastic zipper bag and seal, getting out all air completely.
+Trail prep - Bring approximately 3/4 cup of water to a boil and turn off the heat. Carefully, add the water to your bag and seal. Squish the bag around to make sure all ingredients get water. Let it sit approximately 5 minutes. Fluff couscous and eat.