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You could spend as much money as you wanted on knives. Somewhere out there, a person is probably selling a six-figure gold paring knife with diamonds in the handle and a proprietary smartphone app that tells you how thin you’re slicing, and beeps to let you know whenever Mercury is retrograde.

But sometimes the expensive tools aren’t the best ones, and Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli says that her most favorite kitchen tool is actually a cheap paring knife.

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When given the choice, I will always choose a hot lunch over a cold one. It’s so hard to beat the satisfying, nourishing feeling that takes over your body when you dig into a hot meal in the middle of the day. It might surprise you that making a hot lunch doesn’t need to take a lot of time or effort, and the payoff feels like treat — like you’re doing something nice for yourself.

Because time is short and our days are busy, here are 10 quick and easy recipes for a hot lunch.

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Most camp food is terrible or the opposite of Primal. Or both.

It’s either an expensive REI tetrapak full of wheat flour, dehydrated “meat,” and desiccated Crisco, a Dough Boy, or the entirely overrated s’more. I’ll get flak for that last one, but I don’t care. S’mores rarely live up to the hype past age 12.

Just because you’re living out of a tent doesn’t mean you have to settle for terrible, unhealthy, unappetizing food. If anything, you should be eating healthier when you camp. It feels corrosive to defile the sanctity and purity of the wild with processed junk food wrapped in plastic. You generate all this trash. Whole, Primal foods taste even better when you camp; packaged garbage somehow tastes even worse.

I’ll cover backpacking food in a future post, but car camping cookery is my specialty. That’s what I’ll cover today—the kind of weekend trip that allows for a sizable cooler, some extras flourishes, and more than a single cooking pot.  There’s nothing better than turning your campsite into a full-fledged camp kitchen, creating hearty meals whose scents permeate the grounds, arousing jealousy and any nearby wandering bears. There’s something about serving up dark chocolate chili and a nice Malbec while the family next to you nibbles PopTarts, heats up the $12 freeze-dried dinner from REI, and plays their 20th game of “War.”

What are my go-to car camping favorites?

Sometimes I’ll just do the basics: eggs, bacon, a piece of meat or fish, some grilled asparagus.

More often, I’ll turn to my favorites….

The Hobo Pack

The hobo pack harkens back to those ancient days when hobos, tramps, and vagabonds of all sorts would travel the dusty roads and endless railroads of classic America carrying heavy duty aluminum foil pouches of meat, taters, and vegetables.

The hobo pack is versatile and forgiving. Anything works, and almost anything will end up tasting damn good. Create a pouch with two layers of aluminum foil. Fill the pouch with meat and vegetables. Place pouch on coals.

Pot Roast—beef, onion, carrot, garlic, salt, pepper, a little red wine.

Salmon—salmon, lemon, broccoli, butternut squash, salt, avocado oil.

Whatever you do, pair your meats and vegetables well. Fish cooks quickly, so you’ll want to include vegetables that cook quickly, too. Beef chuck takes longer, so you’ll want something heartier, like sweet potatoes.

Buried Winter Squash

My absolute favorite winter squash is the honeynut squash. It looks like a butternut squash, only about 1/3 the size and a deep orange. The taste is phenomenal.

Get a nice bed of coals going. Bury your squash in the coals and hot ash. Cover it on all sides.

When they’re soft and tender all over, pull them out. Brush off most of the soot and slice lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds.

They’re good plain, with a little butter, or even a scoop of chevre (soft goat cheese) and salt.

Shakshuka

First, make the harissa from this recipe. Set aside.

Heat up a dutch oven over the fire. Add olive oil, a few chopped garlic cloves, one chopped hot pepper, one chopped sweet pepper, and a tablespoon of ground cumin. Sub cayenne and sweet paprika if you don’t have fresh peppers. Cook until fragrant.

Add the harissa along with a can of crushed tomatoes (or the equivalent in fresh tomatoes, if you have access) and two teaspoons of tomato paste.

Reduce until thickened, salting to taste. When it tastes just right, make a few indentations in the sauce and crack an egg in each. I aim for at least 6 or 7 eggs.

Cover and cook until eggs are cooked to your desired doneness. I like the yolks runny. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt, creme fraiche, sour cream, or labneh.

Pancakes with Camp Preserves

For the pancakes, I’ll either do these almond pancakes or these blueberry pancakes. One time, I even mixed some masa harina (lime-treated corn flour, the same stuff used in traditional tortillas) with an egg and a little coconut milk; turned out great. Any Primal pancake recipe you like will work.

For the camp preserves, just chop up whatever fruit you have. I’ve done mangoes, bananas, pears, and strawberries. I’ve done apples and pineapple with cinnamon. I’ve done blueberries, raspberries, blackberries. Every combination I’ve ever tried has worked. I just heat up a pan over the fire, add a little butter (seriously, not much), and throw in the chopped up fruit. Cook until soft, add a little water, mash, and reduce until you have thick camp preserves. Spoon over the pancakes.

Camp Chili

Every time I camp, I make a pot of this chili. I won’t expand on the recipe; you can just read the link. But there are a few ways to streamline the process.

Chop all the peppers and onions and garlic before hand.

Mix all the spices together so you can just keep them in one container and add them in one fell swoop.

Oh, and in the last 10-15 minutes of cooking, drop in a bar of 85% or higher dark chocolate. The one that seems to work the best for me is Valrhona Le Noir 85%. If you can’t find it, any high-cacao content bar will work.

You can also transform the entire character of the dish by adding a tablespoon of cardamom pods with the other spices. That alone makes it almost curry-like. If you go this route, you can also get away with doing lamb instead of beef. Just be sure to strain out the cardamom pods before serving.

Lemon Onion Wings

The day before your trip, blend one large or two medium onions with the juice from 5 lemons and a couple tablespoons of fish sauce in a well-sealed baggy or tupperware container. This is your marinade.

The morning of, place 4-5 pounds of chicken wings in a reliable Ziploc bag and pour the marinade over. You’ll want this to marinate for at least a day, so having this for dinner that night works perfectly.

When you’re ready to cook, place a grill over the campfire. Lay out the wings on paper towels and wipe off most of the marinade. Some bits of lemony onion will remain. That’s fine.

Salt and pepper the wings all over. Place on grill.

Assuming you’ve allowed enough time for the marinade to penetrate, grilling these wings over open flame/hot coals caramelizes the onion-imbued skin. Turn frequently. You want char, but not burning. When you suspect they’re ready, remove the largest wing and cut it open. If it’s done and no pink remains, take the rest off.

Primal Chocolate Cake

Take a Japanese sweet potato—the ones with the purple skin and white flesh. Bury it in some coals and hot ash. If you like the charred flavor and prefer extra caramelization, throw it directly into the coals. If you like a more steamed tuber and wish to avoid charring, wrap it in foil.

Remove from coals after 30 minutes and give it a squeeze. If it’s soft, it’s done. If there are any hard spots, throw it back in for another 5-10 minutes.

Once it’s done, split it down the middle. Insert several squares of good dark chocolate. Sprinkle sea salt. Mash, eat. Primal chocolate cake.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of car camping food, but it’s a solid list of dishes I’ve found to be both doable/realistic and delicious. You’ll notice that the carb counts for many of these dishes are a bit higher than usual. That’s because when I camp, I’m usually very active—hiking, swimming, exploring, playing. You should be, too.

Now I’d love to hear from all the campers out there. What are your favorite Primal foods to cook in the great outdoors?

Thanks for reading, everyone. Take care!

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The post Primal Camping Meals: Weekend “Car Camping” Edition appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

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The suggestion that you should stock your kitchen with multiple versions of any particular gadget might seem hypocritical, especially coming from the same editors who brought you the 10 Commandments of a Clutter-Free Kitchen, but hear us out.

While we are in no way implying that you need to jumble up your gadget drawer with double garlic mincers, citrus juicers, strawberry hullers, can openers, meat tenderizers, or potato mashers, we do believe that there is at least one handy helper that would benefit from having a twin around.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about my relationship with plastic. Perhaps you have too, Because the problem with our plastic-filled world is a topic that has become impossible to ignore.

First, there was that awful, horrible video about the turtle with a plastic straw in 2015 (watch at your own risk). This year there was the June 2018 National Geographic cover unveiled in May, with an arresting photo of a plastic shopping bag partially submerged in the ocean, giving the illusion of an iceberg. The cover was part of the magazine’s just-launched “Planet or Plastic” campaign, focused on the impact of single-use plastic.

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You can totally call me a Grinch, but nothing makes me grumble to myself faster than the phrase “Christmas in July.” I’m more than OK with keeping December in December, especially because Christmas decorations already seem to materialize on big-box shelves in mid-July. (No, Walgreens, I don’t need 500 miniature twinkle lights to go with this spray bottle of sunscreen.) But I was able to push those feelings aside — for a few minutes, anyway — when I saw the snow-capped, hand-drawn letters on Trader Joe’s specialty bakery display. “Back for Christmas in July!” it said, right below a modest stack of Almond Danish Kringle.

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We’re not trying to put ourselves out of work or anything over here, but we’ve gotta say it: The recipes on the Trader Joe’s website are good. (Our recipes are also good — GREAT, even! — and we obviously cover so much much more than just recipes. Okay, moving on.)

The grocery chain publishes new recipes somewhat regularly. And so, in honor of summer nearing an end, here are the seven recipes we think you should make ASAP. Note: The recipes call for specific Trader Joe’s products, but can often be used with ingredients from other grocery stores.

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Your slow cooker is king of many things: tackling huge hunks of meat, potluck favorites, and meals that practically cook themselves while you work (or sleep!), to name a few. But don’t forget about all of your favorite comfort foods! Because, yes, your slow cooker is the perfect tool for turning out one heck of a batch of meatballs or some ultra-creamy mac and cheese.

Need more convincing? Here are our 10 favorite comfort food classics to make in the slow cooker.

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Let me first say this: I LOVE my dishwasher. I have lived in apartments with and without dishwashers, and I truly believe that, despite my best efforts, the machine does a better job than I do at getting dishes squeaky-clean, no matter how well I equip myself with gloves or soap or great-looking sponges. Plus, the dishwasher saves me from having to get too down-and-dirty with dinner plates, overnight-hardened cheese goo, and the like. Again: I’ll do it, but I’d rather not.

There’s just one area where I feel like the dishwasher falls short. Despite its hot water and the dry time and whatever else, I always end up with water spots on my glasses. When I wash glasses by hand and let them dry upside down, I don’t get those spots.

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There is no need to panic, but let’s get serious. The season is right around the corner and with it comes academic rigor, practice, film, training, and treatment. All stress is cumulative.

Dear High School and College Athletes,

 

Let’s be honest. Your summer habits are not that healthy. I know you attended summer workouts, but what did the other 160 hours of your week look like? You’d roll out of bed after four hours of sleep and will your body through the day’s training. Feeling accomplished, and hungry from skipping breakfast, you’d hit the drive-through for nuggets and a Mcflurry, or maybe those Jack in the Box tacos with a Slurpee. Then it was back to your house, or your buddy’s.

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