healing – Page 43 – Teeny Tiny Pieces

I’ve made quite a mess in my kitchen this morning! Pots and pans, strainers, paper towels, cutting boards, and vegetable trimmings are strewn about the countertops.

Ah, but the end product will be wonderful.

I’m cooking for this summer’s vacation! In just under 2 weeks my dad and I will hop in his van and trek 2500 miles from Virginia to Montana. (Some of our much loved, but less adventurous family members will meet us there…)

My dad loves a road trip better than anyone I know! This summer our destination is Glacier National Park.

But more on the trip later. Today, the good stuff…..THE FOOD!

I avoid fast food at (almost) any cost. I’m also thinking we won’t find many roadside diners that cook with fresh, real ingredients between here and Kalispell, Montana, so I’m preparing healthy and delicious food for our trip.

At the farmer’s market I picked up plenty of juicy red tomatoes, sweet onions, carrots, orange cherry tomatoes, and two free-range chickens (If you’re a vegetarian, feel free to substitute ‘vegetable’ whenever I’ve written the word ‘chicken’.).

Here’s a short prep list:

I baked the chickens, and made 2 gallons of bone broth….so delicious and nutritious.
I chopped the baked chicken into small pieces.
I sautee’d the carrots and onions.
I pulled a bag of spinach that I froze this past spring, from the freezer.
I soaked the lentils overnight (was supposed to add some lemon-juice, but didn’t have any. It’ll be ok.) and cooked them for an hour in chicken broth this morning, with some carrots and onions thrown in.

This is when beautiful mahem ensued ~

Pots and pans were everywhere. I combined pots of lentils, carrots, onions, chicken, and broth….I put one combination after another into ziploc bags (yeah, I know, ziploc isn’t the greatest, but it’s the best I could come up with for this trip.) Some bags are mostly broth, some are almost full of lentils and tomatoes. Two bags look like a hearty soup, with spinach, carrots, onions, chicken, lentils, and broth.

I’ll freeze the bags, and when the time comes for us to head out on our trip, they’ll go into an icy cooler. Each day I’ll pick a bag of delicious food for the day, and let it thaw.

I’m planning to buy a warming pot that will plug into the cigarette outlet…but haven’t found that yet. Let me know if you know where to find one. I hate the thought of killing the precious nutrition in these meals with a hotel microwave. I may have to settle for a hot plate and a thermos…we’ll see.

Self-care, great nutrition, and a road trip with my dad. What more could a girl ask for?

Take good care, and eat well!