The Stanley Mug

Before setting off on my camping/canoeing adventure last weekend, I needed to pick up a mug. I headed to Sunflower Bike Shop in Lawrence for that purpose. A knife, water proof matches and a hat were purchase during a conversation about biking the Katy Trail and I left the shop and rejoined Adam. I didn't think about the mug until he handed me a latte from Henry's. Luckily Henry's and Sunflower are on the same block. My return trip yielded the Stanley mug pictured above. Adam suggested the handle with carabiner style hook would be a pretty cool feature.

The mug was great on the trip. It handled my coffee well. Clipped to my pack. The lid screwed on tight. However, it wasn't until yesterday morning's experiment preparing Curried Beef with Mango that the mug's true potential was realized. I'm not a big fan of waste and using a large zip top back to prepare a meal and then be disposes of is not my favorite idea. Lots of the backpacking recipes I'm interested in require such a preparation. My thoughts have evolved to packing the meal in a much smaller sandwich sized bag and then preparing the meal in the mug. Maybe I'd need two mugs, but that seems far less wasteful in the long run. To test my theory breakfast was again made in the mug. Oatmeal inspired by a cashew, cranberry, dark chocolate trail mix we enjoyed on the trip.

Oatmeal with cranberries and dark chocolate
1/2 cup instant oats
1/6 cup dried cranberries
1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbls dark chocolate chips

Combine first five ingredients in the mug, cover with boiling water and lid to sit for 10ish minutes. Add chocolate chips and stir. Enjoy.

Camping Food: Curried beef with brown rice and mangos

Last weekend (Halloween 2010) my friend, Adam, and I embarked on a canoe trip down Delaware Creek into the Kansas River to Lawrence, Kansas. The two day trip was a true adventure with lots of wildlife including a lone coyote, bald eagle, and the elusive big, fat beaver. I took charge of cooking due to the fact I'd just receive a copy of One Pan Wonders, a nice little cookbook for backpackers. Two meals were prepared from the guide, both being light weight, simple to prepare and pretty tasty. Home prep was key. I'll discuss one meal today as I recreated it this morning in the comfort of my own kitchen.

Curried beef with brown rice and mango
1/2 cup instant brown rice
2 tbls dried mango, chopped fine
1 tbls beef jerky, chopped fine
1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp group ginger

In the kitchen I put everything in my Stanley mug and covered with boiling water. Ten minutes later I had a nice mug of chewy, spicy goodness. While camping I packed all of the ingredients in a zip top bag. We ate this for breakfast and stuffed the bags of food in a beer coozie then added boiling water to the bag. The coozie provided stability while my Stanley mug held coffee. After 10 or so minutes we mushed the contents of the bag to mix and ate straight from the bag. Minimal mess. Minimal clean up. We were both happy.