Healthy Camping

One of the things my family and I love to do every summer is to take multiple camping trips. We usually find campsites to take our small camper, but there are ways to finding a campsite. We have 2 young children so keeping them active and busy is so important. We also want to stay active ourselves because camping can easily become a time to "relax" and sometimes too much relaxing can lead to unhealthy habits or weight gain. If the children are bored they are asking for electronics or getting into things that are not necessarily safe.

 Here are the things we look for when we are booking our weekend getaways.

• hiking on site or nearby
• biking trails or paths
• creeks or lakes for fishing
• body of water for paddling the canoe around
• a pool or lake to swim in
• rainy day activities such as an indoor rec area 

The next thing  I always do before we leave is pre-cook  and pack foods that are easy AND healthy. It would be so easy to just grab sugary fruit cups, chemical filled potato chips, and other unhealthy "convenient" foods. So here is a great list of what to have ready.

• fresh fruit, cut up if possible (bananas and apples can be cut as needed)
• cooked yams, butternut squash
• cooked potatoes for breakfast 
• whole grain breads and cereals
• pre-cooked and sliced chicken for salads or sandwiches
• cut broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and celery or any other veggies to much
•  fresh home made ranch dip (recipe below)
• home made granola or trail mix ( recipe below)

On this particular trip our first evening (Friday) we took a short hike after set up to check out the lake and our surroundings. We skipped rocks on the lake and got to be early for the next few days of excitement.  On Saturday, after a healthy breakfast, we hike much longer and found a bridge and dam where we were able to take off our shoes and search for treasures in the water. We followed that up by renting a row boat and enjoying some time (and exercise) on the lake. On Sunday we loaded the backpack with trail mix and fruit and headed out for the longest hike of all! We ( kids included) hiked the 3.5 miles around the entire lake and it was AWESOME! To finish the day off on Sunday we rented a paddle boat! Big quad killer for the legs! I am dedicated to my P90X3 workouts so I pulled out the yoga mat and did my Dynamix workout with the portable DVD player while the kids went searching for turtles with their dad. Wow, what a great weekend! 

Here are some recipes:

Homemade (kid friendly) Ranch dip:

3 tbsp. dried parsley

1 tsp. dried dill

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp black pepper

sour cream or vegan sour cream upon serving

Directions:

mix together all the dry ingredients and store in an airtight container

when you are ready to mix for dip, stir 1 tbsp of the spice mix with 1/2 cup sour cream. You can keep the extra dried spices for the next time you need Ranch!

Sweet and spicy granola: (to be made before leaving for the camp ground)

Heat oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey or agave 

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

Spread into and even layer on the baking sheet

Bake and stir occasionally until the oats are toasted and the granola is dry (@ 25 minutes)

Fold in:

1/2 cup dried cranberries 

1/4 cup raisins

chocolate is desired 

Store in an Mason jar or other airtight container

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