Gluten-free Mountaineering up Mt. Rainier

Josh and several friends are climbing Mt. Rainier this summer. Mountaineering is about training your body for the physical demands you'll put on it and for providing it with the nutrients it needs to meet those demands. Because of my nutrition background and burgeoning culinary expertise, it was an interesting challenge for me to determine how many calories he needs, but it became more interesting because we had to design a mountaineering diet that was both light weight and gluten-free.

Most of the recommendations we've found for setting up a menu for backpacking include packing foods like oatmeal, bagels, or dehydrated meals like "beef stroganoff" or "chicken alfredo." Some sites also recommended consuming sports bars, energy bites, oatmeal, or crackers. These all make sense, because they're light weight and high in calories. On the other hand, they're off the menu for those with food allergies, particularly to those with gluten allergies. So, for us, we had to start from scratch. The other challenge is that since I've been working and taking classes full time, I haven't had time to dehydrate meals like I've done before. So, we had to plan his menu around the items that could all be purchased.

The first step in determining the menu for his gluten-free backpacking trip was to determine how many calories he would need. We estimated that he would need about 3000 calories per day, and over a four-day period, he would need about 12,000 calories total. This is based on the calorie needs calculator that can be found on the USDA website, ChooseMyPlate.gov.  We input his weight, height, and activity level, and it gives an estimate of the number of calories he would use up. Once we figured that out, then we started looking at dehydrated food options that were available at REI, because Josh works there.

After determining his caloric needs, we decided on a menu plan for Josh. He doesn't like to have a full stomach when he exercises or hikes, so we determined that he would eat just two full meals per day - at breakfast and at dinner. For lunch, he would eat a high energy bar and plan on snacking through the day. Because he needs about 3000 calories, I wanted to get him to eat as close to 1000 calories per meal and then to consume about 1000 calories in snacks. To do so, he has to eat two servings per meal, or the whole package of each dehydrated meal packet.

Breakfast - 600-900 calories
Lunch - 400 -600 calories
Dinner - 600-900 calories
Snacks - 900-1000 calories

Breakfast was challenging, because Josh can't eat oatmeal. You may think, well, there's always cream of rice. That's true. There are gluten-free hot cereals, but Josh doesn't particularly care for them. So, we opted for a gluten-free granola that we purchased from Whole Foods. We were remarkably impressed by the selection of gluten-free granola cereals at Whole Foods, which included Udis, Bakery on Main, Glutenfreeda, and Enjoy Life. There were also great flavors, such as peanut butter, cranberry orange, and chocolate. Josh selected Flax4Life's Hawaiian Pineapple, Coconut, and Mango. In addition to eating granola, Josh is also going to drink hot chocolate. This is to make up for the warming effects that enjoying a bowl of oatmeal would have.

1 cup granola - 420 calories
1/2 cup milk (rehydrated powdered milk) - 40 calories
hot chocolate - 130 calories

For lunch and snacks, Josh is going to eat several servings of
trail mix (700 calories per cup)
Clif Shot Bloks (200 calories per package)
Clif Shot Roks (270 calories)
Luna protein bars (190 alories)
Accel-gel (100 calories)
ready-to-eat salmon in pouches (234 calories)

I also regularly make protein cookies for Josh (containing vanilla whey protein, approximately 100 calories each), and he is taking a few of those, too.

We had to carefully read the labels, because there are hidden sources of gluten. Since there are varying levels of sensitivity to gluten and wheat, you should carefully investigate what foods are safe. One really good source for information about celiac disease is the University of Chicago website.

Dinner was also going to be interesting, because the hikers are relying on dehydrated meals. Well, fortunately, following a gluten-free diet isn't as foreign as it used to be, and there are now more foods available on the market. We were glad to see that there are even dehydrated meals made without wheat, though most of them are not certified gluten-free, unless you order them online. At REI, there were a few meals available, most of which were Natural High brand. Backpacker's Pantry had a few items too. The particular challenge was that even if the food itself wasn't a wheat food, such as a pasta, soy sauce and vegetable protein were often included in the ingredients. As a result, we couldn't choose them. We did find a few items: Himalyan lentils and rice, honey lime chicken, BBQ chicken and rice, and Louisiana beans and rice. These items are relatively low in calories - about 600 for the entire package - but they would be enough and probably be pretty filling, given the fiber. One challenge in using packaged dehydrated meals is that the sodium content is extremely high. It was pretty difficult to compensate for that, so we did our best to choose flavors that didn't have as much sodium but were still wheat and gluten-free.

Josh and his team should be pretty well set up for meals. It will be interesting to see how they do. The food weighed just over 5 lbs, and Josh divided them into resealable bags according to how he would use them. He plans on unpacking most of the food at the base camp, in favor of simply carrying the snacks when the team attempts the summit.

Coconut Granola

This recipe is inspired by Wireworks Coffee House, Pueblo, CO. They're located on the Riverwalk. I liked going there for meetings and get their fruit and granola parfait for breakfast. Everything on the menu is absolutely delicious. And in Wireworks' style, eat this granola with a generous spoon of plain yogurt and fresh berries. If you're eating a strictly gluten-free diet, make sure you select "certified gluten free oats." Bob's Red Mill has a version, but there are several brands to choose from.

4 cups whole oats, old fashioned rolled

1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed

2 cups almonds, whole, raw (untoasted)

2 cups coconut flakes, sweetened

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup honey*

1 cup raisins, optional

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, optional

1) Gather together your ingredients and have them pre-measured. Set out your tools, as well. You'll want to use a spatula, spoons, bowls, and sheet pans. This way, when the granola is ready to assemble, you won't be wasting time hunting for ingredients or tools, Use parchment paper to line the pans, and clean up will be a snap!

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Arrange the racks so that two pans can be placed in the oven at a time. Make sure you have your recipe available, too!

2) *For measuring the honey, first spray the measuring cup with a little bit of cooking spray -- I use an oil spritzer. Then pour in your honey. It will pour back out of the pitcher very easily!

Measure the honey into the butter, and then microwave it on a low-power setting for 3-5 minutes, until the butter is melted. Stir in the vanilla. These are your wet ingredients.

3) Combine the oats, brown sugar, almonds, coconut flakes, and cinnamon into a large bowl.

4) Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Stir thoroughly, making sure that everything is well-coated, that brown sugar clumps are broken up, and the ingredients are evenly distributed.

5) Spread the granola onto the sheet pans. Spread the layer of granola as thin and even as possible. Place in the oven, one pan on each rack. Bake for 20 minutes.        

6) Remove the pan from the oven. Stir the granola thoroughly, being sure to draw in the more-baked edges into the center and spreading the less-baked portions outwards. Return to the oven and bake for 20 more minutes. Be sure to put the pan that had been on the top shelf on the bottom shelf, rotating the pan as well, so that the baking is even. Repeat for the remaining pan. The skilled hands in the picture below belong to my husband. I'm holding the camera, obviously.

7) As the baking goes along, the granola will darken slowly, turning a caramel brown. When you're stirring the granola, notice the color. Once it is evenly caramel colored, remove the granola from the oven. Depending on the heat of your oven it make take an additional cycle of baking, but be sure to remove the granola and stir it regularly to prevent burning. To be safe, reduce the baking time to 10 minutes and watch it carefully. The granola will become crispy as it cools, so don't wait for that. You'll bake for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Below, you'll see the distinctive color differences, photographed at the same spot, after 2 cycles of baking. I was also using my mother-in-law's oven, which is a gas Jenn-Air. The coconut will brown, so be careful that it doesn't burn.

8) Remove the granola from the oven and allow it to cool. Stir after approximately 10 minutes to ensure that the granola doesn't stick to the pan in a long sheet. It is very difficult to pack into the container this way. Sprinkle with raisins, if desired, while the granola is hot.

9) Once the granola has cooled completely, it can be placed into an air-tight container and enjoyed at any time!

Breakfast in the Hand

I had breakfast with Summer A. a little while back, and she shared with me this delicious breakfast sandwich.  I have begun missing English muffins, and I'll go through occasional cravings for them.  I enjoy them most with hazelnut-chocolate spread or orange marmalade, but this sandwich, modified slightly*, is fantastic!  Josh and I had been breakfasting on burritos when we drive to Monarch for our ski days, but we will definitely be adding this to our breakfast repertoire.  Thanks, Summer!  The eggs can be substituted or egg whites can be used.  A low-fat, low sodium Canadian bacon or ham can be used as well.  Just make sure you use real cheddar cheese, because the melting is important.   Spelt is not a gluten free bread, but it can sometimes be tolerated well by people with wheat allergies.  But check with your doctor before you try it out.   It's a fine bread for people without allergies.  Gluten free muffins are also sold.  

2 Spelt English muffins, split

2 slices cheddar cheese

4 slices Canadian bacon or turkey ham, thick sliced

1 tbsp butter or oil, divided 

2 tsp brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

salt and pepper

Preheat a nonstick omelet or 8" saute pan over medium heat.  Place split muffins in toaster oven and set on medium-dark setting.  Begin toasting.  Melt 1 tsp butter in the saute pan.  Add the bacon slices and begin to fry the bacon.  Allow to brown slightly.  Sprinkle with brown sugar and stir to allow to melt and coat the meat.  Remove from pan.  Wipe pan with wet cloth.  Melt 1 tsp butter in same nonstick pan.  Pour eggs into pan.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Allow eggs to cook for about one minute.  Lift edges of the eggs to allow the uncooked portions to flow under the cooked egg until they're cooked.  While the eggs are beginning to set, add the cheddar cheese slices to the tops of the English muffins.  Return the muffins to the toaster oven and toast on light setting.  Fold the eggs over to form an omelette.  Remove pan from heat.  Split the egg mixture in half, making two egg portions.  Lay the egg on the bottom half of the English muffin.  Layer on the Canadian bacon.  Top with muffin top.

This can be served immediately or wrapped in foil and reheated later.  

*Summer's lower-fat version involved removing some of the egg yolk and using oil or kitchen spray instead of butter.  If cholesterol control is your focus, these may be good ideas.