You want to go backpacking but you don’t want to spend a fortune on some fancy freeze dried feast from MEC or REI; welcome to the club. Here’s what we had last night while out in the farthest reaches of nowhere*:
Basil & Oregano Gnocchi (Potato Dumplings)
- One pound of dry gnocchi
- 1 TBSP dried basil
- 1 TBSP dried oregano
- 1 TBSP grated parmesan cheese
- 1 TBSP margarine
- Several sun dried tomatoes (dry from the bulk food section, not oil coated in a jar)
Serves 2 hungry campers
Slice the sun dried tomatoes into bite sized pieces. Place all the ingredients except the gnocchi into a zip lock bag. If the gnocchi came in a bigger bag, put only what you need into a zip lock bag. Pack both into your bear barrel and forget about them until dinner time.
Come dinner time, place the gnocchi into your pot, fill with roughly double the quantity of water and put on the stove. Heat and stir until the gnocchi is done (should be just a tiny bit squishy). Drain. Add in the bag of ingredients. Stir. Enjoy.
* Actually, we were just testing our camp gear at our friends’ cottage, but work with me here: imagine grand forests, majestic mountain views, crystal streams, stunning sunsets, and brilliant starry nights.