Rising to the Occasion:
Tips for Seasoning
Your Meals with Soul
with Karen Mitchell-Wilcher
Have
Snacks Will Travel
Seasons greetings fellow road warriors. It is the summer travel
season and there are those among us who will be packing up the car
and hitting the road. I am feeling especially compassionate for
those of you like me, whose packing list includes children. Whether
you and your family are heading to the beach, the annual family
reunion or this weekend’s little league tournament there are
plenty of tasks needed to get you out of the door. Car trips of
any length with one’s offspring can be a nerve-wrecking experience.
It takes some advance planning to produce a seamless travel experience.
Anticipate how long you might actually be in the car and make
sure the little ones have used the rest room. The fun starts when
you put together your survival kit. Our survival kit includes
a combination of homemade treats, drinks, healthy snacks and fruits
and vegetables. A small, easily accessible cooler is always a
good idea. An even better idea is to keep the cooler within your
reach or eyesight and preferably out of the kids so that you can
be the one who passes out the goodies.
We spend a good part of the summer at track and swimming meets.
Both of these commitments start in the early in the morning and
sometimes last late into the evening. Therefore, I make muffins
the night before and offer them alongside a fruit salad to my
troops as the breakfast of champions. Pasta
salad is dished up so that my athletes can load up on carbohydrates
and because it travels well too. The salad is made the day before
and simply refreshed with a toss of more dressing just before
serving. I like to store the salad in a heavy-duty zip-top bag
for easy disposal and clean up.
I like to make sure that I pack brownies
for our victory lap. To me the victory lap is when we pack up
the car and are finally heading home!!
