Money-Saving Homemade Trail Mix

 Copyright Janet Groene 2025. To ask about rates to reprint this content, or to place your ad on all six Groene sites for one year, one low rate, email janetgroene@yahoo.com

Snack Healthier, Anywhere the Hungries Hit You

Fiber-rich and delicious to boot....

Brawny Breakfast Gorp

“Fig newtons”  now come in many  fruit flavors, not just fig.  Choose your favorites or use a combination of two colors such as half apple, half strawberry. Put them on a cutting board and use a sharp chef’s knife to cut each one into 9 pieces. 

4 cups diced “newton” cookies

1 cup milled hemp seed or flax seed OR

1 cup toasted sesame seeds

2 cups yogurt-covered raisins

2 cups whole pecans

2 cups whole roasted almonds

Dice cookies and put in a large plastic bag with the hemp or flax seed. Toss gently and seeds will coat the sticky edges.  Add remaining ingredients and carefully toss again.  Measure by the cup or half cup snack bags and tuck into your purse, pocket or backpack.   Keep in a cool place. Just grab a container of hot coffee or herbal tea and you’re good to go! 

Weekend potluck? See more of Janet’s easy, economical , shortcut recipes at

http://www.CampAndRVCook.blogspot.com

SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE HOMEMADE GORP RECIPES

Discover the Yacht Yenta Cozy Mystery Series....

People are dying in Okecoochie County FL, but nobody can guess how the deaths are related. Meet Farley Halladay, a salt-cured sailboat widow who has an online charterboat booking business, dodges a wayward sister, cares for an old Navy SEAL veteran who was her husband’s mentor and wrangles  a large circle of wacky friends. She cooks, copes and solves crimes in this unusual cozy mystery series.  Check your favorite e-book seller for all formats or go to Kindle,   https://amzn.to/3bB5XPh   

Bonus points: Throughout the books, Farley shares shortcut recipes from the days when she was a charterboat cook. 

Winter Food for Winter Hikes

Molasses-in-January Gorp

There's something about molasses that gives a rock-ribbed New England tang to winter gorp. I use "lite" molasses. Use blackstrap if you dare. 

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter

1/4 cup lite molasses

Bring to a boil in a large saucepan  and stir in

Pinch salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

Caution: baking soda will cause mixture to foam up

Fold in: 

10 cups miniature pretzels

3 cups dry roasted peanuts

Continue stirring carefully over low heat until everything is well coated. Spread on sheets of parchment or waxed paper to cool and dry. Measure by the cup or half cup and seal in snack bags. Makes 13 one-cup servings.

Do you yearn to sell the house and lawn mower, hit  the road and live the carefree life in a home on wheels?  Living Aboard Your RV, 4th Edition by Janet Groene and Gordon Groene is a total guide to the full-time life on wheels, warts and all.

We answer questions. Sell the house or rent it out while gone?  Downsize possessions or put them in storage? Too young to retire? There’s a chapter on ways to make a living anywhere. Kids on board? We cover home schooling. Order at any book store or let Amazon gift wrap and ship it for you.  https://amzn.to/29XFEkq 

 

About the Groenes. While in their young 30's Gordon and Janet put Gordon's career as a pilot on pause, bought a small sailboat and went to sea. In winter they cruised tropic isles, gradually building a resume as a travelwriter-photographer team.  Janet's first book, Cooking on the Go, became a hit with sailors and campers who have no oven nor refrigeration. 

In time they added a 21-foot diesel Class C RV, put the sailboat in storage during hurricane season, and traveled the US by road each simmer, returning to the tropics in winter. For ten years they had no home base while traveling constantly and producing dozens of books and thousands of feature articles for newspapers and magazines. 

Where to go next? See travel teasers at https://janetgroene.blogspot.com 

          ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Where are all the new  US and Canada campsites,, RV resorts, hookups for 2025? Is your fave campground closing? Reopening?  Adding a swim-up bar? Where to find concerts that allow camping on site?

 See weekly intel gathered from local sources, then pounce on reservations, pre-opening rates and earlybird ticket prices. See CAMPGROUNDS; GOOD NEWS/BADNEWS at  https://solowomanrv.blogspot.com  

Want a private poke when news reports post? Contact janetgroene@yahoo.com and put NEWS YES in the topic line. Your email will never be sold, shared for used by me for another purpose. 

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Citrus Rocks Homemade Trail Mix

 Blog copyright Janet Groene 2024. This blog has had more than 64,000 views. To ask about placing an ad on all six Groene sites for one year, one low rate,  email janetgroene@yahoo.com.  

 Where is your next road trip? Georgia waterfalls? A songwriter concert in Tennessee? Full moon hikes?  Get ideas at https://janetgroene.blogsot.com

Veterans Day activities fill a four-day weekend in Palm Springs, California. The highlight is a spectacular parade at 3 p.m on November 11. Honor veterans at this stirring parade. Walk to downtown Palm Springs from your RV site at the Happy Traveler RV Park. The park, which is adults only in the winter season,  has a swimming pool, spa and many planned activities and events.  (760) 325-8518; email happytrav@hotmail.com/

 

 

Gorp with PEEL Appeal
 

You’re going green, so you buy fresh fruits and vegetables, right? Don’t throw anything away, not even citrus peels. Instead, use great-grandmother’s recipe to “candy” them. Then use bits in your next gorp for tiny bursts of citrus flavor.

Candied Citrus Peel
    This keeps best in a cool, dry place.  
        
    1. Pare oranges, grapefruit, lemons or limes, or a mixture of citrus fruits, leaving only the  fruit. Use the fruit for another purpose.
    2. Cut skin in strips about 1/4 inch wide. Cut strips in bits.
    3. Measure 1 ½ cups of these bits.

1 ½ cups citrus peelings, cut in bits
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
Additional sugar

    Put citrus bits in a bag with the 1/4 cup sugar and shake to coat well. Set aside. Bring 1 cup sugar to a boil in ½ cup water, stirring to dissolve sugar. Turn off heat and add peel, stirring to coat. 

    Let peel stand in sugar syrup until it begins to cool, about 20-30 minutes, then empty into a strainer. Save the syrup to serve over ice cream or use it to flavor a smoothie. 

    Arrange drained citrus bits on waxed paper to dry thoroughly. When bits are dry and crusty, toss with additional sugar and keep in a tightly closed jar to use in gorp.

Citrus Bits Gorp

1 package orange, lemon or lime gelatin dessert mix

About 1 cup homemade candied citrus peel bits 

8 cups different square cereals

4 cups round oat cereal

2 to 3 cups roasted soy nuts or nuts of your choice

1 cup natural cashews
 

    In a large plastic bag, toss cereals, citrus bits and dry gelatin mix. Add nuts. Toss to mix and package in snack bags by the cupful. Makes about 16 one-cup portions. 

Idea: Almost any leftover gorp makes a delicious salad sprinkle. 

 

 

 

 

See Janet Groene’s shortcut recipes and tips for camping at https://campandrvcook.blogspot.com 

 

 

  

Tip:  When you measure gorp portions into snack bags, slip in an individually packaged wet wipe. 

Be prepared for food emergencies at home or in your boat, camper or cabin. Survival Food Handbook is a guide to provisioning your pantry with affordable, familiar supermarket staples. Save those high-priced survival rations for long-term emergencies. 

 
    Canned and packaged foods are good travel insurance. Even a day trip  can turn into a longer-than-planned, hungry and even life-threatening adventure. For a book on provisioning  your camper, boat , cabin or fish camp with familiar, affordable pantry foods from the supermarket see Survival Food Handbook, published by International Marine division of McGraw-Hill.   http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe

 

 

 

          SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MORE GORP RECIPES
   

Save $ With Homemade Trail Mixes

Blog copyright Janet Groene 2024. To place your ad on all six Groene sites for one year, one low rate, email janetgroene@yahoo.com. See Groene bio and current travel ideas here and there,  see https://janetgroene.blogspot.com

 

 
Apple Pie ‘n Cheese Gorp
 

    This nut-free gorp is an anytime snack or pepper-upper and it’s also a satisfying dessert around the campfire.

4 cups small white square cheddar cheese crackers
2 cups Cheddar Cheese Goldfish
4 cups Apple Jack cereal  
2 cups cut up dried  apple rings

    Toss everything together light and package by the cupful in zip-top snack bags. Makes 12 servings of one cup each. Bonus points if you also bring  a shiny fresh apple in your backpack too.

See Janet Groene's shortcut recipes for camping and RV trips at https://campandrvcook.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Be ready for the next hurricane, forest fire, evacuation, shelter-in-place order or other natural disaster with Janet Groene’s Survival Food Handbook. Written for campers and sailors who have limited storage space, its focus is on getting as much food possible for every ounce, inch and  penny.

 It’s a guide to stowing, using and rotating supermarket staples to provision your home pantry, RV or boat for short-term  emergencies, power outages and busy day meals.  http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe

 

 

 

 

 

In June Jeopardy, #6 in the Yacht Yenta e-book mystery series,  salty widow Farley Halladay finds some possible answers to her husband’s death in a fall from the mainmast of their ketch.  Many questions remain, however, as she struggles to manage her online charterboat booking company, care for her husband’s elderly Navy mentor and manage her wacky, wayward sister.    https://amzn.to/3wcf6ao

 Check out Janet Groene's featherweight Thumbnail Recipe of the Week each Friday. You put some stuff in a little plastic bag, take it camping or backpacking, add fire and more stuff, and it's a whole meal https://campandrvcook.blogspot.com

 

 

Seasick? Make Ginger Trail Mix

 Blog copyright Janet Groene 2023. To ask about placing your ad on all six Groene sites for one year, one low rate, email janetgroene at yahoo.com

This blog is about homemade trail mix for all travelers ashore, afoot,  aloft and afloat. When you make customized trail mix, package it individually and keep it in a pocket or backpack, it is the ultimate travel insurance.

Ginger-for-theTummy Gorp

    Ginger settles tummies. It's also a sweet, spicy dessert treat. Bake this buttery snack  in one piece, then chop it in bite size to package in individual portions.

Nuts optional

2 cups flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 sticks butter, softened
1/4 cup milk or cream

    Set the oven for 325 degrees. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Grease a 9 X 13-inch baking pan. Use a pastry blender to cut butter into dry ingredients until mixture is mealy. Stir in milk or cream.  Mixture will be very thick. Add another tablespoon of milk if needed. Spread it evenly in the pan. 

    Use flour-dipped fingers or the back of a spoon dipped in flour to pack it in. Bake 25 minutes or until golden. Cool 5 minutes and cut in small squares with a sawtooth knife. Then cool completely before taking squares out of the pan.
    Eat plain or dunk in ginger lemon tea. Nuts add flavor and crunch but aren't recommended  for someone who is seasick. 

 

 

See Janet Groene’s shortcut recipes and tips for camp and RV cooking at Camp And RV Cook.

Discover the Yacht Yenta Cozy Mystery Series....

People are dying in Okecoochie County FL, but nobody can guess how the deaths are related. Meet Farley Halladay, a salt-cured sailboat widow who has an online charterboat booking business, dodges a wayward sister, cares for an old Navy SEAL veteran who was her husband’s mentor and wrangles  a large circle of wacky friends. She cooks, copes and solves crimes in this unusual cozy mystery series.  Check your favorite e-book seller for all formats or go to Kindle,   https://amzn.to/3bB5XPh   

Bonus points: Throughout the books, Farley shares shortcut recipes from the days when she was a charterboat cook. 

 

Be ready for the next hurricane, forest fire or other natural disaster with Janet Groene’s Survival Food Handbook. Unlike doomsday prepper books it’s a guide to stowing, using and rotating supermarket staples to provision your home pantry, RV or boat for brief emergencies, power outages and busy day meals.  http://amzn.to/1WdYqbe