Yak Wool Sweaters And Everything Else To Pack

Like an Oliver Charles sweater, these 3 breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes simplify life on any adventure, big or small.

Weekend Adventures With Oliver Charles

Introducing a 5-part blog series about using the weekend as an opportunity to explore.

Discover what you should keep in your bag for impulsive adventuring, simple, healthy recipes you can meal prep, and day trips on the California coast.

• Weekend Adventure Essentials
• Easy Road Trip Recipes
• A Weekend in Long Beach
• How to Spend a Day in San Diego
• A Sunday in Laguna Beach

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Everyone talks about road rage, but have you ever experienced hunger rage on the road?

Like the Snickers commercial always says, “you’re not you when you’re hungry.” And being hungry while on the road leads to decreased focus, sleepiness, and irritability!

Proper nourishment is a necessity. Food is the fuel that propels our bodies and keeps us on-the-go.

We need the energy to accomplish what we want, whether that be a leisurely day or in terms of adventures that require physical engagement.

Of course, I like to try new restaurants here and there, and I never skimp out on a coffee shop, but eating out gets expensive.

I prepare most of my meals for road trips. Then I use the extra money towards gas or new gear.

Let me show you three easy, healthy recipes that you can prepare for your own road trips to keep you satiated and focused longer.

Then you too can spend less time searching for restaurants on Yelp and allocate more time and money to the experiences you truly want.

Cooking In My Oliver Charles Sweater

For me, cooking is a meditative activity. It brings me back down into my body.

I enjoy grocery shopping, picking out the vegetables, and imagining where they’ve come from to get to me.

And the kitchen is a space where I can be present, off my phone, and concentrated on creating meals that are full of love and nourishing for my body.

Cooking is a form of self-love.

Everything in this space invokes some sort of feeling and goes towards generating the atmosphere in which meals are put together.

The energy is important. When I feel good in my space and my body, the meals come out better.

We all have a go-to outfit when we’re hanging at home or have downtime.

It usually ends up being the outfit we cook in. For me, it’s an oversized shirt and sweatpants.

But my apartment gets cold in the evenings (when I usually meal prep), so I cozy up with something a little extra.

Long, heavy sleeves that hang down into the stove aren’t exactly ideal for cooking because they’ll catch on fire. And the heat of the stove or oven carries out into the rest of the house, so I like to wear something light and well-fitting.

The Oliver Charles yak wool sweater helped me feel warm and comfortable.

I like that I can cook comfortably in wool, without being itchy or weighed down by a huge sweater.

And it’s easy to feel good about wool that’s ethically sourced with local communities and the environment in mind.

That’s why it’s my go-to for all activities home and adventure.

For Breakfast, Make Overnight Oats

A twist on the classic oat.

Prep Time: 15 minutes.
Total Time: 20 minutes.
Servings: 2.

When we’d wake up for an alpine start for hiking, my dad always had a pot of steel-cut oats cooking on the stove.

On backpacking or camping trips, we’d keep a few instant oat packets and mini honeys on us.

They don’t leave you feeling bogged down and burn nicely as fuel for your body.

Overnight oats are the best road trip/hiker snack. They're easy, simple, and you can add whatever you want to them.

Rolled oats are a great food item to keep in your car to use as needed, as they won’t spoil- just add water and heat. What’s better about using milk instead of water for overnight oats is that they don’t require cooking.

Just add your favorite kind of milk and let it sit for a few hours to overnight.

Eating oatmeal with milk makes it a nice medium to carry fat-soluble herbs and spices, like ashwagandha, for a medicinal twist to your food.

Oats are also a great way to deliver nutrients to your body as it’s easily digested.

Oats (Avena sativa) are nourishing, high in soluble fiber, and are known to lower “bad” cholesterol (LDL).

Soluble fiber is fiber that helps slow digestion, helping to control blood sugar levels and help you stay fuller longer.

Oats also contain essential vitamins like magnesium and zinc.

I like to eat my oats sweet, but from time to time, I’ll switch it up and make them savory.

Throwing an egg on top and cooking with savory spices is an easy way to do this.

For this recipe, feel free to use gluten-free oats if you are gluten-sensitive or intolerant.

Ingredients I Use For Overnight Oats

• 1 cup of rolled oats.
• 1 tsp of maple syrup or honey.
• ½ tsp of each spice; cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, salt, pepper.
• 2 cups of your milk or mylk of choice (I like to use coconut), plus a little extra to add after the oats are done absorbing the liquid.
• Toppings; fruit (banana, raspberry, apple), gogi berries, chia seeds, coconut flakes, flax seeds, cacao nibs, coconut yogurt, nuts (cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts), an egg, peanut or almond butter.
• Optional: ½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions For Overnight Oats

• In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, milk, maple syrup, and spices. If you are adding chia seeds to the mix, now is a good time for that. *Note that chia seeds LOVE to absorb a lot of liquid, so you may end up needing a little bit of extra milk!
  
  Sweet Oats: Cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg are all nice choices.
  
  Savory Oats: Turmeric, ginger, salt, pepper.
• Place in a dish with a lid and put in the refrigerator or cooler overnight.
• After the oats are done absorbing the liquid (about 4 hours to overnight), add your toppings of choice.
  
  Sweet Oats: banana, raspberry, flax seeds, peanut butter.
  
  Savory Oats: egg, sauteed tomato, spinach, red pepper, cheese.

For Lunch, Make Vegan Sandwiches

Simple, Non-Soggy BLTs.

Prep Time: 15 minutes.
Total Time: 20 minutes.
Servings: 1.

These vegan sandwiches are a new love of mine. They’re tasty, filling, and don’t get soggy.

On a trip out to Joshua Tree, my partner and I decided to make avocado mash sandwiches ahead of time and take them with us.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to them, they were a brown mush of avocado and soggy bread. They were unappetizing to look at, but we still ate them….with our eyes closed.

Thinking back, on my road trip through California, one of my friends made a version of these vegan sandwiches.

I will never forget how incredible they tasted and how surprised we were that they did. She had used a vegan bacon that tasted just like real bacon (or so I think).

Sprouts and microgreens are high in minerals, such as potassium, zinc, iron, and magnesium.

Depending on the type of grain you choose, they’re high in fiber. I like ezekiel bread because it has no added sugars, comes from organic, whole grains, and is sprouted, which increases the amount of nutrients. It’s easier to digest than other breads as well.

These sandwiches feel so good in my stomach and are a nutritious twist to a BLT.

Making them makes me feel like a kid again. And like a kid, I happen to be decently messy/clumsy.

I spent the night cooking in my wool sweater and noticed that liquids, sauces, and spices seem to roll off it with ease.

Ingredients I Use For Vegan Sandwiches

• 6 cucumber slices.
• 2 slices of a Roma tomato.
• 2 slices of your bread of choice; sourdough, rye, ezekiel.
• Broccoli sprouts or microgreens (arugula microgreens are the best).
• 2 pieces of vegan bacon (I like using Benevolent Bacon), you can also use coconut bacon which is even better and super tasty!
• Plain cashew cream cheese (I like to use Miyoko’s- they also have a vegan lox version of their cashew cream cheese that we recently tried and liked!).

Instructions For Vegan Sandwiches

• In a cast-iron pan, cook the vegan bacon as per the instructions on the package. If you’re using coconut bacon, hold off on this step as it doesn’t need to be cooked.
• While that’s cooking, slice your tomato and cucumber.
• On one slice of toast, put a generous amount of cashew cream cheese.
• Add your cucumber and tomato slices.
• When your bacon is done cooking, add this on top. If you’re using coconut bacon, add that now!
• Place your sprouts or microgreens on top, then place the other slice of bread.
• Slice in half, and enjoy!

For Dinner, Make Buddha Bowls

Healthy bowls for a happy belly.

Prep Time: 1.5 hours.
Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.
Servings: 2.

My partner and I made this recipe for our trip to Idyllwild. It was pretty cold, so we ate dinner in the car.

He had placed his container between our camping mattresses and then moved to get something.

The buddha bowl accidentally fell and spilled all over literally everything beneath us - the mattress, blanket, canvas shopping bags, etc. It was a big mess to clean up in the dark!

While he didn’t get to enjoy his own buddha bowl, I did share mine.

And now, I hope you learn from his mistake, hold on tight to your bowl, and get to enjoy it in the comfort of your car camping situation.

The ingredients in this recipe are some of my favorites because they contain some seriously nutrient-dense qualities that help replenish the body after a long day or provide proper fuel as a meal for lunch.

Sweet potatoes, one of the main ingredients, are a complex carb, don’t spike blood sugar and burn slowly in the body.

Sweet potatoes and carrots both contain beta-carotene, precursor to vitamin A, and help regulate cell growth and support eye health.

Sweet potatoes, carrots, and kale are high in fiber. Kale is high in vitamins and minerals such as, vitamin K, C, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

A little dash of cucumber adds a hydrating and anti-inflammatory boost to the bowl.

I’ve noticed that when using the oven to cook, kitchen temperatures shift and increase. And frankly, make the kitchen pretty humid!

My Oliver Charles sweater stuck with me, thermoregulating as needed during my meal-prepping journey.

The best part of cooking in it has been the fact that yak wool doesn’t hold onto scent.

No matter what I was cooking, I didn’t have to change afterward!

Ingredients I Use For Buddha Bowls

• 1 cup brown rice.
• 2.5 cups water.
• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms.
• 1 baby cucumber.
• 1 sweet potato.
• 2 medium-sized carrots.
• 2 minced green onions.
• 1 cup Mung bean sprouts.
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar.
• 3 tbsp olive oil.
• 1 tbsp butter.
• Spices; 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, ½ salt, ½ pepper, ¼ chili flakes.

Ingredients I Use To Make Kale Salad

• 1 tsp salt.
• 1 tbsp olive oil.
• 2 cups of dinosaur kale.
• Juice of half a lemon.

Instructions For Making Kale Salad

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop the sweet potato and carrots and combine in a mixing bowl.
• In the mixing bowl, add the spices and 2 tbsp olive oil. Toss together.
• Place your vegetables in an oven-safe dish and cook for about 45 minutes until tender.
• In a pot, place one cup of brown rice with 2.5 cups of water, a dash of salt, and a dash of olive oil. Stir together and place on the stove over medium-high heat.
• When the rice comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Let it cook for up to 45 minutes, checking periodically. However, DO NOT touch the rice. Rice likes to be left alone while it’s cooking, so don’t stir it.
• After 45 minutes, fluff the rice and set it aside.
• In a separate mixing bowl, combine kale salad ingredients. Massage the kale with your hands to break down the fibers (it makes it easier to chew and digest).
• Chop your cucumber, and toss in a small dish with rice vinegar and 1 tbsp of olive oil.
• In a cast-iron pan, add 1 tbsp of butter and saute your mushrooms until they are crispy (about 5 minutes).
• Now for the grand finale. In your meal prepping container, add 1 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of the sweet potato/carrot mix, a handful of kale salad, and ½ cup of shiitake mushrooms. Top with mung bean sprouts, minced green onions, and seasoned cucumbers.
• Enjoy. <3

Little Things That Help Simplify Life

The truth about eating on the road is that there are really only gas stations. And unless you want to eat that the whole way, which gets old quick, you better get cookin’!

Meal prepping isn’t at all complicated, and if you’re into it, it can become a ritual before trips. It’s a way to save money, have healthier options, and connect with the loved ones you’ll be sharing with.

Like an Oliver Charles sweater meal prepping simplifies your life on any adventure, big or small.

If you believe that every good wardrobe starts with owning less and owning better, consider buying yourself an OLIVER CHARLES sweater.