Spring's almost here. That means, at our house, summer's almost here. That means, at our house, it's time to get serious and prepared about upcoming camping trips. That means, at our house, it's time to hunt for camping-friendly recipes.

So today I went hunting. I was curious to see if I could find any truly tasty just-add-water recipes. (While I prefer fresh ingredients and meals from scratch, even when camping, sometimes it's good to have a few instant meals on hand for a day of back-packing, for instance.)

The hunt was rewarded! I found a great site, The Yummy Life (www.theyummylife.com), where the chef and author, Monica, shares recipes for some instant meals that use prepared ingredients that are as healthy as possible. Flavor, nutrition, and portability were her primary goals.

She came up with 6 meals that all use lightweight dried and freeze-dried ingredients. There are no wet ingredients or heavy cans. She reports that these recipes have been tried-and-true on the trail. Her husband, normally a very picky eater, gave them all a "thumbs up" after a week-long backpacking trip in the Colorado Rockies. He liked them all so much that he couldn't pick a favorite.

Now, it's true that you can buy ready-made freeze dried meals for the trail. An example is the Mountain House brand. They are very convenient and do taste surprisingly good. But you back-packers out there know full well that after a long day of backpacking, pretty much anything tastes good, right? In fact, the Mountain House brand is one of the most popular instant meal choices for campers. But, Monica says her husband likes the instant meals she created for him better than the Mountain House choices, so she doubts they'll ever go back to the store-bought kind. OK, this is all the recommendation I need. I'm following their lead.

Here's just one caveat before I go further: Monica makes it clear these meals are not diet food. She says they are nutritious but not designed to be low in calories, although some of them are fairly figure friendly. They are healthy in terms of nutrients such as protein, fiber, vitamins, and iron; but they aren't necessarily low in carbs, calories, or sodium.

That's OK with us. After a long day of hiking, backpackers need calories, carbs, and sodium in their food. So, these meals are designed to provide nourishment for refueling; they're not necessarily for those concerned with weight loss. So incorporating them into a regular eating routine probably wouldn't be the best. But, they could be great as an occasional convenience for non-hikers.

All this said, let's take a close look at these meals: All 6 use either brown rice, whole wheat couscous, or pasta. These can be switched out in any of the recipes, if you prefer one over the other. They all worked well and tasted good. However, the couscous is the fastest to rehydrate when mixed with boiling water.

For better nutrition, brown rice over white and whole wheat couscous is recommended. One of the things that's nice about making your own instant meals is that you can use whole grains whenever possible (something missing from the store bought instant meals). You want to use instant rice (same as Minute rice) rather than regular, since it softens more quickly in boiling water, making it ready to eat without additional cooking.

Two of Monica's recipes use noodles. She says "Check the package directions and look for noodles that normally cook in 4 minutes or less on a stove top (like angel hair or artisan pastas); longer cooking pasta's won't soften enough when soaked in boiling water." One brand she suggests is Al Dente artisan pastas that cook in 3 minutes. And here's something she and her husband discovered: "If you're taking these instant meals on the trail, angel hair pasta isn't the best choice. It is so fine and 'spiky' that the sharp pasta pieces may poke through the bag and make holes." Monica recommends using the flat artisan pastas to avoid this issue.

For the veggies, look to amazon.com for good variety and prices. And it's the herbs in the recipes are what make the meals sing. So while dried herbs you already have in your pantry will work just fine, if you don't mind the expense, the flavor of the freeze dried variety can't be beat. They taste amazingly close to fresh herbs. Lighthouse brand has a good freeze-dried herb selection that is in most grocery stores, and amazon.com also has many choices.

All the recipes call for bouillon (a flavor booster). Monica did lots of searching to find some without chemicals, MSG, and mystery ingredients. Her choice is Vogue Cuisine VegeBase or Chicken Base. This brand uses real, natural, gluten-free ingredients. She added the Chicken Base bouillon to all of the recipes that use freeze dried chicken, but she says the Vegetate is a tasty flavor enhancer if you prefer a vegetarian meal. She found them on amazon.com. And like me, Monica is a big chia seed fan. So I was glad to see her recipes call for them. They're a neutral-tasting nutrition boost. They completely disappear into these 6 recipe mixes.

Speaking of freeze-dried chicken, Mountain House is the brand of choice here. But you can get it in individual packets from the AlpineAire Foods company. You'll find the #10 Mountain House can is the better buy, though (on amazon.com).

Raw nuts add another nutrition and flavor boost. And they're the perfect meat/chicken substitution if you prefer vegan or vegetarian instant meals.

Here are a few more ingredients Monica uses in her just-add-water meals. Like the other ingredients she uses, these can also be found on amazon.com.

Now I'll close with her recipe for her Chicken Alfredo meal. I also tried this without the chicken and added lots of freeze-dried veggies-bell peppers, corn, spinach, and tomatoes. It was delicious either way. If like us, if you're wanting to get ready for your summer outings, give this recipe a try and let me know what you think. Meanwhile, here's to spring and summer!

ON-THE-GO ALFREDO AND NOODLES

1 cup pasta broken in 2-inch pieces (use pasta that normally cooks on stovetop in 4 min. or less)

1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional)

½ cup freeze-dried chopped chicken

¼ cup toasted pine nuts

1/3 cup freeze-dried chopped mushrooms

1-2 teaspoons chicken bouillon

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (the dried, unrefrigerated kind in a can)

2 tablespoons instant dried buttermilk (or regular powdered milk)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons freeze-dried Italian seasoning (or 3/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning)

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

1-1/4 cups boiling water (at time of preparing meal)

TO ASSEMBLE: Add all ingredients except the water to a quart freezer Ziploc bag. Seal bag and store until ready to use.

TO COOK IN BAG: Bring water to a boil. With opened bag resting on plate or bowl, pour in boiling water. Seal bag and let soak for 9 minutes, turning bag upside down after 3-4 minutes to redistribute & mix ingredients. Open bag and eat directly from bag, if desired. Or, transfer to a bowl or mug for eating.

TO COOK IN MUG OR BOWL: Transfer dry ingredients to a microwave-safe mug or bowl; add water and microwave until water boils. Cover and let rest until ingredients have softened (4-5 minutes). Or, boil the water separately and pour it into the mug or bowl with the instant dry ingredients; stir, cover, and let rest for 9 or 10 minutes.

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