Vegan Subletting/ Camping Meals

I haven't updated for a while because for a week I have not had access to the Internet. In fact I am currently typing away in a North Carolinian Internet café. George and I are subletting a student apartment for a few weeks while we try to find a place to live in Durham. This particular sublet was not furnished with anything except table, chairs, bed, and a shower curtain rod. So we had to bring our kitchen supplies with us. We didn't want to take much, so all we have is a seasoned cast-iron frypan, a cheap pot, a cutting board, a large knife, a small knife, a collander, a wooden spoon, and a steamer basket. For spices we brought salt, black peppercorns in a grinder, and extra virgin olive oil. That's it.

As you may remember, I am keeping vegan for a while to get healthier and lose some weight. So all of the dishes that George and I have invented and cooked for each other are vegan. And some of them have been amazingly tasty. You can probably make many of these while camping as well as long as you have a portable stove. Just make sure not to have leftovers!

For Shabbat I asked George to make food I was sure he would like because of my enormous failed pasta sauce that I had to eat for about 3 meals by myself while George downed cereal. He and I made Meal 1 together and he invented Meal 2 by himself. Here are some quick meals that were successful:

Meal 1:
Asian pear slices
Hodgson Mill whole wheat couscous with garlic seasoning package
swiss chard, stems and leaves

George cooked the swiss chard by first slicing the stems thinly, then sauteed in olive oil until tender. That got mixed into the couscous. He chopped up the leaves and added them with a bit of water into the frypan. He cooked the water off and then cooked the leaves briefly a little longer, squeezed a little lemon juice on them, and served them separately.

Meal 2:
broccoli, crown and stem
Yukon gold potatoes with garlic and parsley

George sliced the broccoli stems and heads into pieces of roughly equal size, then boiled them in salted water until tender.
For the potatoes, George boiled them in their skins until nearly tender, poured off the water, and cooked them a little more in the pan to dry off the outside. Then he set them aside. He sautéed
whole garlic cloves (peeled) in olive oil for several minutes. He cut up the potato into big chunks and added it to the garlic with salt and pepper, then cooked the whole mixture until golden brown. Chopped parsley was added right before serving.