Luke said that he ate better “roughing it” on the tour than he does at home. Between our own car and camp cooking and home stays we were graced with delicious food for the past two weeks.

We certainly know musicians who include a detailed description of food requirements in their performance agreements, however this tour’s sustenance rode on the generosity of many hosts and hostesses who saw that we are well taken care of; many of them who got up early to make us full breakfasts by 8am.

Jackie in Champaign
veggie egg casserole, fresh homemade bread, whole wheat pancakes, fruit salad, polish sausage, bacon, juice, tea, coffee

Cheryl in Glenwood Springs (afternoon snack)
whole roasted chicken with good bread, homemade corkscrew pasta with kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and Parmesan, cranberry San Pellegrino spritzers on ice

Leslie in Glenwood Springs
homemade biscuits and gravy, fresh strawberries, blackberries and raspberries with honey Greek yogurt, coffee — she also made us 7 sandwiches for the road with provolone smoked turkey, proscuitto, salami, and roast beef!

Renne in Salt Lake (who woke up with us at 5:30am!)
cereal with soy milk, coffee, tea, fruit, juice, toast with good hummus for Andy (to prepare him for the drive to L.A)

Stephen in Ventura
two broccoli, zucchini green onion frittatas with feta (made lovingly in cast iron), homemade granola (!) with yogurt and fresh peaches, killer oolong tea

Gabi and Linda in San Diego
fresh baked croissants with homemade dulce de leche(!) and coffee

Erskine and Hotel Andaluz
Lunch at the Lucia (4 start restaurant in the hotel!)

And for eating meals in the car…

With five of us crammed in the car, the seven hour drive from San Diego to the mountains outside Tucson went surprisingly well. One of the highlights was coordinating and preparing a car lunch buffet of baguette slices, longhorn cheese, guacamole, and kalamata olives. There is nothing quite like thinly slicing a baguette with a buck knife with three in the back seat.

And here is another recipe from the trip made from ingredients we found quickly in a Tucson grocery store.

Zona Cactus Beans

The Beans

1. Roast the following on the fire: 1 red bell pepper, 1 head of garlic, 4 cherry bomb peppers, 4 ears of corn, 2 tomatoes

2. Chop everything and put in a cast iron pan on the fire with 1 tsp cumin, 3 TBS olive oil, and 1 can of nopalitos (rinsed)

The Tortillas

1. 1 cup each masa and whole wheat flour mixed with 1 1/4 cup water. Include 1tsp each of coriander and cumin powder in dough before pressing them on the tortilla press and then roasting them on the fire.

We ate the tortillas and beans with homemade guacamole (made by the guac-master Avik) a wheel of queso fresco, Greek yogurt, radish sprouts, canned salsa verde and chips.

We washed it down with some Kilt Lifter Ale, a scotch style ale from Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe, Arizona.