Wow-Long time and no blog

   I fell off the blog train.  Life got in the way- you know, job, kids, driving them all over for after school events.  A lot has happened in our camping life since the last blog.  The biggest change is that we became what we  use to call- "Wimpy campers."

Yes, we bought a travel trailer.

It's following us!

   I miss the tent.  I miss feeling like "Nature Woman" sleeping with the critters just beyond the thin tent walls. (The wild animal critters roaming the woods-not my kids.)

   But- I do not miss sleeping on the ground or on a cot for a week at a time.  My back isn't as young as it used to be and a real bed with a real mattress is really nice.

   And when it rains, I don't have to worry about the tent floor flooding. And it always rains when we camp.  My son attributes last years drought in Texas to us not camping as much as we have in the past.

   There are people in trailers that never seem to come out.  We are only in at bedtime and in heavy rain.  We aren't total camp wimps.





   Last trip, I made a new breakfast dish that was a big hit.  It was the last morning and I was running out of breakfast foods.  I always plan the meals tight so I am not bringing home lots of left overs.  I had a little bacon and a little sausage, so I cooked that in my cast iron pot with some sliced onion.  I added some hash brown potatoes (Simply Potatoes brand) and let them brown up a bit.  Then I poured in the last of the Egg Beaters (taking real eggs has never worked well for us) and let them scramble into the potatoes and meats.  I finished it by tossing in a handful of leftover shredded cheese from taco night and let that melt.  My daughter, the pickiest eater of our crew, loved it but picked out the onion pieces because they were too big.

   I may sleep in a camper, but I will always be cooking over my campfire.

Our favorite recipes-Breakfast

As I've said before, we are camp food snobs.  We do not do hamburgers or hot dogs for dinners while camping.  Hot dogs at lunch maybe, but not as the main meal.  Most meals are cooked on the fire in a big cast iron skillet that my husband's grandfather made or in a dutch oven we got at a local sporting goods store.  Once those get seasoned just right, they are a joy to cook in.

The easiest way to break it down is recipes by meal time- Breakfast and Dinner.

In this blog I present Breakfast.

I always serve a fruit with breakfast.  Fresh or frozen.  We will have some kind of juice or milk (freeze a half gallon at home before you go-it will thaw as you use it.).  We also have the most important part of breakfast-coffee.  We splurged and got a Coleman camping coffee maker.  It works on a small Coleman stove and makes real brewed coffee-not instant. We each have our own coffee mug (the kids get hot chocolate) If you love that morning cup of joe, consider it.  


Tacos-  

Nothing beats the smell of bacon in the morning.  The sizzle it makes in the pan will wake everyone up and get them going.  We've tried the already cooked bacon that you just heat up...once.  It just wasn't the same.  While the bacon is cooking, wrap some flour tortillas in foil and place them on the fire away from direct flames.  You just need to get them warm and pliable.  Once the bacon is done, wrap it in foil and sit it by the fire to stay warm while you cook up some scrambled eggs.
Put the bacon, eggs, and tortillas on the table with some grated cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, etc. and everyone makes their own breakfast tacos.  Easy to substitute sausage instead of bacon-if you cook it like ground meat, just stir the eggs into the cooked sausage and serve. Another option- cook some potato hash browns in the skillet after the meat.  Wrap in foil and hold for taco making time, or add the eggs and cook it together.

Biscuits and gravy-

My husbands favorite breakfast meal.  It takes a little prep work, but is worth it.  The night before, while you are sitting around a campfire relaxing and thinking about the day, cook the biscuits.  I use the refrigerator biscuits-easy.  Put them in the dutch oven.  Put some hot coals under the oven and some on top of the oven. They will bake just as if you had them in the oven at home.  When done, take the biscuits out of the oven, wrap in foil and store in the car until morning.  In the morning, put the foil wrapped biscuits near the fire to warm up.  Make sausage or biscuit gravy and serve.  Best tip on making gravy- warm up the milk before adding to the roux.  It won't lump.

French Toast-

We don't cook this one often.  It's good, but seems to take so much more attention while cooking.  Beat together 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, and a pinch of salt.  Dip bread (8 slices) one at a time into egg mix and place on heated skillet.  Bake about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Pancakes-

This one is usually our last day breakfast.  It's done on the Coleman stove, easy to clean up after, and done by my husband so I can start cleaning up camp.  Easiest recipe- one of the plastic containers with mix that you just add water to and shake.

Some more S'mores

Okay-face it.  Easiest yummy over a fire is a s'more.  The pleasure of sitting by the fire after a long day getting that marshmallow a perfect brown.  Or, plunging it into the flames so that it gets done faster.  The funny squeal and dance everyone does trying to blow out the flames no matter the age, the experience, the "cool factor" they think they have.

The classic s'more is perfect.  Marshmallow, chocolate, and graham cracker.  Delicious.  But, when you feel like you are in a rut, there are options... consider these combinations.

• Sometimes those chocolate bars are not that convenient. In the summer (or spring, or fall, or some winter days here in Texas) they melt.  If you put them in the cooler and they get wet, they get soggy and watery tasting.  For ease or in a pinch, chocolate frosting works.  It doesn't have quite the same melt factor, but tastes the same.  This is also easier if you are making lots.   An adult not roasting marshmallows (you may have to assign someone this or take turns) can get a lot of "sets" ready to go.
• Feel the need to add a little protein to the dessert?  Add peanut butter.  We use to call this a "Robinson Crusoe."  I don't know why.  I don't remember that being cooked on the island.
• Girl Scout cookies instead of graham crackers and chocolate.  Our council has some they call "Caramel Delites."  In the old days when I sold them, they were called "S'mores."  Two of these cookies that come covered with caramel, chocolate and coconut smushed around a roasted marshmallow and you will order an extra case of cookies just for this reason.
• Instead of plain chocolate bars, try peanut butter cups, chocolate crispy bars, Andes mints.  Be adventurous.  Try your favorite.   If you are industrious, a sliced 3 Musketeer or Snickers is pretty good.
• After Easter, buy some of the Peeps on sale.  Even if you are not camping anytime soon.  They have a shelf life of forever and actually work better if they are a little stale.  The trick to these is patience.  If you burn them, the sugar burns and can be bitter.  If you toast them slowly, the sugar will caramelize a little.  It doesn't matter the shape or color-they all taste the same.
• Craving the treat at home with no campfire?  Use the microwave.  Put a graham cracker on a plate, top with chocolate bar and marshmallow and cook for a few seconds.  The marshmallow will expand and the chocolate will melt.  Take it out and press the other cracker on top.  The toasted flavor will be missing, but if you are craving a s'more it works.

I know there are other ideas out there and would love to hear them.

You gotta eat...

At first packing food was hard.  Food for adults, food for kids, what to cook on the fire, what to cook on the portable grill.  I really stressed about it.  Now, not so much.  We've got our favorite meals and we toss in a new recipe every now and then.

We have become camp food snobs in a way.  We do not make hamburgers for a meal.  Hot dogs are only served as an occasional lunch.  I've gotten really good with my dutch oven and cast iron skillet.  We eat stroganoff, chili, steaks with grilled asparagus, biscuits and gravy, and chicken wraps. The kids know not everyone eats like that camping.  At Huntsville State Park, Tommy was apparently holding a "My dinner is better than yours" session on the playground.  He brought some kids back to camp with him with recipe requests.

Best tip for camp cooking- aluminum foil--the good stuff--heavy duty.  I hate trying to scrub the black soot off of my pots when cooking over the fire.  Back in Girl Scouts we would rub soap on the outside of the pan before cooking to make it easier to clean.  That was okay, but wrapping it with foil is better.  After cooking, just pull the foil off, ball it up, and put it in a container for recycling later. No scrubbing the outside required.  And in a pinch, foil can be used to scrub off the inside of the pot to loosen food.

The first night meal for us is always the same-chick foil wraps.  Love, love, love, for so many reasons.  First, I make it at home and freeze it ahead of time.  No muss, no fuss at camp necessary.  Second, the whole meal is in a foil pouch.  Toss it on the fire while you finish setting up camp and begin relaxing.  After an hour or so, eat it right out of the foil and clean up is a snap.  S'mores, here we come.  Third, ans the best, is my picky eaters will eat things in this meal that they don't even want on their plate at home.

Recipe:

1 can (10.75 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1 3/4 cup water, divided
1 pkg (6 oz) Stove top chicken stuffing mix
4 small boneless chicken breasts pounded to 1/2 inch thick
4 thin slices smoked ham
1 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms
1 1/2 cups frozen peas

1.  Mix soup and 1/4 cup water, set aside.  Combine stuffing mix and remaining 1 1/2 cups water.  Let stand a minute or two.
2.  Spoon even amounts of stuffing onto 4 large sheets of HEAVY DUTY aluminum foil.  Top each with one chicken breast, put one piece of ham on top of each piece of chicken, put some mushrooms and peas on each. Pour some of the reserved soup mixture on top of each.
3.  Double fold top and both ends of foil around chicken leaving some room for air to circulate.
4.  You can cook them at home in your oven at 400 degrees for 35 minutes in a baking dish.  On a campfire, place on a grill or grate over the fire just out of the direct flame.  I usually put the fold side down first.  Turn occasionally for about an hour.  Check for doneness and serve.