Camping Cooler

Recent camping cooler: cheap beer, milk, salami, yogurt, worms. I'm not sure what else there is to say.

Week 124 — Regrets from the Cookie Jar

Mon – Chicken and cheese quesadillas

Tues – Italian Meatloaf (Deceptively Delicious)

Weds – Steak, potatoes, peas
Thurs – Pizza
Fri – Tacos/chip plate

Alts – Groupon to Greenmill; stir-fry

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We've been camping and eating outdoors a lot lately, and I've reached my hot dog/sausage limit. So for cookouts in the near-term, chicken and steaks will be featured more prominently.

Camping this past weekend, my 4-year-old hit the Cupcake Wall, having eaten cupcakes and orange soda almost continually over a 5 hour period at a party on Saturday. By the time we hit the campsite, he purged his overloaded tummy on the lawns of sweet Mother Nature herself, then went quickly to sleep. When we offered him a left-over cupcake 2 days later for dessert, he blanched and quietly said, "No thank you."

We all have an over-indulged-and-tossed-it story somewhere back there. My husband's was a box of Girl Scout cookies he ate entirely by himself in one 15-minute sitting. For me, it was a luxurious and enormous cold glass of orange juice drank immediately after I'd just gotten sick. Rinse, repeat.

I've been sick from food, mostly when traveling, other times when pregnant and morning sick, more times than I can count, but those weren't really from over-indulging. That's its own special nod to the ancient Romans. It does seem to be from the sweet and sugary (or alcoholic), doesn't it? Otherwise restaurants would probably be loathe to offer t-shirts and free meals to those who can eat the 48oz steak platter down to the gristle. Too many misfires requiring major clean-up before they get a real winner. On that note—happy cooking.

Week 123—Between camping trips

Mon – Chicken fingers

Tues – Spaghetti

Weds – Grilled brats
Thurs – Pizza
Fri – Burgers

Alts – I don't have it in me. Cereal!

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Got as close as I could to "not cooking" this week. This means meals that require minimal inputs; certainly no recipes.

We haven't bothered unpacking our kitchen box from our trip 2 weeks ago. I can report with a mix of depression (have I really let it go that long?) and appreciation for the convenience of it all that it is still sitting in my living room, some 11 days later, and I'm now just preparing it for our next camping trip in Iowa this coming weekend. Happy cooking.

Campsite Centerpiece

Back to the theme of "beauty in the kitchen," my daughter collected this centerpiece for our picnic table when we were camping a couple weeks ago. It was a lovely touch in the great outdoors. We had a really fun campsite at Cherokee Landing on the Oklahoma-Arkansas border. There was ample driftwood to support--if not encourage--the first really big beach bonfire of any of our lives. Such a fun evening. Think it was our 13th anniversary that day. Or that day +1. Good memories.

Flaming Green

I'm packing for a camping trip (sorry, Matt, be there in a sec) but simply had to pause when I came across this book of matches.

Are you kidding me? Did you, oh Diamond Matches-Makers just completely negate the Tremendous Environmental Good that you bestowed on we, the purchasers of your Responsibly Sourced wooden matches by using a multi-color printing process which is without question vastly more environmentally harmful than using irresponsible forests for the wood splinters that comprise your match sticks?

Rich! This makes me want to use TWO matches each time I light up my dubiously gathered wood pile to burn my Responsibly Sourced Jet-Puff marshmallows.

Seriously people. Stick with the 2-color print job and spare me the litany on how green my choice of matchsticks is.

Packing light(er)

We don't ever approach packing light with 3 little kids and all the stuff that goes with that, but there are 2 helpful things that helped us save a little room and be a bit more organized on our last camping trip.

I have my mom to thank for the first tip: Take things out of their original packages. The oatmeal photo shown here illustrates why.

The second tip I learned from a parent of triplets: Pack a complete outfit for each child in a gallon ziplock bag for each day. It was a lot of plastic bags, but they compressed really nicely, helped us be ultra-organized when grabbing clothes in the tent, and are reusable for our next trip.

Anyone else have good space-saving tips for our next camping trip? We're toying with an overnight bike-camping idea. For one night, we might even skip the whole cooking thing. A guaranteed space-saver.

Week 93—Camping, cont.

Mon – Stir-fry

Tues –  Burgers 

Weds – Dogs/Brats

Thurs – Turkey sausage foil-packs (w/potatoes, peas, etc) my favorite camping meal

Fri – eat out/toss in a pizza

Alts – free dinner for kids this week at IKEA! (through July 4)

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So it's partially laziness, partially just hot weather cooking, but the theme this week is certainly MEAT + GRILL.

I should circle back to my brilliant camping scheme of cooking everything on a stick/hot-pot/foil pack too. Had I carried that plan out, we would have starved. Husband 1, wife, well, 1 for at least listening and packing the campstove. A) no fires allowed when camping in the Badlands and B) not much wood to be found in some of those desert-like areas of western N Dakota. Besides the fact that handy-man husband spent nearly 5 hours completely rebuilding the camp stove so it would work like new, which it did.

Happy cooking.

fuel for the fire

We found ourselves short of firewood during our first night camping in western North Dakota. We did, however, find plenty of dry buffalo chips. Recalling a bit of history we'd read about prairie kids picking up chips for fires, we decided to give it a try. (The photo was taken after we'd found some sticks the day after we'd tried lighting the chip).

It didn't work out—although it smoked a bit.

Anyone have tips on how to properly ignite dried manure? Come on, Bobby Flay! Share your insider secrets!

camping!

Getting ready to camp in cowboy country for a week (Dakotas/Montana). I was excited about making only foods that you cooked on a stick/pie pot thing-a-ma-jig/or foil packs. Husband NOT so excited about being so reliant on a campfire, thinking we'll want the cookstove anyway. So I'm planning.

My list-in-progress (numbers indicate number of times served):

Breakfast
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Instant oatmeal (2)
Yogurt & oats & peaches/apples(2)
Eggs and toast (2)
Pancakes (2)

Lunch
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Hodgepodge. Bringing stuff for:
wraps/sandwiches that can be filled with:
- Goober pbj
- Nutella & bananas
- cream cheese and jam
- canned turkey/tuna and cheese

Side options:
applesauce
pudding cups
pita chips
sun chips
edamame
ritz & squeeze cheese
fruit cups
...and lots of other snacks Grandma packed!

Dinner
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Walking tacos (fritos/meat made in advance or chili beans/avocado/toms/cheese/salsa)
Corn on cob & hot dogs & beans
Spaghetti and meatballs and peas
Turkey sausage foil-pack (new potatoes, onion, gr beans)
Chicken a la king on mashed potatoes
possibly chili or other soup (bring frozen)
+ we'll eat out ANY and as many meals as needed for peace and sanity

Desserts
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popcorn
smores
singing apples (stick apple on a stick; cook until sings; peel; roll in cinnamon and sugar)

Fun with Foil Packs

I made these for dinner the other night, using a 14oz package of smoked chicken kielbasa, a couple of potatoes cut into wedges, carrots, peppers, onions, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Cooked on the grill (medium) for 30 minutes.

They were fun to make and I liked that everyone got their own pack to eat (the kids split one). I didn't even use a bowl, just chopped and dropped straight onto the foil. It made an easy weeknight meal, even if the format might be more familiar at the campground.

Corn on the Cob Over Open Flames

I made a fun and tasty discovery on our recent camping trip; something possibly familiar to ardent state fair attendees.

We were cooking a meal over the fire: brats, can of baked beans. I had some corn on the cob I wanted to cook as well. I decided to just lay the corn (still in the husk) directly on the grill which was being actively licked by flames that were 2-3 inches above the grate in spots.

I've grilled corn before and had it turn out very well, but this heat source was less even—I think hotter. The immediate singeing of the husks was a little scary. I'd rotate them every few minutes (not too diligently as my kids were tearing around the campsite and they needed as much tending as the corn). After maybe 8-10 minutes I pulled a piece off to try.

I couldn't believe how tasty it was! It was perfectly cooked from top to bottom. I'm still not sure how that happened since the heat was so uneven. Maybe the husk provides some insulation that helps steam the corn all around.

This is how I'll make corn when camping from now on. I think it would be hard to mess up based on how blackened and untended mine was.

Week 12–Camping Food

Breakfasts (3) – Instant oatmeal; pancakes; fruit cups
Lunches (3) – Goober sandwiches; chunk canned turkey, cheese, crackers; Nutella+ banana sandwiches; misc chips, pudding cups, granola, fruit chews, soy milk boxes (these don't have to be refrigerated)
Dinners (3) – La Choy Beef dinner w/crunchy noodles; sausages over the fire w/beans; chicken a la king over instant mashed potatoes
Over-the Fire Treats – Jiffy popcorn; s'mores
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We're spending the next week on the road. The first half is relatively civilized, spent in hotels with most dinners out. The latter half we'll be camping. We plan to cook most of our meals when we camp, and I want to have a large part of the meals planned and packed before we leave. We can buy some groceries on the road once we leave the hotel (e.g. buns, butter, fresh fruit). Nice opportunity to check out some farmer markets we might see on the way too (Wisconsin=fresh cheese curds). I made the plan last night, went to Target and fit everything into a box. Neat to see your "rations" quantified that way. Family of 4 + 4 days outdoors = one box of food.

Camping is one time I go easy in the extreme when it comes to meal-prep. Open can, heat! Or cook on a stick. This is fun (and fascinating) for all ages. Anyone have camping meals they enjoy? I've found some helpful family camping tips at Pete's Family Camping for other campers out there that are getting back in the swing of things. Happy cooking.