Not Your Typical Camping Food

Sorry about the lack of updates lately. Last week in the Seattle area, we had record high temperatures, we're talking over 100 degrees.

Now, it is just not supposed to do this in Seattle. In fact, when the husband and I were deciding where to move after graduating from college in Phoenix, AZ. one of the factors in our decision was that it had never been over 100 degrees in Seattle (after four years we were both done with the heat). So, when it got too hot, our method for dealing with it was to turn on our portable air conditioner (which will not cool a large room, but will turn a small room into an icebox) and lock ourselves in the bedroom (which, in our house, is a small room). We moved the cable box, the good TV, brought in our laptops and lived on cheese and crackers, cold salads (that someone else had made) and ice cream. Cooking was the last thing on my mind.

By Friday, the weather had cooled down a little bit (it was only 88 degrees instead of 107 degrees) and it was time to prepare for a camping trip with lots of friends (there were 19 of us in all). This is the second year that the husband and I have thrown what we like to call "The Big-Ass Camping Trip". We provide three meals, with dinner on Saturday being a wee bit nicer than your typical camping food.

Here's what I made:

Spit-Cooked Pork Loin, Sangre de Cristo Style
Pork loin, garlic, fresh sage and marjoram, mild ancho chilies

Beer-Can Chicken
Spice-rubbed chicken, cooked with a can of beer up it’s butt

Spit-Cooked and Roasted Onions
Sweet onions, fresh herbs, butter

Summer Slaw
Cabbage, fennel, apple, poppy seed dressing

Grilled Potato Salad
Fingerling potatoes, parsley, capers, garlic

Roasted Corn

Deluxe S'mores
Graham crackers, chocolate bars, mint chocolates, peanut butter cups, marshmallows, bananas

I wish that I had more pictures of both my prep work on Friday (but I was so behind on packing for the trip because of the heat I had to hurry) and of the meal that I prepared on Saturday, but the one that I do have is pretty good.


That's the pork loin on the rotisserie (with a walla walla sweet roasting between the pieces) and the chicken on the grill. Unfortunately, about 2/3 of the way through the cooking time my chickens fell over (in my rush to pack I forgot my chicken holders) and I ended up having to prop them up in a stock pot. The chicken still cooked through nicely (and was sooo moist) but the skin didn't get very crispy.

After the meal was over, I packaged up the leftover pork loin, along with the roasted onion and all the juices the had accumulated in one of the drip pans that was under the pork. I covered it with foil and the next day reheated it right in the coals for about 45 minutes. The husband and I (and our remaining fellow campers) decided that this may have been even better than the first time we ate it. So good, super moist and tender.

All-in-all it was a great weekend with lots of greats friends and food. Can't wait until next year.

Tasty Camp Stew(s)

This weekend the husband and I went camping. It was our first camping trip of the year after having a previously scheduled trip canceled because I was sick. We were lucky to have beautiful weather all weekend.

I like to have tasty food when I camp (technically I always like to have tasty food) but I also don't like to have to put in a lot of effort cooking once I am there. After many years of trial, I have designed a menu that is tasty but also involves minimum cooking/cleanup effort (in fact dishes only have to be done with breakfast).

Here's what I make:
Friday night dinner - Sausage Stew
Saturday breakfast- Grits with Cheese and Bacon, Donettes (I only eat donettes when I'm camping so it's quite the treat)
Saturday lunch - Hot Dogs (or Polish Dogs) cooked over the fire, chips
Saturday dinner - Beef Stew
Sunday breakfast - Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Home-style Hash Browns with chopped Bacon and Onion, more donettes
Anytime there is a fire - Smores (made with Peanut-Butter Cups)

I like to do all my prep work before I leave home. I chop the onion for the hash browns and the hot dogs, chop and par-cook the potato for the hash browns and assemble both of the stews.

For the sausage stew, I use a lot of the ingredients, and flavors, that I use for a crab boil, just minus the crab.

Here's the ingredients for the Sausage Stew:

1/2 of a kielbasa, cut into large chunks
2-3 good size red potatoes, cut into eighths
2 ears of corn, each cut into four pieces
4 green onions, chopped
2 Tablespoon butter
Cajun Seasoning

I tossed all the ingredients together.

Then wrapped them in 2-3 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil.


Here's the ingredients for the beef stew:

8 tiny carrots, scrubbed and chopped (the skins are really thin so they don't have to be peeled)
8 small red potatoes, quartered
12 small crimini mushrooms
20 frozen pearl onions
12 cloves garlic
3/4 pound beef stew meat
2 Tablespoon tomato paste
4 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves stripped from the stems
12 sprig fresh thyme, leaves stripped from the stems
truffle salt (cause that's how I roll)
black pepper

I combined all the ingredients except for the liquids, sealing my packet on three sides.

Then I added the liquid.

And completed the packets.

I made sure to label them, because the two stews look an awful lot alike.


For either of the stews, I wait until the fire has some nice embers, then place the packets near/in the embers turning them (being careful not to poke a hole in the packets) every fifteen minutes.

Usually, the sausage stew takes about 1 1/2 hours and the beef stew takes about 3 1/2 hours. However, this time, because of the weird set-up for the fire (it was open on two sides and I just wasn't used to it) both stews could have used more time.

To eat, I borrowed the husband's Leatherman and sliced open the packet. The packet turns into a bowl for the stew.

With both meals, the potatoes were not quite cooked through (but they were cooked enough to eat). And most everything else was delightful.

The only exception was the garlic in the beef stew. It was still really hard (which is sad because I LOVE the creamy flavor of the roasted garlic) but it still provided a great flavor to the stew.

Overall, I was delighted with all the food for the weekend (and the husband was glad that he didn't have to do too many dishes).

We had a great weekend. Unplugged and enjoying nature. The only downside, just look at the dirt on this dog.

Here's a closer view.

That is just not right.