Camping food

[BonitaApplebum]

I am obsessed with "baking cakes" on coals inside of citrus peel.  Oranges are a good starter fruit because they are easy to hollow out.  Cut one end off, scoop out the flesh (careful not to tear the peel... reserve any juice you can squeeze out of the flesh (press through a sieve or just get your hands dirty and squeeze in your fists over a bowl).  Bring pre-measured and pre-mixed dry ingredients for the cake in a large ziploc... add the appropriate number of eggs and use the citrus juice for all or part of your liquid... mix right in the ziploc.  When it's well combined snip a corner off the bag and use it like an icing bag to fill the hollowed citrus 2/3 full.  Put the end back on the peel and wrap in 2 layers of foil by gathering foil from the bottom to the top then twisting a handle on top... make sure it's nice and tight to keep the citrus lid on.  Cake takes about  25 minutes to cook on the fire... after about 10 you can roll it around to heat all sides without worrying about too much spillage.

Chocolate cake in oranges is fantastic.  Also poppy seed in lemons.  Grapefruit cakes take longer to cook and are easier to burn.  I want to try doing a ginger cake of some sort in limes but haven't fully thought it out.

Also, you can make whipped cream in a mason jar by shaking heavy cream like you would to make butter, except stop before it becomes butter...

I just reread this entire thread. Tons of great ideas in here. I STILL haven't made these cakes but really really want to!!!

[caribougrrl]

I just reread this entire thread. Tons of great ideas in here. I STILL haven't made these cakes but really really want to!!!

my nephew (13 yrs old) is coming to Newfoundland for a big camping adventure this summer... we are totally making cakes in oranges and whipped cream... I might teach him to make marshmallows from scratch when we are prepping for the trip

[Chasing Amy]

Good bump! I'm planning a pretty epic camping trips with some friends the week of July 4.

[diablita]

Please do report back!

I've decided to make veggie curry instead of the chili.  I think I've mentioned my friend Karen's spice business before -- I have one of her packets in the pantry and all the ingredients.  And everyone always raves.  If I want to bring rice I can just make it that morning and refrigerate in the cooler, right?

[radial]

I think I've mentioned my friend Karen's spice business before

Is her stuff available online?

[diablita]

It is

[rocketgirl]

Any camping wine suggestions? 

Going away for a weekend with some ladies and some little kids in a pop-up trailer.

I don't camp, but...something that comes in a box?  You can remove the bladder from the cardboard, which makes it easier to pack.

[teetime]

My husband got a yeti (I think it's nuts but realize we are stuck car camping for at least the next few years given kids that weigh less than a packed pack). Anyway, we can now pack and cook just about anything. Tho still use either a fire or backpacking stove only ... he's been eyeing what looks to me like a travel stove top but so far I've held him off.

[Run Amok]

why are you holding him off teetime?

[BonitaApplebum]

Ooooh I want a new stove so badly! Mine is ancient! Older than me, I bet. I bought some heat friendly spray paint and had plans to at least touch it up a bit, 'cause it's fugly. It actually works perfectly fine, but everyone else's nice stoves give me envy.

[diablita]

I love the Camp Chef stove I bought last year

[teetime]

why are you holding him off teetime?

I guess for a few reasons. I just don't like stuff in general and my husband keeps adding to our gear (a garage for our already huge car camping tent, a tarp we still can't put up right, the friggin giant yeti that holds three things). (To be fair, he's also gotten us a few super helpful things I thought we didn't need.)

I miss the minimalism of backpacking. I hate unpacking the car after two days and feeling like it's nanook of the north's kayak. And at some point it feels like we might as well not camp, if we're going to basically set up home just in the woods.

But that's all a little dramatic. It's probably mostly that I'm lazy and don't want to drag out one more thing.

[teetime]

Mia culpa. We camped this weekend. Back in May when I was talking about holding my husband off on getting a stove, he'd already bought one a few months earlier. It was great. So useful. It poured Friday night so wood was wet and when I wanted coffee early Sunday morning I just popped on the propane, perked 8 cups, and was so happy. It also made grilling sausages, etc. so easy.

Something new from this trip ... I had a giant green cabbage for some reason and just to see what would happen cored and sliced it (thick pieces), coated a large piece of tin foil with olive oil, sprinkled the cabbage with oil, salt, dried herb and some chicken broth (left over from cooking potatoes on the camping stove), and wrapped it up. Then just put it on the grate over the fire for a couple hours. It roasted perfectly, was a little charred and smokey but still had good firm texture.

[caribougrrl]

Mia culpa. We camped this weekend. Back in May when I was talking about holding my husband off on getting a stove, he'd already bought one a few months earlier. It was great. So useful. It poured Friday night so wood was wet and when I wanted coffee early Sunday morning I just popped on the propane, perked 8 cups, and was so happy. It also made grilling sausages, etc. so easy.

Something new from this trip ... I had a giant green cabbage for some reason and just to see what would happen cored and sliced it (thick pieces), coated a large piece of tin foil with olive oil, sprinkled the cabbage with oil, salt, dried herb and some chicken broth (left over from cooking potatoes on the camping stove), and wrapped it up. Then just put it on the grate over the fire for a couple hours. It roasted perfectly, was a little charred and smokey but still had good firm texture.

oh, that cabbage sounds good

[Ice Cream]

I tried roasting cabbage once, and threw it out. Tasted so bad.

[Rejaneration]

I love roasted cabbage.  I just made it last night.  So versatile.

[caribougrrl]

we are packing up for a camping trip now...

on the way to the campground we drive past this highway-side bakery/diner... we will pick up turkey and dressing sandwiches on the way... this place roasts a fantastic turkey, the sandwiches are essentially turkey dinner between two slices of bread (well, no gravy, but cranberry sauce and stuffing are on the sandwich)... this is the base of christmas dinner hash... we'll sautee an onion is some oil & butter, then cube the sandwiches and fry it all up... cold green bean salad on the side

[teetime]

we are packing up for a camping trip now...

on the way to the campground we drive past this highway-side bakery/diner... we will pick up turkey and dressing sandwiches on the way... this place roasts a fantastic turkey, the sandwiches are essentially turkey dinner between two slices of bread (well, no gravy, but cranberry sauce and stuffing are on the sandwich)... this is the base of christmas dinner hash... we'll sautee an onion is some oil & butter, then cube the sandwiches and fry it all up... cold green bean salad on the side

My brother has a little local grocery/juice bar/deli in Mass and the gobbler is a top seller (turkey breast, stuffing, cranberry mayo on sourdough). (I looked at weekly round up a few weeks ago to see how the sandwiches named after my kids were doing ... much less popular

[BonitaApplebum]

OK, so for the first leg of our vacation, we were camping with my brother and his family for two nights in Vermont.

He and I split the meals, and since we were arriving first, I volunteered for Friday dinner -- meatball parm subs. I asked him if he could bring a stove, because (as I mentioned upthread) mine is bogus. Also for the rest of the trip we were camping with other people who had a nice new stove and a bunch of other kitchen stuff that I wasn't bringing. He suggested we plan to grill instead, and I said sure.

I prepped my stuff, packed the coolers, hit the road. We were halfway there when I remembered I'd forgotten to take my meatballs out of the freezer and put them in the cooler. So, we stopped at a grocery store, and I got stuff to make meatballs fresh.

Got to the site, set up camp. Brother arrives -- he's late and in a tizzy, grabbed the wrong camping bin AND... forgot the grill! So now we have... the grill thing that comes on the firepit. Oh, and a propane tank with a ring attachment that we were returning to him from a previous weekend, and a not particularly seasoned cast iron griddle. Thus began the Weekend of Improv.

Friday dinner: meatball parm subs. Meatballs cooked on the griddle over the propane ring, then subs wrapped in foil and warmed over the coals.

Saturday breakfast: Sausages, bacon, and eggs on the griddle. (Did I mention we had no tongs?) Griddle was definitely better seasoned after the bacon.

Saturday lunch: We made a deep fryer out of a big pot and the propane ring. I had some zukes from the garden and, of course, breadcrumbs from the meatballs. Dredged in flour (I can't even remember why I packed flour!) and and egg. Delicious. We also went and bought a bag of fries.

Saturday dinner: fajitas on the griddle. burritos wrapped in foil over the coals. Can of beans literally heated in the can over the fire. Seriously keeping it classy at this point.

Sunday breakfast: french toast and sausage on the griddle. Griddle is in fine shape at this point! And really, who needs a stove!



ETA -- that's my bro manning the makeshift deep fryer.

[Run Amok]

BA-- where/how do you do the cleanup for all of that? That's the part that always gets me.  Like how do you dispose of the fat from your fryer?