At the beginning of the month, over the Labor Day Holiday (in the U.S.A.), I went camping with family.  We did have a good while we were there, at first.  It was so nice just to be able to sit and do much of nothing.  Planning is key to a relaxed and fun camping trip.  It’s also good to remember that if something doesn’t work out, be flexible.  Due to the “neighbors” in the campground, we actually only ended up staying overnight Friday night.  On Saturday, while packing up, we cooked the burger foil packets to take with us to eat for lunch instead of dinner.

 

Friday evening Menu:

Homemade Salsa

(this is a flexible recipe; use as much or as little of each ingredient as you prefer.  My brother likes lots of onions where I prefer a tomato heavy salsa; for less heat, de-seed the peppers; if you prefer hot – keep the seeds in, etc.)

• Tomatoes
• Onions (I prefer white)
• Peppers (Serrano is my favorite; my brother uses a mix of jalapeno and Serrano, but sometimes uses Habanero)
• Lime juice
• Cilantro
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic, minced

Chop all vegetables; mix together.  Add lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Mix again & refrigerate until ready to serve.

Corn Chips

Chicago Chicken

I love this recipe; I used Serrano pepper in place of the jalapeno, and limes/lime juice in place of the lemon.  After marinating the chicken, I create a foil packet along with cooked lime rice

using 2 foil pans – I layered the rice in a round deep foil pan and topped with the marinated [uncooked] chicken and covered with a foil pie pan, then wrap in heavy foil.  Keep in refrigerator/cooler until ready to grill.  We grilled in the fire (setting just about an inch above the flames) while we were setting up camp, about 45 minutes, chicken side down; flipped to heat the rice – about 5 minutes.  Carefully remove from the fire, and remove foil.  Serve immediately.

Grilled Corn (due to the husks falling off when preparing, we grilled over the flame without the husks – grilled up nicely!)

Lime Rice

Corn Tortillas (heated over coals while removing the chicken packet and grilled corn – about 1-2 minutes per side)

Grilled Pound Cake and Peaches 

Slice peaches in half (freestone peaches are best for this); remove pit, and using a spoon, remove the pit area.  Slice pound cake in thick slices, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.  Over hot coals with a little flame, grill peaches a couple of minutes on each side.  About a minute or two before the peaches are done, grill pound cake, about 1 minutes on each side.  This can be served with powdered sugar sprinkled over, but I didn’t choose to do that as the peaches and cake both were super sweet.

Raspberry Mojito

 

 

 

(per person, @ 10 ounce glass)

 

4-5 raspberries

1/4 of a small lime

1 mint leaf

1/4 to 1/3 cup simple syrup (1 cup sugar dissolved in 3/4 cup water)

club soda (I love it with New York raspberry, or creme soda flavored seltzer water rather than club soda)

ice

Place raspberries, mint leaf and lime slice; muddle with muddler or a wooden spoon.  Add ice, simple syrup and top with club soda.  Adjust flavor to your taste.

We spent the evening sitting by the fire and looking out at the stars.  We used the SkyView Free app to find constellations and the milky way; and even though we couldn’t see it with our eyes – the app showed us where in the universe the international space station was overhead.

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Saturday Planned Menu

Breakfast:

• Pancakes
• Homemade Sausage
• Eggs
• Fruit
• OJ
• Milk (Ripple Brand for me)

Lunch

We kept lunch simple – sandwiches, chips, veggies with Cashew Reserve Habanero Cilantro, and Cashew Reserve Herb cream cheese.

Dinner

Foil Package Burger & Veggies

Seasoned Hamburgers (use your favorite seasoning, mix with meat and shape into patties.

Sliced potatoes, carrots and onions, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder

On a large piece of foil place vegetables, put patty on top.  Wrap foil up into a packet and cook over the campfire.

Sunday Planned Menu

Breakfast

• I had intended to share a french toast recipe for camping.  We attempted to cook it Saturday a.m. before leaving, but it didn’t turn out.  I’ll continue to work on it and will share once it turns out.

 

• Fruit
• OJ
• Milk (Ripple Brand for me)

Dinner

• Hot Dogs
• Potato Salad
• Chips
• Cottage Cheese (for those other than me…)
• Vegetable tray with dip (Cashew Reserve)
• S more’s/S more Waffle Cones

 

Cookies:

• Gingerdoodles
• Peanut Butter
• Sugar
• Oatmeal Raisin
• Chocolate Chip

Veggies and Ranch

Fresh Fruit

Boiled Eggs

The plan for the day was to explore the campground and river area; sit and enjoy the sunshine; embroider (me), homework (family), etc, and then enjoy the evening fire with additional family who was coming over for the day.

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Monday Planned Menu

Since we had to be out of the campground in the late a.m., I was planning on having brunch at a small diner at the nearest town.  Prior to that we would have broken down and cleaned up the campsite, and packed the car to leave.

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My timeline:

About 4 weeks before we left I prepped the chicken with the marinade and put it in the freezer; I prepped the burgers and sausage and froze both.  I also made the cookies and put them in the freezer as well.  Using old orange juice and apple juice jugs I froze water about three-quarters full for drinking, and to help keep the food cold in the coolers.  I also went through my camp gear and took out anything I didn’t need for this trip (cast iron cookware, etc).  I made sure my camp gear was re-packed and ready to go.

A couple of days before we left I started prepping such items as potato salad, veggies, etc; the night before I prepped the salsa and other items that needed last minute prep.  I had everything ready to go in the refrigerator so I just had to transfer to the cooler just before leaving.

On Friday a.m. I packed the non-refrigerated items in the car; when I was ready to leave I packed the cooler and packed it in the car.  I stopped for ice on the way out of town to supplement the jugs of frozen drinking water.

 

Enjoy!