Fancy Camp Food #5

So here's what happened...I actually made a REAL camp breakfast...and didn't take pictures.  I meant to, but everything just happened so fast and I chose to avoid burning eggs rather than getting the picture.  Here is the "prep" set up as proof!

As always we made awesome coffee in our camping french press.  It really does come out the best coffee we ever make.  And while waiting for the water to boil, the eggs to cook, and any other waiting "opportunity" we munched on donut holes.  It's not camping without them.

So breakfast itself was simply breakfast burritos with goat cheese and basil (left over from last night's caprese bites!)  I scrambled the eggs and just before they were done, scooped some soft goat cheese in and sprinkled with sliced basil.  Wrap that baby in a tortilla, and eat!

Just after breakfast we headed down to the lake so the kids could fish, play in the water, ride in the kayak, and bask in the sun!  It was a great way to spend the morning.  The dogs loved it too!

Lunch was virtually the same plan as all camping trips this summer (see posts here and here) and was comprised of picky-pick items.  Hubby isn't a fan of bread in general (I know, I only WISH I had that same problem) and definitely isn't interested in eating it while camping as it always dries out.  So bite sized food with crackers makes him very happy.  And for me, it makes for easy clean up and doesn't take much "work" before you get to dig in.

Ingredients

• Heirloom baby tomatoes (from last nights caprese bites)
• String cheese
• Sliced avocado
• Edemame
• Crackers
• Deli turkey slices for him
• And admittedly some cookies....

After a thrilling game of Apples to Apples and a half game of Yahtzee, it was time to start prepping for dinner.  In order to do this, we needed wine.  We splurged and brought a nice bottle of wine as a treat.  And then were super classy drinking it in the yellow plastic cups.  

 Dinner tonight was another "do-again" from an earlier camp trip with an asian style bowl.  The variation which makes this different is that instead of rice, I used some of my pre-made quinoa to save time and effort.  And hubs skipped the bowl completely and made an actual plate of food.

Ingredients

• Quinoa
• Bell Peppers
•  Edemame
• Tofu
• Stir Fry sauce
• Salmon (for him!) 

 Directions

1. If you didn't prep ahead of time- you should make your quinoa, rice, couscous, or grain of choice now.  It will take the longest and it can sit and wait for the rest to catch up!
2. Drain tofu- I layer a plate, couple paper towels, tofu, more paper towels, another plate and then anything you can use as a weight.  This will squeeze the moisture from the tofu and get it ready for grilling while you prep the rest of the items (and maybe have a glass of wine!)
3. Marinate the salmon steak in sauce
4. Chop your bell peppers into bite sized pieces
5. De-shell your edemame
6. Cut tofu into medium-small, thin pieces.
7. Set your pan to medium heat (which I know is impossible to really regulate on a camp stove!)
8. Add a little butter or oil to the hot pan, and drop in your tofu.  Leave it alone for a three to five minutes and flip once it has started to get a golden color.
9. After another couple minutes, push tofu to the side and add the veggies to let them stir fry for just a few minutes.
10. Pour in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan.  
11. Stir to coat and let simmer for another three to five minutes
12. Meanwhile- add the salmon steak to your grill and cook on each side according to the size and your "wellness" preference.
13. Add some quinoa to your bowl, and top with stir fried tofu and veggies & salmon

Josh decided to have quinoa and veggies on the side!

This was such a GREAT day at the lake.  Wonderful friends, sunshine, and great food!  Next up- camping chocolate tacos!  This is the kind of dessert I can't resist!

No Bake Pizza aka Lazy Night Dinner

So tonight Hubby ditched me to go on a "boys date" to a concert.  I was actually invited, but let's face it, there was no chance of me saying yes.  I mean first, I don't really know who the band is but have vague impressions of a hair band from like the early 90's.  And second, I imagine the venue is some creepy old place with lots of dark and dirty decor which would GLOW if subjected to a scientific black light test.  No thanks.  But I know those boys will have tons of fun!!!  

I seriously considered making myself an awesome pearl couscous salad with zucchini, feta, and heirloom tomatoes.  But decided that simply boiling water was way more effort than I could spare for a night alone in my pajamas.  So this is what took me about 5 minutes, was delicious, and still almost fancy.

Ingredients

• Sliced rustic bread.  (We have awesome Rosemary bread at the local store.  LOVE!)
• Goat cheese
• Roasted red bell peppers
• Fresh basil

Directions

1. Slice a piece of bread
2. Spread your goat cheese on said bread
3. Chop roasted red peppers into cute little squares and toss them on top.
4. Chiffonade the basil (I can't stop using that word, or creating the pretty ribbons!) and top your "pizza"
5. EAT!

Seriously, very pizza-esque without the fuss, without the heat, and without any effort.  It doesn't take any longer than if you made a sad pb&j.  And it's way classier and grown up.  :)

Peach Pizza! Yes, I said Peach Pizza!

Have I mentioned before that we have fruit trees in our yard?  And that they somehow have survived 8 years of my neglect...  Well one of those trees is a dwarf peach, although I'm unsure of the actual variety.  It has beautiful red "marbled" flesh instead of the standard bright yellow, and tend to be very sweet.  I harvested the last two for the season yesterday and wanted to celebrate my "harvest" in style.

I considered doing another crisp like I did a few weeks back.  (Recipe here!)  But decided to embrace the fresh fruit and instead just cut them up, sprinkled some raw sugar, and chilled them for a refreshing, after dinner dessert!  How pretty does that look?

But I still needed to make dinner!  And figured I'd just stay in a Peachy mood with a summertime Peach Pizza.  We had mozzarella, basil, and baby heirloom tomatoes left over from our Caprese Pasta a few nights back, and it was like everything was just falling into place for a refreshing summer pizza.  A quick call to the hubby to pick up some more peaches, prosciutto, and pizza dough, and we were set.  If you have never made pizza before, don't freak out.  It seriously couldn't be more simple.  Your local grocery store or italian deli should have fresh dough in their fridge section, ready for the oven!

Ingredients

• Your favorite, fresh Pizza dough
• 1 large peach- sliced
• handful of heirloom tomatoes- sliced
• fresh mozzarella (we used the baby bite sized, but slices of larger balls would work well too!)
• fresh basil
• Prosciutto
• Olive Oil
• 1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• Shaved parmesan for garnish
• Spinach & Arugula mix as a bed (skip if you want to JUST eat pizza.)

Directions

1. Begin by reducing your balsamic.  This is done by heating over a medium flame until it just begins to bubble, and then reducing to a simmer to allow the liquid to burn off and the vinegar to become thick.  This takes about 30 minutes.  Just watch it and stir occasionally as you do all the steps below.  (*I used a cup to reduce to about 1/3 cup, but really it was too much.  Even with Josh using some as a dippy dip for the pizza later, I poured some out during clean up.  The problem is, that using less means you risk burning it during the reduction process...so use less at your own risk!)
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (yes I know that's hot!  But you are creating a "pizza oven.")
3. Let your pizza grill or stone pre-heat in your oven.
4. Slice your peaches, tomatoes, prosciutto, and mozzerella (if you have a bigger ball of mozz.)  Set aside.
5. On a floured surface, massage your dough outwards with your fingers, starting from the middle and moving around the dough in a circle.  You want the edges to end up a bit thicker than the middle to ensure it cooks more evenly.  I went with a thicker crust and the dough was about 1/2 inch thick.
6. Carefully remove your HOT grill from the oven, add a thin layer of olive oil with a brush (pouring it will just slide right off in a big puddle, trust me) and transfer your pizza dough to the surface.  I find that folding your dough in half (taco style) and then once more in half, will allow you to quickly move it to the grill, and then unfold it without stretching it out, losing the shape, poking holes, or burning yourself on the grill.
7. Lightly grease the dough, add your mozzarella, and place in the oven.
8. Bake for about 5 minutes until you see the cheese melting.
9. If large bubbles appear in your dough, it's best to poke/pop them real quick to keep the surface fairly flat.
10. Add the peaches, tomatoes, and prosciutto.
11. Bake for another 5 minutes or until the dough is golden. (You should a have total bake time according to the directions on your dough)
12. Cut the basil (I demo how to make it fancy and chiffonade it on the Caprese Pasta Post here.)
13. Remove your pizza from the oven.
14. Top with your fancy basil.
15. Sprinkle your balsamic over top with a spoon.  (Don't drop spoon fulls, but dip your spoon in the balsamic and let the liquid simply drizzle off.
16. Sprinkle some fresh shaved parmesan. 
17. Create a bed of arugula & spinach on a plate, drizzle with balsamic, and top with a wonderful slice of pizza!  

Caprese Pasta- Might be the best thing ever...

Honestly I'm not even going to bother with all the chatter and trying to be clever and write up an intro.  Just LOOK at this... It was delish!

And really, most importantly, this was SUPER easy.  I'm not even sure it counts as "cooking."  Making a meal, yes.  Cooking...not so much!  Can you boil water?  Then you can make this awesome dinner.  Or lunch.  Late night snack.  Breakfast?  Maybe not breakfast.

I spied this with my little eye while on Pinterest.  A quick look at the original post here, and I knew it was basically instinctual to make.   And I decided that instead of "italian dressing" this would be better with simple, classic, oil & vinegar!  I had Josh buy Parmesan too, thinking I would make some Parm toast to go with this (cause... everyone loves toast!) but I just didn't want to mix any other flavors with this yumminess.  So ignore the parm in the pic, k?  Now onto the important stuff!

Ingredients

• 1 package of Cheese Tortellini (Rainbow if you want it to be pretty!  And who doesn't?)
• Fresh mozzarella.  Seriously don't even think about using any processed fake stuff.  It just won't be the same and everything will be ruined!  (read in a super dramatic teenager voice!) 
• Bite sized tomatoes (cherry or grape will work!)
• Fresh Basil- which you will make fancy when I teach you to "chiffonade" it!
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• Generous dash of Salt

Directions

1. Boil water for your pasta
2. Cut your tomatoes in half.  It's pretty and easier to stuff in your mouth in one bite with pasta and mozz!
3. Cut your mozzarella into bite sized pieces.  Why?  See #2.
4. Add these to your big white mixing bowl (everyone has one, right?)
5. Sprinkle with salt
6. Add Olive Oil 
7. Add Balsamic
8. Mix and let this marinate (yes, your pretty white cheese will get a little dingy looking but it will taste SOOO good.)  Plus, we aren't fancy here and don't need to look pretty all the time.
9. Add pasta to your boiling water and cook per the directions (probably 4-5 minutes.)
10. Chiffonade your basil!  Roll it and cut it.  Seriously THAT's how fancy it is.  I demo below.
11. When pasta is done, drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking and to cool it down.
12. Toss into your big white bowl
13. Stir to coat with the olive oil and balsamic mixture *You can make it more saucy if you want, just keep the ratio of oil to vinegar 2 to 1.
14. Top with your fancy basil and voila!
15. Oh ya, add chicken to His bowl...

Stack some basil leaves- I used seven.

Roll it up tight (I have no experience in rolling so that was good enough)

Cut into thin strips, then "fluff" it all up to be pretty ribbons!

 So there you go!  Simple and delicious.  An easy weeknight meal on those days when you haven't slept well for two nights, had spreadsheets and vlookups annoyingly calculating for DAYS at work, and hit traffic on the way home.  It's the best way to end the day on a yummy note!