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!

Fancy Camp Food #4- Quinoa and more!

Camping was the cool thing to do this summer.  At least for us it was!  (And by cool, I am cleverly also making reference to the nights when I thought my feet would actually freeze off.)  We haven't spent this much time in the great outdoors for a few years.  And it was awesome.  Great times, great friends, great wine, and even great food.  Sometimes...I'll admit I took a couple "easy way out" opportunities.  Don't judge.  This trip WAS pretty great food, I'll even call it total a success.  I had items planned well, which certainly helps make camp food easy.

The first thing I did to prepare, was to cook up a large batch of quinoa.  It would serve as a base for many of the meals this trip.

I also pre sliced one each- red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.  This made for easy packing, easy snacking, and less prep time at camp

I finished my prep work and "shortcut" choices with edemame in a bag, heirloom bite sized tomatoes, tiny little mozzarella balls packed in water, a mix of oil and balsamic, and my favorite spinach arugula mix!  Packed it all up, and headed out after work.

When we arrived it was just starting to get a little dark.  We had enough time to quickly unload the truck and create this little appetizer to share with our friends.  How cute are these Camping Caprese Bites???  

And they couldn't be easier.  We made both tomato and peach caprese bites.  And the most work was cutting up the peaches!  Everything else was simple assembly.  Grab a toothpick, add two mozzarella balls, followed with a torn leaf of basil, and finally a tomato or a peach bite,  Drizzle with the oil/balsmic mixture, and voila!  Perfect to pass around camp while everyone was preparing the meals.  And easy enough for the kids to snack on as well.

By this time, it was starting to get dark.  Josh grilled up a steak, and I quickly made us some salads to finish the meal.  Throw all of the following into a bowl and toss with some oil & balsamic.  Done!

Ingredients

1. 1/3 cup cooked quinoa
2. Handful of spinach/arugula mix
3. 1/2 chopped peach
4. A sprinkle of dried cranberries
5. Top with small mozzarella balls (would also be great with shaved parm!  Maybe even better...)

Stay tuned for the next fancy camp post with easy lunch items, and the most important- dessert!

"Fancy" Camp Food #3!

Ya... so over in my bio I mention how I try to be healthy, thrifty, responsible, organic, etc...  And how I sometimes just want Oreo's?  Well this post falls into the second category.  If for no other reason than I just took the easy way out.  I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of having an awesome camping weekend.  Especially not guilt over eating badly.  

(For more recipes and camp ideas, check out my earlier and more fancy camping food posts here and here.)

This was a bit of a last minute trip, which included leaving right after work on Friday (after having to stay and work late...sigh...) and getting all prep, laundry, groceries, and new shoe shopping squeezed into a couple hours Thursday night.  The shoes were not for me!  But instead for our dog, Hudson.  He needed hiking boots.  Bright red ones, to be fancy.

We planned to spend most of our time kayaking, hiking, and exploring.  Eating was just going to be a necessary "evil" invading our fun time.  So the plan was to make it as quick and effortless as possible.

Breakfast

I'm not going to lie... we had donuts and French Press coffee.  Shrug.  I will admit I was jealous of a nearby camper who was making what I imagined to be an awesome egg & veggie skillet based on the undeniable smell of grilled onions and peppers.  And as I sadly looked at my chocolate covered donut, I was only slightly sad for a moment.  The morning of Day two we made coffee again, but added a packet of hot chocolate.  Camping mocha!

Lunch

Josh's parents met us at the lake to go kayaking and have lunch.  We had all the "pick-nic" supplies.  Spread it all out on the table and just picked and snacked away!  This is the perfect way to eat lunch.  There really is NO prep.  I suppose it is an "adult-only" type of lunch.  Not because of any scandalous reason, other than dirty little kid hands.  So maybe they can point and you put their choices on a fun and colorful kid plate.  Or maybe if you actually have kids, you aren't freaked out by the germs as it is most likely part of a normal day.

• Hummus
• Cheese- sliced cheddar, & mozzarella string cheese
• Crackers
• Deli Turkey
• Sliced Avocado
• Grapes
• Cherries
• Sliced Apples
• Edamame
• Trail Mix
• Beef Jerky
• Almonds
• Gummy Bears
• Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies- so good!

 

Dinner

We went with classic BBQ.  Josh made a steak, and I had a veggie patty.  Guilty pleasure- Ranch Style Beans and an easy side salad with avocado and 3 beans made it a complete meal.

The only hiccup was the "3 bean" part of our salad.  I normally buy this in a jar with a marinated mix of kidney, garbanzo, and green beans.  And it's a great, easy way to add color and flavor to some greens with no additional dressing needed.  But neither of our two grocery stores had it late on Thursday night.  So I settled for a version that came in a can.  (Which I never do and shouldn't have panicked and compromised.) Sadly, it didn't even come close.  First it didn't have garbanzo beans but instead wax beans which honestly they lived up to their name 100%.  And second, the green beans actually made a rubbery, squeaky sound when you bit into them.  No thanks.  The only edible item in that can was the kidney beans.  So what I learned was, don't buy that again.  Ever.  I recommend you don't try it either.

It was still a great trip.  A quick weekend get away, time with family, kayaking, and exploring the beautiful scenery that is all around us.  Despite the food fail (I won't mention the stop at McD's on the way home...) the rest of the trip was a complete success.  And so it just goes to prove- It really doesn't have to be fancy!  It just needs to fit in your car.

Can you spot Hudson back there with all the gear?!?!?

"Fancy" Camp Food Day #2

Day #2 was our only full day at camp.  (See Day 1 menu here.)  We woke up to the sound of nothing.  Completely peaceful.  And the morning view was amazing.  We had planned to make breakfast burritos one morning and pancakes the next.  We had all the ingredients (liquid eggs in a carton, and "just add water" pancake mix.)  But out of sheer laziness we opted for coffee, yogurt, and donuts.  I know... super healthy.  Oh well!

Can you spot Hudson & Josh out there?

Lunch was an easy feast, of which I failed to get pictures.  But it is worth listing the smorgasbord of yumminess to at least give you some easy ideas.

Ingredients

• Sliced apples
• Sliced avocado
• Grapes
• String cheese
• Sliced cheddar cheese
• Edamame
• Lime Cilantro Hummus
• Turkey Slices
• Boiled egg
• Wheat Thins
• Single serving "Peanut" butter (We brought, Almond, Hazelnut, and Peanut packets.  I ate the almond!)

Directions

1. Grab some of it all
2. Nicely line it up in sections in a bowl
3. Forget to take a picture of the pretty food
4. Eat.

We sat by the river and snacked on these items for lunch.  My "inspiration" was the little protein lunch meals you can get at Starbucks.  We've grabbed those on the go a few times.  And always felt they were a good compromise to the standard fast food burgers or tacos.  Small servings of grains, protein, and fruit.  Easy to pack, easy to prepare, and yummy for my tummy.  Perfect camp food.

After a great day playing in the river, we made out way back towards camp.  On the way we stopped to tour Bodie, an old mining town turned CA State Park.  It's a very cool spot and because of over cast skies, a little thunder, and slight drizzles the town was very "ghost town" and picturesque.  The shot below is of the old Fire Station.  Very cool place if you ever have a chance to visit.  

Bodie Ghost Town- Fire Station

DINNER!  

Yes, I remembered to get pictures!  Success.  I guess I wasn't a total failure this trip.  Josh brought Salmon and I had planned an easy Rice Bowl meal for us.  Part of my strategery (yes, I know it's not a real word but I like saying it) for meal planning on camping trips is to bring items that can be used in many meals.  The trick is to use them in a way that doesn't feel like eating the same food over and over!  For the rice bowl I "re-used" bell peppers from Day #1's dinner with some edemame & avocado from our lunch snacks.

Hers- Tofu

Ingredients

• Sliced avocado
• Rice (bowl in a bag, white instead of brown because I love my husband!)
• Edamame
• Cilantro
• Bell Peppers
• Firm Tofu (most of the liquid squeezed out)
• Salmon (Skin on one side)
• Teriyaki Sauce
• Soy Sauce

Directions

1. Follow directions on box for Boil-in-bag rice
2. Prep the following-
1. Brush non-skin side of Salmon with teriyaki sauce
2. Cut tofu into cubes (big enough to easily flip- no smaller than a wheat thin)
3. Cut bell peppers into bite sized pieces
4. De-shell Edemame
5. Cut up some cilantro
6. Slice avocado
3. Heat some oil in a skillet under medium flame (I forgot to bring oil, so I used butter...)
4. Add tofu and let one side brown.  (It took about 7 minutes which I felt was a long time.  I'm sure the altitude, the wind, and cooking over an open flame affected this, so just watch it and check for browning.)
5. Add your salmon, skin side down, to the grill and just leave it alone.  Grill for about 6 minutes for medium rare.  Flip only if you'd like it cooked medium-medium well.  Check with your butcher when you buy it as the size and thickness will affect your grill time.
6. Flip your tofu, and add the peppers to you pan to get a bit grilled.
7. Just before you take the tofu & peppers off the heat, pour some teriyaki sauce on top and let it cook for about 2 minutes
8. Build your rice bowls.  I suggest the following order-
1. Rice
2. Soy sauce (if you need the extra sodium like some people in my family!)
3. Protein
4. Avocado
5. Bell Peppers
6. Edemame
7. Cilantro
8. Teriyaki Sauce just to finish it off and soak into the rice

His- Salmon

Don't forget dessert!  I'm not a good dessert person, I admit it.  I'm not a good baker, and I'm not a huge dessert fan anyways.  Give me some gummy bears, some Brownie bites, and some cookies and I'm set.  But this night we were in for a treat!  One of our camp friends had a Dutch Oven, peaches, butter, and cake mix.  These few items turn into super yummy Peach Cobbler!  And how great does it look in Josh's blue bowl?  If you don't believe me, check out this blog to see proof.  

And we enjoyed that yumminess watching another beautiful sunset from camp.