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!

Asian Rice Bowl with Orange-Lemon sauce

As most of you know, I'm vegetarian but my dear husband is not.  One of the challenges I have had for the past 16 years is creating a meal that will work for both of us.  Because quite honestly, it sucks to have to cook two entirely different dishes.  And I almost refuse to do it.  I will admit that most of the time if someone is the "loser" in my meal plans, it's Josh.  I mean he CAN eat vegetarian and doesn't mind it.  But he doesn't want to actually be limited and enjoys meat.  I, on the other hand, have no intention of eating meat.  So there lies the dilemma.  I do think I've become pretty good at "and then add chicken to his" type of meals.  But the boy can only eat SO much chicken before he rebels.  So tonight, we are doing an "and then add salmon" dish instead!  Who said I'm not versatile? 

This is a simple rice bowl with fresh veggies and some steamed veggies and your choice of protein.  Part of what makes it easy is that you don't have to stick with the veggie combo listed, you can sub for items you have on hand.  Having said that, I do think the list below is the perfect combination!  I adapted my final version from a Sushi Bowl recipe I found on 101 Cookbooks.  This works great for my family as it becomes a BYOB- Build Your Own Bowl!!!!  I've made this for guests as well for the same reason.  Easy for them to eat the items they like without feeling that they HAVE to eat those items they don't.  No guilt!

So first, I will honestly admit that I did NOT cook that salmon.  Neither did Josh.  I hate the smell of fish cooking in the house. Some people like it, or at least don't mind it...I am not one of them. And since we live in a town with summer temperatures comparable to the surface of the sun, Josh did not intend to stand outside and BBQ it either.  The solution for us is a quick trip to our local grocery store, Nugget Markets, where they have awesome prepared items.  Josh picked out his favorite piece of salmon and then had the coffee bar make me a surprise raspberry lemonade.  Why?  Because he loves me and he is the best husband EVER!  (OK, I promise that's the end of the mushy stuff.)

Ingredients

• Brown Rice- I prefer brown but he likes white.  And I had the easy white "rice in a bag" left over from camping.  Shrug.
• Protein- you choose.  We had tofu and salmon.  I imagine this would be great with pork as well.
• 1 head of Broccoli
• 1 Carrot
• 3 Green Onions
• 1 Avocado (not pictured because hubby missed the last two items on the shopping list and made a second trip to the store!)
• 1/2 cup Edamame (not pictured, missed, second trip, blah blah blah)
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• Juice from 1 orange

 Directions

1. Prepare your rice- for me the rice in a bag takes only 10 minutes once it's boiling.  If you cook "real" rice then you are going to have more time to prep your other items.
2. Drain Tofu- You need to get much of the water out before you cook it to retain the shape and not end up like a sticky "scramble."  I don't have a fancy press so I cut the tofu in half to make it thin, sandwich it in paper towels, place on a plate, top with another plate and the bowl for my veggies.  Pictures below in case that didn't make a ton of sense.  (I used only half of the block and freeze the remainder.) 
3. Cut your veggies to be steamed- Broccoli & Carrot- into bite sized pieces, place into the "tofu press" bowl above.
4. Boil some water and place veggies in a steamer basket on top.  I like them still a bit crunchy and steam for about 4 minutes.  Feel free to steam them into mushy goodness if that is your preference.
5. Slice your onions & avocado and set aside on a plate.
6. If you bought your edamame shelled, then you are good to add to your onion/avo plate.  If not, start popping those little baby's out of the pods.
7. Tofu- this should be dry enough to use.  Cut it in half once more to make it 1/2 inch thick.  Cut into long, thin strips.  Add to a fry pan coated in a thin layer of oil on medium high.  Just let it sit there crackling and popping and resist the urge to mess with it.  This is also where you could season if you needed to with salt.  I find that the soy in the orange-lemon sauce has enough salt and flavor that I'm not inclined to add more salt at this stage.  But you might.  After about 3-4 minutes, flip and cook the other side.  Place on a paper towel to reduce the amount of oil clinging to your strips.
8. Check your rice- if it's done, take it off the stove.
9. Now to make the sauce-
10. Add brown sugar, lemon juice, and orange juice to a small pot and bring to a gentle boil.  Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes
11. Add the soy sauce and rice vinegar and bring it back to a gentle boil.  Turn down the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
12. Everything should be ready to set out in individual containers to create your BYOB station.
13. Pile in what you want, sprinkle with some sauce, and dig in!

Cut in half and ready to be pressed!

Tofu sandwiched between plates and serving as a platform for my veggie bowl.

Golden Strips of Tofu.  So pretty.

Chop your onions and avocado

Fresh veggie plate with edamame safely rescued from their pod prison

I never knew to put the fruit in "backwards" with the peel up until like 2 months ago!

Bring juice and sugar to a gentle boil

Create your BYOB station

And THAT is what it should look like!  Yummy right?

One thing to be clear about- This does have a bit of prep involved.  There are veggies to cut, rice to cook, tofu to fry, and a sauce to make.  So I won't label this "easy" simple because it has many steps.  None of the steps are actually hard.  And I'd say this took me about 30 minutes to make.  All in all, it's absolutely doable so please don't be intimidated by the number of steps.  I have confidence in your multi-tasking skills!

I did chose to leave out the toasted sesame seeds and the nori seaweed sheets from the original recipe.  The first time we made this, I did all of that.  But the nori was more of a pain than it was worth and I don't see myself using it in a lot of other recipes.  Having it on hand just isn't in the cards for me.  And the sesame seeds WERE good.  Hubby liked them.  I can't eat them and quite honestly just didn't bother this time.  Or even mention to hubby.  He's none the wiser and STILL told me how good it was.  Shhhhhh....

Here is a pic of the last time we made it- sesame seeds, nori, asparagus, & chicken instead!  Looks good, right?  Proof that you can change up the items easily.  Now go check your veggie bin and see what will work.  You got this!



Oh!  Did I mention this works GREAT as cold leftovers?  (And no, I have no idea what my hand was doing there...)



"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.