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!

Spicy!!!

I saw this while sitting on the couch in my pj's one morning...  Don't judge.  It WAS Saturday so no excuse or justification needed!  I am sure I was waiting for something super educational and not at all trashy to start, and just happened to be killing time on the Food Network.  (Ok, fine I watched it for like 2 hours. Whatevs)

This is from Giada and looked easy enough.  Plus I knew I had all of this already which meant no trip to the grocery store.  Her version is Spicy Red-Wine Spaghetti.  Mine is pretty much the same but like everything else, I change the recipe to suit our taste or just so that I can make it faster or cheaper (aka I use what I have on hand as much as I can!)

The good thing about this recipe is there are very few ingredients.  And very few steps.  Her website says it takes an hour and ten minutes.  I have NO idea how it could take that long.  I was done in about 30.  Here is a fancy picture of my ingredients.  And then the picture next to it is because I forgot the red pepper flakes, and also realized that I was using goat cheese, not parm.  Oops!

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1 package spaghetti (I used fettuccine cause I had it!)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (I always use less.  Enough to coat the pan and that's it.)
• 3 large cloves garlic, chopped (ya...I use a spoonful of pre chopped garlic in a jar)
• 1 large shallot, halved, thinly sliced (I used half a yellow onion, chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (We like it spicy!  Prob 1/2 Tbsp not teaspoon!)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste (I used 2)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves chopped (Cilantro has more flavor.  Plus it was in the fridge.)
• 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese.  Or as much as you want!
• 1 bottle of Zinfandel (I used Merlot.)

I had to try a tiny bit of it to make sure it was good!!!  :)

Directions

1. Boil your pasta until it's par-cooked.  Soft but still a bit firm.  Remove from heat and set aside.  (Pot, water, pasta and all.)
2. Heat oil in skilled over medium heat
3. Add onions and saute for about 2-3 minutes
4. Stir in the salt and red pepper flakes
5. Add garlic and stir for about a minute cause it will burn quickly.
6. Uncork your wine (try a bit to make sure it tastes good) and pour into the skillet.
7. Add tomato paste and stir it all up.
8. Turn up the heat to medium-high to bring the wine to a simmer.  Simmer for just a few minutes and reduce back to medium for an additional 2-3 minutes.
9. Add pasta to the skillet and stir to coat.
10. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  I put a cover over the top to keep the liquid from evaporating too much.  If sauce is too dry, add some of the pasta cooking water.
11. Stir in the butter (I totally forgot this step and Josh was sad.  It would have been good.)
12. Turn off the heat, sprinkle the parsley/cilantro on top.  Crumble the goat cheese, and serve.

**I also made some Pillsbury bread sticks.  And twisted them to make them fancy.  I'm sure these aren't healthy at all but they are a guilty pleasure.  Would it make it "better" if I said it reminds me of my mom?  Do I get leeway for the nostalgia????

There is a TON left over.  We do that a lot.  Partially cause I wasn't going to "half" all the ingredients given the bottle of wine cause I knew we wouldn't drink it and it would be wasteful.  But the leftovers make good work lunches for me.  Josh doesn't really eat left overs which is fine cause this was not his favorite.  I do think Merlot was too strong for his liking but I LOVED this dish.  I'll have no problem eating this for lunch two days in a row.  And it was so easy it's going on the rotation.  Next time I'll try Zin.  And maybe even a version with white wine that Hubby may prefer.

I'm FULL!