Camping: The Menu

Day: 236
High Temp: 72F

In anticipation for this weekends camping festivities (and the anticipated "unplugging" that will happen during that time) I thought I would give you all a preview of what is on the menu for the trip.

Those of you who have camped with me before know I like to do so in semi-gourmet style. This likely stems from the influence of my aunt and god mother Patty, who on a camping trip many many years ago made me one of the most memorable and influential meals of my life.  She cooked up beef stew from scratch in a dutch oven on the campfire. And topped that (literally) with an amazing peach cobbler cooked on the lid of the oven. If there is one thing I would give up s'mores for, it would have to be cobbler. That meal taught me that you can eat good ANYWHERE, if you only care to (including the bat-inhabited sandy shore of a river in Missouri.)

For my own camping trip, I plan the menu for days and make a special grocery trip just for the ingredients (I spent over $80 last night for this trip, although that did include some non-food stock up items we need to stock up on before we leave, like batteries and bugspray.) I also like to try and pack as light as possible, finding several different ways to use one ingredient (take the Dubliner cheese in this weekend's menu).

This trip will be a bit more challenging than past trips, as Tom and I got rid of our little table-top hibachi grill in the move to Austin. Having not yet replaced the grill, it was my challenge to come up with a menu that could be either A. cooked on a skewer OR B. cooked in a packet. So no pizza this time and no turkey burgers. That said, I am still pretty stoked for the food!

Without further ado, I give you the menu:

FRIDAY DINNER
-Chicken, spinach and feta sausages on whole wheat buns
-Campfire baked potatoes with Dubliner Cheese
-Rising Moon Spring Ale
-S'mores

SATURDAY BREAKFAST
-Campfire toasted Bagles with cream cheese
-Bananas, strawberries and blueberries in a homemade vanilla-lime-agave yogurt dressing
-Campfire percolated coffee

SATURDAY LUNCH
-Sliced turkey and Dubliner cheese sandwiches with tomato, cucumber and avocado
-Crudites (carrots, broccoli, cucumber) and Humus
-BBQ Chips
-More Rising Moon perhaps?

SATURDAY DINNER
-Classic campfire packet dinner with chicken sausage, leeks, whole garlic cloves, zucchini, mushrooms and potato (and more Dubliner, if there is any left!)
-Corn on the Cob
-Tempra Tantrum Wine (tempranillo grenache blend)
-S'mores (no originality here, I have to have them every night that we camp)

Sunday morning's breakfast will likely just be the leftover fruit salad and bagels/granola bars. It is nearly impossible to come up with creative breakfast ideas without traditional cooking implements, besides we rarely start a new fire on Sunday, knowing we will be heading home soon.

Happy camping!