Striving for good food in the great outdoors- the pioneer way.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Corn Casserole

Simple.  That is our motto for camping recipes.  Corn is a great side dish for just about anything, and being the true Iowans that we are, both of us love any corn dish.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Ravioli Casserole

This is a recipe that we make all year long.- inside and outside.  Once the weather warms up, we take it outside for cooking in the Dutch oven over hot coals. 

Actually, that is a good reminder to let all you readers know (and I know there are lots of you), that any of these camping/D.O. recipes can be made at home in casserole dishes.  Most of them cooked for the time specified at 350° F.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Maple Nut Cornbread

Tonight we took our standard cornbread recipe and dressed it up a bit with nuts and some Maple flavoring.

No... not this Maple (our dog).  Even though she is awfully sweet.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Delicious Baked Beans

Matt's mom makes a mean pot of baked beans.  The trouble is that she doesn't have a recipe.  Like most good cooks who have a specialty, she does it simply by look and feel.  She once wrote down what she thought was her recipe, but no matter what we do, we can't seem to replicate it.  So, tonight, we gave it up & decided to make our own batch/recipe of baked beans in the Dutch oven.

Matt said he felt a little like he was cheating on his mom (or at least his mom's baked beans).  Cheating aside, this is probably the best batch of baked beans we've ever made. 

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Mexican Deep Dish Pizza

Well, we use the term “pizza” liberally. It isn’t really a pizza in a traditional sense, but it is built much like a pizza & we don’t really know what else to call it.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures of this recipe today. We’ll post some next time we make it. This is a great recipe for camping because it is easy, hearty, and feeds 6-8 people pretty well (depending upon how much hiking you did in the day). The ingredients are flexible- add anything you want; delete anything you want. When you give this recipe a shot, let us know what you used for toppings. We’d love to see what others come up with.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Oatmeal Soda Bread for St. Patty’s Day

Top o' the mornin' to ya... or evening... or lunchtime.... or whenever you are reading this.  In honor of St. Patty's day, we decided to attempt a soda bread for the D.O.  We considered Corned Beef and Cabbage, but decided for a weeknight that might not work for us timing wise.


Monday, March 15, 2010

Smoked Turkey & Biscuits

March 14, 2010: The snow has finally melted, and Matt and Erin can begin Dutch Oven cooking again.

We have had snow on the ground since the first week in December. So, not only did it snow a lot this past year, but it stayed and stayed. Just last weekend, there was still a lot of snow on the ground and it was pretty cold. Then, in the past week, we've gotten warmer weather and rain which has dissolved those snow piles quite rapidly. Finally, spring seems to be on its way, and we are more than ready to start our outdoor cooking.