Beef Stroganoff

It was a guys camping and fishing weekend, and Matt was in charge of the food.  After talking up the biscuits and gravy we made a few camping trips ago, Matt's friend Nick requested them for breakfast.  For suppers they made chicken fajitas and beef stroganoff.  

The picture here were taken on Matt's phone- so it doesn't really do the dish justice.  Matt said that the dish was really good even before the sour cream was added.  But, if you leave the sour cream out, it isn't really a stroganoff, right?

Italian Night: Baked Penne Pasta

Italian Night!  Saturday night at the campground we served up Baked Penne Pasta and Focaccia (post forth coming).

We really enjoyed this pasta recipe- it was simple, but still seemed a bit elegant at the campground!  It went perfectly with the Focaccia bread that we made that night as well.  Nobody went hungry, that's for sure!

A One Pot Meal- Kielbasa and Vegetables

 

Fall is Iowa's Best Season

 

Camping this weekend sure was enjoyable.  The leaves were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and the food was tasty.

Shepherd's Pie

Finally, we took a camping trip!  First one for our little Owen! 

We camped with Matt's brother & family and took turns cooking our campsite meals.  The next few posts will feature recipes that we tried over the weekend.

There were 6 adults and 3 kiddos (who eat food anyway).  What could we make that could feed a lot of people?  We thought and thought... finally we settled on Shepherd's Pie.  Though traditionally, Shepherd's Pie is made with ground lamb or beef, we decided on a slight twist on the recipe using a shredded beef roast.

Chicken and Biscuits- Campsite Comfort Food

Well, we've camped for the last time this season.  The weather here in Iowa has been fantastic for the past four weeks. Sunny, warm days, cool nights, and basically no rain for a month. So, for our last camping trip we made some just regular comfort food. Now, if we were doing this at home, I’d probably go to the effort of making my own biscuits, but at the campground, the kind in the can are just too easy to pass up. Enjoy!

Green Chile Enchiladas for a Crowd

We know, you are probably thinking- another Tex Mex recipe????  Well, the answer is, yes.

So, we had 7 hungry adults and 3 kids with us this weekend so we needed something that would fill those empty stomachs.  We also needed something that could be made in our 14" D.O.  Originally, I had planned to use those pre-made burritos (which are very easy for a camping mom of a 20-month old and with the sauce are pretty good), but when Matt saw them in the freezer he wasn't having any part of that, even though I had emailed him the recipe.  I guess that tells me how much he pays attention when I suggest camping food.

French Dip Sandwiches

Okay, we'll admit it, this wasn't our best effort as far as campground cooking goes.  But, that isn't to say, this isn't worth giving another shot.

So, over Labor Day weekend, we camped at Estes National Park in Colorado with some family.  Our list of dishes to cook over the weekend included baked beans (found here), chocolate cake (found here), French Dip Sandwiches, Cinnamon Apple Bread Pudding (new post coming)  and Pizza Dip ( new post coming).

This recipe really has lots of promise, but we had a few slip ups in our exectution.  Here were the issues we had:

1.)  It takes a long time to cook.  Matt and I aren't very good with remembering about kids being hungry.  Our 10 and 8 year old neice and nephew were with us.  Sure, our 18-mo old has to eat early, that is a given.  So we fed her a hot dog.  But the other kids were starving, asking "when will it be done?".  So, if you give this a shot, allow plenty of cooking time.

2.)  Tough Meat.  We need to figure out what cut of meat is best and how best to cut it.  So, we got a rump roast.  The guy at the meat counter assured me that this would be perfect for a French Dip.  Well, our meat ended up tough.  So, we either need make one or all of the following changes: a different type of roast, make sure we are cutting the meat correctly (it was dark and we sort of hacked at it not paying any attention to the grain of the meat), or adjust the cooking time.

Those issues aside this recipe has pomise.  We will give it another shot and report back.  In the meantime, try it and give us any tips you might come up with.

Bean Burrito Casserole

Since we are now camping with a very busy 18-month old, our campground recipe choices need to be simpler.  We tried this recipe out last week and decided there aren't many campground casseroles out there that would be a whole lot easier.

Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza

Pizza has got to be our favorite food.  Its pretty hard to beat.  Crust, meat, cheese- yum!  

Green Enchilada Stack

Okay, this is our first attempt at completely creating a recipe.  If we did a recipe search, we'd probably burst our bubble of pride and find that we are not all that creative and somebody else already made this up.  But, since we haven't done that we will continue on in our recipe creation state of bliss!

Seems like the Dutch oven lends it self very well to Italian and Mexican type recipes.  Looking back at all the things we have made in the past, there seems to be an abundance of either type of food.  Oh well. 

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.

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.

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.

Orange Glazed Ham & Dutch Oven Potatoes

A few weeks ago, we went camping at Rocky Mountain National Park with Matt's brother & family and Matt's parents. It was his parents 40th anniversary so we tried to cook some special meals to celebrate the big occasion. We made a wonderful glazed ham in the D.O. and also made some really tasty cheesy potatoes. Then, to top it all off, we made the same chocolate cake that I've already mentioned in this blog.

So, here are the recipes we tried while in Colorado.

Great Food in the Great Outdoors

For Labor Day, we went camping in a state park which happened to be near where some of Matt's extended family lives. We had such a fun time with people visiting us at the campground and heading into town to visit some more.

We made 3 different Dutch oven recipes over the weekend- Baked Spaghetti, Pastel Chileano, and Easy Chocolate Cake. All of them were good (which isn't always the case when you are trying new recipes).

BBQ Nachos and Pizza Monkey Bread

Earlier this summer, we went camping with both Abby and Maple (the dog) for the first time. We've camped a lot, but we've never taken the dog and of course, hadn't camped with Abby yet.

Even though we didn't go too far from home, we still felt like we were able to get away for the weekend. Maple and Abby did great. For those of you who know our crazy dog, that is a surprise. She barks a lot and loves other dogs, but on this camping trip she was SO good. Abby, of course, was a gem- as she always is.

Anyway, getting to the point of things, we tried a couple of recipes in the Dutch oven that were super easy and simple. We figured we would do simple things since this was a first camping trip with the girl and the dog. Both were good, and super easy. Great if you want something simple when in the great outdoors.

Dutch Oven Lasagna

We are big fan's of another Dutch Oven Chef's blog- Mark's Black Pot. We've tried several recipes from his blog site with much success. So far, our favorite one is Dutch Oven Lasagna (http://marksblackpot.blogspot.com/2007/07/lasagne.html).

We first made this when we were camping in 2008 at Glacier National Park in Montana. Who knew that campers could have such a hard time finding ingredients for a simple lasagna? But, we did. We stayed on the eastern side of the park which is shy on services & grocery stores. We ended up finding the stuff we needed in Canada.

First Attempt at a Dutch Oven Pizza

Our first attempt at dutch oven pizza was so good we're afraid that we aren't going to be able to replicate it. Even Abby thought it smelled so good that she had us bring her swing out to watch it cook.