When you get right down to it, food preparation is a big part of camping. especially when you have a little pop-up trailer like we do, and not one of those huge rolling luxury RVs with a big kitchen. We have to be a little more inventive…
My wife’s aunt and uncle do have one of those big fancy rigs, and they were parked in the space right next to us. My wife’s aunt has introduced us to Dutch oven cooking. If you have never seen a Dutch oven, which have been around since pioneer times I believe, here is what they look like…
You might think that a metal pot with charcoal briquettes stuck under and on top of them does not sound likely to produce gourmet food. You would, however, be wrong in this assumption…
How about two deep-dish pizzas, just for starters. My wife also made a loaf of fresh bread in her Dutch oven, that went very nicely with the noodles with browned butter and mizithra cheese that I made…
We also have a few tricks when it comes to dessert. Stick a few simple ingredients in a ziplock bag, put that bag in a bigger bag with some rock salt and ice, then shake the bag for five minutes, and everybody has just made their own bag full of fresh ice cream…
You can add flavorings if you wish, so everybody gets just what they want… And you each make your own, so no arguing…
My wife’s aunt and uncle just returned from touring the Southern regions of our beautiful country. They brought back a little treat from New Orleans…
These are called Beignets… (pronounced Bin-yays)… Just mix the dough…
Plop them into some hot oil…
Then sprinkle with a little powdered sugar. They are light and airy, like a cross between a sugar cookie and a doughnut… sort of… but, man, they are tasty.
But once again, sometimes the old campfire is the way to go…
If you get yourself one of these contraptions, which hinge open to form a square pocket, you can make little square pies. Just take two pieces of bread and butter them, spoon on some cherry pie filling or filling of your choice, put them in the long-handled pie maker, and stick them in the coals…
Little pies for everyone… or little pizzas, or whatever.
And just for fun, one night we decided to eat worms for dessert…
Simmer down… (that is a cooking joke, in case you didn’t notice)… they are not real worms. You just take some Jello mix, add some whipping creme, and pour them into a bundle of straws. Once the Jello sets, you squeeze them out of the straws, and then you can gross everybody out by walking around munching on them.
Once again I apologize for my little ruse, and for not telling you where I was going, and I hope you all forgive me my trickery, done in the name of homeland security.
We had a marvellous time camping, up in the mountains near the little town of Julien, which is famous for its apples, apple pie, apple cider, and… not too much else. Goggle it. Learn a little more about your world. What could it hurt?
The only person who wasn’t thrilled with the food on our little adventure, was Shiloh, the dog-person…
Pouring My Art Out 
Yay! We have a pop up as well- thinking about “up-grading” to something with a potty :o)
We always seem to eat better when camping than when we are at home! It all looks very yummooo!
Our pop up has a potty, and a little shower. They are the same place. You can poo while you wash. Save a lot of time that way…
Thanks for the visual ;o)
I never did it, but it was nice to know that I could have.
I really want pizza now. Any chance I can come along with your family next time?
Hey, you have been naked in my fridge… you are part of the family now.
I love Julien! We used to go there when I lived in SD, the pie was sublime.
You guys know how to have fun.
That is one thing we are good at.
pretty adventurous for camping, or it’s just British people don;t do it properly. I’ll go with the latter, we certainly don’t make worms
The Top Gear guys did that show where they made their own caravans, as you call them. That one cracked me up. But the food they made did look pretty bad.
looks excellent…….dutch pot cooking is very popular here in south africa…….we call it poetjiekos……poetjie meaning feet which refers to the legs of the cast iron tripot…..and kos being food………..i own 4 pots….two tripods and two flat based……..i prefer the flat ones….fatty regularly makes allsorts of breads and things on the BBQ(braai)………..some of the guys here are absolute masters and connosuirs at making stew type dishes in the tripot….poetjiekos.
we normally cook a leg of lamb this way for christmas….very slowly…as in the whole day…delicious…..and fatty makes a mean steak and kidney stew……..damn now im hungry.
Slow cooked lamb… oh, man.
It is amazing what you can do with those things. That sounds great.
we have experimented with getting the pot hot and half cooked and then putting it all in a box and insulating it all with news paper…..it then cooks itself without any further fire….although our experiment was not tatally cooked the principlal remains sound………….and we will try again.
You may be on to something.
Why am I drooling? Not even the worms were enough to stop it. And I hate camping (aka…can’t cook.)
Food makes an ok holiday better.
love the worms.
Tasty too.
Yum!!! I must say, when you guys camp, you camp with style!
We try to do everything with style… but it doesn’t always work.