Camping Grub 2010

My SIL and I went camping recently, as has been our tradition for the last three years. It was a totally awesome trip, and if you want to read more about it, you can go here. The full Flickr set is here.

As usual, we ate like queens! Here is a rundown of some of our food.

On day one, we went to soak in Ainsworth Hot Springs, then drove the short distance from there to Kaslo, where we had one freaking awesome lunch at a place called The Rosewood Cafe. Here are our lunches.

I had a fantabulous Monte Christo Sandwich with homemade baked fries.

Shan had a huge turkey burger with all the fixings & a side salad that was served with a homemade rosemary vinaigrette.

More to follow on this restaurant as it was absolutely brilliant!

One morning we had Eggs Benny, which is something we usually have while camping. It's just such decadent camping grub!

Dad joined us on Saturday, and he brought a set of really amazing steaks for dinner. We didn't have the BBQ with us this time and the grate on the fire pit was way too filthy to cook anything on directly, so we opted to pan fry them in cast iron skillets on the camp stove. Shan seasoned them with garlic butter and Montreal Steak Spice, and we served them with garlic bread (which she baked over the fire as it was covered in foil) and some rice. The steaks were like butter - completely awesome!

More from this trip upcoming, as we went to the Hills Garlic Festival in New Denver, too.

Camping Grub Part 4: S'moreos

So, just a light Friday post to conclude this week-long Camping Grub 2009 series. And this time we have quintessential campfire food: s'mores - only made with Oreo cookies.

I made these in July during my first - and only other - camping trip of the season, and I adored them right away. I like them better than the original s'more made with graham crackers, in fact. I cannot take credit for this example of brilliance; the credit must go to Cakespy, who posted about S'moreos here.

Forgive the gloomy night shots, please, but here you go.

I don't have a ton of patience when it comes to toasting marshmallows, so my s'moreos are not terribly photogenic...
Shan, however, has a talent for toasting the perfect marshmallow!And so she gets a very photogenic s'moreo...
Nice, eh?

And that about covers it for this year's camping grub! Can't wait for the next camping season!

Camping Grub 2009 Part 3

When my SIL Shan cooks a meal, she really cooks a meal. On top of her day job, she & her mom, C, also have a catering business, so Shan can cook, man, and there is always a ton of food. Camping trips are no exception. You know if you camp with Shan, you will get a huge, slap-up, tasty meal.

So for night #3, there was a feast: chicken marinated in white wine, garlic, and herbs; marinated grilled green peppers; fried potatoes; grilled corn on the cob; and sauteed asparagus.It was totally excellent! The corn, again, was sweet, tender, and delicious. The asparagus was a bit tough, but still good. My dad came for dinner this night, on his way back from Nelson, and he brought us a trifle for dessert from Save-On Foods. Sorry for the crappy night shot...Tomorrow's post: S'moreos! Woo-hoo!

Camping Grub 2009 Part 2

My SIL and I share the food duties while camping. The first night we kept very simple and had the ultimate camping food: smokies! These were really nice cheddar-filled ones and really hit the spot after setting up camp & having a dip in the lake to cool off. It was HOT that afternoon, let me tell you!

But it was night #2 where we got more ambitious and this is where I stepped up.

Recently, Dave of My Year on the Grill, had a great recipe for grilling tilapia in corn husks and I thought this would be excellent camping grub. So, this is my version, using red snapper my SIL had in the freezer.

The first step involved getting decent corn, which is a challenge. Remember my corn rant from the summer? Yeah, well, I wasn't optimistic about our corn opportunities, and indeed, when we got to the reasonably priced big box grocery store, the corn was in shitty, shitty condition. But, as we were about to give up, the produce guy came out with a whole new shipment of corn from Taber, Alberta, and it was peaches 'n cream - SCORE! Five cobs went for $1.98.

So, I carefully peeled back the husks, keeping them attached to the bottom of the cob, and discarded the silk. I secured the cob end of the husks with butcher's string. This was a bit time consuming and required patience and care - two things I actually had at the time, surprisingly enough. Next I soaked the whole thing in water for about 20 minutes. Luckily, the beer cooler had a lot of nice clean water in the bottom - it was perfect for soaking the cobs! While I was doing all this, our red snapper was happily marinating in some Barefoot Contessa Tequila Lime Marinade I found in the reduced bin at the local overpriced grocery store.

Next came the fun part: making corn husk packages with the fish tucked nicely inside. This was messy & time consuming, but it worked out better than I was expecting. Making sure the fish was covered well - as well as possible, that is - our two fillets were a bit too big for the husks, but this is camping grub, right? It doesn't have to be perfect! - I secured the ends with butcher's string.Then, onto the BBQ it goes:
It took about 20 minutes...
The results: spectacular!I made some rice to go with the meal, and it was wonderful! The corn, I am happy to report, was excellent - sweet, tender, juicy, and definitely the best I had all season.And the best part - no dishes! The cobs & everything just went right into the fire pit! Genius! Thanks Dave for this fantastic idea!

Camping Grub 2009 Part 1: Breakfast

Camping last week was excellent! The weather was perfect, except for the last night & the morning we packed up, when it rained. But other than that, it was hot and sunny, and the lake was still nice enough to swim in.

And of course we ate well! Let's start my 2009 Camping Grub series off with breakfast.

On Morning #1, we opted for a cooked, greasy camping breakfast of bacon & eggs, cooked over the camp stove. We also had toast made from a loaf of no-knead bread I made the day before we left. The camping toaster gadget was broken, so my SIL toasted the bread gently over the BBQ.There is something about cooking food on a camp stove out in the woods just makes everything taste way better!

On Morning #2, we had a super easy breakfast made by my SIL before we left: homemade peach crisp, made with local peaches. We had this with some vanilla yogurt and it was excellent!On Morning #3, it was raining, so we had breakfast in the trailer. I had made some granola at home and we had it with, again, vanilla yogurt. The recipe for the granola is here, but I used some coconut in it, and only used whole almonds as I was out of hazelnuts. Yum!
The full camping Flickr set, including all our food, some gorgeous scenery, and a gigantic bug, is here.

Back to Baking!

Well, it was considerably cooler today, thanks to a cold front and a bunch of thunderstorms, so I decided to do some baking. I'm also off to the lake tomorrow and wanted to bring some treats along with me. And since it's my birthday, I thought I'd make my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

It was a hard choice - because pretty much every chocolate chip cookie recipe I have is awesome and could be considered a favourite. I've never met a chocolate chip cookie I didn't like! So, I decided to pick the most decadent recipe I could find and whose ingredients I had on hand. I chose Giada de Laurentiis's Chocolate Chip Cookies with Hazelnuts. Recipe here.

This is an awesome recipe! I even had a bag of Chipits Skor bits on hand, that I'd bought on sale a while ago but hadn't yet used. I also had exactly one cup of hazelnuts from last year's hazelnut harvest left over, which reminded me that in less than two months, I should be harvesting hazelnuts again from my SIL's parents' tree. I can't wait for that!

The cookies were wicked and I got about 4 dozen - plenty for an overnight camping trip.

I'm totally stoked about going to the lake, even though the weather might not be as hot as it was last week - I don't care! If you are interested in my plans, see this post!

Syringa Creek Dinner

It's seriously hot - mid 30sC! Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to be able to escape to Syringa Creek Provincial Park for the day and spend several wonderful hours floating in the lake. It was heavenly.

Of course there was also food, prepared and served by my favourite cooks ever, my SIL Shan & her mom, C. The menu was simple: a whole chicken cut into pieces & BBQed, potatoes roased in a foil package with garlic scapes, and a nice salad. Perfect!

The chicken, happily BBQing away...

Garlic scapes...

Shan preparing the potatoes & garlic scapes...
Dinner is served...

Hope everyone is enjoying summer so far!

Camping Grub, Part 2

I am getting pretty adept at making Eggs Benny in a variety of situations, particularly camping situations. Sure, you might not always get poached eggs while cooking on a camp stove, but in that scenario fried or basted eggs are just as good.

Last weekend was a very luxurious camping environment, since my brother & SIL rented a motorhome that came equipped with a small gas stove AND a toaster oven AND a microwave. Yes, a TOASTER OVEN and a MICROWAVE! This made for some pretty gourmet camping grub cooked in a relatively fancy environment.

Poaching eggs and making the Hollandaise was no problem. Shan even made some hashbrowns with left over potates from the steak dinner the night before.

The result: restaurant-worthy Eggs Benny! Everyone was very happy and it was one wicked camping breakfast!
Nice plates, eh?

For Sunday dinner, my dad brought out a buffalo roast and stuck it in his slow cooker with some broth and seasonings. Yes, when you have a motor home at your disposal, you can do slap-up meals, let me tell you! Though there was a bit of an issue due to the awkward placement of electical outlets vis a vis the length of the slow cooker's cord, it was all sorted out & we had a great meal of beef dips with roasted potatoes and salad. I totally forgot to take pictures of it; sorry about that. But we did top it all off with the Black Forest Pie, which, as previously mentioned, was a huge hit.

That pretty much sums up the camping grub story from last week. One more meal to report on, and that was breakfast at a cafe in Nelson, but that a post for another time.

S'moreos!

If you're not already a CakeSpy reader, I think you should become one immediately. Jessie is one of the most creative bloggers I know of, and she never ceases to entertain me with her funny, innovative posts.

Not long ago, she posted this article about S'moreos, and since I knew a camping trip was in the cards, I decided to try making my own S'moreos. This was our dessert last Saturday night, after a feast of steaks.

These were soooooo good, let me tell you! I made mine with two whole Oreo cookies, instead of opening up one Oreo and putting the chocolate & marshmallow inside.

It was difficult to get a decent picture since it was dark out and there was only a campfire for light, but you get the idea.
Next time you go camping, TRY THESE! Thanks, Jessie!

Camping Grub, Part 1

Actually, "grub" isn't the most accurate word to use to describe the rather amazing food my family and I make and eat while camping, but it has a nice ring to it.

So, to start things off, Saturday's dinner. Steaks brought by Dad, potatoes & Greek salad made by my SIL, grilled corn & watermelon provided by Jem & Shan's friends, S&G.
I have to say that this is the first time I've had corn grilled like this and it was AMAZING! So sweet, thanks to the caramelization, and just so frackin' tasty. The steaks were tender and done to perfection - go Shan! Needless to say, we were all stuffed - but there was dessert. You'll have to stay tuned to see what we made, though!

Camping highlights can be read about here.