Chcken Coop

Get Campie has a Recipe Box of ideas (along with great photos and leads on campers - my dream camper is a vintage canned ham!).

idea from Truly Simple was totally new to me... Orange Cinnamon Rolls, in oranges no less! Okay, so I dont do rolls in a tube, but perhaps an easy monkey bread recipe could be adapted for this? And use the orange pulp to make the icing? May have to try this one. Hey, Ive camped with a sour dough starter. How hard could it be to do monkey bread?

Sure enough, someone is way ahead of me. Donna Kelley who is a contributor for "Mom Click" of the Daily Hearld came up with a blueberry muffin in an orange. Check it out!

Heres a link for 64 camping recipes from Better Recipes, including the traditional Banana Boats. The recipes are rated on this site, so it will give you a good idea of things that worked well for camping. Im not promising these are healthy recipes, but the list will get your brain thinking so you can maybe adapt them to fit your eating habits.

Last year I found this list of recipes on Quiet Journeys site. Its quite extensive and has a little something for everyone. Most of the recipes on this site are from scratch, but easy to prepare, which is really nice since most camping recipes focus so much on cutting corners that they opt for ingredients I prefer not to use. (Im fine with it for once in a while, but a whole trip on processed food will make us all come home needing a vacation from our vacation, if you know what I mean!)

I saw this Ina Garten Baked Fontina Dipped recipe on Pinterest and thought it should work for camping if you use a lid with coals on top. Going gourmet sure makes for some fine eating while in the woods! Get creative and think outside the box!

I like to try and gather some local food from the area where were camping and make something. Last year, we camped at the beach and picked up some fresh clams. I planned this in advance and brought along everything I would need to make clam chowder (which was perfect on a cold foggy night at the beach!). Be sure you research farmers markets as well as recipes you might need.

If youll be cooking in a dutch oven for the first time, youll find Backwoods Home Magazines post on the Seven Secrets of Dutch Oven Cooking a must read as well as Scouting Magazines guide for controlling the temperature!

Dont forget, if youre using a dutch oven over the open flames, a Grandpa Jakes Campfire Cooker would be a worthy investment! It allows you to cook items at various temperatures while having a few shelves for setting things on - always a need when camping! I have mine ready to go!

Finally, dont forget the snacks. I dont need to give you a list of junk food... all you have to do is walk down a grocery isle and you can fill your cart fast. But for those who want to take some healthy snacks along the way, consider making some homemade granola bars or trail mix to take along with you. Heres a list from Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans to get you started...

If youre going to have food, youll probably have yellow jackets (wasps) as well. They are also called meat bees for a reason! (Theyre not bees at all! Bees are our friend, yellow jackets... not so much.) Last year, as we were wrapping up a fantastic camping adventure on a river in the mountains, I got stung several of us got stung and it was miserable! We could hardly eat our food on the last night because they were so thick! From now on, Ill take along my Rescue Disposable Yellow Jacket Traps to hang in the trees. Ive used them in our outdoor dining area at home, but it didnt occur to me to take a couple camping. I can assure you, I wont forget again! (And they dont trap the bees, just the wasps.)