Campfire Cooking

Good food can make a great camping trip totally awesome. Next time you pitch a tent, give these yummy recipes a try.

Orange You Glad You Fixed Blueberry Muffins

• 1 package blueberry muffin mix
• 6 large oranges
• Heavy-duty aluminum foil

At Home

1. Mix up the muffin batter according to the directions on the package.
2. Pour the batter into a wide-mouthed plastic bottle.

At Camp Œ

• Cut the oranges in half. Scoop out the fruit, leaving behind bowl-shaped peels.
• Fill half the orange peels with muffin batter. Put empty peels over the top of the ones you just filled.
• Ž Wrap each orange in heavy-duty aluminum foil. Try not to let any of the batter leak out.
•  Carefully place the foil-covered oranges in a bed of hot coals. Now would be a good time to eat the orange wedges you scooped out earlier.
• Use a long stick to roll the oranges every minute or so. ‘ After 5 minutes, roll one of the oranges out of the coals.
• Carefully open the hot foil to see if the muffin is done. If it is, roll all the oranges out of the coals. If it isn’t, put the orange back in the fire and check it again in another minute.

Pro Tip:

Be careful when you open foil packets. They’re full of hot steam!

Eggs in a Raincoat

• 8 large eggs
• Large pot
• ¼ cup milk
• Tongs
• Salt and pepper
• Shredded cheese
• Omelet fillings: onions, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, ham, smoked turkey, cooked bacon, or cooked sausage
• Quart-sized zip-top freezer bags

At Home Œ

1. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, pour in the milk, and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk until the mixture is creamy yellow.
2.  Pour an equal amount of egg goop into four zip-top freezer bags. Push all the air out of the bags and seal them shut.
3. Ž Cut the omelet toppings into bite-sized pieces. Put each topping into its own zip-top bag. Store all the ingredients in a cold cooler until you’re ready to use them.

At Camp Œ

1. Place a pot of water over a bed of hot coals.  While waiting for the water to boil, give each camper a bag of egg goop and let them add whatever fillings they want to the mixture. Ž Push the air out of the bags, seal them shut, and smoosh everything inside around until it’s well-mixed.
2.  Carefully place the bags in the pot of boiling water. Make sure none of the bags hang over the edge of the pot. You don’t want the plastic to melt!
3.  After 12 minutes, use tongs to fish the bags out of the boiling water.
4. Let the omelets cool a few minutes before digging in.

Pro Tip:

For easy cleanup, rub dishwashing soap over the outside of your pot before you put it on the fire.

Campfire Calzones

• Pita bread
• Pizza sauce
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Pepperoni slices
• Heavy-duty aluminum foil
• Tongs

1. ΠCut each pita bread in half to form two pockets. Smear a thin layer of pizza sauce inside each pocket.
2.  Stuff a handful of cheese and pepperoni into each pocket.
3. Ž Wrap the pockets in aluminum foil and place them on hot coals.
4.  After 2 minutes, flip them over. Wait another 2 minutes and then pull them off the coals. Let your calzones cool for as long as you can stand and then dig in.

Pro Tip:

For Hawaiian style calzones, swap diced ham and pineapple chunks for the pepperoni.

Xplorer Stew

• 1 pound of ground beef
• 4 medium potatoes
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 red or green bell pepper, cut into strips
• 4 tablespoons butter
• Salt and pepper
• Seasoning salt
• Heavy-duty aluminum foil
• Tongs

At Home Œ

1. Cut up all the veggies except for the potatoes and put them in zip-top bags.
2.  Scrub, wash, and dry each potato. Don’t slice them up, yet, or they’ll turn brown before you get to camp.
3. Ž Divide the ground beef into four equal portions. Form each portion into a patty. Put each patty in a zip-top bag.

At Camp Œ

1. Cut the potatoes into slices.
2.  Tear off four 2-foot-long pieces of foil. Put a beef patty in the center of each foil piece. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the beef.
3. Ž Put potato slices and a handful of veggies over the beef.
4.  Put a tablespoon of butter over the veggies. Sprinkle seasoning salt on everything.
5.  Fold the foil into packets as shown in the photos. Place the packets on a bed of hot coals.
6. ‘ It takes 30 to 60 minutes for the beef to cook fully and the veggies to get soft. It’s best to check one of the packets every so often to see if your stew is done.

Pro Tip:

A Frisbee makes a great cutting board or plate. Best of all, after you wash the Frisbee, you can toss it around to dry it off.

Pigs in a Sleeping Bag

• Hot dogs
• Crescent roll dough
• Ketchup and mustard (optional)
• Hot dog roasting forks
• Œ Skewer a hot dog (the pig) onto a roasting fork.  Wrap the hot dog in a thin layer of crescent roll dough (the sleeping bag). Make sure the dough goes all the way around and sticks to itself so it doesn’t fall off.
• Ž Hold the hot dog over hot coals or just above the fire. Don’t let the flames touch the dough or it will burn. Slowly turn the roasting fork so the dough cooks on all sides.  Dinner is done when the dough turns golden brown. Eat the pig plain, or dip it in ketchup and mustard.

Pro Tip:

Don’t sweat it if you forget hot dog forks. Use a pocketknife to cut long sticks of green wood and sharpen the ends to a point.

Banana Boats

• Large bananas
• Mini marshmallows
• Chocolate chips
• Graham crackers
• Heavy-duty aluminum foil
• Tongs

1. ΠWithout removing the peels, cut a slit down the length of each banana to form a pocket.
2. Stuff the pockets with marshmallows and chocolate chips.
3. Ž Wrap the bananas in aluminum foil and place them on hot coals.
4.  After 5 minutes, use tongs to pull the bananas off the coals. Let them cool for a bit, and then remove the foil. Crumble graham crackers over the bananas. Eat the ooeygooey goodness with a spoon.

Pro Tip:

If you forget tongs, you can use two long sticks to pluck foil packets out of the coals.