Project Camping- with Echoes of Laughter

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Today's feature is good enough to be split up into several posts and made into a workshop! When Angie emailed us her ideas last week, it was like a mad dash to rearrange our blog schedule to fit her in before the camping season is done and over for most people around the US. (Our family has a campout planned for the Fall, but that's 'cause we are in Arizona and it doesn't get cold here!)

Angie has a whole series of posts all camping food related, including awesome recipes and ideas for make ahead preparation. If you don't have any campouts planned anytime soon, bookmark this page and come back to it next year. And if you're like my husband and prefer to camp at the Holiday Inn, maybe these ideas will change your mind and you'll find yourself longing to become one with your tent and sleeping bag just to experience the yumminess of the following posts! If nothing else, it could spark your creativity to plan an outdoor BBQ, picnic or Bon Fire with some friends. Take a look at this:

Camping Cuisine {Preparations}

Before I get to the recipe portion of this post, I want to mention how food prep for camping is a girl's best friend. I start with a menu plan for each meal that will be required for our stay. And I create a grocery list based on my meal plan. Pretty basic planning...but it helps the trip go smoothly.

 I make sure to wash and prep all the vegetables and store in ziploc bags.

On the left are vegetables for dipping for snacks. On the right are vegetables for chicken kebabs.

Here are onions and mushrooms prepped for our steak night.

I also take containers of other meal ingredients that we will need.

Fruit washed and cut up for quick camping snacks.

I don't waste money buying small sizes of condiments from the grocery store.

I just scoop out different things from the big sizes already in our fridge and store in small containers to put in the cooler.

And I am sure to label, label, label!!

And here are two of my favorite things in our camping kitchen...

A handy, dandy screen to keep those pesky flies off of the salads.

And our cutlery caddy to keep everything handy at the table, so I don't have to get up a million times searching for things.

 Camping Cuisine {Recipes}

To be clear, we do have hamburgers sometimes....everyone in our family likes them. I just make sure that I make the burgers before we leave home so that my husband just has to put them on the grill.

And we take hotdogs for snacks because, afterall, what is a camping trip without roasting weenies on a campfire? But here is a list of a few other favorites:

Picnic Sandwich

 Not only is this a fabulous sandwich, but it is the ultimate in 'make ahead'  food.

It tastes better the day after it's made....after the flavours have had time to mingle.

This sandwich is the perfect lunch for the first day of camping. After arriving at the campsite and spending a few hours putting up tents, inflating mattresses and getting things in order, everyone is usuallly tired and hungry. That's when I am so happy to pull out the picnic sandwich for an instant lunch. It makes 8 sandwich wedges and each piece is very filling and satisfying.

This sandwich requires a filling, some meat & cheeses and a round loaf of bread. To see how to make it, click HERE.

Chicks on Sticks

(Seriously. That is the name of the recipe.)

 Simply gather your ingredients and do the preparations listed HERE and your meal is ready to go into the cooler for your camping trip.

When preparing this meal, simply thaw the chicken by placing it on the top of the cooler.

Thread the chicken pieces with the washed and ready-to-go-veggies on skewers.

Grill each side about 5-6 minutes or until chicken looks cooked and juices run clear.

Blueberry and Cream Cheese Dessert

This is SUPER easy to make and you only need 4 ingredients and a fire iron or camp cooker.

Get the recipe and step by step instructions  HERE

It's a pocket of warm, yummy & creamy goodness!

You don't have to limit yourself to blueberry jam. Here are some other suggestions: Strawberry jam & cream cheese, marmalade & cream cheese, peanut butter and banana slices, nutella & banana slices or any combination you like. For some meal suggestions for fire irons or camp cookers, try: pizza sauce, mozarella and pepperoni. Or how about smoked salmon and cream cheese? The possibilities are many!

For Goodness Steak

This recipe requires you to mix up a quick & easy marinade to toss on steak in a ziploc bag to freeze for later use on the camping trip.

Recipe and prep instructions HERE.

 Don't Forget Your Veggies

On our last camping trip, I took along a bean salad which included lots of veggies.
I chose this recipe because it's a marinated salad and it only gets better with age, therefore, it makes a great camping recipe.  I modified the original recipe a bit because my husband is not crazy about too many beans. {And everyone has to sleep in a tent together...so enough said about that.}The recipe made so much that it actually fed 3 families and we still had some leftover! I served the salad as a side to our hamburgers one night for dinner. It was so good.  This salad travels really well. I highly recommend it!

Recipe HERE

Camping Cuisine {Wrap Up} 

Of course, the whole reason for camping....the happy pink glow in the childrens' cheeks.

Here is my 'sous chef' enjoying his morning fried egg sandwich with bacon....made by Dad.

Did I mention that while I do all the food prep for camping, my husband then takes over and does all of the actual cooking while we are camping?

Yes. I love him.

Food eaten in the fresh air is so very good!

 I like to think that I have inspired some campers to mix it up a little. I hope so.

I hope on your next camping trip you feel inspired to try something new and fun!

•••

Ok, who is hungry?!? Aren't those ideas Fan.Tas.Tic?!? 

To see what else Angie is up to when she's not around the camp fire, check out her blog Echoes of Laughter.

Thanks Angie for sharing! Next time, take me with you!

To have your ideas featured on Crazy Domestic, click HERE