Camping Preview

When Jim was younger his family camped quite often. He once told me a story about him and his two younger brothers who bought or brought coon skin caps with them one camp trip. It was a Texas summer and those three boys wore their very hot coon skin caps for three days straight! Jim laughs when he tells the story because he remembers how much he loved that hat and how ridiculous the three of them must have looked.

Last month Jim and I visited Washington on the Brazos, and I just HAD to have a picture of Jim wearing this coon skin hat we found in the gift store. Priceless!

This is a little unusual for me, a post without pictures. It is because I’m going to share my weekend menu plan with you before any of it is even made. Jim and I are camping this Easter, like we have the last two years together. I look forward to this camping trip every year and it seems to come at a time when I really need to get the hell out of dodge. The camping gear has already been pulled out of storage, dog sitter is lined up – the only thing left to do is grocery shop and pack for our meals. This is the really fun part in my opinion. As a planner, I really enjoy mapping out each meal and seeing how I can use the leftovers from one meal as part of the next meal. Tonight when I’m finished grocery shopping (yes, I know it is late) I will come home and clean produce, measure out ingredients, put in baggies and label…oh how I love to label. I will do as much as I can do ahead of time so I’m not searching for things while camping. When we are out there in the middle of nowhere I don’t want any stress. I want it to just be me and my coleman stove. I like to take my time cooking and then sit down with Jim and serve a gourmet meal under the blue sky or stars. So here is my plan, let me know what you think of all this.

Friday Breakfast – Cinnamon Rolls
Store bought cinnamon rolls that I will bake in my oven while we pack the car. Then I package these up in to-go containers and we eat them on the drive up (and hopefully we swing through a starbucks too.)

Friday Lunch – Fried Chicken Salad
Tonight I will marinade chicken in low fat buttermilk and two squirts of hot sauce in a zip top bag and throw in fridge. In the morning this goes into the ice chest. After we get the tent and camp site set up I will take the chicken out of the marinade and season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. Dredge in flour, dredge in homemade ranch dressing, dredge in flour again. Heat canola oil to 360 and cook for 10 minutes or until crispy brown. Slice and serve over baby spinach with bacon pieces, shredded cheese and ranch dressing. Tonight I will pre-make the homemade ranch dressing: Mash 1 clove garlic with a little salt. Mix garlic paste with 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 to 1/2 cup buttermilk or regular milk, to taste. Add 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley, 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, 1 to 2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill, more if desired. Store in airtight container in fridge and throw in ice chest in the morning. Ranch is also a great snack with crisp carrots while camping.

Friday Dinner – Standard Steak, Potatoes, Corn on the Cob
I say standard because when we camp this is always one of our dinners. Jim would be terribly disappointed if I left it off the menu. Tonight I will season the steaks with Saltgrass 7 seasoning and put in a zip top bag. I will also clean and butter the corn on the cob, season with salt and pepper and wrap in foil, twisting the ends closed. The potatoes will be prepped the same way. Before the sun goes down Jim will start the fire and I will put the foil wrapped potatoes right on the campfire, followed by the foil wrapped corn and the steaks. Everything is cooked over an open flame! Potatoes are served with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon pieces (which I will fry up here at the house and bring in a zip top bag).

Saturday Breakfast – Bloody Mary’s and Breakfast Tacos
I’m going to bring along a spicy bloody mary mix and serve up a spiked morning beverage along with breakfast tacos. The breakfast tacos will be black beans (from a can) and scrambled eggs with bacon pieces and my homemade vera cruz salsa on a flour tortilla. A hearty breakfast is necessary for the hiking we plan on doing Saturday.

Saturday Lunch – Simple Sandwiches
Super easy sandwiches. I will bring sandwich bread, cold cuts of meat and sliced deli cheese along with condiments like mayo and mustard. We will also have the spinach from Friday’s lunch if either of us want greens on the sandwich. I was thinking that we could even cook these between two pans and make our own Panini press if that sounds good at the time. We will be coming back from our morning hike and starving, so a quick bite is exactly what we need.

Saturday Dinner – Walnut Pesto Chicken and Egg Noodles with Basil Cream Sauce

Tonight I will marinade the chicken in store bought pesto, then throw in the cooler before we leave in the morning. Also in my cuisinart I will blend walnuts with bread crumbs, bring in a zip top bag. Saturday night I will beat eggs in bowl. Dip pesto marinated chicken in walnuts, then eggs, then walnut mixture again. Saute chicken in olive oil over medium heat until brown and crispy. Boil water and add egg noodles, cooking until al dente. Meanwhile, melt 2 tbs butter until bubbling slightly, add 2 tbs flour, and cook until golden brown. Add cream or half and half, stir to incorporate. Add goat cheese, stir until melted. Add spices like onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper (if needed). If the sauce tightens too much, thin with milk. Add chopped basil about 5 minutes before the pasta is al dente, simmer on low. When pasta is finished, add the basil cream sauce. Serve chicken on top of pasta. So this recipe is from three different sources and I made up bits here and there. In my head this meal works because the pesto has basil in it and the creamy sauce will have basil in it. Sounds yummy, right? I feel hopeful that I can pull this off at a camp site.

Sunday Breakfast – French Toast
Combine 1/2 cup whole milk with 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1 and a half eggs, ½ teaspoon vanilla, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ cup bourbon in pie plate. Heat skillet over medium-low heat for a minute or 2, then grease the pan with a teaspoon or more of butter. When the butter starts to sizzle turn the heat up a touch. Dip the bread into the batter, coating each side for 20 seconds, then gently shake off any excess batter and put the battered bread directly into the preheated pan. Cook the French toast 5 to 6 minutes in total, flipping once or twice, until golden brown. Serve with warmed maple syrup and a side of bacon.

Sunday Lunch - Sandwiches
We will be busy cleaning the camp site and packing everything up so Sunday lunch has got to be an easy grab and go meal. With the tortillas from Saturday’s breakfast I could even to a meat and cheese roll up for lunch. Maybe I should pack some cream cheese too. I love tortillas rolled up with some cream cheese, spinach (Friday’s lunch), deli meat (Saturday’s lunch).

Snacks – Pringles, grapes, carrots, something sweet like cookies that won’t melt in the Texas heat.
Drinks – Red Wine, Bud Select, White Wine, Bloody Mary Mix, Vodka, Hot Chocolate and okay, I will throw in some water.

That is our plan, wish me luck. I hope everyone has a wonderful and happy Easter weekend!

Camping With Mandy: Fajitas and Camping Doughnuts

Here we are again at Inks Lake. This will be the last camping post and then tomorrow we go back to HOME With Mandy.

I have two camping recipes to share here. The first is a little sparce - partly because I didn't take many pictures because it was getting really dark when I started to cook, and also because the neighbor I got this recipe from made me SWARE not to share it with anyone. Sorry to be a tease. Really I am.

I can't give you exact ingredients in this AMAZING marinade, but I will tell you that it is important in most marinades to have an oil, a citrus and with this beef skirt steak we added some spice since we were making fajitas. There you go, thats all I can say. Again, sorry to be a tease. There are some really great marinade ideas out there, go to www.foodblogsearch.com

Jim and I played a lot of dominoes, something we really have fun doing. Maybe it is because we are equally matched. I win some, he wins some - it goes back and forth and I love teasing him when I win.
I chopped up the remaining half of the onion - although if I was thinking clearly (hello wine) I would have sliced instead of chopped. Put over a low heat and let it cook slowly so they caramelize well.
Remember the other half of my green and red bell pepper? I sliced those and threw them into the pan with the onion. This cooked for probably 15-20 minutes until they were really soft.

And that is where the photos end. But I will walk you through fajitas the way we like them.

The skirt steak sat in our marinade for a full 24 hours. I brought the meat to room temperature and Jim got the fire going under the grill. The meat went on for only three minutes each side, then let it rest for 5 or 10 minutes. Cut against the grain into 1 inch strips.

Like I did for the breakfast tacos, set up an assembly line. We used soft flour tortillas and added a strip or two of beef, then sprinkle some shredded cheese, add our caramelized onions and bell pepper, sour cream and salsa. Fold and eat!

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Ready for a SWEET breakfast?!?!



I just love how these photos turned out. It was about 7 AM and the warm sunshine was flooding into our campsite as I prepared breakfast. I found this recipe a year ago when I was conducting my initial research on cooking at a campsite. It is the only recipe that I continue to make every time we go camping and it's become our special treat when we camp. Here is how you make this:

You need vegetable oil, a can of plain old biscuits and some sugar/cinnamon.

To start, we need to make our doughnuts by punching holes in each biscuit. You must be creative when camping. Here, I'm using the cap to my worcestershire sauce. It was the perfect size.


Save the holes too! Those are my favorite covered in cinnamon and sugar.
Continue until all the biscuits have holes punched in them.

I put my cinnamon and sugar mixture into this plastic container - ready for my hot doughnuts to be tossed in and rolled around. I bring the cinnamon and sugar to camp in a zip top bag. One of the first times I made these I tossed the hot doughnuts into the zip top bag thinking I would just close and shake it up. The hot oil melted through the platic bag and made a mess. So now I use a sturdy container to toss the doughnuts and cinnamon/sugar in.

Heat your oil until it sizzles when dough is dipped in. When ready, put a couple doughnuts in at one time and don't go anywhere. These puff up and brown really fast. You will maybe cook them in the oil for one minute, then you need to flip them over for another minute.

Next, immediately put these in the cinnamon and sugar and roll around or use a spoon to scoop the spice over top and bottom of the doughnut.
The doughnut holes are easier. I put them all in the spice and shake the tub around to coat all over.
I should have removed that one in the middle before I took this photo. It didn't get covered as well as the others. They get coated well when they are hot straight from the oil.

These are SO GOOD. Warm and soft on the inside, and crunchy and sweet on the outside.
Perfectly cooked throughout. Yum!

Jim's going to kill me, but I snuck in this shot of my very sweet boyfriend doing dishes even when we camp. He's the greatest and the reason I work so hard in the kitchen. He's worth it!

Camping With Mandy: Frito Pie

Everyone has an opinion about how to make chili, or is that just a Texas thing? Even I create my chili in a different way every time I make it. On this camping trip, my goal was to use my food in a smart and efficient way by stretching ingredients that could be used in more than one way. For this reason, my chili meat was ground spicy breakfast sausage, and it turned out great!

Here is what I used for my camping frito pie:
Fritos (which is already open, because Jim and I snacked on these earlier with a can of hot bean dip I purchased)
Package of chili seasoning mix
Can of black beans
Can of tomatoes with green chiles
Shredded cheddar jack cheese
Sour Cream
Remember the zip top bag of leftovers from breakfast? Yes, the one with half a pound of ground breakfast sausage and chopped bell pepper and onion. I put that in the skillet and warmed it up again.
Next I added my can of diced tomatoes with green chiles and a can of black beans.

Jim and I differ on how we like our frito pie layered. Jim prefers to start with a base of WHOLE fritos in the bottom of his bowl.
Next, he wants hot chili.
Topped off with shredded cheese and a dollop of daisy.

IIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiii on the other hand like my fritos crushed on the bottom.

Then you top with cheese.
Then you top with chili…that way the hot chili melts the cheese underneath.
Last, add your dollop of daisy.
We had a bunch of chili left over, so I’m packaging it up for use once we are back in Austin.
After lunch we came across this rock formation IN OUR CAMPSITE. Jim swears he didn’t do it, and I didn’t do it…. Must me the love fairies paying us a visit. Isn’t it cute?

Next, Jim and I pulled our camping chairs into the shade and I read my new Rachael Ray magazine cover to cover and he read his book that he brought. I just love having NOTHING to do, and the phone doesn’t ring (there isn’t reception) and the e-mail doesn’t ding (although it was filling up in my inbox). It was peaceful and lovely.

Now about that Rachael Ray mag. Anyone else think this is the best issue they have ever read? I dog-eared almost every page! The “all choked up” centerpiece idea I thought was ri-di-cu-lous.

Although I will be making (not in this order) the Golden Potato Mash, Onion Rings with Creamy Cajun Sauce, Pumpkin-Potato Pie, Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic with Toasted Almonds, Onion Chowder with Cheesy Onion Popovers, Creamy Pasta with Spinach and Fried Capers, Green Chili Sliders with Tangy Tomatillo-Lime Sauce, Turkey Monte Cristos, Chicken Salsa Verde Bake, Parmigiano-Riggiano-Crusted Chicken Piccata, Cheesy Meatballs, Pistachio-Crusted Pork Chops, Coconut Tapioca Pudding, Double-Decker Pumpkin-Caramel Pie, Spiced Pumpkin Mousse Trifle.

Oh my. Looks like I need to have a party so I have an excuse to do all this cooking and baking.

Back to Home With Mandy. Coming up in tomorrow’s post will be the Barefoot Blogger Challenge, Butternut Squash Risotto. This is so GOOD ya’ll!! Then on Friday I will finish up the Camping With Mandy by posting fajitas and camping doughnuts.

Camping With Mandy: One Skillet Breakfast Tacos

Good Morning Sunshine! Would you like a breakfast taco?

I’ve only actually made breakfast tacos when camping, but it is seriously so easy that I should try to make these on the weekends too. In fact, I have company coming this weekend, maybe Matt and Melissa would like this Sunday morning before they embark on their road trip home. Hmmm, something to think about.

I always thought people all over the US have had this type of breakfast. In Texas we have breakfast taco stands on every corner. My favorite is Taco Shack here in Austin, TX. Recently I was reading another blog post about a popular and common breakfast in Austin, the Miga. I had no idea there were people who didn’t know what Migas were. OMG! So, as simple and common as I think the breakfast taco is, I’m going to post this process just in case there is a person out there who has never had this goodness in the AM.

Note, that you can do all different kinds of filling here. Bacon, Egg and Cheese or Potato, Egg and Cheese are both very popular but I chose to use these particular ingredients because I was doing double duty here. Planning ahead has its advantages!

The ingredients list is:

• 1 lb ground breakfast sausage (I used Jimmy Deans HOT. Browned the entire pound, but removed half to save for my chili later that day)
• Eggs (For camping I insist you bring the carton of liquid eggs, much easier to travel with)
• Onion (I only used half of this, reserved the other half for chili)
• Red Bell Pepper (I chopped half, reserved the other half for fajitas)
• Green Bell Pepper (I chopped half, reserved the other half for fajitas)
• Tortillas (also used this for fajitas at dinner)
• Cheese (a must, used this in practically every meal I made)
• Sour Cream
• Hot Sauce (My favorite is On The Border Salsa, but I have picante here because I used it as an ingredient in my skirt steak marinade)

Side Note: I just found this copy cat recipe online. Wow, I’m going to try this soon. I go through jars of On the Border Salsa like water at my house.

• Cutting Board
• Sharp Chef Knife
• Foil (this has MANY purposes when camping)
  

I start by browning all the breakfast sausage and breaking it up with my flimsy plastic camping spatula that I keep in my camping bin.
I removed half the ground meat and reserved for my chili that I’m making for lunch later today.

Only recently have I fallen in love with bell peppers. (I have a stuffed bell pepper recipe coming later this week thanks to Annie at Good American Wife) I cut each bell pepper in half and reserved one half for fajitas later.
With the remaining half of the red bell pepper, the green bell pepper and the onion, I diced small and threw in the pan. (you can see in the picture below that my pan only has veggies in it because I dumped the half of the sausage mixtures for breakfast onto some tin foil and made a pouch out of it to keep warm, we will add the sausage back in just a bit) I let this cook until veggies were really soft and onions were translucent, about five minutes – give or take a minute or two.
I cut this veggie mix and put half of it in the zip top bag with the ground meat. All of this will be used later today when I make chili.
Here is where the magic happens, it’s fun. I didn’t measure, as you can see I’m pouring straight from the egg carton. Add eggs into the veggies,

then dump your foil pack of ground sausage back in there too. And gently stir to combine until the eggs are set.
Yeah, it’s that easy.

Then get your campers in a line by the coleman stove and hand each one a tortilla. I set up a little assembly line, even though it’s just Jim and I here. And I fill his tortilla with the veggie/sausage/egg mixture, and he tops it with whatever he likes. Cheese (a must), sour cream and/or salsa.
I put all the above on mine. Mmm Mmm Mmm, this is so good and a great hearty breakfast before a full day of canoeing, hiking and swimming.

After we filled our bellies, we packed a bag for the day. Water (lots of water), sour cream and chive pringles, a beef jerky stick, sunscreen and sunglasses. Everything but the camera. Sorry. We went canoeing on Ink’s Lake and explored Devils Watering Hole. I have no idea why they call it that, it wasn’t that scary…or so I thought…then we sat and watched all these high school age kids climb the rocks and jump into the lake. You couldn’t pay me enough money to jump off a 50 foot rock ledge into the water. Well, I might do it for a KitchenAid mixer.

I “heart” camping. And I “heart” breakfast burritos or breakfast tacos…whatever you call them, they are mm mm mm mmm good!

Camping With Mandy

I’m back! In the next few post you won't be Home With Mandy but I will show what Camping With Mandy is all about. Jim and I had a great camping trip to Inks Lake this weekend and I have some fun campground cooking ideas to share with you. Here are the meals that I made “out in the wild”

• Campfire Steak and Potatoes
• One Skillet Breakfast Tacos
• Frito Pie
• Fajitas
• Camping Doughnuts

First let me share with you some pictures from our mini-vacation. I’ve never been a camper, unless you count La Quinta. When Jim and I met two years ago he took me camping (to Inks Lake actually) and I took to it like a fish to water. When we aren’t taking trips from our “to visit” list, we go camping and on this past weekend we traveled only an hour from home to an oasis far from the city.

It all started on Thursday afternoon when we raced from work and I ran to the grocery store to pick up fresh produce and meat for the trip. When I got home, Jim had the car mostly packed, we grabbed the dogs and hit the road. On the way to Inks Lake State Park we stopped and dropped the dogs off at our friend John and Sherry’s house. Now we are kid free!

Jim and I have setting up camp to a science. We each have our set task - as soon as we arrive to the campsite he begins to unload the heavy items from the car and my job is to set up the living/kitchen area.

I like the food cooler and the beverage cooler at one end of the picnic table and the supplies bucket, dry goods bucket and kitchen tools bin at the other side along with the stove.

Here is a tip. If you love camping as much as we do, purchase rubber tubs, lable "camping" and store all the essentials so that when you want to go camping you don't have to remember to pack the sunscreen, bugspray, lantern, lighter fluid. It's already in there. (I have a camping supply list in excel format and if anyone is interested in having a copy just shoot me an e-mail homewithmandy {at) gmail [dot} com)

I always bring a plastic tablecloth that I duct tape to the table and usually I grab a silk floral arrangement for the centerpiece (unfortunately this trip was so fast and furious I forgot to grab the camping décor) but trust me it makes a difference.

My tablecloth at this trip was a CreteSheet. John and Sherry have a unique product called the CreteSheet that they are selling online and trying to get out on the market. This light sheet of plastic can mix an 80 pound bag of concrete in less than two minutes. No wheelbarrow and shovel required. It saves your back and a lot of time…I’ve worked with them on this project before and absolutely believe in it. In fact I poured a 4x8 concrete extension to my patio for the bbq pit. It’s a neat tool to have in your garage.

This CreteSheet was the perfect makeshift tablecloth because I could wipe it down before dinner and first thing in the morning before breakfast and I like the cheery splash of yellow in lieu of a floral centerpiece.

Jim finishes putting up the tent, and as the sun was starting to go down I began to prep for dinner. Not any dinner however, but Jim’s favorite camping dinner. Here is how I do steak and potatoes campfire style.

Before I leave on our trip I scrub the potatoes down and pick off any unsightly spots. I’ve even done the butter, seasoning, foil prep at the house. I didn’t have the time this trip so I did this onsite.

Take your clean potatoes and smear some butter and seasoning on the outside.

I’m in love with this Salt Grass Seven Steak Spice and sprinkle it all over the baked potatoes and then wrap tightly in foil like little candy wrappers.
I set these aside until the campsite is set up and Jim starts the fire.
I brought two New York Strip Steaks that I put in a shallow Tupperware dish and seasoned with – none other than – Salt Grass Seven Steak Spice and then sprinkled with worcestershire sauce for an extra kick of flavor and some moisture.

While everything is marinating, Jim finished the tent, blew up the air mattress and I helped him get the bed made. I call this “Glamping” because we bring all the comforts of home when we rough it. This is glamorous camping! We sleep on an air mattress that I top with two egg crates, then an open sleeping bag. Next I enclose all that with a fitted sheet, top with a flat sheet and our comforter is either a down comforter from home or another sleeping bag for warmth.

Jim started our fire and I placed our potatoes right at the base of the fire and turn every 20 minutes. They cook for a total of one hour (then poke with a knife to test for doneness).


A co-worker of mine gave me this durable plastic wine glass from REI. The stem stores inside the glass, and then screws onto the base of the glass when you are ready drink out of it. I love it!

Our campsite was just a short climb from a great view of the lake so Jim poured us some wine and I cut up some manchego cheese.
We walked to the tip of the hill to watch the sun go down. Ahhh, I can feel the stress of home and work slip away in this moment.


This is what glamping looks like people!

I wish I had better pictures of the steak dinner but it got dark and when you are out in the middle of nowhere, its DARK! I brought the steak to room temperature – or the outside temperature which was somewhere between 60 and 70 degrees.
The steaks went on the fire for about three minutes each side – perfect. The potato, perfect. I topped my potato with butter, cheddar cheese, sour cream and a sprinkle of Salt Grass seasoning.



For dessert. Smores!