food

After a full day of camping with the family a quick, good tasting, a stick-to-your-ribs meal is always appreciated. Campground fajitas are easy to make, nutritious and take about 20 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients:
• 1 pound of protein (veggie protein encouraged)
• 1 Large Onion
• 1 Bell Pepper
• Small Jar of Salsa
• Cheese of Choice
• 1 Avocado
• 2 Medium Zucchinis
• 1 Small Packet of Tortillas
• 1 Lime

Equipment:
• Cutting Board
• Cutting Knife
• Aluminum Foil
• Camp Stove
• Skillet (we prefer an iron skillet)

This meal comes together very fast. Have other family members help with the preparation: cutting onions, peppers, zucchini, avocado and preparing the table with plates, utensils etc.

Cut protein and veggies into uniform strips.

Place the sliced onion and the bell pepper in a hot skillet. Cook until the onions have almost reached the desired texture and caramelization. Add the zucchini strips and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and place in a re-useable pie tin (shown) or another container that can be covered.

Add the protein to the hot skillet and cook until it reaches your desired level of being done.

The tortillas can be wrapped in aluminum foil and heated (on a stove or over the campfire). If a camp stove is easier, place the tortilla packet in a skillet. The skillet can be placed on the stove over low heat. Turn the foil packet over every few minutes to ensure the tortillas do not burn.

This meal is a bare-bones fajitas recipe for car camping and should be adjusted to personal taste. The veggies we used to travel well and can be stored for several days without refrigeration. The meat we used was frozen prior to the trip to help it stay cold and defrost in a cooler. The leftover salsa and tortillas were used with other meals.

This meal is easy to make, yummy and nutritious. Best of all, it the economical and fed four hungry adults for about $4.00 per person.

Eat like a king on your next family camping trip with campfire kabobs. These tasty morsels are easy to prepare, healthy, and extremely flavorful.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of protein (veggie protein encouraged, or just substitute more veggies)
• 1 small onion
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 small zucchinis
• 12 button mushrooms
• ½ pound of green beans
• Choice of seasonings

Equipment:

• Skewers as needed (if using wood skewers, soak in water first)
• Aluminum foil
• Cutting knife
• Cutting board
• Campfire or charcoal

Cut the meat into several chunks 1 to 2 inches thick. We cut and lightly seasoned the meat with olive oil and thyme the evening before our trip. This was placed in a re-sealable container and set in the refrigerator until the next day. The next morning we packed the meat in a well-iced ice-chest and made sure the other ingredients were also well chilled.

Work on the green beans. This will allow them to cook while the kabobs are being assembled. Make an aluminum foil pocket. Place the green beans inside with some olive oil with some slices of onion for flavoring. Crimp the pocket together and place on the grate over of the coals. Turn every few minutes over the coals as needed. The packet might need a full 25 minutes to cook. The packet can be placed directly on the coals if they need to cook faster.

Next, prepare the kabobs. Cut the veggies into chunks about the same size as the button mushrooms. Use any order you wish but we generally order the kabobs with meat, onion, mushroom, peppers, and zucchinis. The sturdy zucchinis and peppers make good end pieces. Four of our kabobs had an assortment of meat and veggies, the fifth kabob was mostly meat.

At dinnertime, the coals from the fire were spread over a one-foot square base. The kabobs were placed on a grate about 8 inches above the coals. These were slow cooked over the heat (no flame) for about 15 minutes. We used a small grate that lays over the larger grate found on many fire pits. This helps with cleaning and to keep food from falling into the fire.

The kabobs and green beans fed 3 adults and 1 child very well and even supplied some leftovers. The total cost for the entire meal was about $12 (or $3.00 per person). This kabob dinner was affordable, delicious and practical. Best of all it was enjoyed outdoors with family.