Camp Cuisine
Camp Cuisine - Camping Recipes
Inspire your inner camp chef with recipes for camping trips. It doesn’t matter if it’s shared around a campfire, cooked in your RV's gourmet kitchen, or take-out from the local deli, food just tastes better on a camping vacation!
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Making Apple Cider
Making Apple Cider
Apple cider is one of the delightful treats generally enjoyed during the fall months. Of course, if you take the time to make plenty of cider during the fall when apples are freshest and most readily available you can freeze it and use it for recipes throughout the year. Apple cider makes great marinade for fish and meat, sauces and much more, and fall wouldn't be fall without enjoying some delightful hot spiced cider.
Making apple cider yourself is fairly simple. Some people enjoy have cider pressing parties, and making cider is often the most fun when you can use a cider press. However, if you don't have a cider press or just want to make some quick cider, you can use a blender or food processor instead of a press.
The first step in making apple cider is to choose your apples. The best way to make cider is to use apples picked freshly from your own trees. If you don't have apple trees you can visit a local apple orchard, or the farmers market. When those options don't work, you can always find apples at your local grocery store. You will undoubtedly notice that there are many different types of apples and each of these apples has a different flavor. These flavors will also be noticeable in your cider. You can choose your favorite type of apple or you can mix different types of apples. Whatever type of apples you decide to use, just make sure that you have enough to make plenty of apple cider.
Your next step is to very thoroughly wash all of your apples. Dirt and anything else that might be on your apple are not good additions to cider. When the apples are clean core them and cut them into quarters, but do not peel them. Put these quarters into your blender or food processor, and puree them. You want to have a fine puree of apple pulp when you are done.
Finish the cider by placing a cheese cloth over a large container and straining the pulp through the cheese cloth. This step will extract the juice from the larger bits of pulp. After you have allowed the juice to flow through the cheesecloth you will have some pulp leftover, squeeze any remaining juice out of this pulp, and then discard the pulp.
Once your cider is made you will want to bottle and store it. If you are worried about health risks you can pasteurize your cider. You can store your cider for longer amounts of time by freezing it. You can use your homemade cider to make all sorts of marinades, sauces and of course some homemade hot spiced cider.
- Category: Camp Cuisine
Cool Drinks
Cool Drinks
Summer is the best time of year to experiment with making new cool and refreshing summer drinks. If you are of legal age, nothing can beat a cool cocktail. For the rest there are plenty of amazing non-alcoholic drinks. Iced tea and lemonade are two classic favorites. Add a little pizazz to your lemonade try making some fresh strawberry lemonade.
Iced Sun Tea
This is a classic summer beverage and is a great way to cool down. You can make sun tea from any regular type of tea bags, including black tea and herbal tea. You will need to find a gallon jug, this container has to be clear. Most of these types of containers are glass, and you can even find gallon beverage containers made specifically to make iced tea.
Tie 5-7 tea bags together, using their strings. Fill the gallon container and put the tea bags in the water. Cover the container and place in direct sun to steep for several hours. Serve in a tall glass filled with ice and garnish with a lemon wedge. If you prefer sweet tea, add sugar to the gallon container or you can add sugar to each glass.
Another option, is to boil the water before putting it in the container. Putting the tea bags in hot water will speed up the steeping process and you tea will be stronger.
Classic Gin and Tonic
The Gin and Tonic is one of the most simple and most refreshing cocktails for a warm evening. When you need to whip up a drink to cool off, this is one of your best options.
For One Drink:
2 oz gin
lime wedge
tonic water
Fill your cocktail glass with ice. Pour gin over ice and top with tonic water. Squeeze lime wedge over your drink and drop the wedge into your glass. You can use more than one lime wedge if you like a tart drink.
Homemade Strawberry Lemonade
Lemonade is one of the classic summer drinks. The juxtaposition of tart and sweet gives this simple drink wonderfully complex flavor, adding fresh strawberries adds just enough flavor to make this an amazing cool summer drink.
For 4 to 6 Glasses:
Approx. 6 lemons
1-cup water
1-cup sugar
4 to 6 cups cold water
2 cups fresh strawberries
Juice the lemons, you will want about 1 cup of lemon juice, you can strain the juice if you prefer a pulp-free lemonade. Reserve the lemon rind halves. Prepare simple syrup using 1-cup water and 1-cup sugar. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring the water and sugar to a boil, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Combine lemon juice and simple syrup and allow the lemon and sugar combination to cool.
You can adjust the proportions of lemon juice to simple syrup to change the sweetness or tartness of the lemonade depending on what you like. Cut strawberries into quarters and divide equally between 4 to 6 tall glasses. Thoroughly crush the strawberries in the bottom of the glass. Add the lemon syrup to each glass, mix thoroughly, and add one lemon rind half to your glass. Fill each glass with crushed ice, or regular ice. Finish by topping the glass with water and stir thoroughly.
You can also dilute the lemon syrup with the 4 to 6 cups of cold water before adding to your glass. This will ensure that your lemonade won't be too sweet or too strong. Instead of adding the diluted syrup before the ice. Crush the strawberries, then add the lemon rind, next add the ice and finish by filling the glass with the diluted syrup.
Mojito
This is one of my favorite summer cocktails. It is both simple to make and delightfully refreshing. Try mixing up this cocktail for you friends on one hot evening this summer.
To Make One Cocktail:
2 oz light rum
1/2 oz simple syrup (can increase if you like a sweet cocktail)
1/2 lime
7-8 fresh mint leaves
club soda
In a tall glass muddle mint leaves and simple syrup, make sure to thoroughly crush the leaves. You can either use a muddler or you can use a long handled spoon. After you have crushed the mint leaves and mixed the simple syrup, squeeze lime juice from the lime half into your glass, then add the lime rind to your glass. Fill your glass with ice, you can also use crushed ice if you prefer. Pour the rum over the ice and top with club soda. Stir gently and enjoy.
- Category: Camp Cuisine
Artichokes
Artichokes
One of summer and fall's delightful fresh vegetables is the artichoke. The artichoke isn't really a vegetable -- it is actually a type of thistle flower. You can find artichokes in many forms: frozen, fresh and even marinated. There are many ways to enjoy artichokes. Artichokes look a little daunting at first, but preparation is in fact very simple and they have a very subtle but amazing flavor.
When you look at your artichoke you will find that the leaves have tiny thorns on the tips of the leaves, as you peel off the leaves you will find a fuzz that covers the artichoke heart. The fuzz should be scraped off and discarded before you eat the heart, which is widely considered to be the best part of the artichoke. When you prepare your artichoke you can trim off the thorns from the leaves, but you don't have to trim them as long as you are careful as you eat them.
Steamed Artichokes
The most basic way to enjoy an artichoke is to steam it. You steam them whole after cleaning them carefully. When you eat the artichoke you start by peeling off the leaves and scraping off the flesh inside the leaf with your teeth. You can enjoy the leaves with mayonnaise, melted butter, lemon juice or even different types of vinaigrette. After eating the leaves you will have uncovered the heart, which is covered in the fuzz, which you gently scrape off with a spoon and discard. Then you can enjoy the heart.
You will need:
4 large artichokes
Start by carefully cleaning the artichokes. Trim the artichokes by trimming the bottom of the stem. You can also trim off the tops of the leaves to remove the small thorns, but this step is optional. Finally, make sure you peel off the small fringe leaves on the stem.
Next, place a steaming rack in the bottom of a large pot. Put about one inch of water into the bottom of the pot. Bring the water to a boil, then put the artichokes in the steaming rack, stem side up. Cover and steam over medium to high heat for about 40 minutes, or until the artichokes are tender. Remove the artichokes from the rack and serve hot.
Artichoke and Spinach Dip with Crostini
A nice hot artichoke and spinach dip, served with toasted baguette is a great appetizer for any occasion.
You will need:
1 1/2 cups chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup frozen artichokes
3/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
pinch cayenne pepper
fresh french baguette, cut into 1/2 inch slices
Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the frozen artichokes with 2 tsp to 1 tbsp olive oil, with a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread the artichokes over a baking sheet. Roast the artichokes, stir occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes or until the edges of the artichokes are browned. Allow the artichokes to cool and then coarsely chop.
Heat 2 tsp of olive olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and heat, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and chopped spinach and cook for another 30 seconds to 1 minute. Put in a bowl and set aside.
Stir the cream cheese, mayonnaise, parmesan, lemon juice and cayenne into the onion and spinach mixture. Stir the mixture until the cream cheese and mayonnaise are smooth and uniform. Finally gently stir in the chopped artichokes. If you would like, you can season with salt and pepper as desired. Transfer the dip into an 8 inch square baking dish and spread until it is evenly dispersed.
At this point, you can cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days or you can serve immediately. To serve, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Uncover and bake until the dip is hot through, and the top is golden brown about 25 minutes. Allow the dip to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Serve with crostini, cut the fresh baguette into 1/2 inch slices. Spray a light, even coating over both sides of the slices. Lay out in one layer on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and bake until the slices are dry and crispy, about 10 minutes, turning once.
- Category: Camp Cuisine
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