Camping Dinners

So, I don't usually post about meals AFTER a week of eating, but we've been canoeing in the Boundary Waters in Minnesota for the last week, and my co-paddlers (Phil, Rachel and Alan) insisted I share our meals.

Our limitations: no perishables, no cooler, and limited dishes (we each had a bowl, a cup, and a spork. We also had a bigger frying pan, and some tinfoil.) We did have a grill grate bolted into each campsite, so we could cook on that. And of course, our trusty JetBoil -- hot water in 90 seconds!

This is me cooking beef stroganoff -- heating the water in the little JetBoil, then pouring it into the bag. Love my kitchen facilities!

Our meals:

Sunday: Lasagna in a bag, from Backpacker's Pantry. Tasted like lasagna, but pourable. Rachel couldn't watch the pouring part. We had to deal with lots of little cheese bits -- tough to wash.

Monday: Quesadillas! This is becoming a backpacking favorite:

Pack tortillas and Babybel cheeses (they're wrapped in wax, so they were basically fine after 2 days on the trail). Mix up some seasonings in a ziploc baggie before heading out as well.

Dehydrate a bag of frozen peppers and onions.

Purchase some dehydrated mushrooms.

Purchase a 7 ounce foil pack of chicken (the kind that is by the tuna fish in the grocery store).

1. Rehydrate the veggies by pouring boiling water over them, letting them sit in a bowl for an hour or two. Cover with frying pan or another bowl.

2. When rehydrated, mix veggies, chicken, and spices in pan and simmer over fire.

3. Slice cheese into thin pieces.

4. Put tin foil on grill grate, big enough to fold over and over both sides of quesadilla.

5. Lay one tortilla on foil, then spread 1/4 of veggies and chicken and several pieces of cheese. Cook over fire for a minute, then put other tortilla on top. Wrap other half of foil over top of top tortilla (note: clean wool socks make GREAT oven mitts here). When it's time to flip, just grab the foil and flip the whole thing. When both tortillas are crispy and cheese is melted, remove from heat and cut up. Make another one.

Tuesday

Thai night! Vegetarian pad thai and Beef Satay with rice (both are just-add-boiling-water-and-wait-fifteen-minutes meals). Same as lasagna -- the flavors were there, but it just looked a little different. But peppery.

Wednesday

Beef stroganoff and Jamaican jerk chicken -- bagged meals, again.

Blueberry cheesecake for dessert -- from a bag, but Alan found 4 ripe wild blueberries growing at our campsite (most were still green) so we had some fresh flavor too!

Thursday

BIG dinner...

Dehydrated ground venison, dehydrated mixed veggies (a frozen bag of carrots/peas/corn)

Powdered mashed potatoes mixed with a little powdered milk, garlic powder, parsley, and Bacos

Powdered gravy packet

Rehydrate the meat and veggies (see quesadillas, above)

Simmer over the fire.

Portion potato mixture out into bowls, add a little hot water to each and mix.

Put meat and veggies on top, then top it all off with gravy.

This meal was huge. It's huge every time we've made it... I always feel stuffed for hours afterwards. We think maybe the potatoes continue to expand in our stomachs.

And a breakfast note...

Rachel and Alan made awesome breakfast burritos when Phil and I were out fishing one morning. They used leftover tortillas and cheese from the quesadillas, and some packs of powdered eggs. They were grilled and lovely. So so good!