So, one of the biggest things we had to think about going into the camping adventure was, food. Of course. It’s just one of those things that if you forget it, well… you die. We decided early on to avoid that, and opt for a tastier fate.
Our menu consisted of a few things we typically have at home like grilled chicken and vegetables to start. Easy fix. I picked up a campfire grill which was pretty much one of the best items we had in our whole gear list! A quick spray down with some non-stick spray and we were off to the races cooking up meat, veggies or potatos in foil, toast, and even putting the kettle on to boil water over and over. I had a little doubt in it the first night when it started to look like the middle (hottest) part was starting to drop quite a bit. It did slightly, but barely enough to notice by the end of the weekend unless you’re looking for it. It held up pretty great over all, and is easy to clean too!
Other than the obvious basics you can do with a grill, we also had a few breakfast items on the menu and a portable propane stove to test out. We picked up this little guy for those times when we wouldn’t be able to have a campfire, which apparently happens alot in California state camping areas. Toss in a cast iron skillet and pot, and we were able to put together eggs, bacon, and sausage with no trouble at all. From here on out though we are really hoping to have campfires as they just cook things up so much faster, with less fuel expense, and are a heck of a lot more fun to boot! But all said and done, the portable grill is a life saver for those areas that won’t let you put some coals and logs to work for cooking.
Bacon and Sausages for breakfast
And the final cookware purchase was probably the star of the weekend and currently our favorite piece of gear overall: Pie Irons. Now, I won’t toss up a link to the place we bought ours, or the brand they are, because even though they were an insanely cheap $5 each … well, we got what we paid for. Quality control is not a term the manufacturer is familiar with, and the website selling them botched the order and sent us a mismatched set of various shapes when we specified 4 square ones in the order. Twice.
Now that I have that out of the way, yes, these things ROCK. I was really hesitant when Gena start going on and on about the bazillions of recipes for them. I just didn’t get it I guess, or couldn’t imagine something so small being so versatile. I was SO wrong! We tossed them into the mix and ended up having a breakfast, a desert, and some lunch foods too. Simply tossing in 2 pieces of bread, and anything you want in between is all it takes apparently! Use some pie filling and boom, desert. Or use chocolate and marshmallows. Early mornings are nice times to pour in some raw scrambled eggs, chopped ham and onion, and some cheese. Got some ground beef, onion, cheese, and salsa or hot sauce? Taco pockets! Put in what you want, hold it over the fire, and flip it from side to side every 30 seconds or so to keep it cooked evenly on both sides. Open and check to see if the bread is toasted from time to time, to avoid burning it. Seriously, it’s that simple. These are going to be on our to-do list for every outing from no on. In fact, we even sat on our patio after getting home, and made dinner in them on our backyard grill.
Pie Irons cooling off after alot of use!
We’ll have PLENTY more reviews of our pie iron cooking, and the new styles and sizes (and brands) we’ll be getting in the near future! Until those posts though, if you want to know more you can check out www.PieIron.com for more about the cookware, and even some recipes!