Cookbook Project: Camping edition!
I took a bit of break on this project lately, but recently had a great reason to get back into it - the first camping weekend of 2021!
I have two camping/backpacking themed cookbooks which focus a lot of dehydrated food and ways to lighten your load while backpacking. I haven’t done much backpacking lately, so they’ve kind of just sat on the shelf for a while. I was grateful for an excuse to dust them both off!
#1. Another Fork in the Trail
Flipping through this book made me realize how many great-looking recipes were in it! I ended up bookmarking a couple that weren’t going to make the cut for this camping weekend, but will probably get made at home in the near future. I went with a trail mix recipe for this trip - sugared almonds with dried berries.
Attempting to prep my space - the recipe has you toasting almonds, then heating up butter and maple syrup and adding the almonds back in, so I knew it would move quickly.
Once the sugar is added, you spread the almonds out and let everything dry before adding the berries. You have to move quickly when heating up the maple syrup, but this recipe couldn’t be easier otherwise!
Delicious trail mix, made even better by the setting in which I enjoyed it.
The verdict: This was so good. I made a double batch of this recipe and doubled the dried cranberries and blueberries in it on top of that. We still have about half of the trail mix left over after camping and I’m not mad about it!
#2. Campfire Cookbook
This cookbook actually came on the trip with us. One benefit of car camping meant that we could pack luxuries like the cast iron dutch oven without having to worry about the weight of carrying it so I fully took advantage of that and picked a lentil chili recipe.
FIreside ingredient prep.
Roasting some of the veggies before adding everything else. (Also a glimpse at my very stylish campsite fashion!)
Obligatory campfire video.
Final result!
The verdict: this chili was delicious. But, honestly, how can you go wrong when the first step is roasting veggies over a campfire?
