Campfire Chili

My family are big chili fans. My dad makes a mean Chili and no matter how hard i try it never comes out as good as his… but we have fun trying.

On our recent camping trip I was in-charge of dinner so there was no surprise that Chili was on the menu.With some twists for camping. I served it in Jacket Potatoes (Is that an Australian term?).

I cooked the chili at home the night before, I settled for an Old El Paso packet mix this time due to time restraints.  I froze the batch in a plastic container which meant it stayed cold while we traveled to the campsite.

Once the fire was going it was as easy as putting the Chili in a pot to defrost and re heat then cook the potatoes. Prick each potato a few times and then wrap it in foil. The spuds were cooked in about an hour.

Once the potatoes were ready and the tents were up it was time to dig in! We had all the fillings for people to choose from and load up their spud.  Cheese, sour cream, salsa, spinach, tomato and spring onion and avocado.

The final product – YUM! Who says you cant have a delicious gourmet meal when out camping.

Eggs in a Nest

One of my favorite breakfasts as a child was what we called “eggs in a nest”. I have heard it called by many names: egg in the hole, egg bread and egg in the basket are a few others.

When it was decided that I would be in charge of breakfast for our recent camping trip, these immediately came to mind. They are easy enough to make over a campfire and allow everyone to craft to their liking.

My plan for breakfast was egg in a nest, bacon (saving some grease for the eggs),  and fresh fruit. We were lucky enough to have leftover tomatoes, cheese, and green onions from dinner the night before to add a little extra embellishment, but these are as fantastic just sprinkled with a little salt and pepper.

You will need:
Bread
Eggs (same # as slices of bread)
Butter or grease of some kind
S/P
Any other toppings you happen to have around

How to make:
Start by cutting or tearing an egg-sized hole in each piece of bread. I will often use the top of a cup to cut out the hole.

Grease and heat your pan to medium/medium high.

Place a slice of bread on the hot pan and immediately crack an egg into the hole.

Cook until the egg is to your desired liking. For me this is cooking a few minutes on the first side then flipping and cooking just a minute more so the white is completely cooked, but the yolk is nice and runny.

Season and top with whatever topping you have on hand.

Repeat until everyone is happy and full.

Dash Of Calamity Goes Camping

Dash of Calamity went camping over the weekend and had a great time!

Just because we weren’t at home with access to our complete kitchens we still managed to get a little gourmet. Stay tuned this week and we’ll share our ‘easy ways to eat like kings while camping’ recipes.