Camping Menu and Meal Ideas

We went camping last week.  We camped at Saranac Lake, NY.  It was peaceful, quiet, and all around relaxing.  Where we live is extremely loud but I never realize until we leave (which hasn't been often lately).  The campsites are accessed by boat only, so we motor boated all of our stuff to our site.  In the above photo, we are all taking a trip to see other parts of the lake.

I wanted to share our camping menu.  I am always looking for good camping recipes.  This trip, we had the luxury of a cooler and basically unlimited space since we didn't have to carry anything.  So here are some ideas for car camping, dump camping, or even boat camping!

I apologize in advance, I did not do a good job photographing the meals.  I don't have photos of everything, but I will provide a menu below with all the details.  Also, the meals are all vegetarian and gluten free.  Vegetarian camping meals are not easy to come by on the internet.  Looking for vegetarian camping recipes?  Look here!  Keyword search.

One dinner was what I called "Camping Nachos", picture above.  It was tortilla chips topped with a warm bean, corn, and red pepper mixture and melted cheese.  Then we added on salsa, sour cream, cilantro, and an avocado at the table.  Super good!  A take on the "walking taco".

Our breakfasts included:  breakfast tacos, blueberry and banana pancakes, and the last morning was going to be oatmeal but we had to leave early that morning to catch a flight, so we never made the oatmeals.  The pancakes were vegan and gluten free, which was convenient for camping since we didn't have to worry about things spoiling.

The last night we had a succotash over quinoa and tomato, cucumber salad.  Not that this horrible photo does much convincing, it was delicious.

One of the tasty lunch items we had was Texas Caviar with tortilla chips (Texas Caviar is pictures above in the plastic container).  My friend made it in advance it was a perfect, easy camping snack, lunch item.

Everything else is listed below with links to recipes when appropriate.  Also, most of the ingredients are in season right now, which made everything extra delicious!

Menu:

Day 1
Dinner - Camping Nachos (recipe below)

Day 2
Breakfast - Breakfast Tacos - scrambled eggs wrapped in a tortilla topped with salsa, queso fresco, cilantro, and avocado.
Lunch - herbed goat cheese and crackers, fruit, and nuts.
Dinner - Potato Boats - pre-baked potatoes, mixed with veggies and cheese, and cooked in a foil packet on the fire.
              - Corn on the cob with compound butter (salted butter, cilantro, lime, garlic, chipotles in adobo)

Day 3
Breakfast - Blueberry and Banana Pancakes (added 1/4 cup of veg. oil to this recipe)
Lunch - Texas Caviar (prepared in advance) and Chips, leftover
Dinner - Succotash over Quinoa (recipe below) and Cucumber Tomato Salad

Day 4
Breakfast - oatmeal

For our full Camping Menu and instructions:  click here.

Camping Nachos
by foodforscot

1 medium onion, chopped
1 can of pinto beans
2 cans of black beans
2 T of pureed chipotles in adobo
2 ears of corn, shucked
2 red peppers
1 lb of Monterey jack cheese, shredded
1 bunch of cilantro
1 container of salsa
3 avocados
1 small container of sour cream
salt and pepper

In a large pot or cast iron sauté pan over medium heat, sauté the onion in some olive oil. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the beans and chipotles in adobo. Cook until warmed through. Over the fire, using long tongs or some other device, char the corn and red peppers to get some smoky blackened flavor. Once charred, cut kernels off the cob and roughly chop the peppers. Add to the beans. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. (If you are lazy, skip the charring step.)

On a large cast iron skillet, lay out some chips. Top with bean mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Put on hot coals until cheese is melted. Repeat in batches until all bean mixture is used up.

Serve nachos on plates with fresh cilantro, salsa, half of an avocado, and sour cream.

(Servings: 6, Prep time: 30 min., Cook time: 1 hr., Difficulty: Easy)

Printable Version

foodforscot Ratings:

Shanon (taste):  7/10
Scot (taste):  8/10
Effort:  3/5
Dishwashing Effort:  3/5

Succotash Over Quinoa
by foodforscot

1 T olive oil
2 T butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 small eggplant, chopped
1 lb frozen lima beans
4 ears of corn, shucked and de-kernelled
thyme, minced
salt
pepper
¼ cup sour cream
parsley, minced
1 cup quinoa, cooked

In a large pot, sauté onion in a combination of 2 T butter and 1 T olive oil. Cook for 5 minutes. Add zucchini and eggplant, cook until softened. Add frozen lima beans and corn and cook until warmed through. Season with salt, pepper, a chopped thyme. Cook for 5 minutes. Add sour cream and parsley, cook for 5 minutes. Serve over quinoa.

(Servings: 6, Prep time: 10 min., Cook time: 30 min., Difficulty: Easy)

Printable Version

foodforscot Ratings:

Shanon (taste):  9/10
Scot (taste):  8/10
Effort:  2/5
Dishwashing Effort:  2/5

Found my Week 9 CSA photo:

Week 9 : Golden plums, blueberries, blackberries, green beans (none are part of CSA), garlic, kale, escarole, tomatoes (!), salad greens, eggplant (Asian and Rosa Bianca), cucumber, sweet peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, hot peppers.