Camping Menu and Oatmeal Scotchies

Wow time sure flies while traveling. I apologize for not posting sooner, but I was in Ohio a few weeks ago and then last weekend my grandparents took my brother and me to the St. James Hotel in Red Wing, MN. Also its summer and I need a break from the computer. However I am back at it, starting with camping!

                The first time I went camping was when I was 8 months old and have loved doing it ever since. This year I took four of my closest friends camping with me. It was one of the best weekends of my life. It involved lots of laughs, talking, walking, bugs, bonding, swimming AND of course FOOD.

Every time we go camping we bring enough food for an apocalypse, and we always end up taking most of it home.  Because we bring so much I thought I would share some of it with you:)


Menu

Here is the meal lowdown:

Friday night: We roasted marsh mallows on the fire and made s’mores.

Saturday morning:  For breakfast we had beagles cheese scrambled eggs, sausage, orange juice,  mini doughnuts and fruit.

Saturday Noon: Peanut butter  and jelly we had for lunch along with chips and cookies.

Saturday Afternoon: We had popcorn. My dad made a gigantic tub full of popcorn the day before we left.

Saturday Evening: We roasted hotdogs.

Saturday Night: More S’more’s and Jiffy Pop

Sunday Morning: We had cereal and bananas

Sunday Noon: We were not very hungry and just did some munching:)

Some other things we had where:

Oatmeal Scotches (see below for Recipe)

Lavender cookies: which my friend Mariel made. They were Delicious!

Pretzels: they are also a great healthier substitute for chips

We had a whole bunch more snack food, but you probably don’t care ;-)   

 Tip

Some tips for packing food that my dad and I have discovered.

·         Pack individual packs of cereal. That way every one will get kind that they like.

·         Also do this with chips. Everyone will have a kind that they like. As well people could eat a standard size chip bag, leaving none for anyone else.

·         We didn’t make pancakes this time, however a really easy way to do this is get the Bisquick Shake and Pour. All you have to do is add water.

·         Jiffy pop is a lot of fun, but it takes work, and you don’t get enough. So if you are planning of having popcorn make some to bring.

Oatmeal Scotchies

Oatmeal Scotchies are my mom’s favorite cookies. Packed with gooey butterscotch chips, and the fact they keep good in the humidity and heat, makes them the perfect cookie to bring camping.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange

3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats

1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.)

Lets Get Cookin’

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl.

Gradually beat in flour mixture

Stir in oats and morsels

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

More from camping!

Fathers Day

Sharing Ice Cream

I know this is kind of late, but happy father’s day! My dad is the best dad in the world. There is no if and or but about it:-) For him  I made dinner, because he makes dinner for us every night and i thought it would be a nice break for him to relax. The menu consisted of Salmon patties, macaroni bake and his favorite strawberry milk shakes. I didn’t do a picture of the ingredients because of how much time I had. It ended up being very delicious.

Macaroni Bake

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 large egg
• 12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Fresh black pepper

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter.

Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps.

Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Which means to add a little of the mixture to the egg. This will keep the egg from cooking.

Stir in 3/4 of the cheese.

   Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish.

Top with remaining cheese.  

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread 

crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Salmon Patties

Ingredients

• teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely diced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 15 ounces canned salmon, drained, or 1 1/2 cups cooked salmon
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 3/4 cups fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs, (see Tip)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions
Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and celery; cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in parsley; remove from the heat.

Place salmon in a medium bowl.

Flake apart with a fork.

Remove any bones and skin. (I found

Add egg and mustard; mix well.

Add the onion mixture, breadcrumbs and pepper; mix well. Shape the mixture into 8 patties, about 2 1/2 inches wide. Heat remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in the pan over medium heat. Add 4 patties and cook until the undersides are golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

Using a wide spatula, turn them over onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining patties. Bake the salmon cakes until golden on top and heated through, 15 to 20 minutes.

Strawberry Shakes

Ingredients

• ½ cup boiling water
• 1 package of strawberry jell-o
• 2 cups vanilla ice cream
• 1 cup milk
• ½ crushed ice cubes

Directions

Pour boiling water into blender. Add Gelatin powder and blend for 1 minute. Keep the blender running and add ice cream by large spoonfuls through hole in lid.

Turn of the blender; add milk and ice. Blend for another 30 seconds, or until smooth and thick. Serve immediately.

Menu Overview

                The salmon patties were amazing, so were the strawberry milkshakes. I personally didn’t care for the Macaroni Bake. However, my parents liked it. Cooking went without a hitch and it was a lot of fun, but next time I think I will recruit my little brother for some help:-)

Rhubarb Bars

For my brother’s birthday party with my mom’s side of the family I made rhubarb bars. In the back far corner of our yard we have a rhubarb plant. And for the first time we decided to use it. I was surprised by how much I liked it. Just remember the flavor is very strong and is best served with vanilla ice cream:-)

The history of an estrange plant

            First thing first rhubarb is a vegetable, even though it tastes like a fruit. However even though it is a food, throughout history rhubarb has been used for medical proposes for 5000 years. The food has only existed in culinary for 2 centuries.  Ancient China used dried roots as laxatives, and they are still used today for the same reason.  Rhubarb was also an ingredient in many ancient Greek and Roman medicines. The 1800s are the first time the tart treat was mentioned in recipes. The shoots were than used for wine and desserts.  So far we have learned that the roots are laxatives and the shoots are yummy, but what about the leaves? Rhubarb leaves are toxic and have no safe culinary use for humanity. This is due to high concentrations of oxalic acid, an organic poison and corrosive found in many plants but present in relatively large amounts in rhubarb leaves. Other toxins may also exist. However, based on oxalic acid alone 5 kilograms of the leaves provide a lethal dose to a human. (Although this varies by variety and the phase of growth.) Still, all are well advised not to consume the leaves in any quantity whatsoever, on the contrary the eatable parts a full of nutrition.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

5 cups sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin

2 cups white sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.

In a large bowl, stir together 2 cups of flour and baking powder.

Cut in 1/2 cup of butter by pinching between your fingers or using a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly.

Stir in the egg and milk just until the mixture is moistened.

Pat into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Spread rhubarb over the crust in an even layer,  

then sprinkle the dry gelatin powder over the rhubarb.

Prepare the topping by stirring together 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup flour. Cut in 1/2 cup of butter as you did for the crust. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the rhubarb.

Bake in the preheated oven until the topping is golden brown and the rhubarb is tender enough to easily pierce with a fork, about 45 minutes. Cool and then cut into bars to serve.

 êêCritics Reviewêê

Me êêêê Mom êêê Dad êêêêê Paulêêêêê

Would I make them again…

Maybe, I will for sure make something with rhubarb again. I think I want to try a crisp instead of bars because it was Paul’s birthday I let him choose which he wanted, and obviously he selected bars.

What would I change…

 I would add about a ¼ cup of sugar on top along with the jell-o to cut down on the tartness a bit.

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